Mass Media Downsizing It looks like Mass Media may be closing down. I saw on the PSBlog that they just finished the HD remake to Jak and Daxter so I decided to check up on blogger Voodoo Chief who works for them. On his blog I read some sad news: "It seems my Time with Mass MEdia has finally come to an end. After a very productive and wonderful time (though there were some hard times of course). It finaly looks like the company has to clsoe it's doors." SorceryGames Dev: End of line... Maybe he meant just his department (the one working on Jak I assume) but the statement sounds more like the entire company. If so it means Darla wont be seeing anymore sisters. This may be the second company to leave Home, as it looks as if Jet Set Games hasn't updated Conspiracy in a while not even fixing the video in the space not working for at least a few months. I hope I am wrong...maybe someone with twitter can ask if he knows anything. Twitter :unhappy: *** YPSH Staff edit below*** We have made contact and Mass Media is still open. A good number of staff have been let go because they are having problems, but staff remain and still working on Home peojects like Midway 3.
IREM technically hasn't left Home. It's still here under the umbrella of Granzella. It appears that Granzella may have bigger and better things planned although we'll have to wait and see. Would be nice to get an official statement from the Home team. Possible someone else might pick up the Home development. I would have thought sales of Dusty would have been enough to save any company!
Well I don't know if their products will be going away. I hope they are able to keep the current stock of items and spaces online, at least for a while. I do want to go back to Midway to try and play through some more of the games. I also see that the green ticket is on the top 10 list (I've been on a SD tv the past week or so and can't actually read what kind of top 10 list it is) so I hope they don't just disappear like Irem. Only time will tell, though I wouldn't expect any new items from them.
Wow, that sucks. I hope they'll at least keep the Midway spaces and their rewards open. I'd love those very much.
don't tell they are closing i still have to many items i want to win there and no money to get tickets ( like i have ever bought any lol). i i hope if they are planning on closing those spaces that the let us know a few weeks ahead of time so i can live in that space till then lol.
I'm surprised. I know some of the products in Home were pretty well received. Some of the newer stuff like the baboon butts, and huge behinds weren't my style. But there's been plenty of stuff I thought would have made enough profit for them. ...
Be a shame to see them go, if it turns out that way, we could be facing more spaces being removed. As for Jetset Games,we infact heard from them today "At this point, we don't have any projects in development for PlayStation Home, but we'll definitely be in touch if we do so in the future.
This blog post was on Oct 29, so there might be hope as to having the space stay...at least in the short term. Thanks for the info...too bad for JetSet...I liked the concept of Conspiracy. I know nDreams has a spy game coming, so it might not be missed too much
nDreams game is already out btw, It's in EU and Asia, in the new core space that the US don't have just yet.
Oh...well now I have to try and dig up my EU or Asia acct. Why does EU always get everything good J/K.
ndream's game is nothing compared to jetset's game. ndream's game is fun from the half game i got to play in eu lol
Hate to say this, but you're going to be real let down if you're expecting the nDreams "spy game" to be anything even close to Conspiracy. First of all its nDreams, so its pay-to-play and second, it is very basic and relies on AI that is poorly programmed again (or at least programmed in a way that will force you to spend a lot of $ if you are going for the rewards). No comparison at all between the 2 games. In regards to developers "closing their doors"...unfortunately I think we will continue to see it. This is what I have been concerned about most since they made the announcement a long time ago that Home was heading in the direction of supporting and depending on indie/start-up developers. Don't get me wrong, I give a lot of credit to any company that is trying to get going, but for some I think it's just a trial to see what they can do in the industry and if they can make some money. If it doesn't work or they can't deal with the all of the hassles of Home development, integration or taking Jack Buser seriously, then it's oh well c ya. In other words, Home is like a training ground and that takes away from its luster a little bit imo. Why don't Rockstar, EA, Slegehammer, Activision, Ubisoft, Eidos and a lot of the other major PS3 developers play a bigger role in Home? Well, they are probably busy making games--why would they want gamers to be in Home? These are just my thoughts and opinions so no one needs to get their panties all in a wad. lol I like Home for the ever-changing world that it will continue to be...and I enjoy the stability of major developer gaming too.
Ever consider maybe he's a disgruntled coder who got let go? I mean "closing their doors" can be a play on words... yes it could mean the company is closing and going under. But, it could mean they no longer wanted that person and 'closing their doors' to that specific person. The blog was back in what October? If Mass Media was closing they or the HSM group would have made an announcement...
You are right, it is scary to see developers fail when thier support of Home was so important early on, BUT it is also important to remember that Mass Media also had projects outside of Home that are finished and so thier closing may be due to other factors not related to Home.
Yes true, I don't want to make any assumptions as we don't know anything for sure, but you can kind of see a trend developing with Irem closing (and Granzella is not the same as Irem to me at all), EA pulling out and companies like Jet Set and Ford not having any projects in the works for Home. These are indicators of something to me.
kitty you might be right but how long has it been since mass media has done anything new in home since that blog?? it could be cause of home or not or could be a mad that he was let go. right now all we can do is guess cause like always we are left to talk amongst ourselves till we have word from the home team ( which might be a week before the spaces close lol) or from mass media themselves. so for me i might just start spending more long hours in the midways to get all the items i want from it ( man that is going to take forever lol ).
