007 Legends studio Eurocom shuttered, remaining staff made redundant
Eurocom, the studio behind the poorly-received 007 Legends and 007 GoldenEye: Reloaded has been shuttered, and all remaining staff have been made redundant. Get the official statement below.
Note: this is a breaking story. I'm adding to it as news comes out. Bear with us.
Another studio to befall the curse of Bond, Eurocom's closure follows the demise of Project Gotham Racing studio Bizzare Creations which parted the industry farewell with 007: Bloodstone.
Eurogamer received an official statement on the matter today:
"Today Dean Nelson, from Midlands business advisory firm Smith Cooper, was appointed Administrator of Eurocom Developments Limited, who have been experiencing financial difficulties due to expected contracts being delayed, which has resulted in a severe cash flow shortage.
"Since 2008, there has been a steep decline in the sales of Console and PC games, which has led to a severe contraction in the number of new games being commissioned from global publishers of entertainment software. The company has also faced intense competition from developers in countries with lower costs or those subsidised with generous games tax credits.
"As a result of pressure from HMRC, the directors of Eurocom filed a Notice of Intention to Appoint an Administrator at Court in order to allow time for attempts to save the Eurocom business. The Administrator and the company's directors have been negotiating with customers surrounding new contracts to develop console games, however these contracts could not be secured in time and due to insufficient funds to pay outstanding wages, Eurocom today entered Administration.
"As a result, the remaining 42 employees have been made redundant today and the business has ceased to trade after some 25 years, having grown organically to become one of the largest and most prolific independent console games developers worldwide.
"The Directors of Eurocom would like to offer their heartfelt thanks to all their staff that have been made redundant at this difficult time, and show their appreciation of all of their hard work in consistently delivering exceptional games."
Dean Nelson, one of the administrators added, “Whilst this is unfortunately the end of the established Eurocom business, efforts are continuing behind the scenes to attract interested parties to Derby in order to help fill the void left by Eurocom. We are still hopeful that there will in the future be a specialist software business operating in Derby in place of Eurocom, but the focus will be completely different and therefore this is sadly the end of the console games development business.”
Eurocom's latest title was the loose Skyfall tie-in 007 Legends, which currently hold ratings of 45% and 41% on Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively.
Founded in October 1988, the UK-based studio has a long list of games under its belt, including many Bond titles such as Nightfire and The World is Not Enough, plenty of 16-bit console ports, and even Mortal Kombat 4 on PC and consoles.
The studio was developing Harry Potter: Kinect when it was closed. We've asked Warner Bros. for a status update.
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