Disney confirms Black Rock closure

NewsPosted 01/07/2011 - 10:41am GMT+1

The Pure and Split/Second studio's latest game has not been greenlit.

Black Rock, the Brighton-based studio behind well received racing titles Pure and Split/Second, is to close after five years of Disney ownership.

The studio's 40 remaining staff will be made redundant following news that the current project was not greenlit by Disney.

A statement reads: "Disney Interactive Studios confirms that Black Rock Studios' current project has not been greenlit for further development, consequently the company informed employees yesterday of the intent to enter a consultation process on the proposal to close the studios."

The studio was believed to be working on ideas for social and mobile platforms, but any such plans are now dead.

Via Develop

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User Comments

Clockpunk

Daaaaaaaaaaamn, Disney are making some very strange decisions... canceling promising sounding titles and closing talented studios... it is almost as though they want to either fail or go completely Lego-based... either way, its not a direction I'm liking...

Posted 16:07 on 01 July 2011

draytone

It's a shame. Any studio based in the UK needs to be supported and being treated like crap from Disney.

Posted 14:49 on 01 July 2011

FantasyMeister

Pure was brilliant, a breath of fresh air in a stale marketplace. I could see Black Rock going on to develop something like a modern version of Rollcage or trying to compete with Wipeout.

I wish them all the best, it's a shame to see talent like that get split up, though it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see EA step in and keep them going, would be a great addition to their portfolio of studios.

Posted 14:47 on 01 July 2011

Timid

I agree with Dazzadavie, a Split/Second 2 would have really improved over the first game if it had been made. :O(

Posted 11:48 on 01 July 2011

Trip-l

Looks like these guys have suffered the same fate as Bizarre Creations. Damn shame that they both released every similar games at the same time, took sales from each other and both have now been deemed commercial failures. It appears to me that the real failure was the publishers putting these games out effectively head to head at a very tricky time of year, add to that RDR was storming the charts it all added up to 2 great games getting overlooked and 2 very creative UK studios closing.

Posted 11:16 on 01 July 2011