Rumor - Sony dissolving Zipper

[thedeparted]

Sony may be in the process of deconstructing Zipper Interactive, creators of the SOCOM: Navy Seals franchise. According to Kotaku, the studio has suffered a huge wave of layoffs and had an upcoming project cancelled, a one-two punch indicating that Sony may be closing the studio wholesale.

Once upon a time, SOCOM (and Zipper) were among Sony's most valuable first-party properties, but the series did not transition well from the PS2 to the PS3. SOCOM 4, was released last year during the PSN blackout, which would kill the sales of any shooter.

Outside of SOCOM, Zipper gambled big on its massive online-only shooter, MAG, which didn't produce the results they would have liked. Most recently, the studio contributed to the PS Vita launch library with Unit 13, a third-person shooter.

Without any word from Sony, we'll have to wait and see if these reports translate into Zipper's demise, reconstruction or anything at all.

[Via Kotaku]




Another studio going buy buy this gen, the list is getting bigger.

Edit: Rumor should be added to thread title.

[CraeSC111]

Damn I used to love the socom series. And mag wouldn't have failed if more people had played. Full battles were super fun

[thedeparted]

Damn I used to love the socom series. And mag wouldn't have failed if more people had played. Full battles were super fun

Well yeah :P that goes without saying. I wonder if Sony will let Socom die or have another dev do it

[CraeSC111]

Probably let it die. I don't think it was terribly popular.

[thedeparted]

The ps2 versions sold fairly well if i recall, but you're probably right. Seems like if a game isn't making mega bucks the big guys shut em down.

[Bertrum]

I think it's more likely Sony will let Socom die, with the likes of cod and bf, breaking into the shooters market will be hard for anybody, even for an established series like Socom.

[CraeSC111]

I don't think socom would have to worry too much about CoD and BF because its more of a tactical shooter.

[Bertrum]

Yeah, but if you say to 1000 people. Name a shooter, I doubt any would say anything other than BF Cod or Halo. To me it seems their dominance of the market is causing all types of shooters to lose out.

[thedeparted]

Ya don't have to sell COD/BF/Halo numbers to make a profit. So that shouldn't the goal. The goal should be making a profit.

[Bertrum]

What I meant was for people who are going to buy their first shooter or even another shooter for their collection, due to the immense popularity of the 3 I mentioned, games like Socom rarely get a look in.

[Jaykub]

Fixed the Thread title.

[thedeparted]

What I meant was for people who are going to buy their first shooter or even another shooter for their collection, due to the immense popularity of the 3 I mentioned, games like Socom rarely get a look in.

But Socom had a really good following, there were a decent amount of people still playing online deep into this gen. Maybe people just got exhausted from the IP and the sales dropped. That has happened to franchises before.

[Bertrum]

Indeed it has happened before. And I guess it's going to continue happening now really. You have to get a lucky break to be a popular game these days