Codemasters Lays Off Senior Onrush Devs Following Low Sales

Drawing on a hodgepodge of genres and games, Onrush is a vehicular combat game that tosses into arcade style, off-road racing mayhem. Developed by Codemasters, this game simply didn’t sell well. It sold only about 1,000 physical copies in the UK during its launch week. These abysmal numbers were followed by studio layoffs, including Driveclub and Onrush director Paul “rushy” Rustchynsky and other senior team members.

Sources who spoke anonymously to Eurogamer had plenty to say on the matter. Tom Philips reports:

People I’ve spoken to who wished to remain anonymous for the sake of their career described the studio as having been “decapitated” by these redundancies, with senior staff and lead creatives fired or required to re-interview for positions, although some junior staff are also affected.

Sources said the feeling among remaining staff was the team would now work as a support studio for other Codemasters titles, or on less-risky projects.

A Codemasters spokesperson weighed in on the situation, telling Eurogamer “it is normal course of business for game teams to evolve as projects launch and move into service, and as other new projects start. As such, it isn’t appropriate to comment on day to day movement of staff changes.”

Success in the games industry is a tricky thing. Whether it was marketing or the content of the game, for whatever reason Onrush failed to find its audience. And while games are art with real people behind them, it’s still a business at the end of the day. Hopefully those affected find new places to work and the studio can find its footing again. And who knows? Maybe this will be a hidden gem of this generation. Find out our current thoughts by reading our Onrush review.

[Source: Game Revolution]