The video game industry is full of great game developers and publishers. Every year, gamers are showered with an abundance of great games from various studios around the world. Surely, developing great games would make for great job security. Well, that is not the case.
Game studios shut down all the time, which is unfortunate. There are several game studios that created amazing games but were unable to escape being shut down. Everything must come to an end, but fans of these studios wish it had come later rather than sooner.
10 Budcat Creations
Budcat Creations was an Iowa City-based game studio and was completely owned by the publishing giant Activision. The studio had their hand in a lot of games that were critically acclaimed. Even though Budcat Creations only made a few complete games of their own, their best work was on other titles.
Budcat Creations helped develop games franchises such as Guitar Hero, Madden, and Medal of Honor. The studio was owned by Activision at the time of its closure, but it had several partnerships with EA beforehand. Budcat closed in 2010.
9 Neversoft
Neversoft is another studio owned by Activision that didn't technically shut down, but the studio name is no longer active. This studio also helped develop games under the Activision umbrella like the aforementioned Guitar Hero. However, the studio also worked on the first Spider-Man video game on the PlayStation.
Neversoft also worked on the popular Tony Hawk Pro Skater series. The studio opened its doors in 1995 and closed them in 2013. Neversoft was merged with Infinity Ward, and the studio was shut down. The last game it ever worked on was Call of Duty: Ghosts.
8 Pandemic Studios
Pandemic Studios is mostly known for one of the best Star Wars game franchises in history: Star Wars Battlefront. The studio had two studios with one located in Los Angeles and the other in Brisbane, Australia. The original Star Wars Battlefront games were and still are beloved by many.
Destroy All Humans! was another notable title the studio developed. In 2008, Pandemic was purchased by Electronic Arts. In fact, Pandemic Studios was purchased alongside Bioware. The following year EA cut more than a thousand jobs under its umbrella. The layoff affected Pandemic drastically, and it shut down not long after.
7 Free Radical Design
Free Radical Design, also known as Crytek UK, developed the TimeSplitters games. This is the most notable franchise the studio worked on, which many people enjoyed. However, the studio then created Haze. Haze received a lot of attention up until launch when reception was very mixed.
Soon after the launch, Free Radical Design announced it went bankrupt and shut its doors. The shut down was in late 2008, but the studio's future did not end there. Free Radical Design was purchased by Crytek. Only a small portion of the Free Radical Design team was transferred over. The new studio, named Crytek UK, shut down in 2014.
6 Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was developed and published games under the same name. It was established in 1987 and shut down in 2004. The company developed and published plenty of games. Some notable titles include Turok and Burnout.
In 2003, the company filed bankruptcy and assets were sold. A few studios under the Acclaim Entertainment banner tried to get back up off the ground but were shut down quickly due to intellectual property disputes.
5 Ensemble Studios
Ensemble Studios has several great real-time strategy games under its belt such as Halo Wars, Age of Empire, and Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds. Some of these games are still being played today in more recent iterations. That said, Ensemble certainly left their mark on the RTS genre.
Microsoft acquired the company in 2001, which is a primary reason the studio got to develop the original concept of Halo, a real-time strategy game. Unfortunately, Ensemble announced it would be closing in 2009 after Halo Wars' development was complete.
4 THQ
THQ probably has one of the largest portfolios of games on this list. The company developed and published several different games from 1990 to 2013. THQ's portfolio is full of Nickelodeon licensed games such as Drake and Josh, SpongeBob SquarePants, Zoey 101, and Rugrats.
The most notable games THQ developed were Darksiders, Homefront, and Saints Row. THQ hit rocky waters when it was unable to pay back a loan to Wells Fargo. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2011 before shutting down in 2013. The following year Nordic Games acquired the THQ trademark and rebranded itself as THQ Nordic.
3 Lionhead Studios
This Microsoft owned studio was known for the fantasy-filled franchise known as Fable. Microsoft purchased the studio in 2006 due to the studio suffering from financial loss. After the purchase, many employees left the studio to develop their own.
Developers from Lionhead Studios went on to open Media Molecule and 22Cans. The last game Lionhead had been working on was Fable Legends, a cooperative take on the series. However, Microsoft announced in 2016 it would be shutting down the studio and canceling Fable Legends.
2 Telltale Games
Telltale Games was known for their episodic action-adventure games around popular licenses. Licenses like The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and Batman were some of their most popular. The studio was founded in 2005 by former LucasArts developers.
Their studio went on to develop great games that left people with tough decisions. In late 2018, the company announced it was shutting down after a team of essential develops completed the last season of The Walking Dead. The studio was then revived by LCG Entertainment acquired the Telltale assets and started the studio back up with new developers.
1 Visceral Games
Electronic Arts shut down Visceral Games in 2014 after the publisher was unsatisfied with its Star Wars game. The studio is known for the Dead Space series. Originally known as EA Redwood, the studio rebranded after the success of the first Dead Space.
Before Dead Space, Visceral Games worked on games such as Tiger Woods' PGA Tour and The Sims franchise. The studio even developed a Battlefield game centered around "cops and robbers." The last game the studio was developing was known as "Project Ragtag," a singleplayer Star Wars game.