Home Gaming The guys that made Aliens: Colonial Marines just got fired

The guys that made Aliens: Colonial Marines just got fired

57 second read
33

ACeM

No, not the guys from Gearbox, they’re too busy swimming in Borderlands 2 money. No, the outsourced guys who actually made game, TimeGate Studios, has apparently laid off its entire staff.

TimeGate, developers of Section 8, were contracted to piece together Aliens: Colonial Marines from random bits of ideas that Gearbox had lying around. According to Kotaku, they’re now essentially closed, having got rid of all of their staff, save perhaps for a receptionist.

As much as I’d love to hate them for the abomination that is Aliens: Colonial Marines, I think they’re the scapegoats in this situation – and the blame should lie entirely at Gearbox’s feet.

Of course, TimeGate’s demise wasn’t entirely unexpected; the company’s recently filed for bankruptcy, following a bitter, 4-year bout of litigation with publisher SouthPeak Interactive over “fraudulent misrepresentation.”

I don’t hold TimeGate in particularly high regard (Section 8 just wan’t my kind of thing), but people losing their jobs suck, no matter who they are.

Last Updated: May 10, 2013

33 Comments

  1. umar bastra

    May 10, 2013 at 09:08

    Lol Geoffrey …. you do know a semi-colon is not used to contract words 😛 …… Almost every single article you do has a semi-colon in place of an apostrophe lol, I guess that’s the Geoffrey stamp of awesomeness on an article

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Combat Engineer

      May 10, 2013 at 09:12

      Just checking if you are aware of the Anti-Trolling achievement we have running currently?

      Reply

      • umar bastra

        May 10, 2013 at 09:16

        So is everyone trying not to troll ? Was unaware of this latest development.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief Combat Engineer

          May 10, 2013 at 09:17

          Yessir. one week.

          Reply

          • umar bastra

            May 10, 2013 at 09:21

            I’m not interested in achievements, I will then be the one that tries to get people to troll

          • Trevor Davies

            May 10, 2013 at 09:25

            I am invincible!

          • umar bastra

            May 10, 2013 at 09:32

            No man is invincible. Even superman has a weakness….. *Evil Grin*

          • Rince da Ref Lvl2

            May 10, 2013 at 09:25

            Oh, I thought that was just a social experiment between you and Deon? I have the calculations pending. You owned the experiment like a boss. Deon was like some cheap drunk girl at a high-end cocktail party, and flirted with his demise a bit too much…

          • Admiral Chief Combat Engineer

            May 10, 2013 at 09:39

            Why thank you sir

    • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

      May 10, 2013 at 09:12

      Gah! Terrible typing habit I can’t shake.

      Reply

      • umar bastra

        May 10, 2013 at 09:17

        Haha, It’s awesome, don’t shake it! Almost like Steins;Gate

        Reply

      • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

        May 10, 2013 at 09:17

        It’s because the apostrophe is right next to it. Don’t worry. We all understand man. I’ve done it often enough

        Reply

    • Warren Lombard

      May 10, 2013 at 15:07

      Every time someone makes a typo the errorists win.

      Reply

      • umar bastra

        May 10, 2013 at 15:28

        I see what you did there Mr Smarty Pants, upvote

        Reply

  2. Admiral Chief Combat Engineer

    May 10, 2013 at 09:08

    Its sad that people lost their jobs, and I’m kinda with you on the whole scapegoat setting. But in business, if you fail to meet your project deadlines/deliverables, there must and should be repercussions.

    I hope at least that Gearbox learns from the situation and grow from the experience.

    Reply

    • Rince da Ref Lvl2

      May 10, 2013 at 09:16

      I don’t know hey. If you are given X amount of money and told to finish something or you are going to get sued, that’s the top brasses problem, not the coding guy in the back. This whole thing was piss poorly managed by Gearbox. They had a contract they fucked with SEGA, as forcing them to meet an unrealistic deadline. The staff shouldn’t have to pay for the fuck ups of management. My opinion. AND… LE! Oh yeah baby!

      Reply

  3. Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

    May 10, 2013 at 09:09

    That’s not cool. The game was pure failure but they were simply following the requests (or at least lack there of) from Gearbox.

    Although it’s interesting to see that they were also a “fraudulent misrepresentation” case. Very much what the did with A:CM. It was gross misrepresentation.

    Either way, I hope the people laid off can find their feet quickly. In this day and age it’s a devastating blow to lose ones job. Especially if it isn’t even directly your own fault 🙁

    Good luck to them all.

    Reply

  4. Admiral Chief Combat Engineer

    May 10, 2013 at 09:09

    Another question for you Mr Tim:

    Between ACM and the new Star Trek game (starring Spirk), what would you rate as the worse of the two?

    Reply

    • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

      May 10, 2013 at 09:09

      He’s going to say Star Trek. I have this feeling.

      Reply

  5. Rince da Ref Lvl2

    May 10, 2013 at 09:13

    Agreed. I read about this last night while shovelling food down my throat so I wouldn’t have to put up with Top Drilling and thought to myself ‘fuck that’. These poor chaps only do what they are told. Blame sits on Gearbox for not giving them the correct fucking brief!

    Reply

    • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

      May 10, 2013 at 09:15

      They gave them the brief (note brief) overview and that’s where it stopped

      Reply

  6. OVG OfflineVideoGamer

    May 10, 2013 at 09:16

    Why is game politics so crazy? Movies and music are a walk in the park next to this dog eat dog industry.

    Shit man, it is only a TV game. Was it like this in the 90s? I was to young and Internetless to give a shit other than just press start after checking what new game arrived at the video store.

    Reply

    • Rince da Ref Lvl2

      May 10, 2013 at 09:19

      Oh, don’t be fooled. Movie politics is equally as messed up. Downey Jr was made just under 100 mil for Avengers, where someone like S L Jackson made like 5 mil. Now Jr has Marvell over a barrel for the next Avengers.

      Reply

      • silverscorpio

        May 10, 2013 at 10:28

        Downey Jr proabably also got to keep the Iron Man Suit. Samual Jackson got to keep the eye patch.

        Reply

        • Rince da Ref Lvl2

          May 10, 2013 at 10:31

          Hahahahah! Nice 😉

          Reply

    • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

      May 10, 2013 at 09:31

      • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

        May 10, 2013 at 09:32

        Edit: I see @rincethis:disqus beat me to the mention of this

        Reply

  7. silverscorpio

    May 10, 2013 at 10:23

    I am all for any person losing their job if they think “always online” is the way to go, but it must be the idiot that first sold everyone else on the idea and not a scapegoat.

    Reply

    • silverscorpio

      May 10, 2013 at 10:25

      PS: Not that Aliens had always online but dev’s and publshers in general that think it is a good idea.

      Reply

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