Radical Entertainment to 'cease development of its own games'

The Prototype IP couldn't find a broad audience, says Activision.

Activision today announced that Canada-based Prototype developer Radical Entertainment will undergo significant layoffs that will result in the studio ceasing development of its own games. The layoffs will affect 89 people, or 1.5 percent of Activision's global workforce.

Apparently, the inability of the studio's first and only original intellectual property, the Prototype games, to find a major audience is partly to blame.

"Although we made a substantial investment in the Prototype IP, it did not find a broad commercial audience," Activision told Joystiq. "... The only remaining option is a significant reduction in staff. As such, some employees will remain working for Radical Entertainment supporting other existing Activision Publishing projects, but the studio will cease development of its own games going forward."

It's always a sad day when this happens to a studio in the industry we love. We wish nothing but the best to the folks at Radical Entertainment, who, aside from the Prototypes also made a helluva Incredible Hulk game with The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, which hit the Gamecube, Xbox and PlayStation 2 in the fall of 2005.

Staff article by Jonathan Davila (June 28, 2012) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this news article, you can update your bio from the Settings page.