Ready at Dawn is just the latest casualty of a market that is losing more and more pieces day by daybetween the failure of numerous studios, the reduction of others with related layoffs and a significant reduction in large productions in the traditional market. It is not the end, but it is undoubted that in the last two years there has been a downsizing of the traditional market, with a strong acceleration towards all those markets once seen as alternative, but which today appear in all their colossal force, such as the mobile one.
Ultimately, the trajectory of the studio founded by Andrea Pessino is that of the entire industry. The beginning on a medium project like Daxter for PSP, the huge success with the following God of War: Chains of Olympus, one of the best-selling titles ever for PSP, the confirmation and growth with important projects like the conversion of Okami for Nintendo Wii and God of War: Ghost of Sparta for PSP, relations with Sony are always improving which flowed into a triple-A production like The Order: 1886, used on several occasions by the Japanese company as a showcase of the power of PS4.
From the stars to the stables
Ready at Dawn’s growth seemed unstoppable, but the market decided that six-hour action games were no longer good enough: critics treated The Order: 1886 coldly and few bought the game, factors that in some way condemned the study, which was only at its first real error. De-Formers, the next game did not bring any results; the unstoppable growth had come to a brutal halt. What seemed to be a software house destined to do great things, finally had to sell yourself to Metawhich he used to support his failing VR business, which was seen by tech enthusiasts at the time as the future of video games.
Being acquired by a colossal multinational is seen by many as a great success and security, but in reality it often hides a much harsher and more difficult reality, as numerous cases have demonstrated over the years. In any case Ready at Dawn has developed at least two of the best VR titles for Meta that have ever come out on the market (of four in total). We are talking about the two Lone Echo, to be precise. Too bad that VR has not found the interest of (almost) anyone. The market never took off, the sector ended up in deep red and Meta has slowly decided to exit it, driven by the growing discontent of shareholders. Naturally, all the departments and related studios have paid the price, with the loss of thousands of jobs, including those of Ready at Dawn.
Why not sell the company to someone else? It’s hard to say, but we imagine that a studio that has been working on VR for years is not as attractive as one would like to believe in a market dominated by free-to-play and live services. Unfortunately, changing its focus is not a trivial operation like writing a comment on Facebook. It is much more practical to close it, saving money on salaries and ongoing investments.
This is an editorial written by a member of the editorial staff and is not necessarily representative of the editorial line of Multiplayer.it.
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