Krome Studios (2000-2010)

[Escaflowne2001]

Austraila's biggest developer has gone under and will shut down on Monday.

Xbox Live Game Room didn't take off and now the developer behind it, Krome, is on the verge of collapse.

All staff have been let go and the Brisbane studio - once the biggest in Australia - will shut up shop on Monday, according to a report by Antipodean website Tsumea.

Krome Studios apparently had 400 staff when the credit crunch started chomping. The first exodus was in November 2009 when 60 staff were axed; a further 50 were chopped in April 2010; and in August, an estimated 100-plus were let go.

Game Room was released in the spring 2010 Xbox Live update. Microsoft's big idea was to let people collect old fashioned arcade units - virtual ones - and deck out amusement areas for other Avatars to visit. In reality, implementation was buggy and there were unattractive related costs: 240 MSP for an arcade unit (then free to play) or 40 MSP a play on a non-owned machine.

Retro-head Kristan Reed explored the Game Room service for Eurogamer at launch.

Krome Studios is also responsible for recent download game Blade Kitten, which Eurogamer kissed with 8/10 lipstick. Krome's most recent releases, in chronological order (starting with most recent) were Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes (3/10), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (4/10), Scene It? Box Office Smash (6/10) and Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Lightsaber Duels (2/10) .

What now appears to be Krome's final game, film tie-in Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole for PS3, Wii and Xbox 360, is out next Friday.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/company/43652.html

Don't think I played much from them. I was looking foward to play Blade Kitten but the trial really put me off.

[Dr. Bombay]

Ooh shit, I better buy Blade Kitten before Microsoft pulls it down then.

Anyway, it seems like they decided to start making good games too late (BK is actually pretty good).

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes (3/10), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (4/10), Scene It? Box Office Smash (6/10) and Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Lightsaber Duels (2/10)

I mean look at this. Paired with game room, they have spent the last 10 years making nothing but garbage. They finally decide to release a decent game to pull the nose up, but it's too little too late.

[Reality]

Oh man they made Xbox Live Game Room? All that thing did was take up space.

[Badrats Studio]

I want Blade Kitten. But only got PS3 in here. Anyone played that game ? Quick impression ?