Factor 5 Inc. officially shuts down

PALGN News | The developers of Rogue Squadron say goodbye.

The San-Rafael based studio Factor 5 Inc. has announced that they have closed their doors. On their official website, an announcement has been left by Archim Moller, CEO of Factor 5 GmbH, explaining the situation.

He explains that, "obstacles created by the sudden bankruptcy of Brash Entertainment for the continuation of operations have turned out to be too great to overcome in the current economic climate."

However, the company's European branch, Factor 5 GmbH, which has been creating games at the company's headquarters since 1988 in Cologne, Germany, will be unaffected by the closure of the American Factor 5 Inc.

Factor 5 are mostly famous for the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron games, but also for Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine and the recent critically-panned Lair.

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9 Comments

jedi022

2 years ago

Well this just sucks. Were will my Rogue Squadron games come from now since Lucasarts seem to be focused on Clone Wars stuffage. How about a re-release with updated graphics? Shouldn't be to hard to implement.

Jaws

2 years ago

jedi022 wrote

Were will my Rogue Squadron games come from now since Lucasarts seem to be focused on Clone Wars stuffage.

Your Gamecube or N64. I doubt we'll ever see the series brought back unfortunately.

notsofat

2 years ago

hmmm

if they didn't bail on gamecube and stuck with full support of nintendo, maybe they could have ridden the wii's success wake all the way to not being bankrupt/riches

mantra79

2 years ago

notsofat wrote

if they didn't bail on gamecube and stuck with full support of nintendo, maybe they could have ridden the wii's success wake all the way to not being bankrupt/riches

Or not made Lair

iCE

2 years ago

Such a shame, Some of my earliest gaming memorys come from Star Wars: Rouge Squadron on N64.

Jarrod

2 years ago

It was a downward spiral from the start.

- Factor5 were interested in working with Nintendo. Nintendo were being tight lipped about what their next system would be. Factor5 needed to make a game to pay their staff and thus could no wait.

- Factor5 attempted to do a Rogue Squadron Trilogy for the Xbox that, for whatever reason, never got off the ground.

- Factor5 needed a project, Sony jumped on it, offering them the chance to do their own IP. Also talked with them about doing a couple of other PS3 and PSN games.

- Lair development was a mess. Staff left, deadlines were missed, development problems, etc. Game sold badly. Sony were not pleased, and scrapped any future plans for other Factor5 titles.

- Factor5 needed work. Began conceptual working. Likely tried to get a Kid Icarus Wii off the ground along with Pilotwings.

- Factor5 made a deal with Brash Entertainment to make a Superman game for the PS3/Xbox360/PC. This was their major project, dedicating majority of their workforce.

- Brash Entertainment filed for bankruptcy, leaving Factor5 in a very serious situation; the need to pay staff, the need for a project, running out of money.

- Factor5 begins to lay off staff. Still attempts to get contractual work.

- Damage control; Factor5 begins to assign their Germany HQ various contract work and reposition key staff there. Germany HQ was, prior to this, more of a PR front run by one guy, with actual development mostly headed by Factor5 USA.

- Factor5 USA shuts door. Company largely in serious need of contract work. Not entirely shut down though, as they cleverly pawned off contract work and staff to the German HQ to start afresh.

We'll see their new stuff soon me thinks.

jedi022

2 years ago

Jaws wrote

jedi022 wrote

Were will my Rogue Squadron games come from now since Lucasarts seem to be focused on Clone Wars stuffage.

Your Gamecube or N64. I doubt we'll ever see the series brought back unfortunately.

I guess I should of mentioned the word "sequels" in my original post. Damn it Lucasarts this is a successful series! Make Rogue Squadron 4 damn it!

the doag

2 years ago

Lair buried them really that's all it is.

Jarrod

2 years ago

the doag wrote

Lair buried them really that's all it is.

No it's not.

Lair's disaster cost them a contract with Sony, but they had a contract with Brash Entertainment afterwards that, had it panned out, would have put the company in a safe financial position.

Brash went bankrupt. Factor5 lost the contract, which they had no control over, and they were ultimately screwed.

Lair was just one problem of many.

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