In 2011, Mark Spenner founded the gaming studio “Rumble” (Towers & Titans). But a month ago, the CEO died of cancer. After that, everything happened very quickly. The owner Forte is closing the studio. All employees were laid off in a Zoom call. It lasted 5 minutes.
How was the studio closed? Web architect David Bethune writes on LinkedIn:
We were all just laid off and received a month’s salary as severance pay – this happened in a Zoom call that lasted 5 minutes.
The developer Forte recently closed the studio “Phoenix Labs” (Dauntless) in exactly this way.
Bethunde says that now that he no longer works in the field, he can say that the gaming business and the last two owners were absolutely ruthless.
The corporations are “chasing mythical future profits” and getting rid of the teams that actually do the work. He is tired of worrying about his career and his bank account.
The owner of Rumble, Forte, had previously closed the studio Phoenix Labs, which was known for Dauntless:
Dauntless Console Launch Trailer PS4
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Studio closes just one month after founder’s death
This makes the story particularly tragic: The end of Studio Rumble comes a month after the studio’s founder, Mark Spenner, died of cancer.
Design Director Phillip Chung mourned Spenner (via linkedin), calling him “Rumble’s greatest pillar” and the man they never wanted to lose.
What did the studio do? Rumble was founded in 2011 by developers who had previously worked at BioWare, EA and Zynga. The studio primarily designed free-to-play mobile titles such as Towers & Titans. According to the company website, the team had more than 25 employees and worked from an office in San Francisco, California.
Back in 2015, the majority of the shares were sold to the company iDreamSky in China, apparently to gain access to the Chinese market (via gamedeveloper). You need a partner in China to be able to distribute games there, otherwise you won’t get a license.
Once the shares in your own company have been sold and your fate is no longer completely in your hands, things can apparently take on strange traits, as the developers at Rumble have discovered.
As Bethune’s statements show, he apparently didn’t even know what big company he belonged to. He only found out that they had the same parent company as Phoenix Lab, which in May 2024 suffered the same fate as them now: A great MMO wanted to be like Monster Hunter World: Now the studio is facing closure