In recent days it has appeared in downtown Los Angeles an electronic billboard from the particular message. This is not an advertisement, but a celebration. About what? Of the development studios closed in recent months by various publishersSony and Microsoft in the lead.
On the poster you can read: “Dead but not forgotten” with a list of studios below which includes the year of foundation and the year of closure:
- Arkane Austin 2006 – 2024
- Roll7 2008 – 2024
- Tango Gameworkds 2010 – 2024
- Volition Inc 1993 – 2023
- London Studio 2002 – 2024
- +all those fired, restructured and “made redundant”.
There is also a final message, which reveals to whom we owe the billboard: “Thank you for your great games, from your friends at New Blood.“
Fresh blood
New Blood Interactive is an independent publisher that deals in particular with boomer shooters and in general with titles that look at the history of video games. Its catalog includes masterpieces such as Dusk (97% positive reviews on Steam out of more than 19,000), Amid Evil (94% positive reviews on Steam out of almost 5,900) and Ultrakill (98% positive reviews on Steam out of more than 100,000 ), developed by geniuses like David Szymanski and Arsi “Hakita” Patala. Also from New Blood is Gloomwood (95% positive reviews on Steam out of almost 5,000), the new stealth game from some of the authors of Thief: The Dark Project, the most important stealth game ever.
Journalist Stephen Totilo reached out to New Blood CEO Dave Oshry to talk about the billboard, learning that it is cost tens of thousands of dollars and that the initial plan was to include all teams closed in recent times. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough space and a choice was made. It’s also a shame for the failure to include a photo of Phil Spencer to symbolize the situation, as desired by Oshry. Unfortunately this could not be done due to legal problems.
