1. 2000s Game Industry Event Timeline Jazz X Rivera

2. Closing of 38 Studios Date of the Event 06/2012 38 Studios, which released Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, a RPG which sold 1.2 million three months after release in 2012, had declared bankruptcy and had to lay off its entire staff. (Narcisse, 2012) The memo which was sent to all employees at the time read as follows: "The Company is experiencing an economic downturn. To avoid further losses and possibility of retrenchment, the Company has decided that a companywide lay off is absolutely necessary. These layoffs are non- voluntary and non-disciplinary. This is your official notice of lay off, effective today, Thursday, May 24th, 2012."

3. Closing of 38 Studios Continued There were many developers and designers out of work, causing a flood of talent looking for a studio where they can be an asset to. Curt Schilling's 38 Studios and Maryland's Big Huge Games was bankrupt and closed down. Epic Games formed Epic Baltimore, made up mostly of Big Huge Games employees, which was eventually renamed Impossible Studios. Epic Games would find that Impossible Studios wouldn’t be working out for them, and six months later the studio was shut down. (Reiley, J. 2009) The shut down of 38 Studios was an unfortunate one. When Epic Games reached out, and at least attempted to help by opening Epic Baltimore, it showed that the industry does have some heart in trying to help talented developers who were facing hard times.

4. Closing of 38 Studios Continued As a designer working in the game industry, the closing of 38 Studios would have made me more vigilant in the company or studio I was working for. Although it may have been ‘above my pay grade’, I would have liked to know if the studio I was working for was going through hardships that could not be resolved. I would like to know so I can prepare myself to what is coming next. A lot of designers were let go with nothing lined up as far as work goes. Although it wouldn’t change the way I conduct myself at work, the thought of something happening like that would be in the back of mind.

5. Six Days in Fallujah Date of the Event 04/2009 Six Days in Fallujah is a game that brought many controversies and upsets. Playing as Marines during the six day battle at Fallujah, many families and peace groups saw this game as a way for thrill seekers to play in a war that is still going on. The majority of the public simply wasn’t ready. The game has still yet to be released. (Reilly, 2009)

6. Six Days in Fallujah Continued Six Days in Fallujah brought a lot of negative attention to the gaming industry as a whole. Due to its controversial content following Marines in the war torn country of Iraq, the public wasn’t ready for such a game and a lot of its anger was aimed towards the game’s publisher, Konami. In April of 2009 Konami stepped down as its publisher. Without a publisher, Atomic Games had to let go of most of their crew, eventually taking a major hiatus. The prevention of the release of the game led some to believe that not all subject matter is on the table when it comes to making games.

7. Six Days in Fallujah Continued Being a combat veteran myself, I would have loved to be part of such a great idea such as Six Days in Fallujah. Seeing the controversies that ensued shortly after it was introduced to the public, it would have caused me to shift gears and direction if I wasn’t involved already. The developers and designers worked hand in hand with military personnel to ensure that the game was as accurate in terms of combat as well as through the mind of an actual soldier. The game is only as good as the research and heart that is put into it. I would have been displeased if I were in the industry at that time, as I am sure a lot of designers were when the game was never released.

8. PlayStation Portable Revealed Date of the Event 12/2003 At the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sony made a press release to the masses about the new PlayStation Portable. A completely new platform for games, the PSP was quoted to be the ‘Walkman of the 21 st Century’ by president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Ken Kutaragi. “The foundation of this new platform is Universal Media Disc (UMD), which comprises of a 60mm optical disc (1.8 GB) in a cartridge, developed by the Sony Group, utilizing its latest disc technologies.” (Brightman, 2003)The Nintendo at the time were the leaders of the hand held systems, and they were a bit surprised to see what Sony had in store.

9. PlayStation Portable Revealed Continued The PlayStation Portable made a huge impact on the gaming industry being a brand new platform for studios to release games on. When Sony first released the original PlayStation, eyes started to veer away from Nintendo and history seems to have repeated itself with the mobile gaming side. The specs involved were flawless. The UMD for instance, compared to cartridges, had a very fast manufacturing time as well as a great amount of storage space. The PSP was more than just a new way to play games on the go. It opened up more jobs and possibilities for future designers to go ahead and focus on another possible outlet to release their games on.

10. PlayStation Portable Revealed Continued Being able to see how far technology has come would have impacted me as a designer greatly. The gaming industry grows constantly, and fortunately it has been growing in a fantastically good way. I would have seen this as an opportunity to really take advantage of this new product. Given that the numbers looked really good for the PSP, I would have changed the course of my path in the gaming industry to utilize the platform and benefit from its high sales.

11. XBOX Live Date of the Event 11/2002 Microsoft released its secret weapon in 2002: Xbox Live. Microsoft now had a new outlet for developers to focus on the way they incorporated multiplayer and downloadable content into their games.

12. XBOX Live Continued Xbox Live was, and still is, a huge game changer in the industry. Benefits to the gamers aside, this allowed studios to make use of this amazingly innovative system such as creating downloadable content (DLC) for the games the companies release. “The first paid DLC also belonged to MechAssault. For $4.99, players could expand the game with two new game types and three new maps (in addition to the mechs, maps, and modes available for free).” (Futter, 2013). Given the chance to create titles and continue to work on them after release was a great feeling to a lot of developers. Imagine thinking to yourself how you wish you could have added a certain type of map in the game or change the way the main token in the game dressed. They were able to do that now being able to go back and create the DLC which can bring in extra income to the studio in between titles.

13. XBOX Live Continued If I were a designer at the time the Xbox Live was first revealed I would have been pretty skeptical to say the least. With the failure Sega’s Dreamcast had with its online features, I would have thought that it wouldn’t have lived up to its hype. I feel that the technology just wasn’t really there at the time to handle such a thought. Obviously I would have been wrong about that assumption. Witnessing the power Microsoft had created by utilizing the networks and really taking their time in making such an elaborate system I would have been over joyed with the possibilities the gaming industry would be offered in the years to come. My mind would have changed completely in the sense on how I would approach a game in the beginning stages of its creation. There are so many avenues that had opened up once Xbox Live was up and running.

14. Closing of LucasArts Date of the Event 04/2013 Founded in 1982 by George Lucas, LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC is a game producer and licensure. Its role as a game developer ceased to be after LucasFilm was bought by The Walt Disney Company. Disney later let go of all the staff of LucasArts and cancelled all of its current projects.

15. Closing of LucasArts Continued In response to the shutdown of LucasArts, Disney responds, “…we've decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games.” (Shreier, 2013) Over 150 employees of LucasArts were let go after years of hard work and dedication put forth into their games. Although Disney bought the company, they could have used these developers, at least a handful, to carry on the LucasArts legacy under the Disney umbrella. On a more positive note, Disney Interactive Studios will be reaching out to outside developers to develop any future Star Wars games. Allowing a fresh take on the world’s beloved franchise.

16. Closing of LucasArts Continued As a designer I would have been a bit heart broken to see how Disney acted out following the buyout of LucasFilm. I feel that Disney could have at least let the staff at LucasArts finish the current projects they were working on before letting them go allowing them to actually make a profit and have time to find another suitable studio where they can work at. The studio had some great projects in the mix and they couldn’t even share it with the world. On another note, I would definitely see this as an opportunity to maybe work on a Star Wars game in the future being that they will be looking for outside developers to work with. I would really focus on making sure that whatever work we create as a studio is protected in the event that something like this were to happen.

17. References Brightman, J. (2003, December 31). E3 2003: PSP Press Release. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20080323190851/http://www.gamedaily.com/games/playstation- portable/psp/game-news/e3-2003-psp-press-release/4356/3143/ http://web.archive.org/web/20080323190851/http://www.gamedaily.com/games/playstation- portable/psp/game-news/e3-2003-psp-press-release/4356/3143/ Futter, M. (2013, May 19). The Complete History Of Xbox Live (Abridged). Retreived from http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2013/05/19/the-complete-history-of-xbox-live- abridged.aspx?PostPageIndex=1 http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2013/05/19/the-complete-history-of-xbox-live- abridged.aspx?PostPageIndex=1 Narcisse, E. (2012, May 24). 38 Studios and Big Huge Games Shutting Down [Update]. Retrieved from http://kotaku.com/5913102/rumor-38-studios-shutting-down-big-huge-gameshttp://kotaku.com/5913102/rumor-38-studios-shutting-down-big-huge-games Reilly, J. (2009, August 6). Six Days in Fallujah Developer Cuts Staff. Retrieved from http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/08/06/six-days-in-fallujah-developer-cuts-staff http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/08/06/six-days-in-fallujah-developer-cuts-staff Schreier, J. (2013, April 3). Disney Shuts Down LucasArts, Cancels Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault. Retrieved from http://kotaku.com/disney-shuts-down-lucasarts-468473749http://kotaku.com/disney-shuts-down-lucasarts-468473749