Eurocom, the developers of the recently released and massively panned 007 Legends were recently resized heavily, letting go of 150 of 200 staff members. Now, it’s been announced that the 25 year old development studio has been shut down, and all staff members have been made redundant.
“Today Dean Nelson, from Midlands business advisory firm Smith Cooper, was appointed Administrator of Eurocom Developments Limited, who have been experiencing financial difficulties due to expected contracts being delayed, which has resulted in a severe cash flow shortage,” read a statement from Eurocom earlier today.
“Since 2008, there has been a steep decline in the sales of Console and PC games, which has led to a severe contraction in the number of new games being commissioned from global publishers of entertainment software. The company has also faced intense competition from developers in countries with lower costs or those subsidised with generous games tax credits.
GoldenEye 007- Wii Gameplay
“As a result of pressure from HMRC, the directors of Eurocom filed a Notice of Intention to Appoint an Administrator at Court in order to allow time for attempts to save the Eurocom business. The Administrator and the company’s directors have been negotiating with customers surrounding new contracts to develop console games, however these contracts could not be secured in time and due to insufficient funds to pay outstanding wages, Eurocom today entered Administration.
“As a result, the remaining 42 employees have been made redundant today and the business has ceased to trade after some 25 years, having grown organically to become one of the largest and most prolific independent console games developers worldwide.
“The Directors of Eurocom would like to offer their heartfelt thanks to all their staff that have been made redundant at this difficult time, and show their appreciation of all of their hard work in consistently delivering exceptional games.”
“Whilst this is unfortunately the end of the established Eurocom business, efforts are continuing behind the scenes to attract interested parties to Derby in order to help fill the void left by Eurocom,” said Administrator Dean Nelson. “We are still hopeful that there will in the future be a specialist software business operating in Derby in place of Eurocom, but the focus will be completely different and therefore this is sadly the end of the console games development business.”
Eurocom has developed several notable titles over the years, most of them being James Bond titles. Some of their best games over the years have been 007: Nightfire, The World Is Not Enough, the Wii remake of GoldenEye 007, and the Xbox 360 and PS3 port of that, GoldenEye 007: Reloaded.
It’s a shame to see another studio go down like this. Thanks for all the great games, Eurocom.