Remember Spark Unlimited, the company which developed Lost Planet 3 and Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, both which saw mediocre critical and commercial success? It was recently revealed via NeoGAF that the developer was auctioning office equipment, which prompted rumours of it shutting down.
Those rumours turned out to be true as former Spark Unlimited CTO John Butrovich stated to Polygon that, “It’s the end of Spark as a game developer.” All employees have been laid off and current projects have been cancelled. This included an unfinished free to play title, though current projects which still make money are now being handled by a trustee.
Spark Unlimited first came into its own with Call of Duty: Finest Hour which was the first console-based title in the franchise (based off of the PC version created by Infinity Ward) and served as the company’s highest rated game till date. The studio also created Turning Point: Fall of Liberty and Legendary for previous generation consoles.