10 Beloved Video Game Studios That Publishers RUINED

"That beloved project that you've been working on? Just do Call of Duty instead."

by Ewan Paterson
Activision

As with any other medium, those who love and consume video games tend to follow specific creators wherever they go. The likes of Rockstar, Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games have all developed reputations for putting out consistent, high quality work, and all enjoy the advantageous position of being supported by strong parent companies; none of the previous three have ever had to worry about being yanked off their next title to support a different series, or have their offices gutted thanks to some restructuring.

However, not every studio is as fortunate. Sadly, for the last few decades, numerous studios have fallen to the wayside thanks to mismanagement from various video game publishers. Some were responsible for some of the best loved games of the last couple of console generations, but today, they're either dead, or have long since transformed into something unrecognisable.

It's a sad reality of the industry today that video game development is fraught and occasionally torturous, but it can be made so much worse given just the wrong push from a given publisher.

The following studios were given that exact push, whether by being forced to adopt a specific engine, shift development to support a different title or just by being liquidated entirely.

One thing's for certain though: No matter their fate, they're definitely not what they used to be.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.

Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked full time as a content producer at WhatCulture for nine years. In that time he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple channels, specialising in subjects such as gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 most listened to gaming podcast in the UK that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, covered breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.