10 Beloved Video Game Studios That Publishers RUINED
9. High Moon Studios
One of the many casualties of Activision's cutthroat approach to video game development, High Moon studios was effectively killed in 2013 when the publisher laid off 40 of its employees. Instead of leading development on its own games, the studio would be reassigned to lend support to Call of Duty and Destiny, a sad indictment of Activision's greed.
High Moon's Transformers games weren't incredible, but they were great. Starting first with War for Cybertron, the studio carved out a niche with one of the best developed license titles of the decade, bringing the Transformers back to their eighties roots by divesting from Michael Bay's films, which were still dominant in 2010.
It was everything that fans wanted and more, and it only improved with the sequel. Fall of Cybertron introduced the Dinobots, and chronicled the cyber-planet's dying days. It also included an enjoyable multiplayer mode, co-op survival, and pretty much every fan's favourite Transformer. The game even ended with the Transformers heading to Earth, but High Moon would never get the chance to finish that story, with 2013's Deadpool their final release.
It's a familiar story by now; Activision-owned studio produces several great games, before being restructured and sent to do nothing except support Call of Duty. Awful, awful stuff.
[Ewan Paterson]