9 Amazing Video Game Developers Killed Off By Their Publishers

4. Clover Studio

Dead Space 3
Clover/Capcom

Founded: 2004

Defunct: 2007

What happened: Faced with a mass exodus of talent from the semi-autonomous studio, Capcom's hand was forced into shutting Clover Studio down in 2006, less than three years after it was founded.

Hideki Kamiya, Shinji Mikami and Atsushi Inaba, all bonafide legends in the industry, managed to push out an impressive, critically acclaimed portfolio of games (Viewtiful Joe and its sequel, Ōkami) in that short space of time, but their quality wasn't enough. Poor sales, combined with an air of dissatisfaction with Capcom for its reluctance to take risks with new IPs, led to Clover's aforementioned staff loss, leaving Capcom with little incentive to keep the lights on.

Kamiya, Inaba and Mikami continued their partnership post-departure, going on to form the independent PlatinumGames which, if by some miracle you hadn't heard, continues to be rather successful. Mikami departed Platinum in 2010 to form the Bethesda-owned Tango Gameworks (of The Evil Within fame).

If only you'd been more open to new ideas, eh, Capcom?

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Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.