After Motorstorm Apocalypse was delayed at the last minute due to “parallels” between the game and the tragic Japanese earthquake, the racer received less than stellar sales, despite rather high reviews. Matt Southern, Evolution Studios group game director, has revealed that he worried the commercial failure might have been the end of the developer.
But Sony stood by the company, with Southern telling Eurogamer TV:
[They have] defended us and protected us and allowed us to experiment.
He also talked about how the studio felt after the problems the game faced:
It’s been quite a tough year for us, especially early on in the year. We made a game we’re really proud of and for some really heartbreaking reasons things didn’t go so well. In perspective we’ve got nothing to complain about.
I was worried it might be the end of Evolution. Racing has had a very tough time, even without extraordinary circumstances like the ones we went through.
Luckily, instead of closing the company, Sony started investing in new games:
We split the company up into three teams, one making RC, one supporting MotorStorm Apocalypse post-launch with DLC and multiplayer, and another bunch of guys just brainstorming new ideas. In a climate like the one we’ve had this year, that is rare.
Once the Vita and PS3 PSN game Motorstorm RC was given the green light, Southern revealed:
We all started to pick ourselves up and get excited about it. We’re not out of it yet, [but] things are turning round, I think. The studio’s really, really buzzing now.
While it’s a shame that Apocalypse didn’t sell well, it’s great to see Sony sticking by their developer, rather than closing the studio like Black Rock and Bizarre Creations, two UK studios that released poor-selling racing games and were subsequently closed.
