OnRush Developer Evo to Face Layoffs

Evo, the studio behind behind Driveclub and its latest title, OnRush, is facing some major difficulties following the failed launch of OnRush, which only managed to sell 1000 physical copies throughout the first week of launch in the UK. With the UK being a fan of racing titles, it is a bit of a shock, considering the decent reviews the racer received.

Nevertheless, the developer has been hit with layoffs.

In fact, the director of OnRush and Driveclub, Paul Rustchynsky, has been among those who have been laid off. This has been confirmed by multiple sources with Eurogamer.

Evo, which was once known as Evolution Studios, was picked up by Codemasters after Sony severed its partnership with the studio.

According to Tom Phillips at Eurogamer:

"People I've spoken to who wished to remain anonymous for the sake of their career described the studio as having been 'decapitated' by these redundancies, with senior staff and lead creatives fired or required to re-interview for positions, although some junior staff are also affected.

Sources said the feeling among remaining staff was the team would now work as a support studio for other Codemasters titles, or on less-risky projects."

The only good news to come of this is that the post-launch content schedule of OnRush will not be affected by these changes.

To put it simply, it sucks to see such an experimental title fail horribly, but at the end of the day, the gaming industry focuses on business, meaning that "formulaic safe" games will remain the norm.

Not that it is a bad thing, but I would personally love to see more experimental AAA games in 2018's catalog.