Gazillion’s closure is one of those instances that left a dark mark on our industry. The developer behind Marvel Heroes Omega got shut down by Disney late last year, leaving employees high and dry and without benefits. The news also angered fans that had poured money into the superhero-laden game.
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While a lot of those problems remain unresolved, the remaining assets from the publisher have been picked up by someone else. Gamasutra recently reported that Trion Worlds has acquired all the remaining assets for the defunct company including all of its licenses, trademarks, patents, domains and game library. An exact purchase price wasn’t given.
It’s unlikely that assets surrounding Marvel Heroes are part of the deal since Disney has a firm grip on the superhero license. There’s also no word if any of the money from the sale will be going to the laid-off employees, but it’s not likely.
Trion is making the move in the hopes of extending its publishing release. Trion Worlds CEO Scot Hartsman recently spoke to VentureBeat about the purchase, explaining that it will help them gain tech and infrastructure for stronger publisher support.
“We want ourselves and other developers be able to make games and succeed and have sustainable life cycles,” Hartsman told VentureBeat. “Crunch and burn and lay off is unhealthy. We have tried to do things about it and we want to be a good member of the gaming ecology. We keep trying to do things to help other developers.”
When the employees were terminated last year, one of them spoke up over the hasty termination: “The ex-employee says he was terminated as of today, that Gazillion is being shut down entirely, and that Marvel Heroes will sunset this coming Friday, not at the end of the year as originally announced. The termination letter written by CEO Dave Dohrmann was shared with Massively OP and claims that banking creditors have effectively pulled the plug on the company, leading to the termination of almost every employee at the studio and the apparent renege of benefits including accrued PTO.”
It is good to see Trion Worlds move forward with a stronger portfolio. But hopefully some good news will come to those laid off by Gazillion last year. Maybe they could be hired on to bring the studio back to light with a new project…?
