Il y a déjà un bout de temps que qu´infogrames a fermé le studio de Microprose UK... depuis le mois de septembre 2002 :
13th September 2002
Here is some breaking Friday 13th news directly quoted from GameSpot.
" Infogrames has confirmed that the MicroProse UK studio responsible for Geoff Cramond´s Grand Prix 4 will be shut down on September 20. The studio currently employs 27 people and was the last UK-based studio under the MicroProse label."
" The only remaining US MicroProse studio is based in Sun Valley, Maryland. MicroProse, once a major PC game publisher, was acquired by Hasbro in 1998 and was a part of Hasbro´s later deal with Infogrames. When asked for comment, an Infogrames representative said, " MicroProse is a lesser label and has been for some time." Starting with the 2002 release of Neverwinter Nights, Infogrames turned to branding high-profile PC games under the Atari label."
As we already know, the core of Grand Prix 4 ( and all the other Grand Prix games) is owned by Geoff Crammond´s company Simergy. All the graphics, sounds and extra features were done by Microprose. MicroProse did also the management with the publisher Infogrames. When this link is now dead, Simergy will have to find a new publisher and gather a new team to do the same work as previosly done by Infogrames.
This also means that all the future releases are now suspended and delayed to unknown future. It includes also the proper GP4 patch to replace the current badly unfinished one.
Voilà, tout ce que l´on sait c que Infogrames va sortir un GP5 mais sans Crammond : ( et que Crammond est en train de développer un nouveau jeu du nom de " Stunt Car Racer Pro".
Une autre mauvaise nouvelles pour les joueurs sur PC et Xbox vient de tomber il y a peu, Sony a obtenu un contrat pour les 4 prochaines années avec la FIA pour exploiter la liscence officielle et à première vue il s´agirait de la seule que la FIA était prête à accorder aux développeurs de jeux vidéos....
@+
Didigp4
