I met a bunch of these guys last year at a press event for Web of Shadows. They were all really nice and I'm sad to see the studio get shut down.
Also, Web of Shadows was a kick ass game.
The Activision subsidiary was reportedly shut down because they didn't want to commit to a specific franchise.
Shaba Games has shut down according to Neogaf and Wikipedia. The Activision subsidiary developed last year's Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and also worked on many other well-received games, most in the extreme sports genres.
The reasons, according to an employee of the late studio, boils down to Activision wanting each of their studios to own a franchise. Unfortunately, Shaba didn't have a franchise.
We were almost the Spider-Man studio, but then the boss at Shaba didn't want to so we became a studio without a franchise or specialty," said the employee. "Bobby Kotick doesn't want a studio that has experience doing multiple genres. It was sad."
The Wikipedia page was mysteriously updated with a simple sentence: "Shaba Games was shut down and all staff let go on October 7th, 2009."
Our condolences go out to all the employees of Shaba Games and their families.
When 1up started the process of shutting down, there was one person who seemed to lead to charge to congregate the community in a single place. After his first visit here, it wasn't long before a slew of new members arrived. The site came alive and the real story of PixlBit began - the one that involves all of you. The person I'm referring to is, of course, Michael Alvarado, otherwise known as Michael117.
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