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Report: Bionic Commando Dev GRIN In Trouble

by Nick Breckon, Aug 10, 2009 5:34pm PDT

Swedish developer GRIN, most notably responsible for the recent Bionic Commando games, could be on its way to closing altogether according to a new Gamasutra report.

The company has already closed its studios in Barcelona and Gothenburg, and un-smiling employees have recently been told not to show up to work at its Stockholm headquarters.

GRIN saw a period of rapid expansion in recent years, culminating in the release of Bionic Commando, Wanted: Weapons of Fate and Terminator Salvation in the last five months.

Sales of the titles have generally been lower than expected, with the recent Bionic Commando selling just 27,000 units in its first month in US stores.

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25 Threads | 69 Comments

#49

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By: SpaecKow x Show Full Post

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I don't understand why? What was wrong with the game? I thought the general concensus was that it was decent?

Aug 11, 2009 12:59am PDT

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I don't understand why? What was wrong with the game? I thought the general concensus was that it was dec... : SpaecKow
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  I only played it briefly so far and have found what I played quite fun. Then other games arrived and I ... : humbleone
  - I think it got piss all marketing dollar from Capcom. Honestly, who other than the hardcore had even hear... : node
  - really hope* : humbleone
- It didn't sell at all. Something like 27,000 copies in the first month. : razlebol

#5

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By: MeestaNob x Show Full Post

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Are those sales figures across all platforms?

If so that is a big problem... hopefully someone steps in and saves them...

Aug 10, 2009 5:57pm PDT

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Are those sales figures across all platforms? If so that is a big problem... hopefully someone steps i... : MeestaNob
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  Across Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, yeah. : Nick Breckon
  - Wouldn't happen to know how the PC version has sold would you, or was the port outsourced? : MeestaNob

#47

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By: T-900 x Show Full Post

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Just rewards for selling out.

I remember the good days. The days of Bandits: Phoenix Rising, a totally original (if clichÃ©) post-apocalyptic car-combat game with unique/slightly sick humour, great music, great graphics and just.. so much fun.

Farewell, Grin. Hope to see whatever minds made Bandits work again =)

Aug 11, 2009 12:37am PDT

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Just rewards for selling out. I remember the good days. The days of Bandits: Phoenix Rising, a totall... : T-900
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- Ballistics was fantastic. But saying they had this coming for "selling out" is kinda lame. Companies do w... : node

#22

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By: harold.johnson x Show Full Post

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whenever i see something like "just 27,000 units in its first month in US stores", i badly want to see what the digital download sales were. it feels like only part of the story is being told.

that being said, i wonder how much the delay in getting rearmed on steam hurt them, if at all?

Aug 10, 2009 6:43pm PDT

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whenever i see something like "just 27,000 units in its first month in US stores", i badly want to see wh... : harold.johnson
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  Er, it was released for consoles first, the first month sales count only the retail sales for the 360/PS3 : Autocrawler
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    i don't understand the hate for the game. i've had nothing but fun with it, and i'm still getting money o... : harold.johnson
    - You must be thinking of Bionic Commando: Rearmed. : o0JediBeavis0o
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      This is the game we are talking about: http://www.shacknews.com/screenshots.x?gallery=11893&game_id=4748... : OmegaRed59
      
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      same game i'm talking about : harold.johnson
      
      It is a retail game, not XBLA. : OmegaRed59

#65

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By: jtthe2nd x Show Full Post

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I never saw a Bionic Commando tv spot and if I did I don't remember it. I think the only reason I knew the game even existed is because I go to gaming specific sites like the Shack.

Aug 11, 2009 11:03am PDT

I never saw a Bionic Commando tv spot and if I did I don't remember it. I think the only reason I knew th... : jtthe2nd

#4

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By: Begawkiness x Show Full Post

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Holy shit just 27k? That is an incredibly small number, though I do not remember any marketing for it really.

Aug 10, 2009 5:53pm PDT

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Holy shit just 27k? That is an incredibly small number, though I do not remember any marketing for it re... : Begawkiness
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  check this out http://www.shacknews.com/tag.x/Bionic+Commando : Dantarios
  - I think he means payed marketing, not website articles. : Anastomosis

#34

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By: silverback1138 x Show Full Post

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Am I one of the few people who enjoyed both GRAW and GRAW2? Seeing the comments here kinda makes me sad. I thought that they were well done and even better than the console versions. Too bad.

Aug 10, 2009 8:27pm PDT

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Am I one of the few people who enjoyed both GRAW and GRAW2? Seeing the comments here kinda makes me sad.... : silverback1138
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  I thought so too. After what was done to the Rainbow Six series, I thought Grin did a really good job in... : majinpsyduck
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    GRAW on PC was made by GRIN, the excellent GRAW games on consoles were made by Ubisoft (according to wiki... : SpeedComraD
- I thought that GRAW PC ports were really well done. Haven't tried Bionic Commando. I hope they stick arou... : te[R]ror

#50

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By: sanewave x Show Full Post

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one word, terminator.

Aug 11, 2009 1:00am PDT

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one word, terminator. : sanewave
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  i shoulda just posted "terminated" : sanewave
  - Yep, TS is a major pile 'o' crap. Almost as bad as G.I. Joe. : Snake&Crane

#59

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By: RookieCAF x Show Full Post

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Hopefully now we can get a decent successor to the original Ghost Recon. I don't rejoice in this news of people losing jobs, but sometimes it happens

Aug 11, 2009 5:48am PDT

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Hopefully now we can get a decent successor to the original Ghost Recon. I don't rejoice in this news of ... : RookieCAF
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  That's pretty naive. You're never getting the old Ghost Recon just like you're never getting the old Rain... : Tchest
  - Too bad really, I enjoyed the original Ghost Recon very much. : Snake&Crane

#58

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By: slackshoe x Show Full Post

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It's a shame if true. The two Bionic Commando games were great, I thought.

Wanted and Terminator could have been great, but they were obviously rushed out. Terminator in particular was awful. I think they bit off more than they could chew.

Aug 11, 2009 5:27am PDT

It's a shame if true. The two Bionic Commando games were great, I thought. Wanted and Terminator could... : slackshoe

#9

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By: Dr_Cube x Show Full Post

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True or false? When a studio starts taking on licensed property projects (i.e. movie tie ins and the like) they are in trouble, hungry for work, and as such it's time to think about jumping ship.

Aug 10, 2009 6:11pm PDT

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True or false? When a studio starts taking on licensed property projects (i.e. movie tie ins and the like... : Dr_Cube
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 6 replies.

#55

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By: guigr x Show Full Post

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I just played Rearmed deathmatch yesterday with friends.
It was messy but very fun (and I love the music!)

Aug 11, 2009 1:23am PDT

I just played Rearmed deathmatch yesterday with friends. It was messy but very fun (and I love the music... : guigr

#23

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By: Autocrawler x Show Full Post

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While their Bionic Commando Rearmed(not the 3rd person shooter, the 2d platformer) was amazing, I'm convinced it was a freak accident, given their other three releases. I won't be shedding any tears for those guys.

Aug 10, 2009 6:43pm PDT

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While their Bionic Commando Rearmed(not the 3rd person shooter, the 2d platformer) was amazing, I'm convi... : Autocrawler
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- Yeah, fuck them for having jobs! Wait, what? There were far worse games, and the Grin guys I met when I w... : node

#41

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By: Benoit Stordeur x Show Full Post

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This is sad, I thought Bionic Commando at least was a great game (as well as Rearmed). Good luck to ex-Grin employees for finding new jobs.

Aug 10, 2009 10:59pm PDT

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This is sad, I thought Bionic Commando at least was a great game (as well as Rearmed). Good luck to ex-Gr... : Benoit Stordeur
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
- I was really looking forward to it, blame the shit-tastic economy on my not having purchased it yet. : vertdang

#21

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By: critch x Show Full Post

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Wow. BC, Wanted, and Terminator. Weren't all 3 considered to be awful? Weren't they also full price games that could be beaten in about the time of watching a movie?

I shed no tears when a horrible developer goes out of business, I celebrate, and hope that whatever talent that company has ends up elsewhere.

Aug 10, 2009 6:41pm PDT

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Wow. BC, Wanted, and Terminator. Weren't all 3 considered to be awful? Weren't they also full price ga... : critch
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 5 replies.

#35

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By: mobab x Show Full Post

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I enjoyed graw on the xbox, but I wanted to play it using the keyboard and mouse. I tried ot play it on the PC and was quickly disappointed.

Aug 10, 2009 8:35pm PDT

I enjoyed graw on the xbox, but I wanted to play it using the keyboard and mouse. I tried ot play it on ... : mobab

#20

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By: FTY x Show Full Post

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Wasn't Bionic Commando delayed several times. I remember a lot of adverts and movies for this game a year or more back. At that time I was pretty thrilled, but aside from the so-so funny bionic arm adverts lately, I've lost all interest in the game through time.

Well the Ghost Recon games of them weren't that stellar either, two environments all the time, while the consoles got shit loads of them (let's not mention all the other stuff) taught me to think twice before buying a GRiN game, however Bionic Commando looked appealing, but as said, the appeal got lost through time, sadly.

Aug 10, 2009 6:38pm PDT

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Wasn't Bionic Commando delayed several times. I remember a lot of adverts and movies for this game a year... : FTY
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  Yeah, it was getting a lot of hype, especially after Bionic Command Rearmed. What sucked the wind out of ... : wilcon
  - Not only did the demo suck (from what I hear), but they didn't bother doing a demo for the PS3 (guess it ... : o0JediBeavis0o

#30

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By: TwwIX x Show Full Post

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Gee, i wonder why.

Aug 10, 2009 7:23pm PDT

Gee, i wonder why. : TwwIX

#28

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By: X-GOUKI x Show Full Post

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everytime i hear about these guys i think of the aweful GRAW on pc and BALLISTIC (which was a decent racing game)

Aug 10, 2009 7:05pm PDT

everytime i hear about these guys i think of the aweful GRAW on pc and BALLISTIC (which was a decent raci... : X-GOUKI

#10

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By: dangerdoggie x Show Full Post

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Movie licenses seldom pay out, especially when the movie itself is a dud like Terminator turned out to be, all these years waiting for more than a glimpse at the future war scenario and they couldn't even deliver a fraction of what James Cameron put into T1 & T2.

Aug 10, 2009 6:11pm PDT

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Movie licenses seldom pay out, especially when the movie itself is a dud like Terminator turned out to be... : dangerdoggie
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- The horrific game that they spit out didn't help them whatsoever. Not to mention the fact that the game ... : gekidoslair

#6

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By: SpeedComraD x Show Full Post

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These guys don't really make good games. It all started with the terrible GRAW game they made for PC.

Good riddance, if you ask me. They had basic skills down, but no creative powers to do anything extraordinary.

Aug 10, 2009 5:57pm PDT

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These guys don't really make good games. It all started with the terrible GRAW game they made for PC. ... : SpeedComraD
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
- Yea, it's a shame, but the only really notable title they did was the remake of the NES Bionic Commando. ... : roushimsx

#2

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By: Demond4231 x Show Full Post

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Bionic commando was a horrible port, "Press the A button to swing", press space bar and I swing. Wanted was just hilarious and I don't want to play Terminator. It just shows that you should either pump out games like there's no tomorrow (*cough* EA) or make high quality games like Blizzard. If you do either of those you will stay in business.

Aug 10, 2009 5:48pm PDT

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Bionic commando was a horrible port, "Press the A button to swing", press space bar and I swing. Wanted ... : Demond4231
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  3 games released in 5 months is a pretty furious pace for a developer : qwpeoriu
  - That is basically unheard of. This is such a shame to hear because Rearmed was really fun :( They should ... : pancake humper
  - Well it's not like they all came from the same house. They had three separate major studios cranking them... : roushimsx

#13

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By: mchart x Show Full Post

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Re-Armed was one of my top 3 games for 2008. The new Bionic Commando game is nowhere on my Top 3 list for 2009, but it's definatly a good game thats worth playing through at least once. Shame to see them close.

Aug 10, 2009 6:25pm PDT

Re-Armed was one of my top 3 games for 2008. The new Bionic Commando game is nowhere on my Top 3 list for... : mchart

#11

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By: fyrie x Show Full Post

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This is terrible news. Bionic Commando Rearmed is one of the best games I've played in several years. I guess this means the announced update to the game is canned too.

Aug 10, 2009 6:18pm PDT

This is terrible news. Bionic Commando Rearmed is one of the best games I've played in several years. I g... : fyrie

#1

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By: o0JediBeavis0o x Show Full Post

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That's a shame. I really liked both of the Bionic Commando games, but then again I was a huge fan of the original. Didn't bother with Wanter or Terminator because experience has taught me that you do not buy movie tie-ins. Oh well, hopefully someone will come along when I'm in my 50's and start that franchise up again. :(

Aug 10, 2009 5:43pm PDT

That's a shame. I really liked both of the Bionic Commando games, but then again I was a huge fan of the... : o0JediBeavis0o

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