I periodically just do a general search for the developers of Twisted Metal because I'm always interested in their success.  Even though the last Twisted Metal didn't impress me much, I still recognize the team worked hard on it and that the ESP team had a great deal of people who helped make the Twisteds I did like (claims that ESP had ALL or MOST of the team were always a bit bonkers though).

As some may remember, last year we read how some Disney Avalanche Software employees (when Incog broke up, some went to ESP, some went to Lightbox, and some went to Avalanche Software (some of my faves actually)) joined a new developer set on doing augmented virtual reality.

Well, apparently later that same year Eat, Sleep, Play became a part of that developer.

Then this year all hell broke lose.  Funding dried up and the Eat, Sleep, Play studio, in its entirety, was shuttered, along with the Avalanche team.

This means only the very, very small Lightbox Entertainment exists as a survivor of the once powerful Incognito Studios.

So much happens in 16 years. It's crazy.

https://www.polygon.com/2017/6/26/15877804/castar-shut-down
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-06-27-castar-reportedly-shut-down
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-11-02-castar-adds-entire-eat-sleep-play-dev-team-to-utah-studio

It's insane to think of all the great games Incog made. I throughly enjoyed them until Warhawk came out and they sort of fell off. It still annoys me how much Eat, Sleep, Play seemed to be shafted during the development of Twisted Metal..they always felt like Sony's illegitimate American bastard child who always ended up overachieving yet never got the support it needed.

Just got the news from Wikipedia that ESP shut down on June 26th 2017.

Thanks for all the great games guys, hope you do well in whatever you do in the future.

And thanks so much to David Jaffe as well who took the time to make a wonderful and heart rending obituary to the team he once made beautiful magic with together on his Twitter page:

Really taking the breakup hard, eh?

https://www.polygon.com/2017/6/26/15877804/castar-shut-down
poor ESP & Avalanche. no Augmented Reality game coming from them in the future. i was hoping for the Twisted Metal version of Pokemon Go but oh well  ;D.
Scott Campbell's career in gaming looks to be over, doesn't it?
Didn't see the tweet from Jaffe though, or were you joking Archminion?
So to recap - EatSleepPlay was co-founded by Jaffe and Campbell - Jaffe ditched them for Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency & Drawn to Death basically died on arrival after years of development and beta testing while EatSleepPlay tanked after a few mobile games and an attempt at an AR virtual reality project with people from Avalanche Software. Wouldn't surprise me if Bartlet closes down shop in the near future, although they might get at least another shot since Sony is way too forgiving.
But best of luck in the future to the people who were at EatSleepPlay, who released fun titles like TM Extra Twisted Edition & Calling All Cars, and Avalanche Software, who did the Disney Infinite & the Cars series games.

I genuinely hope that those guys and jaffe go on to make some great games if the passions still there.
I personally really liked Head On and wouldn't mind a game that had Scott Campbell involved again.

We'll see I guess.. .

There was no tweet Mosh

Archminion wrote on 09/02/17 at 09:02:13:

I genuinely hope that those guys and jaffe go on to make some great games if the passions still there. I personally really liked Head On and wouldn't mind a game that had Scott Campbell involved again. We'll see I guess.. . There was no tweet Mosh

Yeah, I hope the best for Scott C. and the others too. He's a good guy. I just don't see how he can rebound now... but yeah, we'll see. I loved Rogue Trip, Head-On, and War of the Monsters, etc. He's done a lot but never got much recognition.

I'm surprised there is no tweet from DJ tbh. Is it possible he doesn't know?

I feel that it just reinforces the rumour that there was an actual fall out don't you think?

I was always under the impression that Jaffe was in fairly constant contact with S.C?

If there was a fall out then that's a shame.

Egos break up so many great relationships.

Not saying thats the case here but, ...would not be surprised nevertheless.

There was clearly friction between several people in the project.  That's not me guessing, they pretty much said that on numerous occasions.

There was Twisted Metal Metal Small Brawl, where Jaffe indicated it was his idea but he wanted it to be "more mature and less kid oriented."  There was Heartland which Jaffe indicated he wanted to be more mature and hardcore, and Incog wasn't really in to it.  There was Calling All Cars where Jaffe said he wanted it to be more mature and have more sex in it . . . there was Twisted Metal 2012 where Jaffe indicated they had a lot of disagreements about the content itself.

When Jaffe finally broke away he got to make the "mature" game he'd always dreamed of.

Anyway, I appreciate all of their efforts.  I hope they all see success because without them none of the amazing games we love would have happened.  It sounds like any hope of a Twisted Metal from the true originals is gone . . . but honestly it's been that way since 2007.

Best wishes to all of them.

Even Jaffe.