Rumour: Sony to Close Zipper Interactive

So gone

by Sammy Barker Sat 24th Mar 2012

It sounds as though the lights could be dimming on SOCOM developer Zipper Interactive. Kotaku reports that Sony is currently in the process of laying off staff at the American studio, where project cancellations have put its future in doubt.

Zipper Interactive recently released the decent Unit 13 on PlayStation Vita and SOCOM 4 on PS3 last year. The latter was unfortunately caught in the middle of the PlayStation Network outage.

Sony’s yet to officially comment on the rumours, meaning there’s a chance it could be untrue. We hope so – we were really looking forward to a MAG sequel.

[source kotaku.com]

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

1
ShogunRok
Sat 24th Mar 2012

Not really surprising if true. Zipper haven't exactly produced any smash hits this generation, which is a shame since I think Socom could have been a big one done correctly.

2
Slapshot
Sat 24th Mar 2012

MAG was so close to being absolutely superb. It didn't stop me from dropping hundreds of hours into it though. MAG was also my first published review. Fitting, seeing how I adored SOCOM 2 back in the day.

Sad news if true, but also not entirely surprising either. They've definitely hit a few kinks in their zipper lately.

3
Ginkgo
Sat 24th Mar 2012

I think I am one of the few people who really liked SOCOM 4. I always felt the game deserved a better reception.

4
Slapshot
Sat 24th Mar 2012

@Ginkgo I put around 30 hours into SOCOM 4 before writing the review and while it's a good game, it's got too many issues that crop up to put it into the top tier of the PS3 shooters. As a longtime fan of the series, I had higher hopes for the title and it just didn't live up to it.

5
dgwdum
Sun 25th Mar 2012

@Slapshot

yeah MAG had soo much potential. i cant believe it wasnt a hit. how can you go wrong with matches of over 200 players? i hope they survive long enough to make another and do it right. theres nothing like having huge online battles

6
Ginkgo
Sun 25th Mar 2012

@Slapshot the world agrees with you. A Metacritic score of 67 puts it in the decidedly average column. User reviews range from 10 to 0, which shows that the game polarised people.

As I said, apparently I am one of the few who liked the game. I enjoyed the move controls, I thought the graphics were really good (others disagree). The jungle, slums and cityscapes worked for me. I think I had a lot of fun crawling round in the mud, pulling of sniper shots. Not saying it compares to MW3, but I think it deserved better than a mid 60s rating. I am obviously in the minority.

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