I was going to lead with a ‘witty’ pun like “Zombie Studios shambles back into the grave” but I decided to save you from that fate and also it may come off as a little disrespectful so lets move on.
The big news on Wednesday of this week came from Zombie Studios who announced that they’re shutting their doors for good. Interestingly enough, this wasn’t a financial decision at all. Current owners decided that the time was right to retire from the industry and thus, shut down the studio for good. The studio did have a big update on their site thanking fans and employees alike, but at the time of this post, it apparently is no longer on the site. Weird.
Zombie Studios was originally founded all the way back in 1994 and gave us more than thirty games over their twenty years including the Blacklight franchise, Daylight, the Saw series of games in conjunction with Konami, and a number of Spec Ops games and expansions.
So where does that leave you if you’re a fan of their work?
The good news for fans of the studio and Blacklight Retribution is that the former developers/employees have opened a new studio called BuilderBox Games so if all goes according to plan, it should seem like nothing at all has changed. Former director of production, Andy Kipling, and technical director, Russell Nelson, lead the new studio who have received the remaining work and Blacklight IP from Zombie. It’s kind of like Zombie Studios is back from the dead. (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself there.)
Gamer Crash 
I haven’t played any of their games, but it’s always a shame to see a good studio close it’s doors. I wonder how long the industry is going to keep up with this kind of business climate. It’ll keep going I’m sure, but something’s going to have to change somehow if it’s going to keep growing at the pace we’d like.
I have not played Blacklight at all but I know a few people who do and they seem to enjoy it.
It’s never a good thing hearing about a studio closure even considering this one is a little different than most examples. Can’t think of a time when the owners just wanted to up and retire resulting in a studio closure. Typically it’s due to financial reasons.