The house that built Crimson Skies, Mech Assault, and the soon to be release shooter Shadowrun is supposedly near closure.  An ex-FASA worker has filed a public attack on the company and has hit it up with the classic “everyone is leaving, screw you claim.”  The root of this is unknown and given the general disdain for Shadowrun’s difficulty and high learning curve, it looks like the sales will determine the well being of the company.  Rare and Silicon Knights have cause Microsoft a lot of bad press concerning sales and bad presentation, but Shadowrun has not gotten any good buzz other than the fact it is cross platform.

Boomstick (who was promptly booted of the forums promptly after posting this) posted this about the current situation of the company.

“Fasa Studios is closing and good riddance.  After years of substandard management (Mitch) and bad hiring decisions (Evan). Many of its employees (my friends) left to greener pastures because of the reasons stated earlier.  It seems that someone finally took notice and decided to cut the tumor that is Fasa studios from the body of Microsoft.  The Shadowrun game offers nothing new in the aspect of first person shooters and that it looks visually uninspiring and mediocre. Save your money for Halo3″

And when he was hit with opposition posted

“Give it time to come to the surface.  The contingent staff there (CSG) are flooding the job inquiry lines here in Redmond.  The blue badgers were notified that it is coming soon.  MS has seen the high turnover of personnel and the fact that the studio hasnt done a product in a while.  They have brought more attention to themselves by hiring unethical, walking HR violations such as Evan.  I thought this would come sooner.”

So right then the big mos hit the forum and cause an instant Freeze + Ban on Boomsticks post

“Shadowrun will be shipping soon.  It’s been a long three years for many on the team.  I’m certain that some folks will be leaving us to do other things after we ship.  That’s normal, and it’s healthy, too.  As for our contingent staff here, they’re just that - contingent.  They have a maximum amount of time they can work here before taking a mandatory break.  Many of them are complete star performers, but when the job’s done, they move on, and the job’s almost done.

The personal attacks on team members are inappropriate.  We’re locking this thread accordingly.

-Kimona
Lead Program Manager, FASA Studio”

So what does this mean for the small Redmond studio and what does it mean for Microsoft?  I guess we will see come June when Shadowrun hits.  Remember this is common for a studio to close when the games don’t sell.  Indie Built Closed when Amped 3 and Top Spin didn’t do well.  So will FASA?

[Source: Shadowrun Forums + You NEWB]