ModNation Racers Developer United Front Games Calls it Quits

United Front Games, known most by racing fans for their work on the ModNation Racers series, has closed it’s doors for the last time, according to various reports that have spread across the internet. The Vancouver-based studio recently released ‘Smash+Grab’, a loot-and-craft based game, to Steam Greenlight. Only a few weeks later it seems that the ill-fated team has had to give up all development.

Although ModNation Racers was very much nestled within the arcade karting genre, a specific feature of the game was notably quipped about by Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi in 2010. The ModNation Racers track creator still remains one of the most in-depth examples in the genre and this didn’t go unnoticed by Kazunori, who pointed out the feeling of using the feature emulated the way he felt when he created his first title — Motor Toon Grand Prix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKp1Wqi3PzQ

The MNR series was heavily pushed by Sony as part of its ‘Play. Create. Share.’ mantra in that time-period alongside the more successful LittleBigPlanet. MNR found a reasonably-sized fanbase, but was plagued by long loading times and struggled to make a true mark for itself across the PS3 and Vita releases. United Front Games also developed 2012’s LittleBigPlanet Karting, which garnered a lukewarm reception upon launch.

An interesting yet solemn fact is that during ModNation Racers initial release week in May 2010, two other Arcade racers launched in the exact same time-space; Blur and Split/Second. The developers of these two titles, Bizzare Creations and Black Rock Studios, are also both defunct and closed their doors in recent years.

United Front Games join Evolution Studios in the 2016 graveyard of racing game developers, with the Driveclub team being absorbed (in part) by Codemasters. It’s another unfortunate loss in the ever-tightening racing genre space and we hope that those affected in the closure find employment elsewhere and continue doing what they love.