Galactic Allies' dev shuttered ten months after RockYou purchased them

RockYou shuts down 3 Blokes Studio

Less than a year after being acquired by American social games publisher RockYou, the Australian Facebook game developer 3 Blokes Studios is being closed.

The Brisbane-based studio, best known for for its real-time strategic combat titles, Galactic Allies, and Galactic Trader, was bought by RockYou in June 2011. The studio was acquired in the hope that its strategic combat games would attract a core gaming audience to RockYou, which had previously published Zoo World and Zoo World 2.

RockYou's SVP Josh Grant said in a statement that 3 Blokes Studios has been wound down due to a change in RockYou's direction.

"We have great respect for the team," he said in am email to Inside Social Games. "The focus of our business has changed; our core capabilities are in monetization and distribution, and we reorganized last year to focus on our media business and third party publishing."

When Polygon spoke to the general manager of 3 Blokes Studios, George Fidler, he said the separation from RockYou was amicable and that while the studio will cease to operate as 3 Blokes Studios, the core team will still be making games under yet to be announced brand.

"The good news is we do have another opportunity, it's just a couple of weeks away before it is announced," Fidler told Polygon.

"I don't think it will be the end of the team. Our employment has ceased with RockYou and we will be reemployed under a new organization in the near future."

Fidler says that under the new organization, most of 3 Blokes Studio's original staff will be staying and their focus will remain on core strategy games for the Facebook market.

"We've developed expertise in developing hardcore strategy games for the Facebook market and there are lots of opportunities in that space," he says.

"While core games on Facebook aren't RockYou's current direction, there are lots of other companies that are very interested in that space. It's just one of those things -- they changed directions and we didn't fit their strategic focus."

Under the new management, 3 Blokes Studios will undergo a name change. Their new name and studio projects will be announced in the weeks to come.