News / Start-ups
Zombie game company folds
Slingshot, the Bristol company that brought zombie games to our streets, has announced liquidation after seven years of trading.
Their take on real world games met with huge popularity here in Bristol and soon went nationwide, taking experiential games to cities including Leeds, Sheffield, and Cardiff.
Ticket-buying players joined in powerful on-location, real life games involving tasks such as evading tracker dogs or escaping a zombie infested towerblock.
The company was due to launch its boldest, most daring and technologically advanced game yet later this year, where contenders progressed to different levels through controlling their own biorhythms – heart rate and breathing for example – to progress to different levels.
Owners cited cash flow pressures, and ultimately insolvency, as the reason for closure. A ramp up in ticket prices this year to reflect the actual cost of running the events was met with a sharp decline in sales at the same time as hikes in overheads such as insurance.
“This is bad news not just for us but for all the people we will be letting down,” they said in an emotional statement.
“The fantastic staff we’ve employed to deliver our games, all the businesses and people who’ve supplied goods or premises, all our zombie volunteers who have tirelessly chased and chased and of course all of the players who bought tickets to what, we all hoped, was going to be a fantastic night out. None of these promises can now be met. We are devastated.
“Hype waves are curious things, Zombies have certainly enjoyed a lot of attention that seems to have diminished recently” said Simon Johnson, one of the founders.
“To everyone who will be hurt by our collapse, we apologise profoundly and from the bottom of our hearts.”
Photo by Camilla Greenwell
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