RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS

[AwesomeOcelot]

I don't know what people were expecting, that they were going to buy machinary and self publish? That's not the broken part of the publishing arrangement, as far as I know publishers do a good job at distrubition and manufacture, it's the IP ownership and funding part that needs to change.

[Oerwinde]

I don't know what people were expecting, that they were going to buy machinary and self publish? That's not the broken part of the publishing arrangement, as far as I know publishers do a good job at distrubition and manufacture, it's the IP ownership and funding part that needs to change.

 

Exactly, its the publishing part they're good at, not the actual creation of content. Hence publisher.

[Keyrock]

If they're a distributor only, do they defacto count as a publisher?

 

Or am I splitting hairs?

You're splitting hairs.  With that said, I'm not going to give Fargo and Co. any grief about this.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Keyrock

[Tale]

If they're a distributor only, do they defacto count as a publisher?

 

Or am I splitting hairs?

Let's call it a hair worth splitting. Publishers can fund the thing you make, as well as try to help "prepare it for market." Which can be influencing it lightly or heavily.

 

But then sometimes they just press discs for you. Valve's relationship with EA is unlikely to have been the same as Insomniac's.

[Labadal]

If they're a distributor only, do they defacto count as a publisher?

 

Or am I splitting hairs?

 

They have no say about actual game content. Deep Silver will get payed to deliver the physical goods to backers and handle physical retail copies.

[Humanoid]

The worst part about it is that there might be a Deep Silver logo on my boxed copies.

 

 

Other than that, eh.

[Labadal]

The Kickstarter physical copies will not be the same as the regular ones according to Brother None. (I think it was him who said that.)

[alanschu]

Why not?

[Labadal]

Why not?

 

I don't know, but here is the quote:

 

I think it would. And just to be clear, while Deep Silver is releasing retail editions post-release, those won't be the same boxes/editions our Kickstarter backers get.

 

 

My personal guess is because of the reward you got from the kickstarter tiers:

One digital copy and one full LARGE BOXED COPY OF WASTELAND 2, complete with worn cloth game map and old school instruction book.

 

 

The retail copies will probably come in regular DVD cases which makes sense to me. I doubt they will include cloth maps and I'm not even sure about the instruction book.

[TSBasilisk]

Ah, they must be going extra-nostalgic and packaging the Kickstarter version in old-school cardboard boxes, like you would have seen back when Wasteland was released; you know, the 8 inch tall monstrosities that nowadays indicates a collector's edition or battlechest. I think Half-Life 2 was the last game I got that came with that sort of box...

[BruceVC]

If they're a distributor only, do they defacto count as a publisher?

 

Or am I splitting hairs?

 

No you aren't splitting hairs and technically they would be distributing the game only

 

I don't want to upset people but I did predict the role that Publishers would have in successful KS projects. I believe the developers would still own the IP but publishers will partner with developers and invest money. In turn they would get a percentage of overall profit. This is a good thing as it allows more revenue for the developers but in theory they wouldn't be completely "independent" anymore. But this something we can live with and I think the good outweighs the bad with this type of business model

[alanschu]

My Half-Life 2 was still a smaller box (though not just a DVD case) I think.  I remember there was the gigantor boxes like BG2 had, and then they had the slightly smaller boxes.

[Nepenthe]

InXile partners with publisher for Wasteland 2

 

After all the **** Fargo talked about publishers.

 

I'm more interested in the way Deep Silver/Koch Media is suddenly popping up constantly on my radar, first with the saints row/volition business, this and probably a few things I'm forgetting.

[Deraldin]

My Half-Life 2 was still a smaller box (though not just a DVD case) I think.  I remember there was the gigantor boxes like BG2 had, and then they had the slightly smaller boxes.

My Half Life 2 was the standard double DVD size cardboard box as well. Half Life 2 was 2004 and I know at the very least I was buying the smaller boxes a year earlier with KotOR. I still have all my old large format boxes flattened in the closet, but I'd have to go root through them in order to figure out what the most recent one was. Might have been something like Throne of Bhaal.

[Cultist]

InXile partners with publisher for Wasteland 2

 

After all the **** Fargo talked about publishers.

Let me guess - you expected DVD copies to be hand-crafted by IXIle staff personally?

[Zoraptor]

I actually expected them to be made and distributed by EA as Fargo already has a relationship with them and they do similar things for other companies.

 

Really though, it shouldn't matter who fabricates the boxes if they have no say in how the game gets made, and it certainly isn't the same situation as having a publisher who's basically your boss, in this situation it ought to be the other way around really, Derp Silver should do what InXile tells them to so far as boxed copies go.

[alanschu]

 

 

Derp Silver

Ho hooo!

 

 

IIRC EA effectively did the same for console versions of games like Left 4 Dead.

[Humanoid]

 

My Half-Life 2 was still a smaller box (though not just a DVD case) I think.  I remember there was the gigantor boxes like BG2 had, and then they had the slightly smaller boxes.

My Half Life 2 was the standard double DVD size cardboard box as well. Half Life 2 was 2004 and I know at the very least I was buying the smaller boxes a year earlier with KotOR. I still have all my old large format boxes flattened in the closet, but I'd have to go root through them in order to figure out what the most recent one was. Might have been something like Throne of Bhaal.

 

The newest 'big' box game I can think of is Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, which had a smaller box in it, which had a DVD case in it (I think). Covers all three bases... It was a 2H 2003 release so the timing would match the general phasing out of that wonderful, wonderful cardboard. Sad days.

 

Different regions carried different box sizes though - I bought an imported IWD2 which was a small box, but the local Australian release still came in a big box.

 

Looking at a list of some other 2H 2003 games, Large box titles include Age of Mythology, Max Payne 2, Broken Sword 3, Republic: The Revolution, Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna, and some expansions for The Sims. Looking at a list of 2004 releases, I can't think of any I own that came in a large box.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Humanoid

[Mamoulian War]

 

I love the Saints Row games, but the new GTA trailer just killed SR4 for me.

 

I love the Saints Row games and the new GTA trailer does nothing for me.

 

 

I would take Yakuza 5 release in the west over SR4 or GTAV any day...

[Dream]

 

InXile partners with publisher for Wasteland 2

 

After all the **** Fargo talked about publishers.

Let me guess - you expected DVD copies to be hand-crafted by IXIle staff personally?

 

Nah man, it's completely the right business move, but it doesn't mean I can't give Fargo **** about it.

[BruceVC]

 

 

InXile partners with publisher for Wasteland 2

 

After all the **** Fargo talked about publishers.

Let me guess - you expected DVD copies to be hand-crafted by IXIle staff personally?

 

Nah man, it's completely the right business move, but it doesn't mean I can't give Fargo **** about it.

 

 

That's true and  as you mentioned he was very vociferous about how unhelpful and obstructive Publishers were

[Keyrock]

 

 

 

InXile partners with publisher for Wasteland 2

 

After all the **** Fargo talked about publishers.

Let me guess - you expected DVD copies to be hand-crafted by IXIle staff personally?

 

Nah man, it's completely the right business move, but it doesn't mean I can't give Fargo **** about it.

 

 

That's true and  as you mentioned he was very vociferous about how unhelpful and obstructive Publishers were

 

Yeah, but he was speaking ill of big bad meanie publishers, the kind that will take you to Burger King for a ****ty meal, then think they can **** you in the ***.  Apparently Deep Silver is a nice guy publisher, the kind that buys you flowers just for the sake of buying you flowers and likes to cuddle.

 

In all seriousness, we have every right to poke fun at him, and, like pretty much everybody here, I agree that this was the right move for him and inXile.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Everything Fargo and Schafer said was 100% marketing from day one. It was all nonsense too, if you think about it. Just a stunt to take advantage of the anti-publisher sentiment many gamers have (and sentiment is all it is, they're all essentially conformists because they still keep buying those products).

 

If you look back, turning games into a big business was neither a good nor bad thing, because a good game is like a good comic, or movie - a matter of pure luck of having talented people with a good idea in a good business arrangement. 

 

The reason Fargo, Schafer and others didn't get to make games was because they didn't have one or more of these things going for them.

[BruceVC]

Everything Fargo and Schafer said was 100% marketing from day one. It was all nonsense too, if you think about it. Just a stunt to take advantage of the anti-publisher sentiment many gamers have (and sentiment is all it is, they're all essentially conformists because they still keep buying those products).

 

If you look back, turning games into a big business was neither a good nor bad thing, because a good game is like a good comic, or movie - a matter of pure luck of having talented people with a good idea in a good business arrangement. 

 

The reason Fargo, Schafer and others didn't get to make games was because they didn't have one or more of these things going for them.

 

I disagree with your view. I think you are being overly critical. There are legitimate reasons to find funding outside the traditional business model of publishers owning the IP and determining the ultimate direction of the game. Sure Fargo maybe played this to his advantage but he had some valid points. There is no doubt in my mind that we wouldn't be seeing games similar to Wasteland 2 or PE if it wasn't for the likes of alternative funding schemes like KS.

 

The real question needs to be " when the first of these new RPG is released will they offer us entertainment and be worth our funding" 

Edited July 12, 2013 by BruceVC

[Nordicus]

So Fargo's a long-term planner when it comes to marketing?

 

Because I distinctly remember him not having many nice things to say about publishers even before Hunted: Demon's Forge was out

Edited July 12, 2013 by Nordicus