RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS

[Azdeus]

 

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.

 

 

I think they handle Planetside 2 EU accounts too, right?

 

Funny how they use "publisher" in the articles title for what is essentially a distribution deal.

[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.

 

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" 

 

I wasn't being critical of the concept of kickstarter, I was criticizing Fargo's populism. Publishers didn't want to make the games he wants to make because they're not economically viable (for them). The last game he made wasn't successful, therefore there was no incentive on the publisher's part to throw money at the man.

 

So he found an alternative, good for him. But he didn't leave it at that, he had to go slamming the developer-publisher model that  while it probably does have lot of conflicting interests - let him make all the games he's famous for.

 

I mean, if Sid Meier can make a turn based strategy a must have AAA game in times when turn based strategies are dead as big budget projects, then things are not as black and white as Fargo suggests.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Fact is, the industry changed and certain people, like Fargo, Schafer, Richard Garriot etc. failed to re-position themselves within it. Most of them ran out of the original spark of creativity that brought them success in the first place. This is obvious by how they're now recreating their old ideas, not creating new ones.

 

I'm not saying its a bad thing, but supremely talented people - like say, Picasso had the capacity to reinvent themselves repeatedly during their whole lifetime. The rest of us mere mortals generally cannot, which is probably what we'll see when the current lot of KS games is released.

[Tale]

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.

I thought we'd done away with mousepad boxes by that time. I recall BG2 and Throne of Bhaal being amongst the last.

[Keyrock]

I don't really care one way or the other about Fargo and others using anti-publisher sentiment to sell their ideas.  I always saw it for what it was, a marketing tactic.  It's the same way I feel about Fargo using the Torment licence for TToN, I have no problem with it, in fact I support it.  If it get s the project more money then I, for one, think it it's fair game.  The only things I care about are:

 

1) Am I actually going to get the game I supported

2) Is the funding going toward making the best game possible

 

As long as I receive the game I was promised I will be satisfied.  Fargo can use all the marketing ploys and doublespeak at his disposal to get the job done, as far as I'm concerned.

[Humanoid]

I'm only mad at Fargo because of no T-shirt add-on option. The options only came up a week ago and are quite nice (as opposed to the MS Paint mockup), but on the other hand, I want the other mutually exclusive options too (but not so much that I'd pledge $500 or 2x$150....).

[AwesomeOcelot]

What Fargo and Schafer said about publishers was true. Publishers make stupid demands, especially since they have no experience creating games or even playing them. Good developers don't see royalties and they don't own the IP they create, the relationship has changed to heavily weighted towards the publisher. Publishers only care about franchises, install base, and large sales. It's a situation that's unfair to independent developers, and isn't interested in making good games.

 

If "AAA" gets applied to the Civilization series, then what does "AAA" even mean? It's not a big budget game. It's also a well established franchise with 4 sequels and countless expansions, it's exactly the type of thing Fargo said publishers were asking for. Plus isn't it made by a publisher owned developer?

[alanschu]

 

 

If it get s the project more money then I, for one, think it it's fair game.

 

How publisher of you!

 

The thing I disliked about Fargo is that he basically showed that he's more CEO than game dev himself, and came across as quite willing to say anything to get more of my money.  Coupled with the excessive "us vs. them" mentality, all the while in many ways acting just like "them" does leave a bad taste in my mouth.  It actually helps work against the idea of me supporting him further in the future.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Yeah, he's very much a salesman. I don't know if its a good or bad thing if the customer sees that, but it certainly didn't stop him from raking in the cash.

[Tale]

Publishers make stupid demands, especially since they have no experience creating games or even playing them.

I think that's unfair. Sometimes the demands definitely seem stupid in hindsight. But most of the time the explanation is not that they're stupid, it's that their objectives are different than what we would like them to be. Lots of the time, they're going to aim to get the largest audience they can reach, when that doesn't intrinsically do anything to improve the product. That's like a whole other axis on the chart.

[Humanoid]

So, uh, back to random news: Deus Ex iOS deliberately crippled if run on a jailbroken device. Still happy to take your money though.

[Malcador]

Hm, I guess people will just flock to the pirated version, if there is one.

[Cultist]

EA Phenomic closed
60-strong German RTS studio is shuttered
EA Phenomic
Electronic Arts has closed EA Phenomic, the 60-person strategy developer behind Spellforce and Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances.

 

Aaaaaand, another one joins the list.

[Dream]

Hm, I guess people will just flock to the pirated version, if there is one.

People with jailbroken devices pirating software? Someone call the presses.

[alanschu]

I found this article on Valve's flat structure interesting.  I admit that when I first read the New Hire Handbook, it sounded pretty awesome (and likely still is on some level), but I am curious what issues arise because of it.

 

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-08-valves-flat-structure-leads-to-cliques-say-ex-employee

 

This quote stood out for me:

 

 

That effort was stymied in part by the company's incentive structure, which rewards employees who work on profitable projects, at times with bonuses that exceed their base salary. Ellsworth said the result is that people are resistant to work on anything but the highest profile projects.

[Tale]

The part I like is how she got to keep the tech she worked on. We heard about it back in the day, but it's still cool.

 

When the time came to confront Gabe Newell, she said that "you should fund this externally or give it to us".

"There was a lawyer in the room and Gabe just turned to him and said 'Give it to 'em'."

Ellsworth later adds that there were protracted lawyer discussions, and it wasn't this simple. But to all intents and purposes Ellsworth and Johnson were effectively working continuously the next day at his house.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/44746/Valves-perfect-hiring-hierarchy-has-hidden-management-clique-like-High-School

[WorstUsernameEver]

Everything in the article makes sense to me, but keep in mind that she was a tech hire, and that Valve is still largely a software company with a different culture from a company that does hardware. They probably didn't calculate that when hiring Ellsworth, which honestly strikes me as shortsighted. Didn't they realize that eventually someone hired to make cool tech would want to actually produce the cool tech?

 

EDIT: It takes a lot of time, but I'd recommend to just check out the original podcast. Starts here.

Edited July 12, 2013 by WorstUsernameEver

[alanschu]

Credit to Valve for giving up the hardware (Curious what all motivated the decision). Gives the impression that Valve is abandoning the hardware.

 

Reading your article now, but it certainly comes across as a bit more scathing.

 

 

Upon reading this, it doesn't really surprise me that some level of power brokerage still ends up happening.  I wouldn't be surprised if this has affected things like Half-Life development, because working on stuff like DOTA 2, TF2, and Steam are the things that are getting all the attention (since, especially for the latter, that's where a lot of the $$$$ comes in, I'm assuming).

 

Will continue reading!

Edited July 12, 2013 by alanschu

[Morgoth]

Whole 25 min E3 gameplay video of Murdered: Soul Suspect has been released:

 

[Morgoth]

EA Phenomic closed

60-strong German RTS studio is shuttered

EA Phenomic

Electronic Arts has closed EA Phenomic, the 60-person strategy developer behind Spellforce and Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances.

 

Aaaaaand, another one joins the list.

 

First EA forces them to make **** games, then the games fail, then the developer gets shuttered. On to the next sucker!

[Cultist]

Tiberium Alliances was horrible. Beyond horrible. I almost see a pattern here. First EA forces bitch companies to make retarded F2P games with insane Pay2Win mechanics. Just like Tib. All and Wrath of Heroes, which was canned and Mythic enjoyed massive layoffs. I tried TA on evenings for a week maybe and that time was enough to see how huge Pay2Win was there. It was shoveled into your eyes, throats and ears non-stop.

[Cultist]

Oh, and to add some cherry to the pie:

The United Kingdom based retail outlet, GAME, has verified that the price of next-gen titles from Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 4 (and presumably the Xbox One) will be raised from £39.99 to £54.99. Development costs and all that jazz.

The news comes courtesy of GAME themselves in a Q&A about the next generation of home console gaming. Tech Radar caught wind of the Q&A, where GAME rolls out the pricing of next-gen titles, stating...
 

 At present, the only publisher to confirm costs of their next generation games are EA, attaching a price of £54.99. No other game prices have been confirmed. We will of course update our listings as and when this happens. And if the price changes before release day, you will always pay the lowest price.

[Drowsy Emperor]

If I had a secretary I'd tell her to file EA under "obsolete" and reroute all my future shopping to GoG and Steam sales.

[Zoraptor]

 

I found this article on Valve's flat structure interesting.  I admit that when I first read the New Hire Handbook, it sounded pretty awesome (and likely still is on some level), but I am curious what issues arise because of it.

 

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-08-valves-flat-structure-leads-to-cliques-say-ex-employee

 

This quote stood out for me:

 

 

That effort was stymied in part by the company's incentive structure, which rewards employees who work on profitable projects, at times with bonuses that exceed their base salary. Ellsworth said the result is that people are resistant to work on anything but the highest profile projects.

 

 

It's unsurprising that Valve's theoretical structure would not work in practice as nicely as it sounds on paper. It's got the same basic problem as communism, parts of it ignore that people are people and are not always 'nice' about things, and won't always do the objectively right thing. Most communist parties were theoretically non hierarchical with flat management structures as well. And it is a company that is pretty much only producing actual games since 2007(?) by buying up external studios, if it weren't for steam they'd probably have had to alter their structure by now for being unproductive.

 

I'd suspect the reason she got the tech rights was because she was obviously going to be stroppy rather than quiet, and it would make better PR usage of a product Valve had no more interest in.

[Bos_hybrid]

So someone fired for being abrasive, seems to have a bone to pick with valve. And we all nod and agree there are problems within Valve, rather than look at the fact that she might be just a little bit bitter. She really sounded to be a 'it's all about me', 'no one values me', type worker.

 

Now if you get 30 or 40 people saying there is a hidden nasty side of Valve, then warning flags should be given. One disgruntled ex-employee viewpoint is not worth much.