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A look at game budgets (and MMO budgets)
Let's not delude ourselves: Companies are making games to make money. That's the whole point. But it's not about how much a game sells; it's about how much it sells compared to how much it costs to make. And that's a bit harder to be sure about, since most companies aren't in the habit of disclosing exactly how much this game or that costs to make in the first place. Kotaku contributing columnist "Superannuation" looks at the rising budgets of games over the years, including some MMOs in the mix. Some of the figures are certain, some of them are more ambiguous, and all of them provide an interesting look at the price tag. EverQuest's initial budget, for instance, is pegged at $3 million, while World of Warcraft apparently cost $200 million for upkeep and development over the first four years of operation. Take a look at the full listing for a look at some known points and plenty of speculation fodder.
Legislation introduced to resolve 38 Studios lawsuit
The ongoing saga of 38 Studios and the state of Rhode Island continued on Wednesday courtesy of Governor Lincoln Chafee introducing a new piece of legislation to the state assembly. Specifically targeting the ongoing lawsuit, the legislation would be used as an inducement for the former company to settle with the state out of court rather than go through the lengthy process of a trial by ensuring that the named defendants will not face further litigation on the same causes. In more conversational terms, the bill states that if the defendants in the lawsuit settle out of court, they cannot be sued again in Rhode Island courts by other people over the closure of the company or other similar charges. Whether or not this will provide sufficient incentive for Curt Schilling and the other 13 defendants named in the lawsuit to simply settle remains to be seen.
38 Studios asset auction may be delayed due to high demand
When companies die, their assets are sold to make back whatever money can be recovered. That's normal. But you wouldn't expect a great deal of interest in the intellectual property of a company that had worked on only two games and actually released just one of them. Apparently that expectation would be wrong; Richard Land, the attorney in charge of selling off 38 Studios' holdings, has requested that the IP auction be delayed due to greater interest than expected. For those of you who had forgotten the details, here's a recap: The sale of these assets are part of an attempt by the state of Rhode Island to recover some of the enormous losses when 38 Studios went bankrupt following a $75 million loan from the state. The auction was originally scheduled to take place November 13th to the 14th. What parties are interested in the IP remains to be seen, as do the offers that have supposedly been put on the table.
The Soapbox: Game companies exist to make money
I'm going to start this article off with a statement, and it's going to be divisive, but not for the reasons you might expect. A good chunk of you reading this are going to read the line, roll your eyes, and immediately think that I've just written the most obvious thing ever. Some of you might even take to the comments to start calling for my termination just from this line alone. Ready for this? Game companies exist to make money. All right, so it was probably all of you rolling your eyes. This is pretty basic stuff, right? Except I'm willing to bet that some of you who rolled your eyes at that sentence still don't really get it. You understand that companies are trying to make money, but you don't really grasp what that means in a larger sense. So let's just accept that some of you are going to read this article and nod along the whole time without learning a whole lot. The rest of you will head to the comments and start demanding my head.
Activision Blizzard files an emergency appeal for buyback rights
It seems that Activision Blizzard just can't wait to get free of Vivendi. Not that the company is eager, but it literally cannot wait. The publisher had planned to essentially buy itself from its parent company, but following objections raised by a stockholder, the deal was put on hold by court order. Now the company has filed an emergency appeal, claiming that if the deal doesn't go through now, the company will have lost its window for self-ownership. According to the appeal, it will not be possible to obtain a shareholder vote before October 15th, which is when the deal automatically terminates. This vote by non-Vivendi shareholders is a necessity for the deal to go through, and Activision Blizzard representatives state that this injunction leaves the company in limbo and jeopardizes an $8 billion exchange. The court has scheduled a hearing for October 10th -- a hearing that looks to either make or break the deal as a whole.
Court puts a stop to Activision Blizzard independence
So here's a short story for the morning told over one act. First, Activision Blizzard announces that it is separating from its parent company Vivendi and going independent, which surprises many people. Then a shareholder sues the company to prevent this from happening, claiming that it's a huge waste meant to cover a power grab. As a result, the separation is now officially on hold by the order of the Delaware Chancery Court, which was probably not the result most people had expected thus far. In order for the separation to continue, either the injunction must be modified on appeal or a majority vote by non-Vivendi stockholders must come down in favor of continuing the process. Activision Blizzard's representatives restated that they were dedicated to this course of action and are exploring options to ensure it still takes place. Vivendi has been trying to divest itself of Activision Blizzard for nearly a year now in hopes of boosting its overall stock price.
Owner of e-sports team charged with participation in massive hacking operation
What do League of Legends, Dota 2, and Counterstrike have in common? If you answered "all three games were played by eSports team Moscow 5," you are remarkably well-informed and also correct. And if you're that well-informed, you also probably know that the team owner, Dmitry Smilianets, was arrested a year ago as part of an investigation by the FBI. What you might not be aware of is that Smilianets has now been officially charged with taking part in a massive hacking network along with five other Russian and Ukranian nationals. According to a statement by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, this represents the largest such case tried in the US, as Smilianets and his accomplices are charged with stealing at least 160 million debit and credit card numbers. Smilianets is in custody, as he was arrested while sightseeing in the United States, and is expected to be in federal court next week.
Shroud of the Avatar team adds Starr Long to the mix
Fans of the Ultima series should be happy to hear that Shroud of the Avatar has added Starr Long to its roster as executive producer. Don't recognize the name? You should; according to Richard Garriott, Starr Long is the reason that Ultima Online existed in the first place. As Garriott puts it, while there had been discussions about doing an online installment of the series, Long was the one who was insistent that Ultima Online needed to happen. He was so much the driving force behind it that Garriott points to him as the push that kept him working on the game. A formal announcement will be made on Saturday at RTX 2013 alongside a special demonstration of Shroud of the Avatar, which will be available via livestream. If you've been hoping to see some of the key players behind UO back together, it looks as if you're in luck. [Source: Portalarium press release]
Vivendi still trying to sell Activision-Blizzard
French telecom company Vivendi is still looking to sell off gaming giant Activision-Blizzard, according to the Wall Street Journal. Vivendi announced its quarterly results yesterday and also said that Acti-Blizz's board of directors is still weighing multiple sale options for a company that's been up for grabs since the summer of 2012. GamesIndustry.biz reports that Activision-Blizzard was worth more than $8 billion when it was put on the open market.
Sid Meier on mobile and the value of hardcore gamers
You know you're getting old when legendary PC developer Sid Meier gives interviews about his foray into mobile gaming. It's not as bad as it sounds, though, because the man behind the Civilization series tells GamesIndustry.biz that the core gaming audience is still driving the industry regardless of platform. "I think we've seen historically that the more casual gaming platforms and markets do have a kind of rise and fall pattern to them, whereas the hardcore gaming market, the serious gamers are much more stable, and they're going to be around for a long time and will keep playing games," Meier said. Meier also ruminates on his approach to mobile free-to-play, which is basically the same try-the-demo-buy-the-full-game-if-you-like-it model that PC gaming has employed for decades. "It's not something like a constant stream of purchases every day, but it's more just unlocking the rest of the game and then you are done," he explained.
The Daily Grind: Would you watch a TV series based on the game industry?
Last week's EA absurdity generated a lot of comments. Among them was a hell of an idea for some sort of game industry television show. If I read it right, the commenter was thinking of a full-blown drama or comedy series and I immediately started salivating at the thought of a gaming industry Mad Men or possibly some sort of reality-based industry expose like Real Sports. For today's Daily Grind, we want to know if you'd watch any sort of gaming industry television series. If so, what would you like to see and if not, why not? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Richard Garriott clarifies his 'most game designers really just suck' statements
Richard Garriott made some serious waves yesterday with some fairly inflammatory statements in an interview with PC Gamer. Citing a few exceptions like Chris Roberts, Garriott said, "I've met virtually no one in our industry who I think is close to as good a game designer as I am. I'm not saying that because I think I'm so brilliant. What I'm saying is, I think most game designers really just suck, and I think there's a reason why." This statement, and others like it that were delivered in the interview, caused no small amount of backlash. Today, Garriott posted a response (titled Words taken out of context) in an attempt to "clarify" his words. He cites a lack of context and "broader real time discussion" for the simplification and inaccurate representations of his statements. "By no means," he says, "did I intend to disparage others who have led the many great games of each era in gaming history." He then went on to re-tread some of his ideas about the difficulty about being a designer versus being an artist or programmer. "Sadly," he concludes, "I really do think that most people who get into design roles on a team have no more skills at design than the programmers and artists." Lest we do him the disservice of taking his words out of context, you can read his full rebuttal at the Portalarium website.
Garriott: 'I think most game designers really just suck'
Richard Garriott has some harsh words and a bit of tough love for game design professionals in a new interview at PC Gamer. Lord British, more visible in the press these days as a result of his successful Shroud of the Avatar Kickstarter project, sat down with the mag to talk at length about what ails gaming and who he thinks is capable of doing something about it. "I think there's really very few great game designers," Garriott says. "I think Chris Roberts is one of them, Will Wright's another, Peter Molyneux is another. They clearly exist, but on the whole, I think that the design talent in our industry is dramatically lower than we need, as an industry. It's a very hard skill to learn." Garriott cites a lack of education and a lack of extra-design skills as problems plaguing many designers and the industry at large. If you're not a good artist and not a good programmer, but you still like games, you become a designer, if you follow me. You get into Q&A and often design. And the most valuable part of creating a game is the design, which the programmers are technically executing. And they'd be happy to just execute some of them. But in my mind, most artists and programmers are just as much of gamers as the designers, and I usually find in my history that the artists and programmers are, in fact, as good of designers as the designers. They're often better, because they understand the technology or the art. So we're leaning on a lot of designers who get that job because they're not qualified for the other jobs, rather than that they are really strongly qualified as a designer. It's really hard to go to school to be a good designer."
The Soapbox: That's the way it should be!
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. Every fandom has it. In Transformers fandom, it's the segment of the population that insists the franchise peaked with the original G1 cartoon (and its numerous animation errors, bad scripting, and downright ridiculous plots). Star Trek fans will insist that the franchise should be more like the original series, where every plot revolved around Kirk's trying to bone someone or Spock's acting stoic. And then there are the tabletop gamers who miss the days of early Dungeons & Dragons, as if the books stopped working once the line stopped being active. Some fandoms have terms just for this crowd; some don't. But they're all in the same general group -- they're the One True Way crowd. They're fans who insist that one particular incarnation was the right way to go and everything afterward has been a poor imitation. The camp exists with MMOs, as well, and just as with any other franchise, it's arguably the most harmful portion of the fanbase.
GamersFirst sees a management shakeup
GamersFirst is in the minds of gamers for its successful relaunch of APB: Reloaded, which went from a lightning-fast shutdown to a successful free-to-play title. The company is also developing new games based on original IPs for future release. But there's some rumbling going on behind the scenes at the company, as the company's parent corporation, K2 Network, saw the resignation of its CEO, Joshua Hong. Bjorn Book-Larsson, former COO and CTO, has been promoted to the CEO position, with Hong's future uncertain. The official statements claim that the transition of power was amicable and pre-arranged, but it also comes on the heels of worldwide layoffs from K2 and rumors of a power struggle behind the scenes. Rahul Sandil, the company's public relations chief, claimed that there was no truth to these rumors and that the plan was to move forward from simple localizations of titles developed in foreign markets. Sandil went on to confirm that APB: Reloaded continues to be a large-scale success for the company and that further development will be centered around work that Book-Larsson had already seen during his time as CTO and COO.
The Daily Grind: How political should game companies be?
So, who here has heard about this SOPA thing? PIPA? Anyone? I would venture a guess that most of you out there have not only heard about it, but you're violently opposed to it, as are Massively, Joystiq, and our parent company AOL. To think we're not is silly because the internet is our livelihood. But politics and videos games don't usually mix, so this is new ground for us. When you read about game companies boycotting SOPA/PIPA, the reaction is mixed among players. Some respect the fact that these companies are rising up against this piece of legislation while others think these studios should just concentrate on making (or fixing) their games. But the entertainment industry is far from a stranger to politics. From Neil Young to Dave Mustaine to Kanye West, politics are a staple of music, and movies usually do their part in portraying every opinion on major political issues. So why should games and game companies be any different? Let us know what you think of the mix of politics and gaming in the comments below! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Bill Roper looking to partner with Korean companies for more MMO development
You may remember Bill Roper from Diablo. Or, more likely, you remember him from Hellgate: London and Champions Online, probably with emotions that are somewhat less than fond. Several months ago, he was appointed the Vice President of Disney Interactive Media Group, and it looks like Roper is continuing down a path he's walked many times before. As he oversees the production of games based on Marvel properties, he's also looking for partners to start developing an MMO. Specifically, Roper is looking for a partner company in South Korea to work on co-development for several titles, which include MMOs. The obvious benefit for the Korean company would be increased visibility of licensed properties, with Roper hoping that a visit to the nation will produce a better way of developing new games. No word yet on whether or not anyone is interested in the offer, but there's probably no shortage of gamers made apprehensive by anything involving Bill Roper and a new online game.
Analyst claims that Star Wars: The Old Republic points to a healthy MMO market
The gaming industry is pretty morbid when you get right down to it. 2011 has seen several people predicting the death of the MMO market and the death of subscription games, often times in the same sentence. But according to analyst Colin Sebastian, the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic makes it clear that these reports of death have been greatly exaggerated. As Sebastian puts it, the unprecedented growth of SWTOR's player figures indicates that the market still possesses a demand for new games and still responds favorably. Sebastian goes on to predict that the game will likely move around three million units by March 2012, the end of the fiscal year, although he believes that staying power is a bit more questionable. He believes that predictions of up to two million paying users by the end of 2012 might be overly optimistic. That having been said, the game has certainly come out of the gate with real strength; it only remains to be seen if it can maintain that.
2011 game industry holiday card blowout
We made it through another year, folks! Take that, death! And with another year's end comes a new volley of holiday cards created by game industry developers, publishers, and publications. In honor of our features editor and most prolific writer, JC Fletcher, we've adorned the header image above with Tiny Cartridge's adorably handheld-themed card (he's half of the team that makes up Tiny Cartridge, you see). We'd also like to thank you, dear reader, for joining us for another year of video game news, previews, reviews, and features heavily laced with puns and semi-obscure pop culture references. We'll have much, much more in the coming year, as you can imagine. Another treat we'd suggest you check out (and one that can't be jammed into a gallery) is Destructoid's second annual Christmas album. That's some serious dedication to the holiday spirit right there! While you listen to that, might we suggest heading into the gallery below and flipping through this year's holiday cards? Or get some coffee first, perhaps -- it's okay, we'll wait. All set? Go for it!%Gallery-142433%
New website provides online opt-out services for game EULAs
If you're like most of us, you don't read the giant wall o' legalese that serves as a speed bump on the way to your favorite virtual world. A group of Redditors has, though, and has set up a new website designed to assist gamers in opting out of the clause that prevents participation in potential class action lawsuits leveled against gaming service providers. Apparently opting out requires that a physical letter be mailed to the gaming company in question, and GamersOptOut.com purports to do the tedious work for you (either for free or for a voluntary donation). The catch is that you'll need to provide personal information, including your name, address, and game account name. The website's creators page lists the online handles (as well as Xbox Live, PSN, and Twitter identities) of those responsible, but given the anonymous nature of the site and the privacy concerns raised by providing your personal info, we suggest you proceed with caution. Currently the website features an opt-out form for Sony's PlayStation network and Electronic Arts' new Origin digital delivery service.
