Future of THQ is in question...

No way! Crytek is opening a new studio in Austin to be headed by the former GM of Vigil. It's developing but it looks like they might be pulling a rescue like Epic did with Big Huge Games!

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

No way! Crytek is opening a new studio in Austin to be headed by the former GM of Vigil. It's developing but it looks like they might be pulling a rescue like Epic did with Big Huge Games!

So the next DarkSiders is going to have a stealth suit and a bow in it? Suh-weet.

hbi2k wrote:
Vector wrote:

XSeed and Atlus use a model that wouldn't work when applied to North America publisher/developer houses.

I'm curious to hear you elaborate on that. I'm not a business expert, but I don't see what there is about making niche games for relatively small but loyal audiences on a reasonable budget that only works in Japan but not in NA. I'm just armchair quarterbacking, but it seems to make more sense than trying to compete in the AAA space against bigger, better-funded competition (that are themselves struggling to keep it up).

Well, they aren't niche titles in Japan. They aren't given a limited release and are actually full retail games. So for Atlus, the bulk of their profits come from Japanese sales with the small distribution to the US providing a little bonus. XSeed is only a publisher so all they do is buy the NA rights and localize the game. They're not spending money on development. The closest thing to the kind of model you describe is what Double Fine does.

To be clear, I think there is room for smaller developer/publishers in NA but they would most likely be based around digitally released games instead of limited prints.

DSGamer wrote:

Speaking of that, isn't part of this an issue of whether games developed in the west actually gain any traction in Japan? For whatever reason niche titles do much better in the US than mainstream US titles do in Japan.

That's exactly right. There are few NA games that are popular over here. I've met about two kids who know what Call of Duty is. First person shooters have never been popular. Computer gaming is non-existant. The types of games that are common in NA never found a market in Japan and with how expensive a new games are (massively, stupidely, Australian levels) I understand why the Japanese consumer would rather stick to a game they are more confident they will like than spend money on something that has the potential to not appeal.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

No way! Crytek is opening a new studio in Austin to be headed by the former GM of Vigil. It's developing but it looks like they might be pulling a rescue like Epic did with Big Huge Games!

That's odd...

So Crytek are: putting down 500k for the Homefront 2 rights, finishing Crysis 3, making HF2, still working on the Kinect title, and investing in a brand new studio while they already manage two of their own. In their spare time I guess they made a money making machine.

Who all is using the CryEngine and what are the licencing fees on it?

There's definitely big time fees for CryEngine 3 and it's got users but nothing like UE3 and Epic sure doesn't have as many studios as Crytek does. My guess? Cookin' meth in the back. No wait, that's Running With Scissors...

Vector wrote:

Well, they aren't niche titles in Japan. They aren't given a limited release and are actually full retail games. So for Atlus, the bulk of their profits come from Japanese sales with the small distribution to the US providing a little bonus.

According to VGChartz, the sales of Personal 4 were roughly the same in the U.S. as in Japan. Ditto Catherine, which sold slightly more in the U.S. Demon Souls sold over twice in the U.S. what it did in Japan. With three times their population, a niche title over here has the potential to reach an equal or greater audience as a mainstream title over there. Even the most Japan-weighted games I'm seeing are like a 75/25 split. 25% of their sales is hardly a "little bonus."

End of that article indicated Crytek USA in Austin will actually be studio #9. They have a bunch in other countries, and who knows what they do. It's possible they might have other studios that outsource 3D Animation or something to that effect. I believe Ubisoft has done some outsourcing for film themselves, which earned them some extra bucks.

This is just me guessing, though. I know nothing more than they apparently have 9 studios.

A 35-person team sounds small. But, with luck, a bunch of the others that have lost jobs will possibly get a chance to get to work with Platinum games. Hoping something amounts to that as well. I could live with Vigil being split into separate crews.

Now if only Crytek gets that Crawler IP so we can see what it is...

The auction for THQ's other IP is coming up soon. Who knows, Crytek might be waiting until then to put in a bid for Crawler to get it cheap without the studio.

It's weird how this can be both so interesting and so sad at the same time.

cyrax wrote:
Parallax Abstraction wrote:

No way! Crytek is opening a new studio in Austin to be headed by the former GM of Vigil. It's developing but it looks like they might be pulling a rescue like Epic did with Big Huge Games!

That's odd...

So Crytek are: putting down 500k for the Homefront 2 rights, finishing Crysis 3, making HF2, still working on the Kinect title, and investing in a brand new studio while they already manage two of their own. In their spare time I guess they made a money making machine.

Don't forget their big push to make F2P games. Warface is just finally opening up in NA after having run in beta in Russia for quite some time. They actually said they didn't plan to work on any more single player/retail games, intending to strongly push F2P. Guess this might change that? Don't know.

Probably wise to have a wide palette of game types, especially as an engine maker as those home grown games help make it better and sell the engine.

Scratched wrote:

Probably wise to have a wide palette of game types, especially as an engine maker as those home grown games help make it better and sell the engine.

I think the F2P idea was probably to take over control of actual distribution/publishing. Probably didn't enjoy the EA/Steam/Crytek DLC deal very much.

Huh, can't believe I forgot about Warface. I guess I don't yet equate Crytek with F2P.

cyrax wrote:

Huh, can't believe I forgot about Warface. I guess I don't yet equate Crytek with F2P.

While I know a lot of people turn their noses up at F2P, some of my favorite MP games of the past year are F2P. There's some quality stuff in that space these days. And it's not just LoL and TF2. I've spent a lot of time with games like Tribes, Black Light Retribution, Hawken, Mechwarrior Online, Gotham City Impostors, etc.

I used to think I'd never touch one, but I've been convinced that there are some gem's in the space. One thing that makes them interesting is that most of them seem to always be evolving to try to keep people playing and spending money.

In addition to Crytek, I'm hearing that Retro (Metroid Prime) is taking on quite a few Vigil (and Bioware, and Junction Point) staff members for what is supposed to be one large-scale project.

If you think about the timing of this, you can see where there might be some needs around at least parts of the industry. Hardware gen changes would seem to drive some up staffing, at least in some areas. You'd think the pipelines aren't as efficient yet on the new tech.

Blind_Evil wrote:

In addition to Crytek, I'm hearing that Retro (Metroid Prime) is taking on quite a few Vigil (and Bioware, and Junction Point) staff members for what is supposed to be one large-scale project.

That could be exciting.

Blind_Evil wrote:

In addition to Crytek, I'm hearing that Retro (Metroid Prime) is taking on quite a few Vigil (and Bioware, and Junction Point) staff members for what is supposed to be one large-scale project.

I see that was the talk on the gaf via gonintendo.

It seems like the THQ breakup was a good opportunity for B-level publishers. I hope that some of these publishers are able to find some additional mobility with these purchases.

Lengthy story and interview on the collapse with some more, very refreshing candour from Jason Rubin.

I'm really interested to see what Rubin tackles next. He seems like good, honest people.

CEO of Koch Media wrote:

“We place no value for being controversial,” explains Kundratitz. “Sometimes you can’t avoid it and sometimes if a brand is an extraordinary brand and has its specialities, then we don’t shy away from communicating those. We are certainly not known for holding back. And we will follow that through with Saints Row.”

For us Saints Row fans, that's certainly relieving to read. I just hope his statement ends up being true and not just blowing smoke up our collective ass.

MeatMan wrote:
CEO of Koch Media wrote:

“We place no value for being controversial,” explains Kundratitz. “Sometimes you can’t avoid it and sometimes if a brand is an extraordinary brand and has its specialities, then we don’t shy away from communicating those. We are certainly not known for holding back. And we will follow that through with Saints Row.”

For us Saints Row fans, that's certainly relieving to read. I just hope his statement ends up being true and not just blowing smoke up our collective ass.

I'm still a bit worried in the wake of the latest Dead Island torso fiasco.

You're worried Saints Row might venture into the land of poor taste?

I like the games, but the last two have contained in-game situations far more offensive.

Rubin sounds like an exceptionally straight shooter. If he'd gotten the reins a year or two sooner, he might have saved the company.

I can say that I was never disappointed in Rubin. I was looking forward to continue working for the guy.

According to an interview in VentureBeat, Crytek is not interested in Darksiders and has set Crytek USA (formerly Vigil Games) to work on other projects.

Hmmm, I wonder what happens to the right to sell THQ games that don't get bought. I'm thinking of how the System Shock series games are in limbo owned by a bank, just sitting around being useless.

Hopefully they don't go to waste. Or perhaps Crawler will manage to get made somehow. Doesn't surprise me that Crytek didn't nab Darksiders though.

Remember when Crytek bought Free Radical and everyone thought they were going to or should do more Timesplitters? I think this is similar.