Sad for Vigil, they got caught up in this at exactly the wrong time. While Volition and Relic were deep into development on new games, Vigil had just wrapped up, and on a game that performed under expectations (as unrealistic as those likely were).
So a developer with only a middling track record, no significant work to immediately exploit, probably lots of overhead and an underperforming IP .... not an enticing proposition for a publisher.
I really hope those guys land on their feet somewhere, if not together as a new/reborn studio, at least at places where they'll be able to continue making great games.
Kickstarter is an option. I hope Gas Powered Games doesn't have the same fate.
XBL - ArchSilversmith
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
although its for another thread Im sure, I hope they add UPlay to everything because I love it. I see no downside to it whatsoever.
I didn't either until I tried to play HoMM VI and couldn't without disabling my internet sharing with my 360 because uplay decided that wasn't a valid internet connection or something...I mean I could have played it but wouldn't have had access to all of the account stuff like levels, weapons etc.
It's not that its an unsolvable problem; but when you're presenting problems that don't need to be there, (i.e. locking content behind a constant connection to them, for a game that isn't an online game) without actually adding anything, you've lost me.
@haydndalton There was a shimmer on a slither of hope, that at one point, there'd be a Darksiders III: 4 Player Co-Op; It rode off into the sunset today.
"Here's a pipe dream so you all will feel EXTRA bad for not buying enough copies of Darksiders II, which lead to our company getting shut down."
+12
Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
I'd be surprised if South Park isn't Steamworks, honestly. There are Ubisoft-published games that are, and Obsidian has a history using that platform already.
@haydndalton There was a shimmer on a slither of hope, that at one point, there'd be a Darksiders III: 4 Player Co-Op; It rode off into the sunset today.
Are you trying to make me cry? Cause you just fucking did...
...jerk....
....mean jerk...
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
"Here's a pipe dream so you all will feel EXTRA bad for not buying enough copies of Darksiders II, which lead to our company getting shut down."
What I don't understand is why Darksiders 2 cost so much money.
It wasn't a small game, by any means, but it's not like it was an MMO in scope or content. Vigil had to have made the first game on pennies...I can't really work up much frustration toward Vigil on this one.
I'm totally not privy to any of the financials or behind the scenes, but I wouldn't be surprised if so much more of the cost had to do more with THQ's poor management, absurdly high over-expectations on sale (thus spending a fortune on advertising for a game that is relatively niche, all things considered), than Vigil itself.
I mean, back to reality, DS2 had as many (in my understanding), if not more, sales within the first few months as DS1 had over it's life and still was way off the mark of THQ's expectations. That kinda hints to me where the problem likely laid.
"Here's a pipe dream so you all will feel EXTRA bad for not buying enough copies of Darksiders II, which lead to our company getting shut down."
What I don't understand is why Darksiders 2 cost so much money.
It wasn't a small game, by any means, but it's not like it was an MMO in scope or content. Vigil had to have made the first game on pennies...I can't really work up much frustration toward Vigil on this one.
I'm totally not privy to any of the financials or behind the scenes, but I wouldn't be surprised if so much more of the cost had to do more with THQ's poor management, absurdly high over-expectations on sale (thus spending a fortune on advertising for a game that is relatively niche, all things considered), than Vigil itself.
I mean, back to reality, DS2 had as many (in my understanding), if not more, sales within the first few months as DS1 had over it's life and still was way off the mark of THQ's expectations. That kinda hints to me where the problem likely laid.
But. We'll probably never know now either way.
Oh, it was entirely unreasonable what THQ was expecting of Vigil and Darksider's II. They didn't just expect it to do well, they expected it to do well enough to save the entire company. It wasn't fair to Vigil, and yet they suffered the most out of all THQ's studios simply because of timing.
Darksiders 2 isn't what killed THQ. It has solely to do with THQ capturing lightning in a bottle and then spending millions on a bigger bottle for other platforms that had clear skies.
"Here's a pipe dream so you all will feel EXTRA bad for not buying enough copies of Darksiders II, which lead to our company getting shut down."
What I don't understand is why Darksiders 2 cost so much money.
It wasn't a small game, by any means, but it's not like it was an MMO in scope or content. Vigil had to have made the first game on pennies...I can't really work up much frustration toward Vigil on this one.
I'm totally not privy to any of the financials or behind the scenes, but I wouldn't be surprised if so much more of the cost had to do more with THQ's poor management, absurdly high over-expectations on sale (thus spending a fortune on advertising for a game that is relatively niche, all things considered), than Vigil itself.
I mean, back to reality, DS2 had as many (in my understanding), if not more, sales within the first few months as DS1 had over it's life and still was way off the mark of THQ's expectations. That kinda hints to me where the problem likely laid.
But. We'll probably never know now either way.
God of War style games are ridiculously expensive because of how much content must be storyboarded, prototyped, generated, iterated, and then polished before the game sees release. They're all about having a cinematic environment, about feel, about mood. Some concept artist got paid for months just to come up with the look of the Maker areas so he could hand it off to a texture artist who could hand it off to a modeller who could give it to a coder and so forth. And it's not just things that are in the world, it's sequences of play. Cutscenes, voice acting, the whole shebang. Some other employee had to spend part of his day trying to decide if the puzzles and/or combat were too easy or just right. Every time I imagine developers doing a project this size these days I imagine the comment Phil Fish made in the Indie Game movie about being too close to the game to see the bigger picture.
I just re-read an article featuring Darksiders 2 talking about how several whole dungeon areas alternated between being in the game and not being in the game, and the fact that the corresponding section of the overworld had to change to accommodate it each time.
When you're making a game with so many potential time sink issues like these kind of things, it's a wonder the series was produced as well as it was.
Relic writer [Name Omitted] just tweeted that he now works for Sega
oh boy. that smuck was me. I ended up on Kotaku, Joystiq, and Polygon. Butt of every office joke this afternoon. I should have waited a half hour before talking about it, and am lucky that we're in-between parent companies at the moment or I could have gotten in big trouble.
but yes. Sega. Sounds promising. I'm optimistic.
edit: Also I haven't been a writer for Relic since May. Writing is a side gig.
Relic writer [Name Omitted] just tweeted that he now works for Sega
oh boy. that smuck was me. I ended up on Kotaku, Joystiq, and Polygon. Butt of every office joke this afternoon. I should have waited a half hour before talking about it, and am lucky that we're in-between parent companies at the moment or I could have gotten in big trouble.
but yes. Sega. Sounds promising. I'm optimistic.
edit: Also I haven't been a writer for Relic since May. Writing is a side gig.
I should pop over to Relicnews and see how they are taking the news. God, has it been 15 years since I first signed up there during the Homeworld beta?
He/Him | "We who believe in freedom cannot rest." - Dr. Johnetta Cole, 7/22/2024
Psychotic OneThe Lord of No PantsParts UnknownRegistered Userregular
Dear Koch,
Just let Volition do their thing with Saints Row (and red faction if it came with them). No meddling, no "creative suggestions." just let them do their thing and we'll be cool. Fuck Saints Row up and you'll only hope Torso Gate was the worst PR you've ever received.
So since they haven't been specifically named, am I to assume IPs like Red Faction and Homeworld are going to go down with THQ and eventually end up with some holding company after this chapter 11 process is complete?
Because if so....
Red Faction goes with Volition. Some folks have said already that Sega has Homeworld, I believe.
I seem to remember one of the Relic devs that post here now and again say that Relic (and I think he was meaning Relic itself, and not Relic via THQ) owned the Homeworld IP, so I assume it will go with them to Sega.
I had heard that Homeworld was not something Relic liked to think about or had the desire to revive.
A Relic manager, Croak, told me that was not true. He went so far as to call those rumors "poop".
Though he would never go so far as to say they were actually working on HW3!
kedinik on
I made a game! Hotline Maui. Requires mouse and keyboard.
Yeah, I hope the Platinum/Darksiders/Vigil thing works out. It's silly that no one bothered to bid for Darksiders. And as for Vigil, people are probably still out of a job.
Yeah, I hope the Platinum/Darksiders/Vigil thing works out. It's silly that no one bothered to bid for Darksiders. And as for Vigil, people are probably still out of a job.
Was the IP up for sale independent of Vigil?
I thought that the IPs that were for sale were the ones owned by THQ proper (or licensed) and not those held by a publisher who they happen to own.
Posts
Kickstarter is an option. I hope Gas Powered Games doesn't have the same fate.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Hrm.
Well. I guess I didn't even know they were under THQ to begin with. How did they get away with New Vegas then? I though Obsidian was just independent.
EDIT: I'm missing something here, aren't I? Oh just the south park IP, not Obsidian itself. That makes more sense.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
No
Ubisoft bought Stick of Truth
Stick of Truth is developed by Obsidian
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
whew
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
No?
First speculative date was december 2012. First real date was March.
Halo + XCOM = Evolve?
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
I think uPlay is only in Ubi developed games.
kill with fire
I didn't either until I tried to play HoMM VI and couldn't without disabling my internet sharing with my 360 because uplay decided that wasn't a valid internet connection or something...I mean I could have played it but wouldn't have had access to all of the account stuff like levels, weapons etc.
It's not that its an unsolvable problem; but when you're presenting problems that don't need to be there, (i.e. locking content behind a constant connection to them, for a game that isn't an online game) without actually adding anything, you've lost me.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
Are you trying to make me cry? Cause you just fucking did...
...jerk....
....mean jerk...
What I don't understand is why Darksiders 2 cost so much money.
It wasn't a small game, by any means, but it's not like it was an MMO in scope or content. Vigil had to have made the first game on pennies...I can't really work up much frustration toward Vigil on this one.
I'm totally not privy to any of the financials or behind the scenes, but I wouldn't be surprised if so much more of the cost had to do more with THQ's poor management, absurdly high over-expectations on sale (thus spending a fortune on advertising for a game that is relatively niche, all things considered), than Vigil itself.
I mean, back to reality, DS2 had as many (in my understanding), if not more, sales within the first few months as DS1 had over it's life and still was way off the mark of THQ's expectations. That kinda hints to me where the problem likely laid.
But. We'll probably never know now either way.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
"Shimmer on a slither of hope," AKA "someone wrote it on the white board once as a joke and got yelled at."
Oh, it was entirely unreasonable what THQ was expecting of Vigil and Darksider's II. They didn't just expect it to do well, they expected it to do well enough to save the entire company. It wasn't fair to Vigil, and yet they suffered the most out of all THQ's studios simply because of timing.
...uDraw. My metaphor is about uDraw.
God of War style games are ridiculously expensive because of how much content must be storyboarded, prototyped, generated, iterated, and then polished before the game sees release. They're all about having a cinematic environment, about feel, about mood. Some concept artist got paid for months just to come up with the look of the Maker areas so he could hand it off to a texture artist who could hand it off to a modeller who could give it to a coder and so forth. And it's not just things that are in the world, it's sequences of play. Cutscenes, voice acting, the whole shebang. Some other employee had to spend part of his day trying to decide if the puzzles and/or combat were too easy or just right. Every time I imagine developers doing a project this size these days I imagine the comment Phil Fish made in the Indie Game movie about being too close to the game to see the bigger picture.
I just re-read an article featuring Darksiders 2 talking about how several whole dungeon areas alternated between being in the game and not being in the game, and the fact that the corresponding section of the overworld had to change to accommodate it each time.
When you're making a game with so many potential time sink issues like these kind of things, it's a wonder the series was produced as well as it was.
Ka-Chung!
Ka-Chung!
http://kotaku.com/5978522/the-makers-of-bayonetta-would-love-to-buy-the-suddenly+endangered-darksiders
but yes. Sega. Sounds promising. I'm optimistic.
edit: Also I haven't been a writer for Relic since May. Writing is a side gig.
I fell and hit my head because I fainted. All the blood in my body rushed to my penis.
I should pop over to Relicnews and see how they are taking the news. God, has it been 15 years since I first signed up there during the Homeworld beta?
Just let Volition do their thing with Saints Row (and red faction if it came with them). No meddling, no "creative suggestions." just let them do their thing and we'll be cool. Fuck Saints Row up and you'll only hope Torso Gate was the worst PR you've ever received.
I had heard that Homeworld was not something Relic liked to think about or had the desire to revive.
A Relic manager, Croak, told me that was not true. He went so far as to call those rumors "poop".
Though he would never go so far as to say they were actually working on HW3!
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
All mine's still there.
3DS: 1650-8480-6786
Switch: SW-0653-8208-4705
In Skullnumbers penis?
That's weird.
Was the IP up for sale independent of Vigil?
I thought that the IPs that were for sale were the ones owned by THQ proper (or licensed) and not those held by a publisher who they happen to own.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand