Activision Just Killed Guitar Hero And True Crime
polycounter lvl 17
http://kotaku.com/#!5756232/activision-just-killed-guitar-hero-and-true-crime
"These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences."
Should have said.
"These decisions are based on the desire to flood the market with more Call of Duty games and expand upon that franchise, because we could literally shit into a box, slap a COD logo on it and put it on shelves and you retards would be none the wiser. It makes us BILLIONS so we want to exploit that as much as possible and not give a flying fuck about making anything new or exciting."
Also announced today:
-Call of Duty: Solider Fitness (kinect fitness game)
-Call of Duty: Cooking for the troops (cooking game much like Cooking Mama but with MREs and Mess hall type food)
YAY Count me excited!
I know GH hasn't done much in recent years so taking a break from it is a great idea but also doing new IPs and actually promoting them or at least look like you give a fuck is a good thing. (EX. Singularity. Did Activision do ANYTHING to help promote it? Sure it wasn't a 90-95 rated game but it was decent enough to get the damn word out)
"These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences."
Should have said.
"These decisions are based on the desire to flood the market with more Call of Duty games and expand upon that franchise, because we could literally shit into a box, slap a COD logo on it and put it on shelves and you retards would be none the wiser. It makes us BILLIONS so we want to exploit that as much as possible and not give a flying fuck about making anything new or exciting."
Also announced today:
-Call of Duty: Solider Fitness (kinect fitness game)
-Call of Duty: Cooking for the troops (cooking game much like Cooking Mama but with MREs and Mess hall type food)
YAY Count me excited!
I know GH hasn't done much in recent years so taking a break from it is a great idea but also doing new IPs and actually promoting them or at least look like you give a fuck is a good thing. (EX. Singularity. Did Activision do ANYTHING to help promote it? Sure it wasn't a 90-95 rated game but it was decent enough to get the damn word out)
Replies
Other publishers seem to be taking little risks here and there. EA a lot of them recently and it's refreshing. I love Call of Duty. I get it every year BUT there are also a ton of other ideas floating around out there that could do well if they had support.
It really is a shame.
We also have the Bungie/Activision deal to look forward to and what they come out with. I know they are just published deals but still I'm sure it won't be what we expect. Then again I could be VERY, VERY wrong!
Oh yes because more studios working on COD is a good idea.
Let us count now.
Infinity Ward
Treyarch
Raven Software
Sledgehammer Games
Beachhead
Plus all the other places that get contracted to help with these titles.
Also from the Gamasutra article
"The company says it also plans to reveal an "innovative new universe" at Toy Fair later this week which it claims will "bring the world of toys, video games and the Internet together in an unprecedented way."
Yeah I know what this is and unless you are like 5-10 fucking years old you wont give a fuck about this!
Might as well change their name to Activeduty-Blizzard.
please tell me there a joke
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/32572/Activision_Blizzard_Reports_Boost_In_Q4_Revenue_Lays_Off_500.php
Um.... Movie tie in games?
Activision needs to tread cautiously. They thought that Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk would last forever. And right now, they think Call of Duty will too. They were wrong about two of their biggest franchises, they are wrong about the third. Any franchise, no matter how popular, can be fatigued. Nintendo are the masters of long-term marketing and milking of company-owned IP. And even they don't try to release annual entries to each of their major properties.
Activision's strategy is good for short-term profits to wave in front of stockholders. But its a terrible approach to cultivating and maintaining a franchise.
I also remember when Tony Hawk was good. It's the PSX game that I played the most probably when I was teenager. I remember playing it every day for months. I gave a go at one of the more recent Tony Hawks (Proving Grounds) and it was so boring that I gave up after a few hours. Screw that sandbox shit and bring back the arcade'ish structure of the first titles!!
Or maybe not, Tony Hawk feels so obsolete now that we have Skate. Thank you EA, I used to hate you a bit in the past but you redeemed yourself in the last years.
Last but not least, don't get me started on this new goldeneye for the wii. They promised a goldeneye remake and delivered a COD game set in the goldeneye universe! Fuck that!
I leave this little rant with videos from when activion was good:
[ame]
[ame]
Bounch!! Quit spammin me!! :P info@pig-brain.com yo
and it was a good portion of studios from what I understand. I would say it's safe to assume just about all of them outside of blizzard.
sigh.
Fix't.
This perticular studio seems to have such an odd pattern of evolv...err...absorbing other game studios/game developers' work in game industry that US government should admire it.
No one seems to give a damn including Blizzard and I wonder why.
Condolences to those affected by the layoffs. Please check out the Bioware job listings, and get over here to EA:
http://www.bioware.com/careers/austin
I'm guessing this is the end of Freestyle Games (DJ Hero 1/2), they're based in my hometown, which was once thriving with studios... not for much longer it would seem.
sad for vancouver artist.
any confirmation? my source is not 100% reliable
Yeah, but there's a game for that now too.
Please say this isn't true... ModNation Racers was one of my favourite games of 2010. Would be real sad if those guys got canned completely.
[ame]
Does that basically mean 'it's not a Kinect/Move controlled family/kids game that will sell by the truckload'?
I LOVED the first 2 True Crime games and was actually really looking forward to the new one.
It's such a shame the fate of a game prior to release now rests on how many it will sell, rather than how good it is. I mean, sure, a business' main goal is to sell product for profit, but I guess we no longer live in a time when quality=sales.
"Special Announcements:
TRUE CRIME: We are sorry we did not get a chance to complete this project with Activision, but we understand why. We are both committed to doing quality games and nothing less. Maybe we will have a chance to work together in the future, but in the meantime we are setting our creative sights on a different horizon. You can keep up with the latest developments at UFG here on our site."
So it just looks like the deal with ATVI is done... Maybe some layoffs but not closed down.
The industry hasn't been that way for a while now. As it grew, it transitioned into a business model where the flop of a single game could kill an entire studio. Its the consequence of having mega-publishers and development budgets with 8 figures. (and even higher marketing budgets)
After a string of successes earlier in the decade, Activision's limited vision is finally forcing them to feel the pinch. Now several of their owned studios are being shut down. They will probably be on the prowl for popular new franchises, so that they can purchase them and then exploit the hell out of them.
Thankfully, the indie and downloadable space is doing pretty well. In those areas companies are able to produce reasonably budgeted games for reasonable prices.
Surely there will come a time when the dev teams on these mindless crap projects actually think 'Ok, enough of making this shit, I'm gonna go find me a job where I actually make some good stuff'. I understand that right now, a job is a job and even if you're making 'My Little Pets House 4' you kinda suck it up and be thankful you actually have a job. But surely this can only go on for so long.
Maybe we'll see a revolution, where the big publishers lose all their staff to indie studios, who've left in the hope of making some decent games. New franchises will be born, lots of money will be made, and, oh shit, we're back at the beginning again!
I guess it's just a big, money fuelled cycle which can only repeat itself.
I'm not sure that's the direction things are going to take. After all, the small size of indie studios are one of their biggest advantages when compared to the mega-publishers. I think that change is far more likely in the mega-publisher model, and that it is already happening. Ten years ago, Apple didn't involve themselves with games at all, and Valve was just a game developer with one major title under their belt. Now both Apple and Valve are major publishers in their own right. And both of them have done an impressive job at providing sales platforms for indie development.
Platforms that are friendlier to small-scale development are rapidly gaining in popularity. I think we are going to see platform holders starting to go directly to small teams and start-ups. As more small-scale indies prove that they can earn a living on their own, the mega publishers will begin hemorrhaging employees.
Everyone prefers the idea of being their own boss, and working on their own projects. You still need huge studios for large-scale, polished games. But with all the tools available, and the platforms that are open to small indie studios, such mega projects are no longer where all, or even most of the money is. There are quite a few people who would be willing to trade a little security for more freedom.
Not in this economy. Chances are until things start picking up people will stick to whatever job they can get..
So much flack was given for facebook devs back in the day, and while they churn out crappy "me too" games, they do bankroll and keep those dollars when things dry up again. of course i am only using facebook as an example, but you all get the idea. I guess I've been around my roommate too much and his business sense has rubbed off me considerably, and i am super impressed at how an aggressive campaign with a somewhat sane business model and no real idea for a game other than 'hay guys lets make a bunch of money really fast with a me too game" turned out. Funny thing is how a lot of smaller and larger developers and publishers are taking to these much smaller games since the price point for development of another AAA flop is destined to not make its money back.
I am just tired of seeing this dumb shit with the no planning involved other than to 'make the best goddamn game ever' in the most short-term sense of the phrase possible, along with the "let's sign on with a publisher and get taken care of for life" idea. But i guess that is the crux to all of this, right? That no one really thinks about anything long term, and more importantly [considering the economic environment], nobody actually plans for anything as merely a short term goal with a quick gain. we all walk into something assuming its going to be permanent in an economy that is anything but stable and hope that the powers that be that are in charge have a clue and a plan. it's incredible really. plus the benefits are almost unilateral once your soul is signed away to a larger entity. i think at this point most people with significance layoff history will realize that owners of companies really benefit from acquisitions while everyone else will flounder. at some point people will have to come to some sort of sense about what it relevant and important with themselves and their livelihood. Does any of this make any sense?
Saying games should be made for profit, and not for 'games' sake, and also saying that too many companies are trying to make the best game ever, is, in my opinion the real problem.
Not enough big devs (at the hands of the publishers of course) are taking 'risks' and trying to make the best game ever, they're sticking with safe, mass-appeal stuff like franchises, social network games etc which they know aren't great games but will turn massive profits.
I think it's the complete opposite that needs to happen. Artists and programmers (and all the other guys on the dev side of things) need to make a stand. Thing is, there's plenty of them who stand up and say 'Oh man 'Publisher X' is just sucking the franchise dry, screwing the studios, hunting huge profits', yet they then get up the next morning and get back to work on 'Call of Duty 14'. When these guys actually say 'you know what Activision, no we won't make your shit game, because we're gamers, who were raised on decent games, and it's high time we started making some of those good games again'... leave the studio, start/join indie teams and start making a change, then maybe things would improve.
Those people exist, they complain about the state of the industry, but are part of the engine that powers it. As I mentioned before, in this economic climate, a job is a job, which may explain part of the reason people don't make a stand. But the truth is, publishers can be as evil as they like, but they'll still always need development teams to actually make those games, and while those teams still suck it up and make these shit games, they will continue to be produced.
Of course, as I said, I could've misread you entirely and my view is purely from a 'not employed in the industry civilian' point of view.
also, im not talking from a game dev perspective, more from a, 'im getting older and this shit is also getting old' perspective. i always hear the same 'work smarter not harder BS in the workplace, but that should also apply to our actual career itself and not just with the work associated with game development. i guess it's easier to bow out than it is to plan ahead and think more critically of our futures? i dunno, i guess i wanna have my cake and eat it too.
Why wouldnt you want to eat cake if you have it.
Do you think its a lie?
Thats an interesting viewpoint, but a also pretty naive one. Its a fantastic idea yes, but the truth is, when you work for a company that is funded by a publisher, they get a good say in what goes on with the game because they are paying for the entire development.
Everyone likes to think a bunch of employees standing up and refusing to work would make a difference, but the truth is corporate would find it a mild annoyance and simply fire them all and replace them with people willing to bend over backwards to work on said franchise/get into the industry. part of the problem is beacause this industry is such a global one, there is no real sense of unification within the workforce.
also, everyone seems to love this idea of going indie, but having worked at a smaller studio, I can say its not that simple. from my experience finding funding is EXTRMELEY hard and the sense of the studio surviving month to month is stressful. then the pay cheques get delayed and bullshit excuses come out. I was literally left waiting 2 months to be paid, and only found out I was not being paid after I checked my bank account a couple days after payday and asked.
atleast working for a large company with a big publisher behind it if they are going to fuck you they are usually going to be paying you a decent severance package, and its almost guarenteed you will be paid out, simply because the corporation behind it is way to huge to want to bother with any type of lawsuit over a trivial amount of an artists' salary.
this is kinda getting off topic I guess, but having worked on True Crime, yea I am choked it got canned, but I would still rather work in a large studio on a big AAA title any day.
Just a rumor as of now, but makes sense (in the addle-minded business world of game publishing, that is) - drop your previously milked IPs and pick up a few more. I'd like to think that Take Two has enough market presence to end up more like Blizzard, but the thought of Activision dismantling a studio of that stature because the new Bioshock didn't sell as much as Black Ops turns my stomach a bit.
Looks like they are trying to reboot Spyro? Sorta?
Sounds like an expensive concept for consumers.
http://www.thehdroom.com/news/Spyro-Returns-in-Game-and-Toy-Hybrid-Skylanders/8404
Ahh yes this WONDERFUL idea... Fucking really. I have known about this one for so long since I was part of a prototype that involved the same shit but with a MUCH cooler theme.
But nothing like having to buy toys to unlock content that is indeed already on the disk.
GENIOUS!!!
Now I wait for them to do a Pokemon game with these portals that can read the toys.
Best of luck to anyone out of work because of this.
Man I'm going to have nightmares now
I agree...they say it's a breakthrough in interactivity (coughtonyhawkridecough) but it really sounds like a money making scheme. They are probably going to charge $59.99 for the game and supposedly there are what, 50+ characters? And in order to use a character..you're going to have to buy a separate toy? Wheres the interactivity? Okay, it saves data into it...so what.. what else does it do? It's not like the Dreamcast memory card that let you do shit with it after you saved. And what the hell did they do to Spyro??