On March 15 2024 05:40 WombaT wrote: I still don’t think that’s what’s particularly driving layoffs. Perhaps a contributory factor sure.
IMO, the #1 factor is higher interest rates. However, it is easier to make games and the money men at the top know it. The money men will never say it is easier because they want maximum money for their game.
The money men know they can reduce staff and demand similar output all while yapping about how there is 10 weeks paid vacation time along with an emotional support puppy in the office for the employees.
I don't think that's the main reason. Over 14,000 games were released on steam last year which is 10x more than a decade ago.Market is oversaturated, too many releases, of course you will see layoffs.
10X as many games were released because it is easier to make games. Game making tools are far better than they were a decade ago.
So many really cool games are being made by super small teams. It is almost like the entire industry has come full circle and we're back to the "garage programmer" days.
Because game making tools make it far easier to use you do not need as many employees.
On March 15 2024 09:52 MegaBuster wrote: stormheads they are removing the community api
and look many of you will jump to very negative conclusions here
but I know in my heart that it means, yes, TORCH HAS RETURNED
he has come back and he has grabbed the levers of control behind the scenes to pilot us to our new home planet
Can FGS stop taking Ls? Man, these guys keep getting suckier and suckier by the second. Freaking corpos always trying to convince people that they're friends. What's next, you gotta pay to have access to the 3rd race? Can they just go bankrupt already? At this point, it's just pathetic.
Perhaps they can take some factions from the other failed RTS project Tim Morten worked on and mix them into the game.
Tim Morten is right... C&C is continuing to live on. It is quite popular on Steam.
Maybe interfacing the FrostBite2 engine in with the Snowplay engine inside Unreal 5 could give the game a more realistic feel?
Frostbite2, Snowplay, Unreal5, .. these are starting to sound like terms your auto mechanic throws at you to get you to give him $1,400 to fix your transmission.
On March 14 2024 04:10 JimmyJRaynor wrote: All kinds of super small teams on Steam are cranking out all kinds of super fun games. This Includes RTS games. Frost Giant is to be judged by only 1 standard... the results they produce.
Northgard was made with a team substantially smaller than Frost Giant. Here are the #s https://steamcharts.com/app/466560 IMO, Northgard is more fun than Stormgate.
Frost Giant should be building a story line arc around the mystery of .. "Who Is THe 3rd Faction?". If that storyline is pulled off properly the results can be epic. Think of "Who Is The 3rd Man" from Hulk Hogan turning into a bad guy. Who Is The 3rd Man? Hulk Hogan Is The 3rd Man! ! !
People have been questioning why Frost Giant decided to go with a 3v3 team mode. Frost Giant's money source, Kakao Games, is located in Korea and in Korea 3v3 team games are big.
I totally forgot about Northgard! Such a gem of a game, feels similar to the newer Dune game. And I agree, Northgard was way more fun than Stormgate.
Same develop team I believe.
Personally I think SG and Northgard are too different to compare. PvE on stormgate is more like a casual break from the 1v1 or team games.
Godsworn on the other hand looks incredible, by two developers only.
I will buy Godsworn like 4 times just to support them. It feels also so super great to play, the demo was nice. Also 2 devs (had help with graphics but still) did this and the game feels more fun than SG for me.
Thanks for the tip. I have Godsworn wishlisted now. EA release is in 2 weeks already
On March 15 2024 05:40 WombaT wrote: I still don’t think that’s what’s particularly driving layoffs. Perhaps a contributory factor sure.
IMO, the #1 factor is higher interest rates. However, it is easier to make games and the money men at the top know it. The money men will never say it is easier because they want maximum money for their game.
The money men know they can reduce staff and demand similar output all while yapping about how there is 10 weeks paid vacation time along with an emotional support puppy in the office for the employees.
I don't think that's the main reason. Over 14,000 games were released on steam last year which is 10x more than a decade ago.Market is oversaturated, too many releases, of course you will see layoffs.
10X as many games were released because it is easier to make games. Game making tools are far better than they were a decade ago.
So many really cool games are being made by super small teams. It is almost like the entire industry has come full circle and we're back to the "garage programmer" days.
Because game making tools make it far easier to use you do not need as many employees.
No doubt there are good games coming out, but the sheer number of releases can make it a chore to find them as many of those other games are garbage.I mostly use gog now, maybe i am missing the odd gem but I am short on time.
Point is with so much coming out games need to stand out and offer great and fresh game play otherwise they fade fast.Gonna wait a few more months, hopefully the third race is interesting but from what I have seen so far I prefer zerospace personally.
I was checking out some of my old stuff and came to a realization that all the new "SC successors" really fall short of Armies of Exigo from 15 years ago, which was made by pretty much amateurs (mostly BW gamers). It was such a great game...
On March 15 2024 05:40 WombaT wrote: I still don’t think that’s what’s particularly driving layoffs. Perhaps a contributory factor sure.
IMO, the #1 factor is higher interest rates. However, it is easier to make games and the money men at the top know it. The money men will never say it is easier because they want maximum money for their game.
The money men know they can reduce staff and demand similar output all while yapping about how there is 10 weeks paid vacation time along with an emotional support puppy in the office for the employees.
I don't think that's the main reason. Over 14,000 games were released on steam last year which is 10x more than a decade ago.Market is oversaturated, too many releases, of course you will see layoffs.
10X as many games were released because it is easier to make games. Game making tools are far better than they were a decade ago.
So many really cool games are being made by super small teams. It is almost like the entire industry has come full circle and we're back to the "garage programmer" days.
Because game making tools make it far easier to use you do not need as many employees.
There’s been two parallel ecosystems for a while now, plenty of great (and shite) games in the indie market, tools for both actually making, and just as importantly distributing games are definitely a help to those small teams. Then ye olde ‘AAA’ market.
What’s interesting to me is, those tools are sufficient for some inventive design to make something less technically ambitious, but still very compelling to play.
But it doesn’t seem to have improved quality, nor cut budgets when it comes to larger studios and properties, for whatever reason :S
I guess there’s some parallels with the film industry and costs, although imperfect ones. They could cheaply make 10/20 movies for the budget of a big blockbuster, but choose not to for various reasons. Ofc it’s not a perfect parallel as bankable stars with massive salaries are a big factor in pushing up budgets there.
On March 15 2024 05:40 WombaT wrote: I still don’t think that’s what’s particularly driving layoffs. Perhaps a contributory factor sure.
IMO, the #1 factor is higher interest rates. However, it is easier to make games and the money men at the top know it. The money men will never say it is easier because they want maximum money for their game.
The money men know they can reduce staff and demand similar output all while yapping about how there is 10 weeks paid vacation time along with an emotional support puppy in the office for the employees.
I don't think that's the main reason. Over 14,000 games were released on steam last year which is 10x more than a decade ago.Market is oversaturated, too many releases, of course you will see layoffs.
10X as many games were released because it is easier to make games. Game making tools are far better than they were a decade ago.
So many really cool games are being made by super small teams. It is almost like the entire industry has come full circle and we're back to the "garage programmer" days.
Because game making tools make it far easier to use you do not need as many employees.
There’s been two parallel ecosystems for a while now, plenty of great (and shite) games in the indie market, tools for both actually making, and just as importantly distributing games are definitely a help to those small teams. Then ye olde ‘AAA’ market.
What’s interesting to me is, those tools are sufficient for some inventive design to make something less technically ambitious, but still very compelling to play.
But it doesn’t seem to have improved quality, nor cut budgets when it comes to larger studios and properties, for whatever reason :S
I guess there’s some parallels with the film industry and costs, although imperfect ones. They could cheaply make 10/20 movies for the budget of a big blockbuster, but choose not to for various reasons. Ofc it’s not a perfect parallel as bankable stars with massive salaries are a big factor in pushing up budgets there.
+1, good point about the distribution. Gabe is a genius.
Mattel Intellivision was in its prime from 1979 to 1983 as the #2 console to the Atari 2600. 195 games were made. In the last 10 years individual programmers have made about 50 really good Intellivision games. Two people have set up companies that build plastic cartridges and print and construct cartridge boxes. ~10 people have made the ~50 games.
The Atari 2600 has so many people making "homebrew" titles it is difficult to measure the size of the market. However, it is far bigger than the Intellivision market.
Lots of people who are now aged 50+ who would've been sucked into playing the Brood War campaign in 1999 when they were ~30 are now just saying "fuck it" and playing Atari 2600 and Intellivision games. LOL.
On March 15 2024 09:52 MegaBuster wrote: stormheads they are removing the community api
and look many of you will jump to very negative conclusions here
but I know in my heart that it means, yes, TORCH HAS RETURNED
he has come back and he has grabbed the levers of control behind the scenes to pilot us to our new home planet
Can FGS stop taking Ls? Man, these guys keep getting suckier and suckier by the second. Freaking corpos always trying to convince people that they're friends. What's next, you gotta pay to have access to the 3rd race? Can they just go bankrupt already? At this point, it's just pathetic.
On March 15 2024 09:52 MegaBuster wrote: stormheads they are removing the community api
and look many of you will jump to very negative conclusions here
but I know in my heart that it means, yes, TORCH HAS RETURNED
he has come back and he has grabbed the levers of control behind the scenes to pilot us to our new home planet
Can FGS stop taking Ls? Man, these guys keep getting suckier and suckier by the second. Freaking corpos always trying to convince people that they're friends. What's next, you gotta pay to have access to the 3rd race? Can they just go bankrupt already? At this point, it's just pathetic.
They are burning around a mil / month.
This is just the beginning
Is this... a lot? For a company in California with 100 employees, 1M a month would seem standard
i think they have 50 employees. So it seems like they went through the money fast. I don't think they started with the full $37.5 Million they brought in from investors. I think whoever signed the Kakao Games $25 Million deal got himself a really nice commission fee. I'm envisioning a guy like "Blake" from the movie "Glen Gary Glen Ross" signed the deal and took a big piece of the money.
The money men are a big part of any deal on this scale.
You realize that they haven't spent all of their money yet, right? And they won't have spent all of their money by early access release either. Here is the FAQ clarifying their funding situation:
On March 17 2024 17:31 _Spartak_ wrote: You realize that they haven't spent all of their money yet, right? And they won't have spent all of their money by early access release either. Here is the FAQ clarifying their funding situation:
And to answer your question, yes. What they have done so far with the money they have is remarkable. AAA games cost well over $100m these days.
LOL shill some more.
The money is gone in the summer (as mentioned 2 weeks ago at the big outcry), their other financial lifelines is selling company parts for a few bucks, venture capital is hard to get atm. If money was that easy they wouldnt crowdfund for peanuts. Common sense mate.
GTA6 is costing hundreds of mils, what the f has that to do with SG
edit: I cant even imagine how many people moved from buying into beta to wait and see, the whole crowdfunding stuff cant be a net positive cash wise
edit2: Tried a few inputs with Chat GPT, it is amazing how close you can get to the "info" provided by their finance FAQ. Just the typical marketing speak
The money isn't gone in the summer as explained in the FAQ I posted. I know you are going to keep ignoring it and I didn't post it for you. You are clearly a bad faith troll. It is just for others to see.
On March 17 2024 22:00 _Spartak_ wrote: The money isn't gone in the summer as explained in the FAQ I posted. I know you are going to keep ignoring it and I didn't post it for you. You are clearly a bad faith troll. It is just for others to see.
These reserves provide stability in the event of revenue shortfalls, and combined with revenue from Early Access release, are expected to carry Stormgate to a “1.0” launch.
So if the early access doesn't bring in the funds they need, they would run out before 1.0.
That's what people are worried about considering previously they said they were 'funded to release" which people took to be 1.0, not early access.
On March 17 2024 22:00 _Spartak_ wrote: The money isn't gone in the summer as explained in the FAQ I posted. I know you are going to keep ignoring it and I didn't post it for you. You are clearly a bad faith troll. It is just for others to see.
No problem with that. I hope you dont go silent after this goes tits up.
On March 17 2024 22:00 _Spartak_ wrote: The money isn't gone in the summer as explained in the FAQ I posted. I know you are going to keep ignoring it and I didn't post it for you. You are clearly a bad faith troll. It is just for others to see.
These reserves provide stability in the event of revenue shortfalls, and combined with revenue from Early Access release, are expected to carry Stormgate to a “1.0” launch.
So if the early access doesn't bring in the funds they need, they would run out before 1.0.
That's what people are worried about considering previously they said they were 'funded to release" which people took to be 1.0, not early access.
Yes, I know but saying all the money is gone in the summer would mean they will have nothing left when they release early access, which is not true as they are saying they will still have cash reserves left. It is just that those reserves aren't enough on their own to fund the development for another full year, so they will have to make some money during early access through in-game monetization.
On March 17 2024 22:00 _Spartak_ wrote: The money isn't gone in the summer as explained in the FAQ I posted. I know you are going to keep ignoring it and I didn't post it for you. You are clearly a bad faith troll. It is just for others to see.
No problem with that. I hope you dont go silent after this goes tits up.
Even if the game completely fails, what I am saying right now will still have been true and what you are saying right now will still have been false. I am not making a prediction on game's success/failure. I am correcting your misinformation.
Its absolutely astonishing and scrumptious stuff to attack and focus on people who didn't catch the fine line of their financial filings and calling that MISINFORMATION. Keep that word in the domain of pandemic and war crime denials and away from the discussion of the clumsiness of this goofy game company.
Because the FEELING matters, that's the main mistake they made and let toxic-positive reddit moderators make on their behalf. You have a developer that produced over 10 hours of interviews and videos which painted a vision of development that was wide-stretching blue sky, that was going to be handled by mature longstanding developers who MADE YOUR CHILDHOOD! And subsequently have a spiritual ownership over the material.
Well when that quickly shrinks and compresses down to an uncomfortable projection of the finished game, people will feel a certain way.
The whole financial blow out was a TEST, their audience was shit testing them and they had an opportunity to use their supposed independence and unleashed creativity and know-how to deal with it. This could have been merely been talking about it in a non-corporate likeable way. They didn't - they gave up the wall of Helm's Deep and moved to the inner keep with only toxic-positive redditors and creditors left to them. YUM!
The reason that happened? Its because they don't have that creativity, or know-how or understanding of the source material or the culture. What should have been a simple deflection was a deeply revealing moment, people chipped at the paint and realized it was some fake shellac over a substance-less core.
Saying what they've done with only 20 mil - 25 mil is "remarkable" while people being mad is "misinformation" made me jump right off my tractor and come post this.
After 3 years they got grey blobs blobbing into each other unremarkably. That's with a nuclear-powered jumping off point - Unreal Engine 5 - which has much more competency with RTS and networking than you'd been led to believe. You got a couple of doll-eyed mannequin cut scenes with doo doo lore dripping out of their mouths. Bone shakingly unfunny jokes about chickens. And wow some robot rock race night elf protoss to come — is your heart starting to accelerate like EDM from the CHAINSMOKERS?. Their dark secret expertise in pathing and unit control? This shit bounces off each other like billiard balls. I'm going to make a pool custom map and get fat rich off SNOWPLAY!
Let people have the counter swing of the emotional expectation that Slopgate's marketing put in their head, it doesn't make them a bad person whatsoever.
Remember that they invented a false ownership over Blizzard's IP in order to claim that it was morally right for them to rip shit off and have an opening cutscene with Kerrigan fighting D-Va fighting Diablo. Just because Blizzard had a hostile workplace and war criminals in their board room doesn't mean another small group of developers with patchy experience at the company can lay claim to these ideas they did not create. That sounds a lot more like what Bobby Kotick would do than what someone who is escaping from Bobby Kotick's world would do.
I can't speak to any of the student game developers they hired and told to pretend they were Blizzard vets but members of the founding team are giant fucking assholes - I can personally attest to my experience with them as people who exploit other people's work and ideas with no concern about who gets harmed.
EPT
