EA Shuts down Visceral Games

[jakinov]

2 hours ago, Nicholatian said:

Here's a suggestion to EA: Lose some fucking weight!

 

To say you need hundreds of people on salary for two to four years is a colossal embarrassment to their ability to manage themselves. You shouldn't need more than one, maybe two dozen people on salary full-time to produce a good video game, because everyone else is commissioned and/or contracted from the get-go. Contracts don't last 4 years last I checked, so it's no wonder their games aren't profitable! They're pissing millions of dollars down the drain!

I dunno the actual number but it's probably between 100-200. A 75 person AAA studio is considered a small studio.CD Project Red employs over 200 employees. 1000 people worked on GTA V, not sure how many were contracted and for how long. Sledgehammer 225, Infinity WArd 250, Santa Monica Studios 220, Rocksteady 134,  Ubisoft Montreal  3000 (but they are divided in multiple projects), Obsidian 170, Bungie 750. I didn't cherry pick these numbers, I couldn't find numbers for most other studios I knew from top of my head.

 

You can create a good game with a couple dozen people but not at the same "speed" and technical prowess.

Also, they just shed a bunch of weight. Expensive California weight.

 

[Trik'Stari]

On 10/18/2017 at 11:26 PM, Misanthrope said:

Indies and free-to-play models can probably remain but yeah AAA games at this rate might become a worst value than just spending 10 bucks on an indie game in terms of value for what you get for your cash.

I've bought more indie games this year than any year before.

 

Been WAY happier with my purchases as well. Hyper Light Drifter, Sundered, The Long Dark, and now this is coming out

Why would I buy a Triple A Game again?

[Majestic]

Serial Killer EA.

 

F

[suicidalfranco]

50 minutes ago, Trik'Stari said:

I've bought more indie games this year than any year before.

 

Been WAY happier with my purchases as well. Hyper Light Drifter, Sundered, The Long Dark, and now this is coming out

Why would I buy a Triple A Game again?

because that's what everyone is buying

 

/s

[Misanthrope]

5 hours ago, Trik'Stari said:

I've bought more indie games this year than any year before.

 

Been WAY happier with my purchases as well. Hyper Light Drifter, Sundered, The Long Dark, and now this is coming out

Why would I buy a Triple A Game again?

I'm more of an RPG man myself but we've gotten games recently like Divinity II (still on my to get list but I've seen great reviews) and such. I mean sure this games are not perhaps the greatest of lookers but they're legit fun, good value for what you pay and it just means you get to keep your GPU for a lot longer.

[suicidalfranco]

18 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

I'm more of an RPG man myself but we've gotten games recently like Divinity II (still on my to get list but I've seen great reviews) and such. I mean sure this games are not perhaps the greatest of lookers but they're legit fun, good value for what you pay and it just means you get to keep your GPU for a lot longer.

Divinity

Tyranny

Pillars of Eternity

Torment

 

These games have kept me awake for so many nights, probably the reason i still game to this day after getting tired of the AAA BS

[ItsMitch]

4 hours ago, VegetableStu said:

Dreamworks Interactive? ,_,

im sorry; ea isnt a nice company ;(

[Humbug]

On 10/19/2017 at 8:23 AM, Misanthrope said:

 

I know several people have been saying for years that the AAA gaming industry isn't sustainable and that another crash is inevitable and most of you will think this is another "the sky is falling" rant but I feel like this isn't just me talking, but the publishers themselves that no longer can recoup dev costs and some margin out of just a fucking game.

Indeed. It seems like the time and manpower required for a AAA game just keeps going up and up.

 

I think a revolution is required in game engines and dev tools. Something that enables more efficient content creation... Right now it's just too painstaking.

[SansVarnic]

On 10/17/2017 at 6:09 PM, SC2Mitch said:

EA kill list: <snip>

credits go to twitter 

Don't forget Lucas Arts, I know but it was given to EA by Disney so yeah EA killed Lucas Arts. I wanted to play 1138 sorry its was 1313...  

 /cry

[Trik'Stari]

12 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

I'm more of an RPG man myself but we've gotten games recently like Divinity II (still on my to get list but I've seen great reviews) and such. I mean sure this games are not perhaps the greatest of lookers but they're legit fun, good value for what you pay and it just means you get to keep your GPU for a lot longer.

Feels kind of funny to go back to old school gaming, when I'm rocking a 1080ti water cooled.

[apm]

On 10/17/2017 at 9:53 PM, cj09beira said:

wasnt visceral the ones who fixed bf4 ?

EA loves to pump and Dump, the best battlefield game ever, bf2 was made by a bunch of people that mad a mod of bf1942 ea bought them, and right before launch (or right after cant remember) they fired everyone, 

yes, visceral technically made battlefront possible with a ton of engine fixes

[jakinov]

1 hour ago, SansVarnic said:

Don't forget Lucas Arts, I know but it was given to EA by Disney so yeah EA killed Lucas Arts. I wanted to play 1138 sorry its was 1313...  

 /cry

I wouldn't really describe that as EA killing them, it was highly likely going to shutdown anyways and EA was just the one who snagged the rights instead of other publishers. 

[SansVarnic]

Just now, jakinov said:

I wouldn't really describe that as EA killing them, it was highly likely going to shutdown anyways and EA was just the one who snagged the rights instead of other publishers. 

I know but but .... lol

[Jito463]

On 10/20/2017 at 9:22 AM, Misanthrope said:

I'm more of an RPG man myself but we've gotten games recently like Divinity II (still on my to get list but I've seen great reviews) and such. I mean sure this games are not perhaps the greatest of lookers but they're legit fun, good value for what you pay and it just means you get to keep your GPU for a lot longer.

Actually, it's Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Divinity II is a completely different game of theirs  ).  That and its predecessor are really quite fun.  I backed both of them on KS/Fig and don't regret it one bit.

On 10/20/2017 at 9:40 AM, suicidalfranco said:

Divinity

Tyranny

Pillars of Eternity

Torment

 

These games have kept me awake for so many nights, probably the reason i still game to this day after getting tired of the AAA BS

Another indie game I would add to the list is Consortium.  Its design philosophy is very much inspired by Deus Ex and the concept of 'One city block' (as envisioned by Warren Specter).  The original game had some flaws at launch (understandable for a small indie team), but has since been smoothed out.  The sequel is currently in beta and has a free demo up on Steam.