Entire Annapurna Interactive Staff Quit -- there are No Strays

[Nimoy007]

According to Bloomberg (and previously, the Hollywood Reporter) the entire 25-person staff of gaming publisher Annapurna Interactive has resigned following an impass in negotiations with the parent company, Annapurna Pictures, to spin off the games division.

 

Quotes

Quote

 “All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team collectively resigned,’’ [former Annapurna Interactive President Nathan] Gary and the group said in a joint statement. “This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make and we did not take this action lightly.”

 

My thoughts

This really sucks. As I've seen in discourse surrounding this story, I really hope they are able to become the spiritual successor to Annapurna Interactive. This will undoubtedly cause some confusion as Annapurna plans to hire new staff to replace the team, so who knows what we'll get in terms of games from them in the future. This also has to affect any IP they created, and it makes you wonder what will happen to the games they made from a maintenance and expansion perspective. Regardless of what happens, I wish them the best. Shame on CEO Megan Ellison for walking away from the negotiation table.

 

Sources

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-12/annapurna-video-game-team-resigns-leaving-partners-scrambling?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTcyNjE3NzQyOSwiZXhwIjoxNzI2NzgyMjI5LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTSlBZWklUMEFGQjQwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.BpoA_wBJDrNbDbgj_LjnVUJQg6SM_vsIzWUEM6v85xE

(Long URL necessary to access the article)

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/annapurna-president-nathan-gary-exits-1235993653/

Edited September 15 by Nimoy007
Corrected the name of the parent company, edited the thread title, corrected issue where Annapurna Interactive was referred to as a game developer

[Motifator]

So no crappy cyberpunk environment to wander around with the kitty? Good, I'd play Little Kitty Big City instead, after all that guy was the one who came up with the og idea. Won't be missing Stray, or their other crappy efforts for that matter.

[Mark Kaine]

ok who?

 

 

(this is after I clicked "no, i do not accept" btw)

 

just block Europeans right out atp...

[Nimoy007]

Dunno if it will help, but try clicking the Bloomberg link from the Verge article here:

https://www.theverge.com/games/2024/9/12/24243317/annapurna-interactive-staff-reportedly-resigns

[BethQuentin]

You mean to tell me that the daughter of Larry Ellison doesn't want to give up IP she owns and negotiates with an iron fist? Color me shocked!!

[Taf the Ghost]

20 hours ago, BethQuentin said:

You mean to tell me that the daughter of Larry Ellison doesn't want to give up IP she owns and negotiates with an iron fist? Color me shocked!!

As far as I can gather, she wouldn't have lost control. It'd have been a separate Game Publishing company from the Movie & other media aspects. This is one of the weirdest Corporate Structure fights I've ever honestly seen. But the cross-over problems were bad enough to convince the entire staff of the Game Publisher side to quit. 

[RejZoR]

On 9/14/2024 at 12:21 AM, Motifator said:

So no crappy cyberpunk environment to wander around with the kitty? Good, I'd play Little Kitty Big City instead, after all that guy was the one who came up with the og idea. Won't be missing Stray, or their other crappy efforts for that matter.

The hate just because they "stole" the idea for Stray? I heard the game was pretty decent as is anyway. And Little Kitty Big City has very good ratings too. There's a lot of games that "stole" the idea and they coexisted together just fine. Just look at the whole Doom/Quake era and how many "clone" games it spawned and they all coexisted.

 

I've played G-Force game many years ago and it was really a predecessor to both of these cat games. You control a guinea pig with additional gadgets and it was one of the funniest cutest games I've played and it was super fun to control a guinea pig around in a Tomb Raider style exploration game. Yeah, weird combo, but it worked. There was also a game where you explored world with a mouse in The Spirit and The Mouse game. There's nothing wrong if games borrow styles or genre if they all end up being good and not just shallow with stolen content. As far as I can tell all games I mentioned were highly adored by players.

[Motifator]

11 hours ago, RejZoR said:

The hate just because they "stole" the idea for Stray? I heard the game was pretty decent as is anyway. And Little Kitty Big City has very good ratings too. There's a lot of games that "stole" the idea and they coexisted together just fine. Just look at the whole Doom/Quake era and how many "clone" games it spawned and they all coexisted.

Cyberpunk is overdone and crap. We don't need another game where you're the only individual that matters in a futuristic world to save the day.

Being a cat in a cyberpunk environment is even more of a dumb idea. Little Kitty Big City is actually done by a guy who spends a ton of time with cats in his house and understands about their psychology. Granted it has dressing up the cat, etc, but still a better game.

Also those clone games aren't exactly "stealing the idea", those are all done on the same engine more or less. Like Hexen and Doom, they're similar games done by same company. If you're talking about other games however, they're also games in the same genre. Back then, arena games were a big thing so every company did multiple. The genre was advancing so nobody was actually stealing anything but rather, making their own. That's like saying Ford stole the Benz idea because they are both vehicles with 4 wheels. However, today MANY companies actually flat out STEAL ideas. I remember that crappy Remnant game requiring you to steal hearts of beasts and give them to a boss to progress. The previous souls game that came before it, Immortal: Unchained had the EXACT SAME SEQUENCE. THAT is stealing, not making a game of the same genre...

[TetraSky]

I have to admit... I looked them up and I have only ever heard of one game they made. Journey. Never played it though.

Surprised there were only 25 of them.

[RejZoR]

9 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

I have to admit... I looked them up and I have only ever heard of one game they made. Journey. Never played it though.

Surprised there were only 25 of them.

Outer Wilds and Stray were among more popular ones. I've grabbed Journey like 2 months ago when it was on some super cheap deal, but I have yet to play it. I've heard it's very chill and beautiful game.

[Nimoy007]

11 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

I have to admit... I looked them up and I have only ever heard of one game they made. Journey. Never played it though.

Journey is great. I own it, Stray, Donut County, and Flower. Stray is the only one I haven't played yet, but I enjoyed the others. I have also looked into Neon White and Cocoon.

If you're looking for atmospheric games, Journey and Flower are great. Donut County is a silly, short, casual (barely) puzzler.

[Nimoy007]

49 minutes ago, Motifator said:

Cyberpunk is overdone and crap. We don't need another game where you're the only individual that matters in a futuristic world to save the day.

Your opinions are your own.

[Motifator]

27 minutes ago, Nimoy007 said:

Your opinions are your own.

No, when every company and their brotherhood releases a game of the EXACT SAME STORY, hurr durr you're Keanu Reeves and you're the only one left in Cyberpunk 2077 to save the world, it becomes REDUNDANT and TRASH.

I want originality out of the games I play. I don't want every game to repeat the one that came before it.

You know why old games were gold? Part of why was because they were original and not copy pastes of the games that came 6 months ago, like what we have today.

[Kisai]

1 hour ago, Motifator said:

Being a cat in a cyberpunk environment is even more of a dumb idea. Little Kitty Big City is actually done by a guy who spends a ton of time with cats in his house and understands about their psychology. Granted it has dressing up the cat, etc, but still a better game.
 

What is your problem??

 

Stray is a novel idea, instead of a mute human protagonist with a party member doing all the speaking for you, you have a cat with a robot companion, and the cat is "a cat" for the entire game. The entire story is slowly revealed, but the cat fundamentally is just trying to get back to it's family outside the city. The game is built in a way that you help robots solve a great mystery. You can finish it in 6 hours.

 

Little Kitty Big City, the cat falls from a condo in a building lands on a bird before falling in the trash who then mocks the cat for not knowing how to fly, and you spend the entire game gacha'ing for hats. The entire game is actually significantly more frustrating than Stray is because you have to "upgrade your climbing" by helping other animals do very un-animal things. You can finish it in 2 hours.

 

These games are not the same beyond the initial "got to return home" premise. There are other "cat" games out there, lots of them, but the only thing these two games share in common is a well-animated cat model. LKBC is stylistically a cartoon, and animated as such. Stray is "realistic" animated. That was Stray's selling point. 

 

Stray only works because of the environment it's in. If it was any other environment, you would have to find a way to make the cat communicate to progress. Hence LKBC's interaction with other animals that do all the non-cat things , like using smart phones and building teleporters. A game where you play a cat and can't talk to anyone will feel empty and hallow. Even games like the Stanley Parable, have a narrator.

 

You can enjoy both.

 

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

1 hour ago, Motifator said:

Cyberpunk is overdone and crap. We don't need another game where you're the only individual that matters in a futuristic world to save the day.

Being a cat in a cyberpunk environment is even more of a dumb idea. Little Kitty Big City is actually done by a guy who spends a ton of time with cats in his house and understands about their psychology. Granted it has dressing up the cat, etc, but still a better game.

So you own and have played both then, right? Or what do you base this on?

 

I loved the Outer Wilds, Stray, and What Remains of Edith Finch. Luckily Annapurna was only the publisher and not the developer.

[Motifator]

7 minutes ago, Kisai said:

What is your problem??

 

Stray is a novel idea, instead of a mute human protagonist with a party member doing all the speaking for you, you have a cat with a robot companion, and the cat is "a cat" for the entire game. The entire story is slowly revealed, but the cat fundamentally is just trying to get back to it's family outside the city. The game is built in a way that you help robots solve a great mystery. You can finish it in 6 hours.

 

Little Kitty Big City, the cat falls from a condo in a building lands on a bird before falling in the trash who then mocks the cat for not knowing how to fly, and you spend the entire game gacha'ing for hats. The entire game is actually significantly more frustrating than Stray is because you have to "upgrade your climbing" by helping other animals do very un-animal things. You can finish it in 2 hours.

 

These games are not the same beyond the initial "got to return home" premise. There are other "cat" games out there, lots of them, but the only thing these two games share in common is a well-animated cat model. LKBC is stylistically a cartoon, and animated as such. Stray is "realistic" animated. That was Stray's selling point. 

 

Stray only works because of the environment it's in. If it was any other environment, you would have to find a way to make the cat communicate to progress. Hence LKBC's interaction with other animals that do all the non-cat things , like using smart phones and building teleporters. A game where you play a cat and can't talk to anyone will feel empty and hallow. Even games like the Stanley Parable, have a narrator.

 

You can enjoy both.

 

I looked up a bit more on the game, you wander around with a robot speaking mumbo jumbo made up language and encounter i-robots, it's dumb as a box.

How original you must be to enjoy this garbage game with stolen ideas. Hurray let's copy Little Kitty Big City before it comes out, and put the cat in a cyberpunk world to spice it up a bit.

I'm glad this company went under, there's nothing to like about any of their games to me.

[Kisai]

Just now, Motifator said:

I looked up a bit more on the game, you wander around with a robot speaking mumbo jumbo made up language and encounter i-robots, it's dumb as a box.

How original you must be to enjoy this garbage game with stolen ideas. Hurray let's copy Little Kitty Big City before it comes out, and put the cat in a cyberpunk world to spice it up a bit.

I'm glad this company went under, there's nothing to like about any of their games to me.

You are being unnecessarily rude and hostile towards other people in the thread. You clearly never played it before commenting on it. Claiming Stray stole LKBC 's idea is like claiming they stole Catlateral Damage's idea of a game "where you play a cat and can knock over pots." Or Another Sight where the cat is one half of the adventuring party. If you get a list of "games where you can play a cat", MOST of them are going to be anthropomorphic cats (Eg "furry" style cats that have human biped movement and opposable thumbs.)

 

Most of the reviews compare LKBC to Stray with something like "a sequel to Stray" or "What Stray probably should have been". Stray is a story from the perspective of a cat, and there are long-term consequences to the city. The cat is put in deadly situations in Stray. LKBC the cat is never in any danger and has cartoon physics keeping them out of danger, but the story is super-thin. The cat in LKBC effectively changes nothing about the status quo. "Alright, I'm home."

 

If you are going to be antagonistic towards something, at least watch a comedy review first.

When people want a cat game, what they usually want is to wear the cat's persona, and LKBC probably "does that" better because tripping a human and then running off with their cell phone is a more believable action, and people will do that over and over, like a cat would because it invokes a reaction. 

 

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

41 minutes ago, Motifator said:

I'm glad this company went under, there's nothing to like about any of their games to me.

Bro, what is wrong with you? Just because you don't like the products a company makes, doesn't mean you have to celebrate its failure.

[TetraSky]

1 hour ago, RejZoR said:

Outer Wilds and Stray were among more popular ones. I've grabbed Journey like 2 months ago when it was on some super cheap deal, but I have yet to play it. I've heard it's very chill and beautiful game.

Aah, right, Strays... Forgot that one.

But wait, weren't these guys primarily just Publishers? Meaning they did not actually develop these games? The developers of Stray was BlueTwelve Studio...

[Nimoy007]

8 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

But wait, weren't these guys primarily just Publishers? Meaning they did not actually develop these games? The developers of Stray was BlueTwelve Studio...

Ah, yeah, perhaps you're right. I know you weren't replying to me, but I did start this thread, so I do feel responsible for calling them devs. I checked on all the titles I own, and they are listed as only the publisher on all of them. I have updated my original post and the edit history to correct this. Thanks.

Edited September 15 by Nimoy007
Updated to add that I edited the original post

[RejZoR]

11 hours ago, TetraSky said:

Aah, right, Strays... Forgot that one.

But wait, weren't these guys primarily just Publishers? Meaning they did not actually develop these games? The developers of Stray was BlueTwelve Studio...

Depends on the deals. Sometimes publishers hold the majority of rights for the game. Sometimes they are strictly just a publisher who shoveled some cash initially for development and then harvests certain % from every sale.

[NF-A12x25]

14 hours ago, Motifator said:

I looked up a bit more on the game, you wander around with a robot speaking mumbo jumbo made up language and encounter i-robots, it's dumb as a box.

How original you must be to enjoy this garbage game with stolen ideas. Hurray let's copy Little Kitty Big City before it comes out, and put the cat in a cyberpunk world to spice it up a bit.

I'm glad this company went under, there's nothing to like about any of their games to me.

It’s a great game with overwhelmingly positive reviews. You haven’t even played the game, so you might want to stop embarrassing yourself. It’s nothing like Little Kitty Big City, and it’s substantially better in my opinion.

[Thaldor]

Seems like some internal rooster fight falloff. The parent company moving more into the game space and the spinoff game publishing division wanted nothing to do with it and leave the the parent company, because reasons, and parent company going "well, there's a door, good luck" and the game division took the door.

 

One of the original founders of the game division has been rehired from Epic Games and all the publishing contracts will be honored, so basicly only thing changing is the contact people. There's going to be rebuilding contacts to the industry and generally replacing the people, but at least for now nothing changes, there might be some internal game development in the future but nothing affecting the real developers of the games for now.

[BethQuentin]

On 9/16/2024 at 11:28 AM, Thaldor said:

Seems like some internal rooster fight falloff. The parent company moving more into the game space and the spinoff game publishing division wanted nothing to do with it and leave the the parent company, because reasons, and parent company going "well, there's a door, good luck" and the game division took the door.

I feel pretty much the same about it.

 

The knee jerk reaction is to be mad at the company, but from what I've been able to gleam from public information, it seems like the game people sat down with the owners and said "give me half your company or I'll quit" and the owners said "absolutely not, there's the door", and the game people walked out the door.

 

There must be something that I don't understand or that we don't know yet. The whole thing seems, weird.

[Nimoy007]

On 9/19/2024 at 11:30 AM, BethQuentin said:

"give me half your company or I'll quit"

Where did this impression come from?