I went in reading this not expecting something so interesting.
This shit is fascinating.
Activision/Bungie game revealed by court (4 MMO sci-fantasy FPSs, more) [OP Updated]
- Thread starter V_Ben
- Start date
I went in reading this not expecting something so interesting.
This shit is fascinating.
Im_So_Pringles
Member
Kind of aware of that. Just trying to be realistic here; that's a shit ton of content. As of now I don't think Bungie has the man power to pull it off. (Huge Bungie fan here, btw)
My main "this is bullshit" thoughts come from the reviewer score of 90. WTF? I've never heard of that before. "Get good reviews, get a bonus." WTF? lol
My bad.
Even if they aren't sick of it afterwards, after 10 years of milking I don't think that the IP will still be worth very much at that point.
343i being in charge of the franchise, doesn't change that Bungie still are the creators of Halo 1 to Reach.
shinobi602
Member
I'm confused, why do some people keep saying Bungie is screwed?
I don't think they're screwed, but the situation they're in sounds like the same one they wanted to leave in Microsoft.
snoopeasystreet
Member
Hopefully they are but Microsoft have been gung ho with Halo releases recently.
Uno Venova
Banned
Those sales expectations seem high, I don't think even the last Halo did that. But they signed it, must be confident, hope it works out.
MirageDwarf
Member
I wish this bombs horribly. Fuck MMOs.
Mama Robotnik
Member
The hellish gauntlet of a development timetable, which looks like it would crush the spirits of even the most enthusiastic and passionate game developer, might have something to do with it.
Kazuma Kiryu
Member
damn, as much as i love bungie, i don't really believe they can keep up the quality for so long...
damn you activision.
Really? We've heard of this thing before and can assume anything above 85 or 90 makes sense as anything lower does not. Sure it's explicit this time around, but I don't think industry veterans were wholly unaware of such a process.
And honestly must be a little terrifying for Bungie. I'd be nervous as hell if those evaluating my product knew the exact threshold with which they could impact my income.
but Chromehounds was amazing.
We have no idea what type of online game this is. It could be like Guild Wars for all we know.
FateBreaker
Member
This makes me laugh. Activision stricter and more demanding than MS's three-years-a-Halo-game schedule. I still wonder why the hell Bungie went with Activision...and it is especially confusing when they're just sticking to 360/720 on the first game.
Because it's decade of commitment to the same franchise with full games and expasions released in alternate years + DLC and high milestones to reach.
So you want Bungie to fail because you don't like the genre of game they're making? k.
shinobi602
Member
They willingly signed the contract though...isn't it pretty obvious they know what they were doing going in? They have a bigger team now. Should be pretty feasible.
Hey guys, remember when Kotaku Australia called this a year ago?
And remember when NeoGAF had a thread about it?
Apologies can be directed to one NeoGAF user MrSerrels.
And remember when NeoGAF had a thread about it?
Apologies can be directed to one NeoGAF user MrSerrels.
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
the same reason people should not have to depend on tips to get their full wage.
the same reason monetary incentives do not actually work quite as well as the theoretical models say they should: because when you have enough and you're treated like shit: the bonus from the shitty ass company can go to hell.
It's a simple extortion practice to deny workers the money that they have rightfully earned. "Selling" is not even dependent on the developer or their investment, so why should someone go trough crunchtime, lose friends and possibly even worse over it, FOR SOMETHING THEY CANNOT CONTROL??
Sorry, just finished watching Angry Joe review battleship, another Activision classic! His anger kinda rubbed off on me.
(PR, marketing and other management -line management- branches like to pretend that they know what they are doing and that everything is predictable. This is absolute nonsense. No matter what you do, there will be things that bomb or do something completely different for no apparent or even re-traceable reason at all.
The management cult -this is a fair word to use at this point, imho- has a systematic and catastrophic lack of appreciation for the concept of a black swan, and refuses to change accordingly. As a result, it drags itself from crisis to crisis, without end, until the company dies.
Or, in the big version: the economy. But that's another story)
I can't say I understand the logic behind some timed exclusives for what seems to be an IP they want to continue into the future on multiple platforms.
They want to release the first part on 360 and then the later games in the series on other platforms, have they missed all the other times this has happened recently, Mass Effect for instance that has a good following but only pulled in a small percentage with its second and third game on PS3 after its initial release on 360, obviously that wasn't EA's fault and more to do with the MS/Bioware deal but I imagine the same will probably happen here.
They want to release the first part on 360 and then the later games in the series on other platforms, have they missed all the other times this has happened recently, Mass Effect for instance that has a good following but only pulled in a small percentage with its second and third game on PS3 after its initial release on 360, obviously that wasn't EA's fault and more to do with the MS/Bioware deal but I imagine the same will probably happen here.
Mama Robotnik
Member
Oh yeah, I completely agree.
Its interesting from a reviewers perspective too. Say they were going to score it 8.9, but understand that a single fraction higher would work towards the good people that made the game getting their money....
snoopeasystreet
Member
Yeah its a lot of content to produce alright but I think bungie is a pretty big studio nowadays and as far as the metacritic score goes, yeah, that's pretty common nowadays.
cuevas. PhD.
Member
Marathon is interesting. I have my doubts that they could pull it off. To compete with modern games, it certainly would not feel much like old Marathon gameplay wise. And old Marathon had a lot more hardcore sci-fi than mainstream markets go for. As a Bungie fan, I'd love to see it, I just have my doubts.
Maybe it'll be only lots of micro-transactions or something. There is no way there won't be some milking going on.
faceless007
Member
Wow, so Acti even stipulates the number of employees they can have working on bungie.net. I don't know what to think of that.
NullPointer
Member
Can you link to the respective section of the contract? $140 million seems a lot, but not altogether unreasonable given they are building a new IP from the ground up (and possibly developing a next-gen engine).
Some of those comments are great...
cuevas. PhD.
Member
I doubt that will stay true. Most likely they are bumped to a 2 year plan now. This seems to be the common turn around.
That's why I don't think Bungie as a company is screwed, this is probably what Bungie's heads wanted and it probably will be a successful franchise regardless of the tight schedule.
The only ones ''screwed'' IMO are the new employees that probably didn't have a clue about this contract.
bigtroyjon
Member
I mean yeah, sure we've had assumptions before and could guess what numbers for what games, but to actually see the specific details, and how far in advance they were stated in contract before development even started, and the fact that this is now public information is incredible.
Also how long they're locked in for, with how many games, and the bar they need to meet for each one is crazy too.
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
Falls in with the rumors we've seen. I'm there, non subscription mmo fps on console? Sure.
This is my "best" case scenario, but it's (probably/most likely/sadly) not like this in the slightest.
I was stupid to expect anything different, especially when it's a partnership with Activision.
Oh well. Guess I'll go get a life now, or something.
NullPointer
Member
What blows my mind there is to read how Bungie has to fire their website staff to Activision acceptable levels if the game is every in "critical risk" status.
Jesus fucking Christ I had no idea that these contracts were this particular.
Deadly Joker
Member
dancrane212
Member
But don't they, provided everything works out, get to walk away with a multi million dollar Ip in ten years?
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
shinobi602 said:
5 mil in 6 months on a new and untried IP is extraordinarily ambitious; bordering on arrogant in fact.
Its also heavily contingent on multiple SKU's being launched within the window, something that could be affected if for any reason MS were forced to shuffle their 720 launch timetable around.
Do Wii games just not exist in your world?