Prez wrote on Jan 28, 2019, 16:07:

Creston wrote on Jan 28, 2019, 15:33:
Wasn't Starbreeze the studio that did that utterly garbage Syndicate remake as an FPS?

Yep. To be fair, the game wasn't completely terrible - it was simply mediocre and forgettable. The biggest sin was that it was done using an absolute classic of a series, long overdue for a sequel, giving fans a game that exactly none of them wanted and captured literally none of what made the strategy games magic, AND seemingly killed off the franchise in the process.

Oh God, it was fuck-awful. And absolutely ruined the IP.

It's a shame. They were one of very few developers who rolled their own FPS game engine and it was pretty damn good. Syndicate overall was very meh (though a bit underrated I think), but the controls and shooting were well done and the AI was above average. You could get in a gunfight with a single AI in a hallway and it would be fun--that can't be said of many FPS games. Your character had a sense of mass and momentum and placement in the world rather than the more typical flying, disembodied cross hair.

The Riddick games before that only truly worked because they'd done such a good job with the FPS mechanics.

I haven't played anything they released after Syndicate, but at the time the only reason I even bought Syndicate was because Starbreeze had developed it. The name meant something.

I didn't know what they'd been up to since, but yeah, it sounds pretty nuts. They have (or at least one point had) some real talent working for them, so I hope they end up at better run studios.

Creston wrote on Jan 28, 2019, 15:33:
Wasn't Starbreeze the studio that did that utterly garbage Syndicate remake as an FPS?

Yep. To be fair, the game wasn't completely terrible - it was simply mediocre and forgettable. The biggest sin was that it was done using an absolute classic of a series, long overdue for a sequel, giving fans a game that exactly none of them wanted and captured literally none of what made the strategy games magic, AND seemingly killed off the franchise in the process.

Wasn't Starbreeze the studio that did that utterly garbage Syndicate remake as an FPS?

Won't comment on the whole Starbreeze debacle because who didn't see that one coming a mile away, but damn, what a great job the author did on this article.

Wonder if they had rights to Chronicles of Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay or it went to the producer Vivindi. Would be nice to see it on GOG.

Darks wrote on Jan 28, 2019, 12:05:
Starbreez has no one but themselves to blame for the Walking Dead game being so bad. They were told many times about some of the stupid features in the game that made the game non enjoyable.

Grapping that takes away health AI thats stupid and shoots up the place causing the horde meter to get set off. No way for the horde meter to rest after moving out of the area and remaining silent. Stupid stuff like this killed the games overall enjoyment.

And a host of other minor issues. The Devs failed to listen to the community and now they are paying the price for it.

I always questioned why they ported Left 4 Dead basically into The Walking Dead. Major derivatives aside, TWD is a meditation on humanity under the pressure of the zombies and the breakdown of society, more akin to Lord of the Flies than Army of Darkness. The genre doesn't strike me as a good action game really.

Wow. A lot of hubris in those acquisitions. Building a large conglomerate on a very shaky foundation. Sounds like Bo was too focused on growing and not focused enough on making sure the product he was putting out was going to support them.

Most game studios aren't well diversified - one failure can kill them. But making wide-ranging purchases well outside your core competency isn't the path to financial independence. It can accelerate things, but you need to start by first having a better cadence of product releases. If you 3 or 4 teams alternating releases, then you're never wholly dependent upon one product. If one of your 4 teams puts out a monumental flop, you can still count on the others to help prop them up.

Turning into a hardware company making a too-expensive VR solution when you're still riding on a 3+ year old game... no.

Prez wrote on Jan 28, 2019, 13:12:
So there are 200 people working at Starbreeze while the company has no money, is millions in debt, and no games in development for the foreseeable future. How does Starbreeze even still exist?

They wont, they are running on borrowed time.

So there are 200 people working at Starbreeze while the company has no money, is millions in debt, and no games in development for the foreseeable future. How does Starbreeze even still exist?

Spektr wrote on Jan 28, 2019, 12:56:
To protect their careers? Do they think they still have a future at Starbreeze?

No, but they want to have a career somewhere else, and badmouthing your boss is usually not a good way to ensure that happens, particularly in a very, very small industry.

To protect their careers? Do they think they still have a future at Starbreeze?

Starbreez has no one but themselves to blame for the Walking Dead game being so bad. They were told many times about some of the stupid features in the game that made the game non enjoyable.

Grapping that takes away health AI thats stupid and shoots up the place causing the horde meter to get set off. No way for the horde meter to rest after moving out of the area and remaining silent. Stupid stuff like this killed the games overall enjoyment.

And a host of other minor issues. The Devs failed to listen to the community and now they are paying the price for it.