Many game studios are being dropped following a bit of an economic downturn in the United States and globally. Activision has to deal with being agile enough to survive the economic times like anyone else and has dropped a few games that had great potential.
Gamers continue to ask the question, “why?” when some of their highest potential games were dropped to the floor. Ghostbusters and Brütal Legend are a couple examples of games with eager fans already salivating prior to its launch. Some of these fans are a bit ticked off that Activision named them as dropped franchise opportunities.
People ask why a company holds one “mediocre” title while getting rid of other potentially awesome ones. Don’t forget, this is a business and a good studio/publisher is going to make good business decisions without emotional attachments – those that bring emotions into play may end up with a highly valued product (to them) with no additional potential and lower revenue. This isn’t to say developers cannot be passionate about their games and their industry, they just have to build games gamers will buy and continue to fall in love with release after release.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is one of these business savvy individuals who knows where investors will find profits for the future, and he also know how to manage employees, with the use of software like this sample pay stub for payments and more.
“[Those games] don’t have the potential to be exploited every year on every platform with clear sequel potential and have the potential to become $100 million dollar franchises. … I think, generally, our strategy has been to focus… on the products that have those attributes and characteristics, the products that we know [that] if we release them today, we’ll be working on them 10 years from now.” (1up)
Ghostbusters is a great example of a title which could be well received and fun to play but probably wouldn’t be an exploitable franchise. The game, based on a popular movie, has limited potential for yearly releases and huge franchise success. Ghostbusters fans would probably disagree, but that’s when emotion comes into play. Think dollars and cents, not awesome fun gaming.
Oddly enough many of these business decisions from Activision, Electronic Arts and other big publishers arrive when the economy is in free fall and investors are eying your revenue potential. People make their most important and, usually, unfriendly business decisions when their company is at risk.
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It’s sad to think money comes first and entertainment value comes second but we’re not the ones trying to make a profitable living in the industry. Put yourself in Kotick’s shoes as he walks into a board meeting to discuss future plans, road maps and profitability – you’d do what you have to do to keep your job, right?
EA Committed
INFOCOM??!?! You already DID that one a few weeks ago!
http://gamingpodcast.net/2009/03/31/gaming-podcast-116-we-cant-get-to-the-cloud/
INFOCOM??!?! You already DID that one a few weeks ago!
http://gamingpodcast.net/2009/03/31/gaming-podcast-116-we-cant-get-to-the-cloud/
Oh yeah, oops.
Wow, March 31st was a few weeks ago!? Man… I’m living in some alternative universe 🙂
Oh yeah, oops.
Wow, March 31st was a few weeks ago!? Man… I’m living in some alternative universe 🙂
– Natal … well, it’s a chicken vs. eggs dilema: nobody would by Natal because there are no games for it, and game producers won’s make a Natal based game because there are not enough people having Natal.
Making a game for Natal or not is a decision that might turn into a financial error.
– how many PSP versions are there anyway?! Jennifer is right, people will get confused. Heck, I’m confused …
Numbers are not that bad though, they help me with PC parts; having different names for almost-the-same products however is confusing.
(I know the differences between GeForce 7300 GT, GeForce 7300 GS, GeForce 7300 LE, GeForce 7300 SE but it is so damn confusing!)
– Blizzard and consoles? Sounds more like the Activision side trying to make more money by limitting PC piracy.
What’s funny is that Blizzard already has a way arround piracy (WoW anyone?).
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3138816
Oops! >:)
– @Take Two: Derrick, you’ve made a good point there.
– @BlueRay3D: dunno about replaying stuff in 3D. You’d need to send one set of images to just one eye, and another set of images for just the other one.
Without special glasses that will not be possible.
From this being just an attempt to create a market, well, this sounds a lot like Natal …
But who knows, as bad (or good?) as it sounds, the adult movies intustry made VHS tapes a success, maybe they’ll pick up this 3D vision thinggie.
What wow-ed me in 2009? A move made by Epic:
http://udk.com/launch.html
I get it, they’re doing it to gain market share. In worst case they make no money and gain market. Best case scenario they make a truckload of money out of the games using it, without lifting a finger, and they gain market.
Anyway, I didn’t expect that move. Congrats Epic!
– Natal … well, it’s a chicken vs. eggs dilema: nobody would by Natal because there are no games for it, and game producers won’s make a Natal based game because there are not enough people having Natal.
Making a game for Natal or not is a decision that might turn into a financial error.
– how many PSP versions are there anyway?! Jennifer is right, people will get confused. Heck, I’m confused …
Numbers are not that bad though, they help me with PC parts; having different names for almost-the-same products however is confusing.
(I know the differences between GeForce 7300 GT, GeForce 7300 GS, GeForce 7300 LE, GeForce 7300 SE but it is so damn confusing!)
– Blizzard and consoles? Sounds more like the Activision side trying to make more money by limitting PC piracy.
What’s funny is that Blizzard already has a way arround piracy (WoW anyone?).
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3138816
Oops! >:)
– @Take Two: Derrick, you’ve made a good point there.
– @BlueRay3D: dunno about replaying stuff in 3D. You’d need to send one set of images to just one eye, and another set of images for just the other one.
Without special glasses that will not be possible.
From this being just an attempt to create a market, well, this sounds a lot like Natal …
But who knows, as bad (or good?) as it sounds, the adult movies intustry made VHS tapes a success, maybe they’ll pick up this 3D vision thinggie.
What wow-ed me in 2009? A move made by Epic:
http://udk.com/launch.html
I get it, they’re doing it to gain market share. In worst case they make no money and gain market. Best case scenario they make a truckload of money out of the games using it, without lifting a finger, and they gain market.
Anyway, I didn’t expect that move. Congrats Epic!
Well, 30 weeks ago, but that’s still no excuse :p
Well, 30 weeks ago, but that’s still no excuse :p
Things that wow’ed me: being at E3 and playing games well in advance like God of War III, The Beatles: Rock Band, and Dragon Age. The Brink demonstration there wow’ed me the most, as did attending the introduction of Project Natal and the Milo demo.
As for games, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed II were big surprises, as was Halo 3: ODST’s co op multiplayer.
Things that wow’ed me: being at E3 and playing games well in advance like God of War III, The Beatles: Rock Band, and Dragon Age. The Brink demonstration there wow’ed me the most, as did attending the introduction of Project Natal and the Milo demo.
As for games, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed II were big surprises, as was Halo 3: ODST’s co op multiplayer.
Biggest highlight of 2009 was sony losing the Exclusivity of its exclusive title Final Fantasy XIII =] =[) XD
Biggest highlight of 2009 was sony losing the Exclusivity of its exclusive title Final Fantasy XIII =] =[) XD