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?
We purchased Rock Band 2 and the Drum Kit on the week of launch, having played on the drums for about a month we’ve already broke them. This time, however, it’s not the foot pedal, but the blue and yellow drum heads, now having smashed little holes in the center.
@Aussie Diablo III preorders not getting refunded from GAME
This sucks major balls. Aussies already get the short end of the stick, due to significantly higher prices. I pity them, they deserve better.
@Dark Souls multiplayer
I think that another game that uses a similar concept is TrackMania Nations. Granted, in TMN you only see the ghost of the other players, they don’t affect the game too much.
@QOTW:
Hmm, I don’t really play free-to-play games. I did play a free game (“Red Alert: A Path Beyond”) though.
Good news, Herr: Blizzard is accepting those preorder refunds from GAME. Just send them your receipt, and you can purchase it from Blizzard minus the deposit.
Hi Jonah, Jordan, Paul and Dan;
I love the show and really enjoy listening to your buys perspective on the gaming industry.
I was wondering if you guys could discuss the recent announcement for an Enhanced Edition of Baldur’s Gate I & II and their plans to make Baldur’s Gate III.
Do you think they will actually make this worth buying since you can get both of the Original games gog.com rather cheaply. I’m sure these Enhanced Editions will be around $60. I can’t help but want to keep my expectations low on this even though I do love the BG series.
Some awkward silence there… I think Dan was a bit tired during recording.
@QOTW: I would say hands down Team Fortress 2, it is just so fun. I have clocked in 265 hours and the only reason I have stopped playing it is because I know every nook and cranny in it. It also gets kind of boring when you’re constantly at the top of the leaderboard :P.
I have recently started play the MOBA Super Monday Night Combat. It’s great, I’ve played 78 hours of it, but it only has 1 mode and 3 maps as of yet. There isn’t much else to do but master the different classes. I think it also made me hate MOBA games just because there is rarely a team environment. Everyone gets pissy whenever their team loses, and blame it on their teammates even if they were the worst player. I don’t know, in TF2 I always had that feeling of being in a huge team cooperating, and if you died it was your fault.
I would also like to note that I have never spent a penny on free-to-play games.
@PlayAlterEgo: I got kidnapped and killed on my way to school…