As long as Voliton and relic are okay.
As long as Voliton and relic are okay.
I spew words about Videogames, SEO and general geekery at Jaketucker.comOriginally Posted by The Innocent
Relic received some cut-backs, but probably in relation to the team supporting Dark Millennium. It wasn't a small cut though, so who knows. If I remember accurately, Volition were left untouched.
It seems Relic have stopped patching/supporting Dawn of War 2. Understandable given the circumstances, but kind of a shame. The multiplayer is pretty close to having a decent balance, but the last couple of patches introduced a couple of bugs and things that obviously need trimming, which will now never happen.
Pretty huge shakeup today. Bilson was pretty much the architect of THQ's Core Games Strategy over the past couple of years, overseeing some pretty high profile failures (Homefront, Red Faction: Armageddon, and Space Marine. And if rumours are to be believed the failure of those games was largely down to his creative interference), but also one or two huge successes (Saints Row the Third, and the first UFC game). He was probably also largely the one pushing the 'more DLC, more often, for more money' model, which, while obscenely profitable, probably wasn't going to be sustainable at that level for very much longer. Dave Davis was Bilson's right hand man.
I'll be very interested to see what changes Rubin is able to make to THQ.
Maybe THQ can improve, then.
That DLC model took the piss on a horrific level. Saints Row the Third has something like £35 worth of DLC if bought separately, but it goes down to a (slightly) more reasonable £25-30(ish) if you buy the collected packs. DoW2:R was a joke in that department, too. Most of it was pointless or gave you a little boost, and perhaps that makes it even worse.
I reckon SR3 was only successful because of its marketing and it's really the only rival GTA IV has had. I've certainly enjoyed what I've played, and I've put something like 20hrs into it already, but there is a *lot* that needed doing to it. Space Marine was kinda the same - it was good, but needed a *lot* of additional work, not to mention how bloated it is (2 DVDs, numerous GBs of patches).
Space Marine is a weird one. At the end of the quarter of its releas THQ touted that it was doing better than expected with 1.2 million units shipped across all three platforms, but every quarter since then they've said it was a disappointment.
And those numerous gigs of patches were primarily about adding a bunch of free content. 3 new multiplayer game modes for free is nothing to sneeze at. If the rest of THQ's DLC was built on that model (one big free thing that everybody gets launching alongside the paid stuff), I don't think nearly as many people would be complaining about it.
I would, obviously ;)
My point was more that the game has a massive install size (as does Portal 2, for that matter) for little obvious reason, and whilst I'm fine with free DLC (who isn't?). But... three modes? Are you sure? Exterminatus was free, then there were two added ones (Dreadnoughts and Chaos Unleashed).
Watch your terms there... "shipped units" does not equal sales, it equals the amount of pre-orders from retail stores.
If these units do not sell, THQ does not make money.
My games-related Twitter: VexingVision
Currently playing: Gothic 2; Blood Bowl: Chaos Edition; Waking Mars; Anno Online
I picture them sitting in a darkened room full of models and codex books, and any time anyone mentions video games they slap their hands over their ears and start shouting "if I don't need dice its not a game!"
Wizardry works for GW?
Relic should be picked up by Sega, Paradox or 1C. As for 4A games they should get picked up by 1C or Paradox.
At one point, I believe a capture the flag mode was added for free. The other two you mentioned are also around as DLC, yes.
I will say, Space Marine is a painful reminder of a game that fell short of greatness. I played it loads, it was very exciting and enjoyable, but there just seemed to be endless problems with online population, a very poorly designed set of unlocks for some weapons (multikills with a meltagun, which is HILARIOUS) and some serious lag issues. This was compounded when the co-op DLC arrived late, didn't let you work on your weapon unlocks (so those of us who had grinded to level 41 found it a bit redundant) and ultimately just reminded us of the painful lag issues.
Finally, when all the other DLC arrived, it was priced high enough that nobody wanted to buy it - cutting the online populace down even further and cutting it in half. Considering you can't even control which map you pick, that meant that online games were unpredictable and if you didn't have the DLC you might as well not play.
Homefront sold 1mil units in the end - but it wasn't the big hit THQ needed. In addition, the less said about Red Faction: Armageddon the better. After guerrilla, it seemed the property was set. Guess I was wrong. With a bit of luck, when THQ recovers, they can again make a brilliant Red Faction game.
As for Dawn of War 2, from what I understand a majority of the team that worked on it were made redundant. I honestly don't know what everyone else is working on at the moment, if its DMO or DOW3. I'd prefer it was the later, because at this point DMO should of been cancelled (who knows, that's likely only a few days away with a new VP of core games).
Also, Relic are entirely owned by THQ. There is no way that anybody can "pick them up". If THQ go down, Relic are likely to go with them. It isn't even up for discussion, as one of THQ's most profitable and decent studios.
Last edited by Hirmetrium; 30-05-2012 at 10:31 AM.
I don't know where the "team that worked on DoW 2 were made redundant" line has come from across the internet. The part of teams cut were clearly to do with the changing of Dark Millennium On...Offline. All teams involved with that were cut.
That being said, either this move is someone bailing before the water gets too high, or there's a chance THQ can be recovered. It's still gravely in risk of dropping out of the stock listings. If that happens, then we can start talking about studios being sold off. As it stands, they can still recover.
They can, but I'm not sure selling Penthouse pet DLCs for Saints Row etc. is a good plan in the long run, for a time when they may have recovered and need customers again who might remember "almost dead THQ's" actions.
Stealth Mode!
Because, as a man who does nothing but hang around in the Relic community, suddenly everyone we knew who had communicated with us (Thunder, Noun, EgonSpengler) had left, the balance guy who moved off DOW2 to another "project" was gone as well. Granted, its not like the entire DOW2 team disappeared - but you have to understand how integral and important these people were to the community, and how they were constantly feeding information and taking it back as well. Without these people, we have to build new relationships with their replacements (if they are even replaced) and there's no guarantee that Relic will ever listen to the community again as a result. One of the Relic tech guys used to help us resolve a lot of technical issues, as he worked on the game. He was gone too (Pulse.r).
From an external perspective, it looks like everyone who worked on DOW2 got moved to DMO, then fired when it it was "retooled" into a single player game. Which is why this statement comes up.
I don't say these things lightly - I say them because as a Relic fan it hurt me. I love that crappy argumentative fractured split over 3-5 different forums community. I still love them. But the fact of the matter is, anybody whom we counted as a long standing developer of the DOW franchise left. And yeah, thats the video game industry... but it still sucks.
All I can say is thank god that the hard working folk at THQ who interface with Relic are still there. I can at least still get some details out of them. And they definitely deserve to stay after all the effort they put into DOW2.
Sorry, I got my panties in a twist. You can return to normal now.
P.S. Don't worry about THQ stock. They have it covered. Their investors would be idiots not to approve this. Delisted stock isn't worth shit.
Surely there's no fixed time for sales. If THQ is struggling now, why not have a sale now?
In a timeframe of weeks, they could also make other kinds of moves to boost sales. For instance, patch out DRM and put some of their bestselling titles on GoG. I would certainly buy a bunch of games if they did this.
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