StaceyPowers Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Now and again we talk about developers that have had major staff turnovers. At what point does a developer lose its identity and effectively become a new one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shole Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 Well I think when the game isn't going in the same direction as it was, No mans sky did a great job although I am not sure if they changed their staff that much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Blackangel Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 When it becomes entirely 100% about the money instead of about the games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Withywarlock Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 I judge developers by their actions rather than their deeds, so nothing they say matters until they act upon it, even if it's a bad thing. From John Riccitiello considering charging for bullets in Battlefield to Anthem's optimistic 10 year plan, I won't truly know where a company stands until they put out their ideas rather than just entertain them in conference calls and blog posts. Very rarely do I think a development studio loses its identity. Sonic Team for example have virtually no identity left because they don't know what they want to do except ask if we remember Sonic Mania. What is a Sonic game, besides featuring Sonic the Hedgehog? Momentum? 'Tude? BioWare's identity isn't lost however. It's just changed from great storytelling and adaptations of tabletop mechanics such as AD&D 2E and the d20 System to being incompetent jokers at best and abusers at worst. I lean toward the latter. Life's too short and video games are too fun to be worth the horrendous work practices that company likes to call "BioWare Magic". This varies case-by-case. I don't know what it is about Microsoft that has caused studios they've acquired or published put out such average games (Rare Inc. with Grabbed by the Ghoulies; Sumo Digital with Crackdown 3; Ninja Theory with Bleeding Edge; Obsidian with Grounded), and I can only hope these are growing pains for companies that excel in other fields. So their identities have changed, but can change back to what they once were as makers of very good video games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrik Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 6 hours ago, The Blackangel said: When it becomes entirely 100% about the money instead of about the games. Things are like that since the last (atleast) 10 years, that's why a lot of games didn't manage to make it to new chapters/parts, GTA for example, they are still milking the same (bad) game since 2013... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Empire Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 Not always about money or earning enough to good amount of money. Seen team of developers aren't on the right page and having disagreements about things and they went there own way. Snowrunner, Mudrunner and spintires is what I have in my mind. Both made spintires together and they dislike each other and they went there own way. The other dev made two new other game and the other stuck with spintires. Withywarlock 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane99 Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 I think it's when the studio starts to lose the founding members, or the people who started off there. So many companies out there are run by new sets of people. I mean, look at how Atari turned out. It's been sold off to so many companies/people, that it's not the same Atari anymore. It's not even Atari as we knew it, it's just a company using the name for nostalgia. But that's why I mention it, because when yous ell off a studio, I think that's when you lose your main identity. But once all of the people involved from the start are gone, I think that's why it's safe to say that's when they lose their identity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Withywarlock Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 4 minutes ago, Kane99 said: I mean, look at how Atari turned out. It's been sold off to so many companies/people, that it's not the same Atari anymore. I can't edit my own post but I'll piggyback off of this as it's reminded me of "Trigger's Broom", AKA the Ship of Theseus: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m76 Posted January 11, 2021 Share Posted January 11, 2021 21 hours ago, Empire said: Not always about money or earning enough to good amount of money. Seen team of developers aren't on the right page and having disagreements about things and they went there own way. Snowrunner, Mudrunner and spintires is what I have in my mind. Both made spintires together and they dislike each other and they went there own way. The other dev made two new other game and the other stuck with spintires. That was a developer vs publisher issue. The publisher of spintires had a falling out with the developer there were all kinds of allegations flying like not paying the agreed upon amount and deliberately sabotaging the game. But they seemed to come to terms behind closed doors as nothing has come out of it and the game is still being updated today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m76 Posted January 11, 2021 Share Posted January 11, 2021 On 1/10/2021 at 12:30 AM, StaceyPowers said: At what point does a developer lose its identity and effectively become a new one? When they are bought out. It is inevitable when if you are suddenly in control of a big corporation committe. A few individuals leaving does not change the identity of a developer in my opinion. Unless the whole company is based around their personal cult. Like say Kojima. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Empire Posted January 11, 2021 Share Posted January 11, 2021 13 minutes ago, m76 said: That was a developer vs publisher issue. The publisher of spintires had a falling out with the developer there were all kinds of allegations flying like not paying the agreed upon amount and deliberately sabotaging the game. But they seemed to come to terms behind closed doors as nothing has come out of it and the game is still being updated today. Spintires, yeah. Taken some time to see a update for it and it wasn't that big of the deal. For the other games it gets far more support and unless content. Most people stick with SnowRunner and MudRunner since there are far more mods you can play around in that game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane99 Posted January 11, 2021 Share Posted January 11, 2021 Also, one other thing I wanted to mention, was money. Some studios let the money get to them, and therefore I feel as if some studios lose focus of what they really want to do, and that's make games, but some want to do it just to make money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyfire Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 When developer starts implementing microtransaction or when developer has burden of venture capitalist on monetization and investors asking for churning in game for money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatman Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 On 1/10/2021 at 6:34 AM, The Blackangel said: When it becomes entirely 100% about the money instead of about the games. Just call out EA and Ubisoft already because they both are at the helm of this act as of right now. The company is all about the money now and it's not going to change sooner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
