Atari shuts down Legend?

Forum
General Chat

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/30081

Is this true? Some industry types around here may be able to clarify this for me, If it is true then I'm really pissed about this, I really like Legends games.

Submitted by souri on Sun, 18/01/04 - 4:03 PM Permalink

http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?comments=30081

One of the developers have responded in the shacknews discussion that they've indeed been closed down. I got a chance to play Unreal 2 XMP and it's obvious that they're very talented people. The levels and models are great!

It's a tough industry when you're pretty much your latest title. Make one game that doesn't meet it's expectations (Unreal 2), and you're done for. I'm sure if they had one more chance to make another game, it would've been great.

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Mon, 19/01/04 - 12:01 AM Permalink

Its a shame, they were in there 15th year, I doubt they had monetary problems, its these larger companies, buy up the competition and fire everyone, just like with blackisle, 2015 etc

Submitted by tbag on Mon, 19/01/04 - 1:10 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Fluffy CatFood

Its a shame, they were in there 15th year, I doubt they had monetary problems, its these larger companies, buy up the competition and fire everyone, just like with blackisle, 2015 etc

Well sorry if i fired them. Oh and i just bought Sumea off Souri, so get off my property damnit! This is my forum now [:D]

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Mon, 19/01/04 - 3:58 AM Permalink

I wouldn't be surprised if in 5 years there would be 5-10 major studios and everyone else is owned by them. Well, if internet distribution ever takes off, then devco's might be in with a shot of survival.

Submitted by tbag on Mon, 19/01/04 - 4:02 AM Permalink

Heh. But then you have MicroSoft who could buy out probably most if not all game studios.

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Mon, 19/01/04 - 6:19 AM Permalink

But they wont, because they wont be allowed to or people wont sell to them.

I don't think Microsoft could buy out Sony. I'm referring more to EA, Atari/Infogrammes, Ubisoft, Sony etc..

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Mon, 19/01/04 - 8:35 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by JonathanKerr

I wouldn't be surprised if in 5 years there would be 5-10 major studios and everyone else is owned by them. Well, if internet distribution ever takes off, then devco's might be in with a shot of survival.

I can definitely see that happening. I'm Glad there are still developers out there that still own all the rights to there titles and are independant in monetary terms, guys like ID, Epic, 3D Realms, Digital Extremes, Monolith, as far as I know all these are still privately owned.

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Mon, 19/01/04 - 9:10 AM Permalink

Yeah - it doesnt matter if these guys only make (say) $50 million profit in comparison to a larger publishers $500 million profit if their costs are proportionately lower.

Submitted by Blitz on Mon, 19/01/04 - 10:30 AM Permalink

Also, as long as they are privately owned they don't have to report to shareholders, so even if their profits are dismal, as long as they can keep paying all their costs they can continue to operate.
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Mon, 19/01/04 - 10:51 AM Permalink

yeah - but I guess at some stage, they'll want to be operating at a level that still gives them a few luxuries.

I think in future we'll start seeing games branch off into 'simple' and 'complex'. Complex being those that utilise many key combinations etc -- and simple being those pick up and play ones or peripheral type games like Eyetoy and Karaoke Revolution. As games are becoming more complex, it's more and more difficult to attract the mainstream gamers now. Eyetoy etc are taking games back to being fun again and bringing new people along with it.

Point being: simpler games take less resources to make.

Forum
General Chat

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/30081

Is this true? Some industry types around here may be able to clarify this for me, If it is true then I'm really pissed about this, I really like Legends games.

Submitted by souri on Sun, 18/01/04 - 4:03 PM Permalink

http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?comments=30081

One of the developers have responded in the shacknews discussion that they've indeed been closed down. I got a chance to play Unreal 2 XMP and it's obvious that they're very talented people. The levels and models are great!

It's a tough industry when you're pretty much your latest title. Make one game that doesn't meet it's expectations (Unreal 2), and you're done for. I'm sure if they had one more chance to make another game, it would've been great.

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Mon, 19/01/04 - 12:01 AM Permalink

Its a shame, they were in there 15th year, I doubt they had monetary problems, its these larger companies, buy up the competition and fire everyone, just like with blackisle, 2015 etc

Submitted by tbag on Mon, 19/01/04 - 1:10 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Fluffy CatFood

Its a shame, they were in there 15th year, I doubt they had monetary problems, its these larger companies, buy up the competition and fire everyone, just like with blackisle, 2015 etc

Well sorry if i fired them. Oh and i just bought Sumea off Souri, so get off my property damnit! This is my forum now [:D]

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Mon, 19/01/04 - 3:58 AM Permalink

I wouldn't be surprised if in 5 years there would be 5-10 major studios and everyone else is owned by them. Well, if internet distribution ever takes off, then devco's might be in with a shot of survival.

Submitted by tbag on Mon, 19/01/04 - 4:02 AM Permalink

Heh. But then you have MicroSoft who could buy out probably most if not all game studios.

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Mon, 19/01/04 - 6:19 AM Permalink

But they wont, because they wont be allowed to or people wont sell to them.

I don't think Microsoft could buy out Sony. I'm referring more to EA, Atari/Infogrammes, Ubisoft, Sony etc..

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Mon, 19/01/04 - 8:35 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by JonathanKerr

I wouldn't be surprised if in 5 years there would be 5-10 major studios and everyone else is owned by them. Well, if internet distribution ever takes off, then devco's might be in with a shot of survival.

I can definitely see that happening. I'm Glad there are still developers out there that still own all the rights to there titles and are independant in monetary terms, guys like ID, Epic, 3D Realms, Digital Extremes, Monolith, as far as I know all these are still privately owned.

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Mon, 19/01/04 - 9:10 AM Permalink

Yeah - it doesnt matter if these guys only make (say) $50 million profit in comparison to a larger publishers $500 million profit if their costs are proportionately lower.

Submitted by Blitz on Mon, 19/01/04 - 10:30 AM Permalink

Also, as long as they are privately owned they don't have to report to shareholders, so even if their profits are dismal, as long as they can keep paying all their costs they can continue to operate.
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Mon, 19/01/04 - 10:51 AM Permalink

yeah - but I guess at some stage, they'll want to be operating at a level that still gives them a few luxuries.

I think in future we'll start seeing games branch off into 'simple' and 'complex'. Complex being those that utilise many key combinations etc -- and simple being those pick up and play ones or peripheral type games like Eyetoy and Karaoke Revolution. As games are becoming more complex, it's more and more difficult to attract the mainstream gamers now. Eyetoy etc are taking games back to being fun again and bringing new people along with it.

Point being: simpler games take less resources to make.