Gaming Corporation Closure

[Scarecrow71]

I'll start by saying that no, I am not trying to start another flame war on KSP2 or the studios or anything.  That's not what this is about; we have plenty of those threads already.  No, what this is supposed to be is a simple look into what could realistically happen with any gaming studio, including TT/PD/IG.  A link to a story published literally 2 hours ago:

Gaming mega-publisher Embracer to close studios, cancel games after $2B deal crumbles (msn.com)

A direct quote from the article:

Quote

Embracer Group owns the rights to both Tomb Raider and Lord of the Rings; it acquired Tomb Raider when it purchased Eidos, Crystal Dynamics, and Square Enix Montreal from Square Enix in 2022. That year, Embracer Group bought the licensing rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by buying rights holder Middle-earth Enterprises. Early this year, Embracer announced that it has five mystery Lord of the Rings games in development by external partners.

Why is this article important?  Embracer group has announced that they are about to undergo a major reshuffling/restructuring of their organization, and that this will require them to close multiple gaming studios and cancel multiple announced games that are in some form of development right now.  The official list of closures and cancellations has not been released, so please don't harp on that fact in your responses.  But the fact remains that this corporation spent far too much money too fast, and comes just weeks after a deal that was to bring over $2 billion in revenue to the company had fallen through.  CEO Lars Wingefors sent an open letter out in regards to this, which you can read here:

Open letter by Embracer Group CEO on restructuring program - Embracer Group

So what does this mean for TT/PD/IG?  Nothing outwardly.  This shouldn't affect them in the slightest, unless they are going to try poaching some talent that has been let go, or they want to try scooping up licenses for other games they don't currently own.

So if it means nothing, why post this?  As a cautionary tale, my friends.  Any company at any time can close their doors, putting all projects into the dumpster.  And it is important that a pretty sizable company has this happening to them right now because of the backlash and outrage over KSP2.  Multiple people here in the forums, during the AMA's, on Discord, on Facebook, on Twitter, have all mentioned that they are afraid of something like this happening with KSP2.  I know Nate and Shana have both said that the lights are still on and funding is there.  But I'd bet a lot of the employees that are about to be let go heard the same thing from management, too.

Mods/Admins, if this is not the right place to post this, please move it as appropriate.

[regex]

Literally trying to foam people up with FUD, nice post.

[LunarMetis]

All I can really do at this point is hope that it doesn't happen with IG/PD/TT, but it's just been extremely difficult for me to maintain any positivity towards the future of KSP2. What's the point in it if all signs seem to point downward?

[Alexoff]

This has always happened, perhaps more often lately than usual, but many franchises and even genres of games have died in the last 10-15 years.

[Strawberry]

I mean, its been pretty evident that post release has seen intercept games overall hire more people at a decently high rate, which is a sign of increasing budgets. Unless if something incredibly dramatic has happened behind the scenes in the past month (which there is no sign of), I think take two will continue being commited for the next few months at least. People have been fearmongering about KSP2 being cancelled for literally years at this point, they havent been right then and I doubt theyre right now

[Vanamonde]

Thread moved to The Lounge, since it's not about KSP. 

[Alexoff]

23 minutes ago, Strawberry said:

I mean, its been pretty evident that post release has seen intercept games overall hire more people at a decently high rate, which is a sign of increasing budgets.

This does not mean at all that new employees are hired to continue the development of KSP2. Still, it’s hard to imagine where a level designer is required for KSP2.

[kerbiloid]

After the formerly famous Borland story, all of that is just expectable.

P.S.

Quote

Embracer Group owns the rights to both Tomb Raider and Lord of the Rings

They will combine this into a new game, the Tomb Ringer.

[Superfluous J]

14 hours ago, Scarecrow71 said:

Any company at any time can close their doors, putting all projects into the dumpster.

This is literally what I - a huge positive-vibe proponent of not being all mad at KSP2 devs/publishers/whatever - have been saying since the day they announced the game would be EA.

Good to know you finally see the light.

Don't buy something you don't want just because some day it might be better. Buy things that you want in the state they currently are for the price they're currently being offered and you'll never walk away unhappy.

[Spicat]

19 minutes ago, Superfluous J said:

Don't buy something you don't want just because some day it might be better. Buy things that you want in the state they currently are for the price they're currently being offered and you'll never walk away unhappy.

I can't stress this enough. Be a patient gamer if you don't like what you see. That's why you should never preorder (even if that's not relevant for ksp 2).

[The Aziz]

13 hours ago, Alexoff said:

This does not mean at all that new employees are hired to continue the development of KSP2. Still, it’s hard to imagine where a level designer is required for KSP2.

"As a Level Designer, you will design and implement game levels that prompt exploration and problem solving. Every challenge is a wealth of opportunities for creative building and piloting of vehicles.

WHAT YOU’LL TAKE ON

Design and lay out spaces that are readable, traversable, visually interesting, and home to all necessary gameplay.

Work with the design team to prototype all puzzles, conversations, quests, and player interactions"

So, building planets. Was it that hard?

Admittedly that last paragraph is strange but perhaps it has something to do with Science, exploration and multiplayer.

[Spicat]

I think it’s quite easy to see what opening is for what games:

Mention unreal engine => For the new game

Mention Unity => For ksp 2

Mention both => For one or the two

Because I don’t see why they would need people that work with unreal engine otherwise. (And same goes with people that only worked on unity)

Edited June 14, 2023 by Spicat

[Alexoff]

2 hours ago, The Aziz said:

So, building planets. Was it that hard?

Unreal engine and KSP? Sorry, but I don't believe...

[Superfluous J]

11 minutes ago, Alexoff said:

Unreal engine and KSP? Sorry, but I don't believe...

You specifically asked where they would be used in KSP2, and did not mention that "Unreal" was buried somewhere in that long page of stuff no one who isn't job hunting is going to read.

I think it's reasonable to assume Aziz simply took what you said at face value.

[The Aziz]

Yeah I admit I didn't look at the required skills list, but the rest still checks out if it was for a Kerbal game.