TakeTwo has sold Private Division

[Lisias]

On 11/8/2024 at 10:47 PM, PDCWolf said:

Now, some other player with big money saw the opportunity and really wants to try again at making KSP into a mega franchise. This is probably why people like @Lisias thought of Tencent. They have the money to do it, they have multiple studios they could easily throw the work at, and they have China, where KSP still doesn't have a marred reputation and it's also a market with plenty of money for the taking.

As a matter of fact, it would be the best of the possible outcomes to tell you the truth... The franchise would survive doing its thing exactly in the niche in which it was born and succeed, the mentor would be back working on his creation, we would have some seasoned people working on the project, (hopefully) preventing repeating  the same mistakes of the past, and a game studio that is known to deliver technically more stable games.

Not to mention solving some problems we have nowadays by (ab)using exploiting grey areas (that aren't that grey anymore, by the way).

But... Kerbal proposes, Kraken disposes...

 

On 11/8/2024 at 10:47 PM, PDCWolf said:

So yeah, my money is on some really big player that's gonna completely turn KSP into something entirely different to sell it to people who aren't us. Of course the pipe dream is that some charitable soul with tons of money bought it to make KSP2 into what it should've been, but that's really a pipe dream.

Pachinkos, here we go...

Being bluntly honest, however, I'm counting our blesses. If this will be the way to keep Forum (and, probably, other complementary services) alive and kicking, so be it, and I will glad and grateful for that.

Someone need to pay the bills around here.

And if the new owner will, effectively, explore new markets for the Franchise, the current Source Code for KSP¹ would be worthless for them and, with a bit of luck, they would agree on a controlled release of this Source Code as I advocate on the link on my sig. This would really solve some... "inconveniences"... the KSP¹ Modding Scene has since some time by now....

Edited November 11 by Lisias
Hate posting from mobile. Come back to desktop to fix the mess mobile did.

[Bej Kerman]

12 hours ago, Scarecrow71 said:

Quit being obtuse .

????

12 hours ago, Scarecrow71 said:

Yes, the statement says tall titles held by the publisher.  Do you have a list of said titles?  No, you don't.  Hasn't been released.  But no, I'm the one being harassed over it?  I'm arguing semantics?

I still don't know what else "all titles held by the publisher" is meant to mean to us.

[LameLefty]

The argument over the last page of this thread is kinda ridiculous. Unless someone has good evidence for obfuscation or intent to dissemble or deceive, it seems pretty obvious T2 isn’t holding onto the KSP IP like some kind of ace in their sleeve. As others have aptly noted: they just don’t care.  On the whole, KSP has cost them money, time and effort, and they’ve pulled the plug to stem the losses.  This is a clean-the-house/fire sale/everything must go! situation for T2, nothing more and nothing less.

I was hoping whomever the new owner was would have put out a presser after close of business yesterday - the usual time for such things, after the markets close for the evening and week. However, that doesn’t appear to have happened. So in the meantime, in the absence of info (what else is new?), we wait.

[Kerbart]

33 minutes ago, LameLefty said:

I was hoping whomever the new owner was would have put out a presser after close of business yesterday - the usual time for such things, after the markets close for the evening and week. However, that doesn’t appear to have happened. So in the meantime, in the absence of info (what else is new?), we wait.

Likely because the buyer isn't interested in KSP either, but bought the whole PD package with the intent of selling individual titles to interested parties. Surely those sales are largely already agreed upon, but there will be additional signing of papers, crossing t's and dotting i's before that's done. And then you'll see an announcement.

IF (and that's the big unknown) there's a buyer. It's easy to assume RW is the one, with the eerie timing of their announcement and a product that's clearly intended as "KSP 3" but at the same time it makes perfect sense to me that they're not pursuing the title. So maybe someone else turns out to be the buyer. Or no  one.

Edited November 9 by Kerbart

[LameLefty]

3 hours ago, Kerbart said:

Surely those sales are largely already agreed upon, but there will be additional signing of papers, crossing t's and dotting i's before that's done. And then you'll see an announcement.

My professional day job these days involves transactional documents. Lots and Lots and LOTS of them. It's common in industry to post public comms as soon as a letter of intent or memorandum of understanding is executed. It's extremely rare, in fact, for comms to wait until a transaction has closed. That is why I was hoping for some kind of announcement after 5:00pm US Eastern time, or thereabouts.

In any case, we're still in an info vacuum really, so the bottom line for KSP fans and those otherwise interested in T2's doings or the fate of any PD games basically hasn't changed since spring. Same as it ever was.

Edited November 9 by LameLefty

[ssd21345]

Another question is would this affect the forum operation?

[The Aziz]

It was fine when the transition went from Squad to T2, it should be fine now, assuming the new owner wants to keep the franchise alive.

It's odd how it happened gods know how long ago but everything PD related still has T2 mark at the bottom, including this forum. And KSP page.

 

Now, whatever happens to this game, or that new independent one.. call me when it's finished. I'm done with corporate funded early access bullcrap.

[Bej Kerman]

5 hours ago, The Aziz said:

or that new independent one.. call me when it's finished. I'm done with corporate funded early access bullcrap.

KSA's early access will be free.

[MechBFP]

3 hours ago, Bej Kerman said:

KSA's early access will be free.

Keep in mind that is planning to be VERY early access. Basically a tech demo at that point.

[Deddly]

Probably similar to what was available in the early free version of KSP,  perhaps?

[PDCWolf]

5 hours ago, MechBFP said:

Keep in mind that is planning to be VERY early access. Basically a tech demo at that point.

3 hours ago, Deddly said:

Probably similar to what was available in the early free version of KSP,  perhaps?

From the man himself:
 

Quote

 

I see modders getting behind-the-scenes access late this year or early next to initial builds for feedback. Once we have confirmed basic data structures (these are a huge pain to modders to change), then we will do similar but with open access to everyone for free for initial versions.

I hope maybe mid next year people can try out where we are at.

 

 

[GobboKirk]

On 11/9/2024 at 5:17 AM, Vanamonde said:

Is this really something we need to get mad at each other about? Why don't we just wait and see? 

That's pretty much all we can do.

[Superfluous J]

9 minutes ago, GobboKirk said:

On 11/8/2024 at 11:17 PM, Vanamonde said:

Is this really something we need to get mad at each other about? Why don't we just wait and see? 

That's pretty much all we can do.

Which one? Get mad at each other or wait?

Or maybe it's BOTH!

[Deddly]

 

[cocoscacao]

On 11/8/2024 at 1:18 PM, PDCWolf said:

In reality, you can be sure no one cares about Private Division for the name Private Division or the talent therein, what sells is the IPs they own.

Wait... If someone buys a copy of KSP 1 now, who gets the sweet, juicy ca$$$h from that sale?

Edited November 11 by cocoscacao

[PDCWolf]

Just now, cocoscacao said:

Wait... If someone purchase KSP 1 now, who gets the sweet, juicy ca$$$h from that sale?

The sale is probably not finalized yet, so T2 still.

[Pthigrivi]

Sadly its probably just some PE/holding company planning to liquidate the assets but even if thats the case someone real might buy up the IP in the firesale. The bummer is the actual premise and scope of KSP was pretty good, just fell apart in details + technical side. Probably interstellar should have been pushed back, and frankly I've never thought multiplayer for KSP would really work. 

Edited November 11 by Pthigrivi

[Lisias]

18 minutes ago, Pthigrivi said:

Sadly its probably just some PE/holding company planning to liquidate the assets but even if thats the case someone real might buy up the IP in the firesale. [...]

What's, frankly, may even increase the chances of keeping the thing alive. KSP is still the crown jewel in the PD's portfolio - mainly thanks to KSP¹ .

It may ending up not being the game we, die hard old school Kerbonauts, would like to play - but if this is the way the new owner finds to make money, and they are willing to use a bit of that money to keep Forum (and probably some complementary services) alive, I'll still be glad and grateful. I'm counting our blesses right now.

[Pthigrivi]

I know in the film industry there's a process called "turnaround" where a production thats had issues or the studio just wants to offload is basically put up for sale to other studios. Generally in this process the new studio is required to buy-out the production and cover the previously sunk costs to absorb it which often leaves really troubled films in indefinite limbo. Is that similar to how games are sold?

[Bej Kerman]

41 minutes ago, Lisias said:

KSP is still the crown jewel in the PD's portfolio

A niche game like KSP, and not something as widely popular as The Outer Worlds?

[Lisias]

3 minutes ago, Bej Kerman said:

A niche game like KSP, and not something as widely popular as The Outer Worlds?

Oh, dear...

https://steamcharts.com/cmp/220200,954850,578650#All

And I will not even try to interpolate the huge numbers of KSP players that do not play it under the Steam Client.

I have this weird feeling of déjà-vu... Perhaps due something we had discussed on a currently clocked thread?

Not saying Outer Worlds is worthless. It may be a better start for reviving dead games than KSP¹ (as this thing is not dead yet). But, seriously? KSP¹, right now, have twice the number of concurrent players that everything else have published on Steam - COMBINED.

[LameLefty]

9 minutes ago, Lisias said:

Oh, dear...

https://steamcharts.com/cmp/220200,954850,578650#All

And I will not even try to interpolate the huge numbers of KSP players that do not play it under the Steam Client.

I have this weird feeling of déjà-vu... Perhaps due something we had discussed on a currently clocked thread?

Not saying Outer Worlds is worthless. It may be a better start for reviving dead games than KSP¹ (as this thing is not dead yet). But, seriously? KSP¹, right now, have twice the number of concurrent players that everything else have published on Steam - COMBINED.

The Steam numbers are hardly the complete story.  The Outer Worlds was a featured release on XBox GamePass at or shortly after release and several times since. I played it on console and I’m sure many others did as well. 

[PDCWolf]

1 hour ago, Bej Kerman said:

A niche game like KSP, and not something as widely popular as The Outer Worlds?

PD does not own The Outer Worlds. Being a publisher is not owning the franchise, exactly why Outer Worlds 2 will be published under Xbox.

The only things PD really owns properly, to the point they can be included in the sale are KSP, OlliOlli, Rollerdrome and probably No Rest For The Wicked. The only one with sales in the millions is KSP. KSP is -not- a niche game, it's got a niche appeal and a niche theme, but it outsells most indies out there, and KSP2 was clearly in the AAA budget territory.

In fact, if you check Private Division's website, the only thing they sell merch for is KSP.

[Bej Kerman]

39 minutes ago, LameLefty said:

The Steam numbers are hardly the complete story.  The Outer Worlds was a featured release on XBox GamePass at or shortly after release and several times since. I played it on console and I’m sure many others did as well. 

Funny that, character A is called a moron for trusting steam statistics, character B will happily trust steam statistics in many of their posts and be esteemed for it.

[Lisias]

1 hour ago, LameLefty said:

The Steam numbers are hardly the complete story.  The Outer Worlds was a featured release on XBox GamePass at or shortly after release and several times since. I played it on console and I’m sure many others did as well. 

Point taken. However, since XBox doesn't publishes any stats, we need to rely on secondary measures.

There're 8.4K reviews on XBox for OW, 1.1K for KSP Complete and 1.0K for KSP Standalone.

https://www.xbox.com/en-us/games/store/The-Outer-Worlds/BVTKN6CQ8W5F

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/kerbal-space-program-enhanced-edition-complete/9NHJVGWGQTBJ/0010

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/kerbal-space-program-enhanced-edition/BRBD7BDK271P/0001

And there're 17,672 reviews on Steam for OW, and 87,466 for KSP

https://store.steampowered.com/app/578650/The_Outer_Worlds/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/220200/Kerbal_Space_Program/

Assuming the same level of engagement for all of them, yeah. OW is about 4 times more popular on XBox then KSP¹, and KSP¹ is 4 times more popular on Steam than OW.

XBox have about 500M active users estimated in total, with Steam having about 132:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1490231/xbox-gaming-mau/

https://www.demandsage.com/steam-statistics/

SO, trying to figure out a index that would leverage XBox and Steam:

• OW is 4 times more popular in XBox than KSP¹, based on the Review Count.
• KSP¹ is 4 times more popular in Steam than OW, also based on the Review Count.

And considering that:

• XBox have 3.78 times the Steam's MAU

And assuming a similar level of engagement from gamers on both platforms, let's do some mathemagics trying to figure out how many "hypothetical" concurrent players these games may have on XBox, using the Review Count as criteria:

• OW may have now about 269 * 3.78 * 4 = 4067,28 "hypothetical" concurrent players in XBox.
• KSP¹ may have now 4067,28 / 4 = 1016,75 "hypothetical" concurrent playes in XBox.

Summing everything up:

• KSP¹ : 3289 + 1016 = 4305 "hypothetical" concurrent players;
• OW :  269 + 4067 = 4336 "hypothetical" concurrent players;

Essentially, the estimated user base for both games are similar.

So I can't say that KSP¹ is the crown jewel of PD anymore. But OW isn't neither, they have - essentially - the same overall relevance, with OW being stronger on XBox, and KSP¹ being way stronger on PC.

It worths to mention that KSP¹ is about ~12,23 times more popular in Steam than OW, based on the Concurrent Users Online.

But without similar values from XBox, I don't have how to (honestly) use these numbers right now.

  

50 minutes ago, Bej Kerman said:

Funny that, character A is called a moron for trusting steam statistics, character B will happily trust steam statistics in many of their posts and be esteemed for it.

Nope. The problem was you not being able to counter-argue rationally.

  

50 minutes ago, PDCWolf said:

PD does not own The Outer Worlds. Being a publisher is not owning the franchise, exactly why Outer Worlds 2 will be published under Xbox.

But it's a link to someone with pockets deep enough, and the will to buy niche games....

The Outer Worlds is owned by Obsidian Entertainment, that by itself is owned by Microsoft.

And this brings a new information to the table: Microsoft had bought another niche game in the past, Minecraft!

Edited November 11 by Lisias
brute force post merge