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Why Chris does not want a publisher
Thornz2000
Member Posts: 135
in Star Citizen
Some good reading.
The world we know is going away http://www.graystatemovie.com/
Look up Agenda 21 as well.
Comments
Because Publishers take a lot of undeserved money to buy Ferraris?
Because Publishers only care for "mass appeal" and will do everything to dumb down your game for the casuals?
Publishers are mostly owned by capital investors, who in many case have only one interest: Maximum return of investment in minimum amount of time.
They have no passion for games or a wish to create anything else than a bigger number for their bank accounts.
That's why.
This is a no brainer, publishers destroy MMOs
This i think is probably the most likely reason. They often seem to be the bugbear that destroys the soul of a game in the name of a fast $$
article is just meant to glorify the process star citizen is using in order to get more contributions. So take it with a grain of salt.
Such as complete and total bullshit like 'you can pull the wool over a publisher's eyes but not the players'. That's Grade A bullshit right there, players are *very* easy to do this too. In fact, I think its easier to manipulate someone with an emotional investment than a financial investment.
Not saying publisher's arent often (but not always) bad and I hope star citizen does well.
Thx for your info. So are working for EA, Activision, NC Soft or Ubisoft? Cause no one with a sane mind would defend publishers.
well, with 24 million so far... why should he get a publisher telling him what to do?
he has enough money now i'd guess
"believe me, mike.. i calculated the odds of this working against the odds that i was doing something incredibly stupid and i did it anyway!"
I believe the better way to go is have the publisher and developer share the costs or be equally involved,that way both have an invested interest to lose.Most of the publishers have a lot more money to invest.
The money SC has ,using his Ea statement,i would not get out of bed to even think about making a game.With that budget there is no way he can make the quality game i am looking for,just more f2p type gaming that i am no interested in.
A perfect example is the Hangar idea.I don`t want some instance hangar,ya sure you might be able to actually enter your ship ,it is a step up from Eve,but not like Eve did anything remotely Triple A standard.
The release plan seems to be a sort of similar gimmick to what SOE is doing with Next,create interest and in this case,possible new investors without having a finished product.This sort of strat might be good budget wise but does not give a clear indication of a solid game for the future,just bis n pieces to lure your money in.
You might think,well little guys have to go these routes to survive the market,well i look at it in a different mannerism.If you cannot do it triple A,i would not even bother.No where in the real world industry do people accept half ass jobs when they hire contractors they expect an A-1 job.
Is there a slight chance a small budget could produce a Triple A game ,i would say absolutely not,unless your standards of triple A are far less than what i expect.
Here is how i feel about the gaming industry right now.The tech is there,the know how is there.I would gladly pay 150 bucks for a really good triple A game and again pay say 25 bucks^still less than $1 a day a month sub fee to constantly improve and GM the game properly.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I have to agree with some of the previous posters. Ofc Chris does not need a publisher right now. He´s a veteran and know the ropes and on top of that he is currently in a position where he could fart at a napkin and then put it up for sale . Not only would it sell but people would kill each other to be able to buy it.
Publishers are great for smaller studios that lack the infrastructure or knowledge of marketing and distribution. Ofc these days distribution is a lot easier but marketing is still a very difficult thing, and a publisher can also provide a support infrastructure that a smaller studio could never dream of putting together. After all we (the customer) have a bad habit of demanding customer support for our games these days. =P
So in short, Publishers are good for some but not the end all be all they used to be.
This have been a good conversation
You do realize that without publishers providing money and direction, many of the games we enjoy today and in the past wouldn't have been possible, right? Try looking at the big picture instead of blindly hating on publishers because it's 'trendy' to throw around baseless hate for corporations these days. Like it or not, publishers are necessary. Not every dev team is capable of managing themselves; publishers keep them focused by providing clear goals and milestones. They provide development revenue, and (most importantly) marketing & distribution.
If Mr. Roberts really thinks that it's easier to hoodwink a publisher then it is a customer, then he's worked with some really stupid publishers.
Edit: Yeah, what Tawess said, lol.
Except that my post wasn't about defending publishers.
This is exactly what i was getting at, and I dont believe for a minute he actually believes this. This article is most likely meant to manipulate people by drawing on the anti-publisher mentality of people. Its a common tactic- use people's prejudices about another product/policy/person to sell yours. Advertisers do it, politicians do it, Chris Roberts is doing it. But he crosses too far into bullshit territory here.
Yup. It's especially hilarious because in claiming publishers are more easily fooled, he's actually fooling players! I have to give him credit where it's due, so to Mr. Roberts I give a hale and hearty, "Well played, sir!"
And no, before some idiot can scream at me for hating on the game and all that nonsense, I don't hate Chris Roberts or his game. Quite the opposite in fact, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be called out for his BS.
Anyone who has any idea about corporate investment, funding, and reality would yes.
This looks like a job for....The Riviera Kid!
A group is only good as their actions, no matter if they are with a publisher or not.
His big publisher for Freelancer was Microsoft. That game released unfinished.
It's not evil, but many of their decisions and pressures they put on devs make for crappy games (rushed, buggy, IP abuse or mechanics that make for a spg experience) . Their biz model now is to make money in the short term (so that investors get theirs quick and company heads, presidents and v-pres get to make their large quarterly bonuses) instead of creating a game that will make more in the long run, but not look as good on a quarterly report. Many businesses with investors and corp bonuses make decisions based on quarterly- year profits with no care for long-term planning (5-10 yr plans), which costs many jobs and business failings. They want to make big splash for 1st few - six months, get paid, then let game limp on for lessor profits while they move on to new game. Evil, no. But it sucks for the gamers and that is what pisses people off and makes them hate the publishers.
Chris is manipulating players into supporting him with his silly "Unlike with a publisher, you can't pull the wool over their eyes because it's the real people who are going to be playing it,"
If there is anything that the later failed MMO's showed, is that (enough! ) players are easily fooled by hype. Whether this hype was caused by publishers or developers is besides the point here.
Not that I am defending publishers. As long as you realise that a publisher has different priorities (fast $$$, especially with the big ones) then a developer (creating an awesome game), then that should be enough to stay sceptical as gamer about upcoming releases.
And in this case, the developer becomes publisher too. So monetizing his game becomes a higher priority for him then if he were working for a publishing company. So imo it still doesn't change anything. No guarantee that the game will be any good or that they won't start nickle and dime the game.
And don't think that most developers don't prioritize making money over making a great game.
I think many developers make the mistake of listening too much to people. Especially lower budget games. Make the game YOU want to play. If YOU want to play, theres bound to be tons of people that will want to play it also. maybe with a 100 million plus game you can't have that attitude and have to make some concessions, but with a low or medium budget game just focus on making your game the way you want it.
Wow it seems that moste ppl here are all happy with the shity games that are preduced recently. So good for you that you can buy your game from your favorit publisher so they can make AC 10 and CoD 25.
It does explain quite a lot then. Quite happy I won't see any of you in SC. Have fun with your Xbox go home or ps4.
Well the publishers are needed here and there for projects that do not have enough money to do it.
Ofc if you are using their money you need to make your game their way and on their time line for their max profits.
The bottom line of all this is making money. Big shocker there.
CR is making the game his way, on his time line and yes, to make money on his dream as well.
Only difference is unlike a publisher that will hack out many things to get the product out and money coming in. CR is adding the detail that so many players want. Also he is encouraging private servers and wants the community to mod SC in may ways too. This will assure longevity of SC.
So the publishers are a necessary at times.
The world we know is going away http://www.graystatemovie.com/
Look up Agenda 21 as well.
It is not that "he did not want". It is more like they refused his idea. Let's put the thing in the right order here.
Publishers never would make enough money with Space Sims and CR just proved that, since they did not pass of 70.000 copies sold so far and probably has just 6 or 7 million dollars for real (since those numbers are clearly used for hype purposes only and he never would be capable to prove that numbers). But even if that number were truth, which they are not, still won't be enough to call attention of the publishers, at least big publishers, since CR look to the other side, by publishers that are beginners for example.
This talking about publishers, they used just for marketing, but they are so newbies in saying things, that they are got by their own words, since CR already say, for example, that the real reason to "PC Only" is more like not having good deals in Consoles and because by his own words "there is no competition on PC".
But, you know... Fans like to believe in fairy tales and marketing speech.