What would be nice is the Lord of the Rings project to restart !
Well that probably won't happen since Amazon NEVER had the license to create a Lord of the Rings game.
Leyou Technologies has the license. Amazon was just going to assist and publish the game. Then Tencent bought Leyou and in the follow on discussions between Tencent and Amazon, Amazon dropped out of the project (most likely over money).
I'm thinking AGS realized they were clearly outmatched when it came to dealing with an evil gaming empire.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
What would be nice is the Lord of the Rings project to restart !
Well that probably won't happen since Amazon NEVER had the license to create a Lord of the Rings game.
Leyou Technologies has the license. Amazon was just going to assist and publish the game. Then Tencent bought Leyou and in the follow on discussions between Tencent and Amazon, Amazon dropped out of the project (most likely over money).
I'm thinking AGS realized they were clearly outmatched when it came to dealing with an evil gaming empire.
LOL, maybe. From just a business stand point I'm sure Tencent knew they had no need of Amazon.
Considering Amazon's track record with games, I'm not sure why anyone would want to work with them in the first place, plus Tencent owns other game developing companies that could work with Leylou AND they own Publishing companies so no need for Amazon there either.
I had no idea he was at Amazon. Everything makes sense now as to why Amazon Game Studios has sucks massively.
He was working on unreleased projects. New World was Scot Lane's disaster. Though the fact Smedley has yet to release anything might be why he's gone.
Yeah, Smedley probably saw the writing on the wall after what has happened at AGS.
When Amazon paid for CryEngine to be rebuilt as LumberYard they basically reprogrammed the entire thing. But, when the games went into production LumberYard wasnt ready yet so they made another graphics engine called GameCore so the developers could start making something but the networking was awful.
Crucible (the game that was in beta, then launched, then went back to beta after a couple weeks, then cancelled) had to dump everything and spend 18 months rebuilding the entire game in a third graphics engine just to get it working but it was still horrible.
When New World changed from PvP sandbox to MMO they had to rebuild most of the game but LumberYard was ready by this time. But they still had to make the networking client authoritative to get it working.
Much of this was the fault of Mike Frazzini, studio director of Amazon Games. He thought they could just innovate their way out of any problems, which didnt happen of course.
He was a clueless idiot because before being promoted to studio director of a video game developer/publisher Mike Frazzini worked in Amazon's book department.
Mike Frazzini left Amazon March of last year.
John Smedley most likely left Amazon Games Studio because Amazon Games Studio is dead. New World lives on but you dont need a huge publisher when you only have one game.
As time passes i remember the first generation mmorpg rockstars, be it individuals, or studios, as people who got lucky way back in the day, rather than visionaries who know a good recipe.
Im trying to think of any sequel, or follow up mmorpg made by these people that managed to capture even a fraction of the original famous mmorpg. I cant. Im sure im missing at least one example however.
From where I stand, what made those classic first gen mmorpgs so great was the community. People were different back then, enjoyed random conversation with strangers, and the whole concept of an RPG played with others was actually mind blowing to most. With that gone people care more about the game, which mmorpg game never left their infant stage, due to WOW success clouding investors judgement as to why people are loving those first gen games. It was very little about the game sadly, which is why none recapture the magic, and now people hate interacting with others and see people as entities to dump on, criticize, or bully...or at the best an inconvenience to be dealt with.
As time passes i remember the first generation mmorpg rockstars, be it individuals, or studios, as people who got lucky way back in the day, rather than visionaries who know a good recipe.
Im trying to think of any sequel, or follow up mmorpg made by these people that managed to capture even a fraction of the original famous mmorpg. I cant. Im sure im missing at least one example however.
I think it comes down to good leadership. Leadership is missing big time in the MMORPG space and entertainment in general.
I remember reading how James Cameron had a meeting with advisors for Avatar 2 and said (paraphrasing) dont come to me with anything until you can figure why the audience connected so much with the first Avatar, then kicked them out of his office. I knew then that Avatar 2 would be huge. Whether you like A2 or not, you have to admit he gave the audience pretty much the same type of movie, and it paid off.
Thats the leadership MMORPG's need. You would think one of these people could just go back to basics and build on what was fun about the originals with updated graphics. However none of these "famous" devs have the common sense to figure out why people liked their game originally. They have zero respect for their customers and are too busy trying to figure out the next Trendy scheme.
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"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Considering Amazon's track record with games, I'm not sure why anyone would want to work with them in the first place, plus Tencent owns other game developing companies that could work with Leylou AND they own Publishing companies so no need for Amazon there either.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
He was working on unreleased projects. New World was Scot Lane's disaster. Though the fact Smedley has yet to release anything might be why he's gone.
Im trying to think of any sequel, or follow up mmorpg made by these people that managed to capture even a fraction of the original famous mmorpg. I cant. Im sure im missing at least one example however.
From where I stand, what made those classic first gen mmorpgs so great was the community. People were different back then, enjoyed random conversation with strangers, and the whole concept of an RPG played with others was actually mind blowing to most. With that gone people care more about the game, which mmorpg game never left their infant stage, due to WOW success clouding investors judgement as to why people are loving those first gen games. It was very little about the game sadly, which is why none recapture the magic, and now people hate interacting with others and see people as entities to dump on, criticize, or bully...or at the best an inconvenience to be dealt with.
I remember reading how James Cameron had a meeting with advisors for Avatar 2 and said (paraphrasing) dont come to me with anything until you can figure why the audience connected so much with the first Avatar, then kicked them out of his office. I knew then that Avatar 2 would be huge. Whether you like A2 or not, you have to admit he gave the audience pretty much the same type of movie, and it paid off.
Thats the leadership MMORPG's need. You would think one of these people could just go back to basics and build on what was fun about the originals with updated graphics. However none of these "famous" devs have the common sense to figure out why people liked their game originally. They have zero respect for their customers and are too busy trying to figure out the next Trendy scheme.