Second and finally, the author has some obvious bias against both STO and CO. The reason I say this is that the author only mentions the less then stellar launch of both titles. Yet, he fails to mention the major (and they have been major) changes that have taken place at both IP's. STO's fortunes have turned around very quickly from with some big updates. The additions in the first six months to one year alone have changed the look and feel of the game in tremendous and very good ways. People playing the game has also jumped by a very good amount. CO has also undergone a very large change (for better or worse) while making the change over to "f2p". Many areas of that game have undergone alterations for the bettr. New areas have been added as well. The only question on CO is if the "f2p" payment model has been a success or a failed experiment.
I would also like to suggest that the author missed on option that is also available in the "sale of Cryptic" story. Cryptic themselves could buy themselves. Afterall, they sold themselves to Atari so way not buy themselves back.
Another option, CBS/Paramount. CBS owns the rights to Star Trek. So, CBS may consider it a win-win to put the gaming IP of STO under direct control rather then just liscensing approval. It also brings up the conflict and fact that CBS may not wish to share the IP liscense with WB as mentioned above as it would be in conflict with the WB and CBS/Paramount. While I am not sure of CBS's desire to own a gaming studio it is still another possible.
All I can say is who's biased ? " STO's fortunes have turned around very quickly from with some big updates." Based on what information ? Look empirical observation is just that , just because you see what you percieve as an increase in people in an instanced zone doesn't mean the game has turned around. It comes down hard numbers of which you really aren't qualifed to comment on , and neither am I . There are financial reports availible and companies that monitor or report traffic which can be used to get an idea of what going on. We can infer from Atari's action that something isn't going well at Cryptic , or that Atari is desperate for cash and selling an asset.
" The additions in the first six months to one year alone have changed the look and feel of the game in tremendous and very good ways." At least the article didn't confuse the issue with blatantly emotional response. It's obvious you like the game , but it's also obvious not enough people like the game to make it what Atari had hoped for , a substantial profit , or an assest worth holding on to.
" I would also like to suggest that the author missed on option that is also available in the "sale of Cryptic" story. Cryptic themselves could buy themselves. After all, they sold themselves to Atari so way not buy themselves back. " This may have been a possiblity 4 years ago when the economy was better. The problem is that the Banks are simply not lending without guarntees equating to the value of/or more then the assest. How many takeovers have you heard about recently ? How many companies have gotten construction loans ? The one thing you'l notice about my question , regardless of the numbers is how little the banks are prepared to release money for things like this. One other thing to consider , if Cryptic were profitible enough to pay for itself, why would Atari sell it ?
It`s time for Cryptic to go the way of the dodo bird and take a trip down extinction avenue, they had more than enough chances to produce quality products and instead chose to repeat the same mistakes over and over and over and over again while holding out there hands waiting for our cash to line the palms.
Cryptic has had its day, the best course of action would be to let it die.
CO is crap and Star Wars Online doesn't live up to its namesake. They almost ran CoX into the ground (behind the scenes) before they left NCSoft with a nightmare of an engine they could barely use. Kudos to NCSoft for fording the river and improving CoX despite that.
No one shoyld buy Cryptic. Let an abyss take them...
Who should buy Cryptic? Cryptic should. Its always been my idea that Cryptic isn't full of bad developers, just poor direction. Their games weren't ever necessarily bad, they just lost a lot of appeal because the scope was too small and mundane in many of their aspects, and with Atari at the helm, the payment models always started too high for what was offered.
If Atari is going to rid themselves of Cryptic, and if there are no buyers, or if the developers can somehow manage enough capital, I'd like to see them buy themselves out. I think working freelance or for themselves would prove to be a better course of action for them. They can make the games they want to make and hopefully not be pushed too hard by whatever publisher ends up backing them so they can put out the best possible game they can.
Dollars to donuts the only folks out there with cash on hand to take the risk are Chinese companies looking to get into the U.S. market.
Hmmm...Blizzard?
j/k I have played both games and they came up way short in the "sticking" category. I played for a couple of days and then went back to the better mmo's.
I know next to nothing about Cryptic but if we are using those 2 games as examples...let it die!
Don't think that Cryptic can be a good prey for bigger companies.
Turbine means Warner Bros (meaning DC comics). They already have a comic/superhero game that has it's own share of problems. Don't think they can be interested in another game that can feed on the same audience.
I'm betting more on Gamigo, Nexon and those companies that release MMOs like they were cars out from a factory. But they would be interested in the "engine" more than the two IPs.
After this state, I guess we're going to see in a short time the announcement that Neverwinter has been put on hold.
Good luck to Cryptic, really. But i should say, with all due respect, that the best CoH growth and improvements weren't made by Cryptic/Emmert...
I say, let CO and STO die and have Turbine or someone with a half decent dev team buy the leftovers of whatever Cryptic has in the works.
On a side note, can the current Cryptic game engine, the one used in CO and STO be expanded upon to allow open world instead of all instances? If not, scrap it!
Having given it some thought , there are only a handful of companies that would buy Cryptic. EA, Activivision/Blizzard, Sony and Microsoft. I'd eliminate EA and Activison for the simple reasons that EA is launching SW:ToR and Activision/Blizzard don't need the expense .
Sony and Microsoft would be a good fit for Cryptic on the basis of the game designs. CO and STO were both designed for consoles. Cryptic had a former Microsoft employee who worked on the engine , so it actually favors Microsoft. The games would add to the catalogues of both companies consoles . The real question then is would they be profitible enough to warrant purchasing the company ?
Another option, CBS/Paramount. CBS owns the rights to Star Trek. So, CBS may consider it a win-win to put the gaming IP of STO under direct control rather then just liscensing approval. It also brings up the conflict and fact that CBS may not wish to share the IP liscense with WB as mentioned above as it would be in conflict with the WB and CBS/Paramount. While I am not sure of CBS's desire to own a gaming studio it is still another possible.
This would likely depend on Sumner Redstone, and he may be sour on the VG market in the aftermath of Midway Games. If Redstone is interested he could (as majority owner) push it through either Viacom or CBS.
I would also consider Comcast or TW as potential buyers. IMO both companies are looking to expand/diversify their content offerings and an MMO company might be a foot in the door for this. The price and terms would have to be right though.
"We also know they have access to a fairly robust and agile development package which allows them to create content at a rather quick pace. "
I don't agree at all. CO, in over 2 years, has 1 new zone and a handful of raids. There have been some improvements in overall playability at all levels which is good, but their instance content, despite being almost as cookie cutter as CoX, comes at a remarkably slow pace. Compare that to LotRO, which had 3 and a half new zones and was about to release Mines of Moria at about the same point in its life...
STO isn't much better. Back when they were giving out free weekends to ex-players, I was able to get through the new content easily. I guess that explains why they aren't giving them out, anymore.
I hate to see anyone lose their jobs, but I'd just as soon Cryptic get dissolved, so someone not so gamer-cynical can get their hands on their 3 great IP's. Someone who sees MMO gamers as more than munchkin "pew pew pew! Gimme loot!" types.
Personally I would rather no one did, I can't say i've enjoyed any of their games so far and overall they have just had a certain level of a cheap/flimsy feeling to them.
But if I had to guess, they will end up on either EA's or Activision's independant partner programs.
One thing to remember in all of this.. NCSoft retained many of the visionaries and doers from Cryptic when they split, the company has never been the same since. Whatever they do in the future will never be the same, 2 games later they've more than proved that.
What made Cryptic Cryptic has long since seived off to others. Right now they are a severely watered down version of what could have been a world class development team.
One thing to remember in all of this.. NCSoft retained many of the visionaries and doers from Cryptic when they split, the company has never been the same since. Whatever they do in the future will never be the same, 2 games later they've more than proved that.
What made Cryptic Cryptic has long since seived off to others. Right now they are a severely watered down version of what could have been a world class development team.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. It is a shame to see this happen to any company, but really Cryptic has no one to blame but themselves. You will reap what you sow when you release incomplete games with content at inflated prices. They will be lucky to have anyone buy them or even invest. Those negative launch reviews of STO (and continued issues) will still be fresh in the minds of potential buyers.
Turbine are owned by Warner, so they are more than capable of affording any price that Atari sticks on Cryptic.
However, I think a more likely suitor than any in the article is Ubisoft. It may sound like a wild card but...
They have recently formed an online division with the intention of moving back into MMOs in the long run, initially starting with simpler brower games.
Not only do Ubisoft have the cash and the desire to head in that direction but they also have nothing like Cryptic in their current portfolio of studios and assets.
The engine that Cryptic has is unique, Ubisoft would benefit from its purchase, the IPs do not compete with any Ubisoft IPs, meaning they would add value rather than devalue anything and whatever faults you find with Cryptic, there is a lot of experience in developing and operating online games which again Ubisoft has very little of currently.
Maybe these guys could get some use out of Cryptic
I would really love to treat this question with the seriousness it deserves, but after watching Cryptic half ass their way through two IPs I dearly love for the sake of their assembly line MMO manufactuing scheme, I can't help but hope they don't get a buyer at all but instead just sink into oblivion.Fail companies should fail.
The engine that Cryptic has is unique, Ubisoft would benefit from its purchase, the IPs do not compete with any Ubisoft IPs, meaning they would add value rather than devalue anything and whatever faults you find with Cryptic, there is a lot of experience in developing and operating online games which again Ubisoft has very little of currently.
It may be unique but unfortunately it is one that cannot handle more than over 2 or 3 hundred per instance. That doesn't add any value for their prospects as an mmo company but rather give them value for offline games with online portions.
Didnt even know they were selling, guess i wont retry STO again til i know whos claws will get into it XD
As for who id like to buy them, id say Activision cause in my eyes they are the only ones i feel could make something successful out of them. That and they have deep pockets XD
As for who id like to buy them, id say Activision cause in my eyes they are the only ones i feel could make something successful out of them. That and they have deep pockets XD
Activision made some decent SP RTS Star Trek games back in the day. I actually fire up ST: Armada II every once in a while. At least they have experience in making decent games based on the Trek IP.
As for who id like to buy them, id say Activision cause in my eyes they are the only ones i feel could make something successful out of them. That and they have deep pockets XD
Activision made some decent SP RTS Star Trek games back in the day. I actually fire up ST: Armada II every once in a while. At least they have experience in making decent games based on the Trek IP.
Isn't Activision part of Blizzard now though?
Ya they merged with Blizzard a few years ago, having a parent company like Activison Blizzard can only be a great thing, but then again, every developer company wants parents like them XD
Well if EA buys it, Cryptic's games will likely follow the path of Earth & Beyond, just a measure to get competition out of the way of their pet projects. Ubisoft might not be bad, they might take them to F2P which seems more their market, but I have to agree, as far as STO goes, Activision might do better making the game what it should have been. Who's to say where it will go though, Maybe the President will buy it since it seems to need a bailout.
I'm one of the rare losers out there who enjoy cryptic's games. As a father (soon to be of 2) and a student AND someone who holds down a full time job, their emphasis on the casual gamer appeals to me. That being said , I feel the same way about Turbine (or Time Warner, WB or whatever). I think it would be a natural partnership. Especially sine the boys at Turbine already have some experience with a CORPG D&D title and with Cryptic soon to produce NW.
Comments
Dollars to donuts the only folks out there with cash on hand to take the risk are Chinese companies looking to get into the U.S. market.
All I can say is who's biased ? " STO's fortunes have turned around very quickly from with some big updates." Based on what information ? Look empirical observation is just that , just because you see what you percieve as an increase in people in an instanced zone doesn't mean the game has turned around. It comes down hard numbers of which you really aren't qualifed to comment on , and neither am I . There are financial reports availible and companies that monitor or report traffic which can be used to get an idea of what going on. We can infer from Atari's action that something isn't going well at Cryptic , or that Atari is desperate for cash and selling an asset.
" The additions in the first six months to one year alone have changed the look and feel of the game in tremendous and very good ways." At least the article didn't confuse the issue with blatantly emotional response. It's obvious you like the game , but it's also obvious not enough people like the game to make it what Atari had hoped for , a substantial profit , or an assest worth holding on to.
" I would also like to suggest that the author missed on option that is also available in the "sale of Cryptic" story. Cryptic themselves could buy themselves. After all, they sold themselves to Atari so way not buy themselves back. " This may have been a possiblity 4 years ago when the economy was better. The problem is that the Banks are simply not lending without guarntees equating to the value of/or more then the assest. How many takeovers have you heard about recently ? How many companies have gotten construction loans ? The one thing you'l notice about my question , regardless of the numbers is how little the banks are prepared to release money for things like this. One other thing to consider , if Cryptic were profitible enough to pay for itself, why would Atari sell it ?
How about Cryptic just dies?
They have a poor business model, develop bad games, have stupid executives.
I don't think they deserve to exist anymore.
Imho, nobody should.
It`s time for Cryptic to go the way of the dodo bird and take a trip down extinction avenue, they had more than enough chances to produce quality products and instead chose to repeat the same mistakes over and over and over and over again while holding out there hands waiting for our cash to line the palms.
Cryptic has had its day, the best course of action would be to let it die.
They almost ran CoX into the ground (behind the scenes) before they left NCSoft with a nightmare of an engine they could barely use. Kudos to NCSoft for fording the river and improving CoX despite that.
No one shoyld buy Cryptic. Let an abyss take them...
Depends on the CBS/Cryptic contract. If it lets the buyer make another Trek MMO, then who ever wants to make a Trek MMO. If it doesn't no one should.
Who will? SOE, because they are the ones willing to buy a game and let it just sit there till it dies. ((VG, MO, etc..))
I will not play a game with a cash shop ever again. A dev job should be to make the game better not make me pay so it sucks less.
Who should buy Cryptic? Cryptic should. Its always been my idea that Cryptic isn't full of bad developers, just poor direction. Their games weren't ever necessarily bad, they just lost a lot of appeal because the scope was too small and mundane in many of their aspects, and with Atari at the helm, the payment models always started too high for what was offered.
If Atari is going to rid themselves of Cryptic, and if there are no buyers, or if the developers can somehow manage enough capital, I'd like to see them buy themselves out. I think working freelance or for themselves would prove to be a better course of action for them. They can make the games they want to make and hopefully not be pushed too hard by whatever publisher ends up backing them so they can put out the best possible game they can.
Hmmm...Blizzard?
j/k I have played both games and they came up way short in the "sticking" category. I played for a couple of days and then went back to the better mmo's.
I know next to nothing about Cryptic but if we are using those 2 games as examples...let it die!
Don't think that Cryptic can be a good prey for bigger companies.
Turbine means Warner Bros (meaning DC comics). They already have a comic/superhero game that has it's own share of problems. Don't think they can be interested in another game that can feed on the same audience.
I'm betting more on Gamigo, Nexon and those companies that release MMOs like they were cars out from a factory. But they would be interested in the "engine" more than the two IPs.
After this state, I guess we're going to see in a short time the announcement that Neverwinter has been put on hold.
Good luck to Cryptic, really. But i should say, with all due respect, that the best CoH growth and improvements weren't made by Cryptic/Emmert...
I say, let CO and STO die and have Turbine or someone with a half decent dev team buy the leftovers of whatever Cryptic has in the works.
On a side note, can the current Cryptic game engine, the one used in CO and STO be expanded upon to allow open world instead of all instances? If not, scrap it!
Having given it some thought , there are only a handful of companies that would buy Cryptic. EA, Activivision/Blizzard, Sony and Microsoft. I'd eliminate EA and Activison for the simple reasons that EA is launching SW:ToR and Activision/Blizzard don't need the expense .
Sony and Microsoft would be a good fit for Cryptic on the basis of the game designs. CO and STO were both designed for consoles. Cryptic had a former Microsoft employee who worked on the engine , so it actually favors Microsoft. The games would add to the catalogues of both companies consoles . The real question then is would they be profitible enough to warrant purchasing the company ?
This would likely depend on Sumner Redstone, and he may be sour on the VG market in the aftermath of Midway Games. If Redstone is interested he could (as majority owner) push it through either Viacom or CBS.
I would also consider Comcast or TW as potential buyers. IMO both companies are looking to expand/diversify their content offerings and an MMO company might be a foot in the door for this. The price and terms would have to be right though.
I'll never touch NeverWinter if SOE gets involved. I'm not that happy that Cryptic is involved. Cryptic + SOE= #nailinthecoffin.
"We also know they have access to a fairly robust and agile development package which allows them to create content at a rather quick pace. "
I don't agree at all. CO, in over 2 years, has 1 new zone and a handful of raids. There have been some improvements in overall playability at all levels which is good, but their instance content, despite being almost as cookie cutter as CoX, comes at a remarkably slow pace. Compare that to LotRO, which had 3 and a half new zones and was about to release Mines of Moria at about the same point in its life...
STO isn't much better. Back when they were giving out free weekends to ex-players, I was able to get through the new content easily. I guess that explains why they aren't giving them out, anymore.
I hate to see anyone lose their jobs, but I'd just as soon Cryptic get dissolved, so someone not so gamer-cynical can get their hands on their 3 great IP's. Someone who sees MMO gamers as more than munchkin "pew pew pew! Gimme loot!" types.
Personally I would rather no one did, I can't say i've enjoyed any of their games so far and overall they have just had a certain level of a cheap/flimsy feeling to them.
But if I had to guess, they will end up on either EA's or Activision's independant partner programs.
One thing to remember in all of this.. NCSoft retained many of the visionaries and doers from Cryptic when they split, the company has never been the same since. Whatever they do in the future will never be the same, 2 games later they've more than proved that.
What made Cryptic Cryptic has long since seived off to others. Right now they are a severely watered down version of what could have been a world class development team.
Edited for typo
I agree with this wholeheartedly. It is a shame to see this happen to any company, but really Cryptic has no one to blame but themselves. You will reap what you sow when you release incomplete games with content at inflated prices. They will be lucky to have anyone buy them or even invest. Those negative launch reviews of STO (and continued issues) will still be fresh in the minds of potential buyers.
Turbine are owned by Warner, so they are more than capable of affording any price that Atari sticks on Cryptic.
However, I think a more likely suitor than any in the article is Ubisoft. It may sound like a wild card but...
They have recently formed an online division with the intention of moving back into MMOs in the long run, initially starting with simpler brower games.
Not only do Ubisoft have the cash and the desire to head in that direction but they also have nothing like Cryptic in their current portfolio of studios and assets.
The engine that Cryptic has is unique, Ubisoft would benefit from its purchase, the IPs do not compete with any Ubisoft IPs, meaning they would add value rather than devalue anything and whatever faults you find with Cryptic, there is a lot of experience in developing and operating online games which again Ubisoft has very little of currently.
made me laugh ^
It may be unique but unfortunately it is one that cannot handle more than over 2 or 3 hundred per instance. That doesn't add any value for their prospects as an mmo company but rather give them value for offline games with online portions.
Didnt even know they were selling, guess i wont retry STO again til i know whos claws will get into it XD
As for who id like to buy them, id say Activision cause in my eyes they are the only ones i feel could make something successful out of them. That and they have deep pockets XD
Activision made some decent SP RTS Star Trek games back in the day. I actually fire up ST: Armada II every once in a while. At least they have experience in making decent games based on the Trek IP.
Isn't Activision part of Blizzard now though?
Ya they merged with Blizzard a few years ago, having a parent company like Activison Blizzard can only be a great thing, but then again, every developer company wants parents like them XD
Well if EA buys it, Cryptic's games will likely follow the path of Earth & Beyond, just a measure to get competition out of the way of their pet projects. Ubisoft might not be bad, they might take them to F2P which seems more their market, but I have to agree, as far as STO goes, Activision might do better making the game what it should have been. Who's to say where it will go though, Maybe the President will buy it since it seems to need a bailout.
I'm one of the rare losers out there who enjoy cryptic's games. As a father (soon to be of 2) and a student AND someone who holds down a full time job, their emphasis on the casual gamer appeals to me. That being said , I feel the same way about Turbine (or Time Warner, WB or whatever). I think it would be a natural partnership. Especially sine the boys at Turbine already have some experience with a CORPG D&D title and with Cryptic soon to produce NW.