244 replies to this topic

[Mal]

Fut, on 05 September 2014 - 06:57 PM, said:

My concern with the reveal time? Community Warfare for Mechwarrior:Online is some two years behind schedule.

Yup, but, in all reality...this new game isn't going to change that. Development studios work on multiple games all the time. I see no reason why PGI can't. I'm willing to wait till we have more information to decide anything though. There becomes a point where throwing more bodies at a project, stops getting you any significant increase in productivity.

[GG Unit]

Destructicus, on 05 September 2014 - 06:51 PM, said:

I want to meet somebody who believes this.

I believe it, because it's not saying they're not doing anything you would suspect them of doing. He's saying "Separate team and resources" — there's absolutely nothing stopping this from meaning that they took most of the manpower and MWO-earned money from MWO off of MWO and put them in their own project. So you have to depend on further clarification like what I guess we have right there ^

I guess????

Edited by GG Unit, 05 September 2014 - 07:02 PM.

[Destructicus]

Mott, on 05 September 2014 - 06:57 PM, said:

I am going to wait to hear more before jumping to conclusions.

At this point we have no idea what phase the new title is in. If they're just announcing it, then maybe nothing has really been done and few - if any - PGI team members were pulled from their MWO duty.
Also, that writeup from PGI sounded a lot like a pitch... Meaning they're likely going to be doing funding particularly for this game... Not NECESSARILY stealing from the MWO coffers.

Regardless... PGIs repeated failures with MWO - epic, mind blowing, constant failures - should be a huge strobing, blinding warning light for anyone even remotely considering giving them money for a new title.

This is a double edged sword
say yeah, Bryan is being honest and they did hire a new team yadda yadda
That "small studio" excuse goes out the window and now PGI is finally shown to be a company that has some real project management issues.
Or
More likely
MWO devs and resources really are being diverted to fund this next cash cow, MWO's development is stalled even further.
I can't muster any excitement for this

Bryan Ekman, on 05 September 2014 - 06:57 PM, said:

The speed of development is largely relative to the amount of money coming in from sales.

It sounds like you're holding gameplay features ransom.....

Edited by Destructicus, 05 September 2014 - 07:09 PM.

[Mott]

Bryan Ekman, on 05 September 2014 - 06:57 PM, said:

Concerns about where the money goes is absolutely founded, and the short answer is net MWO proceeds after taxes, royalties to Microsoft etc... - go directly into the development of MWO. The speed of development is largely relative to the amount of money coming in from sales. Those sales keep a team of around 35-40 people (we have external contractors) working full time on MWO development and live operations.

Our new game development is funded from a different source and we have been recruiting new talent exclusively for this project. We did move some staff around internally as needed to accommodate two productions, and their will be some shared resources (marketing, customer service, QA).

[redacted]

MWO is serious business with serious entitiees and serious oversight - everybody is checking figures to make sure they get theirs.

Edited by Egomane, 05 September 2014 - 10:58 PM.
language

[Punkass]

Bryan Ekman, on 05 September 2014 - 06:57 PM, said:

Concerns about where the money goes is absolutely founded, and the short answer is net MWO proceeds after taxes, royalties to Microsoft etc... - go directly into the development of MWO. The speed of development is largely relative to the amount of money coming in from sales. Those sales keep a team of around 35-40 people (we have external contractors) working full time on MWO development and live operations.

Our new game development is funded from a different source and we have been recruiting new talent exclusively for this project. We did move some staff around internally as needed to accommodate two productions, and their will be some shared resources (marketing, customer service, QA).

Why on earth would we believe any of this considering your track record with BLATANTLY lying about the development of consumables, Community Warfare, separate queues for 3rd person?

[Jon Phoenix]

Mister Blastman, on 05 September 2014 - 06:56 PM, said:

I'm glad I didn't give PGI any more money. They can't even finish this game first. Unbelievable.

Yes. How about finishing this game before diverting resources to a new game? This game isn't even close to finished.

-Jon (wonders just how much money PGI is taking in from MWO now)

[Fut]

Quote

Piranha is best known for our latest endeavor — MechWarrior Online, an online free-to-play giant robot combat game. MechWarrior Online's incredibly successful Founder's Program proved that we can work directly with our backers to help build a game for the community

W-w-w-what?

[redacted]

That's more like it.

Mal, on 05 September 2014 - 07:01 PM, said:

Yup, but, in all reality...this new game isn't going to change that. Development studios work on multiple games all the time. I see no reason why PGI can't. I'm willing to wait till we have more information to decide anything though. There becomes a point where throwing more bodies at a project, stops getting you any significant increase in productivity.

Read as: Yes sir, Mr. Ekman. I'll defend PGI real good.

Edited by Egomane, 05 September 2014 - 11:00 PM.
removed quote

[Biglead]

Did you see that ship use Clan Gauss+PPC to blow up that planet?

[Destructicus]

Is Paul leaving MWO to help with this new game? =D

[Carrie Harder]

Destructicus, on 05 September 2014 - 07:11 PM, said:

Is Paul leaving MWO to help with this new game? =D

I would wholeheartedly support this new project if that were the case.

[Khobai]

To be fair PGI has gotten better about not blatantly lying and meeting their deadlines.

But its completely nuts to expect us to help finance a new game until all the promises for this game are met.

We still dont have community warfare, role warfare, or information warfare... three of MWO's "four pillars" arnt completed.

[White Panther]

Im going to do everything in my power to help preventing PGI from pulling this scam on people who are new. Every forum, message board, whatever its worth.

Just give it up already Bryan, you're done. There is no way people are going to trust you guys the same way again.

[Fut]

Khobai, on 05 September 2014 - 07:12 PM, said:

We still dont have community warfare, role warfare, or information warfare... three of MWO's "four pillars" arnt completed.

QFT

[Mott]

Destructicus, on 05 September 2014 - 07:03 PM, said:

It sounds like you're holding gameplay features ransom.....

Yup... And this is worrisome. That's dangerous talk from an exec who is directly responsible for the crappy revenues... Terrible game, missed deadline after missed deadline after missed deadline, shoddy game development, ignorance of game content demands from paying players, lying outright to their founders and Phoenix buyers, negligible quality content development are all directly the fault of Bryan, Paul and Russ and the reason players have left and revenues have slowed...

But with that comment Bryan is trying to place the blame on the players.

Weaning. *******. Sauce.

[Chronojam]

Bryan Ekman, on 05 September 2014 - 06:57 PM, said:

Concerns about where the money goes is absolutely founded, and the short answer is net MWO proceeds after taxes, royalties to Microsoft etc... - go directly into the development of MWO. The speed of development is largely relative to the amount of money coming in from sales. Those sales keep a team of around 35-40 people (we have external contractors) working full time on MWO development and live operations.

Our new game development is funded from a different source and we have been recruiting new talent exclusively for this project. We did move some staff around internally as needed to accommodate two productions, and their will be some shared resources (marketing, customer service, QA).

When Russ bragged in May 2014 that PGI was rapidly expanding and projecting a 25% overall staffing growth to reassure fans who were directly concerned about MWO's apparent staffing allocation problems, were those new hires actually being assigned to MechWarrior Online development or were they being funneled to this new project?

[Fooby]

Mal, on 05 September 2014 - 07:01 PM, said:

Yup, but, in all reality...this new game isn't going to change that. Development studios work on multiple games all the time. I see no reason why PGI can't. I'm willing to wait till we have more information to decide anything though. There becomes a point where throwing more bodies at a project, stops getting you any significant increase in productivity.

I had no idea you were in this field Mal. I guess my four year BFA, Animation major (rigging/simulation focused) means nothing but most studios which are the size of PGI don't work on more than 1 project of this scale at a time. If it's a 2D top down, turn based tile board control game than I could see a team of 15-25 working that, but anything else (especially a multiplayer focused/only game) you don't have two teams of 50.

As far as the "speed of development is largely relative to the amount of money coming in from sales", Either you have a large number of your team as contractors or that statement is completely incorrect. You have had huge influxes of spending yet the team size has not ballooned nor crumpled at any point, unless you all found some amazing medication which increases an individuals workflow output drastically and no one works on salary (no new hires, money has to go to the current team).

I understand the need for "damage control" but I would have hoped for a more... company based approach? A notice that on monday a full explanation will be given and until then please leave comments/questions here. Thus allowing time for a response which actually fully addresses all concerns, expectations and would hopefully be put through your PR people. Knee jerk reactions, while sometimes acceptable, usually aren't helpful to anyone (especially using twitter as a main communication avenue).

Edited by Fooby, 05 September 2014 - 07:21 PM.

[Rebas Kradd]

Bryan Ekman, on 05 September 2014 - 06:57 PM, said:

Those sales keep a team of around 35-40 people (we have external contractors) working full time on MWO development and live operations.

Wait, WHAT???!! 35-40 people? What happened to the 70-something people you had at the beginning of the year?

Bryan Ekman, on 05 September 2014 - 06:57 PM, said:

Our new game development is funded from a different source and we have been recruiting new talent exclusively for this project. We did move some staff around internally as needed to accommodate two productions, and their will be some shared resources (marketing, customer service, QA).

I suppose you can't tell us the source right now.

Mott, on 05 September 2014 - 06:57 PM, said:

I am going to wait to hear more...

See, that's just it...you shouldn't have to. This is a terrible PR model for PGI. Upset everyone first, then do damage control.

Edited by Rebas Kradd, 05 September 2014 - 07:16 PM.

[Lucian Nostra]

Bryan Ekman, on 05 September 2014 - 06:57 PM, said:

Those sales keep a team of around 35-40 people (we have external contractors) working full time on MWO development and live operations.

external contractors huh? no wonder..

[Sandpit]

TKSax, on 05 September 2014 - 05:55 PM, said:

I am sure they will say that no manpower from MWO was used to create this... they just hired all new people , you know all those new people they could not get to work for them on MWO....

you mean the same company that couldn't manage to hire and fill open positions for MWO over 2 years?

Sorry not buying it. PGI is a small unknown in the industry that's produced ONE title with a HORRIBLE development cycle. This isn't a major company with dozens of AAA titles under their belt. Their one and only title is lucky to hit 6 on metacritic. Yet I'm expected tp believe that IGP (who apparently can't even keep MWT going) gave them capitol to start another IP? Or even that some other publisher decided PGI was a top notch company with a great track record and picked them to develop a new game?

I don't buy it at this point. Times like these I miss roadbeer

[-Natural Selection-]

Mal, on 05 September 2014 - 07:01 PM, said:

Yup, but, in all reality...this new game isn't going to change that. Development studios work on multiple games all the time. I see no reason why PGI can't. I'm willing to wait till we have more information to decide anything though. There becomes a point where throwing more bodies at a project, stops getting you any significant increase in productivity.

One reason I can think of...

MAPS