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Embracer has shut down Alone in the Dark studio Pieces Interactive
- Thread starter Thick Thighs Save Lives
- Start date
- News
semiconscious
Gold Member
i've always felt that, with a limited amount of consumer cash to target, the media has to 'assist' in seeing to it that it's spent on the 'right' games, which involves discouraging any possibility of it being spent on the wrong ones...
NeverYouMind
Gold Member
The New Game Plus run with Emily getting her secret ending is the best survival horror experience since the sixth generation.
ZoukGalaxy
Member
From dark to pieces. Brutally sad.
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Lord Malachite
Member
I end up hospitalized with a level of frequency for small intestinal obstructions due to a gal bladder surgery that went poorly back in 2019. Basically I never know when I eat a meal if it's going to be one to send me to the hospital or not. And I have to plan my life financially around these frequent hospitalizations.
Despite these issues, I feel blessed that there's no immediate threat to my life and that despite challenges and inconveniences and some very unfun procedures, I'm still kicking I'll just be dealing with this the rest of my days.
I mean, this certainly makes good sense. But then, if they're going to continue to close down studios, they may not have the manpower. They certainly don't seem like they want to stop releasing their own games.
Embracer is just extremely mismanaged. I'm reminded of my past and a national cable company that I worked for that was made by simply buying up all the unwanted markets from other cable providers. The end result was a lot of major problems and without question the largest and most dysfunctional company that I ever worked for, one that continuously abused both its customers--many of which were essentially "hostage" because they had no alternative or satellite possibility--and its employees to such length that, as an employee, it was hard to tell who you hated more--the people screaming at you on the phone for 8 hours a day or the management banging a drum in the middle of the call center floor chanting "FASTER FASTER CHEAPER CHEAPER". Literally nothing the company did worked and no one who worked there was happy unless they had some cushy office and didn't need to have any interactions with the customers or the product.
As we've seen from Xbox, you can't just buy your way to automatic victory. Acquiring a whole bunch of studios other publishers are divesting themselves of does not a successful publisher make. It takes time, support, care, and a willingness to navigate the complicated economics of modern gaming. Embracer only cares about the race to the bottom to grab as much cash as possible before imploding.
fart town usa
Member
Damn sorry to hear that dude.
Roni
Gold Member
Unlikely when management is plagued with rich assholes who are someone's relative or went to some expensive private school.
TerribleAtThisGame
Member
These companies just seem like they have that finger hovering above the button before the games even release at this point.
ChorizoPicozo
Gold Member
They are not. I mean, people see these executives as soulless evil creatures....is just that the industry is a fucked up situation.
R6Rider
Gold Member
Same here. I might grab the physical version for that price.
nial
Gold Member
This is not really true all around, but it helps that they are very low-risk projects easy to pump out.
Bojji
Gold Member
It's not. AitD has great art, good graphics and awesome atmosphere. Gameplay is not top tier but overall game is 7/10 or above, but fucking publishers have no mercy these days...
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MiguelItUp
Gold Member
I still can't believe how rough it's been regarding studio closures. It's been insane. I was never really interested in this remake/reboot, but much like Outcast, I heard a lot of people say it was actually pretty good. Always a shame to see stuff like this happen.
Feel Like I'm On 42
Member
Yup . I don't hate the industry though
I fuckung LOATHE it! The game was actually good too.
kiphalfton
Gold Member
If I were a game dev wrapping up development on a game, that is expected to release in <6 months, I would start looking for a new job. Just to be safe.
Black_Stride
do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Embracer has to free Crystal Dynamics and Eidos.
Dazraell
Gold Member
I feel that moving from Halloween wasn't a bad choice as they wouldn't be able to escape from comparisons to Alan Wake II and remain in its shadow. The same month also had Spider-Man 2, Assassin's Creed: Mirage, Super Mario Wonder, Lords of the Fallen, City Skylines 2, Dave the Diver, Total War: Pharaoh and MGS: Master Collection among many others. Plenty of games to pick on various platforms. Few of them were also buggy messes (City Skylines 2, Total War: Pharaoh) or had some controversies (MGS Master Collection), so AitD would most likely be remembered as one of October's flops (looking at its state at launch), buried under the pile of so many games
Survival-horrors as a genre unfortunately doesn't have that mass appeal beyond Resident Evil franchise. Alan Wake II still isn't profitable, EA shelved Dead Space after remake underperformed in sales, Microsoft closed Tango Gameworks aka creator of The Evil Within games, etc. I think Embracer and Pieces made a huge mistake of investing in Hollywood stars to voice this game. It was supposed to draw more people in, but ultimately I think sales would be similar if they would use lesser known voice actors and budget would be much smaller, so being profitable would probably be much more achievable. Other thing they fucked up was that awful Prologue demo. It's cool they tried to honor the older standalone game with making it about Grace Saunders, but demo is supposed to give you a better indication of what this game will be about and how it plays. They didn't made a good job with it, which I feel might have discouraged some people who would be eager to give it a chance if that demo wouldn't be a 15 minute long walking sim
xrnzaaas
Member
Embracer made some big mistakes with this game, like allowing for a demo that didn't showcase the actual gameplay or releasing the game in poor technical state.
But yeah, only RE games are truly succeeding and it seems there's no market for other big budget horror IP's. I suspect that Silent Hill 2 Remake won't be a sales hit either.
But yeah, only RE games are truly succeeding and it seems there's no market for other big budget horror IP's. I suspect that Silent Hill 2 Remake won't be a sales hit either.
Alan Wake
Member
That will be interesting to see indeed. Alone in the Dark has never been as big as Resident Evil, though, has it? So the new reboot had a lot working against it from the very beginning, and the question is if they had AAA expectations for a AA game.
Dazraell
Gold Member
If you were looking for Mankind Divided's sequel, that one was cancelled by Square Enix. The recent project that was in development under Embracer according to rumors had co-op elements and didn't even featured Adam Jensen
Hypereides
Gold Member
Honestly, game "journos" need start getting held accountable for their missteps. Those who make erroneous calls need to face reprimands or repercussions. They've long been doing their thing scot free. The current approach has been impacting games and ultimately us in a bad way.
The recent decade has been a landfill with bewildering and questionable verdicts that someone really needs to give the game journalist hiring process a major overhaul. It needs to become a merito-/techno-cracy of gamers again. Having a journalism degree is not enough if your gaming skills are bottom of the barrel and if you got surface/closed minded level knowledge about video games. It genuinely hurts good games and development of the gaming industry overall.
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Alan Wake
Member
The GameSpot review was weird. It looks like the reviewer actually likes the game apart from the combat and then the score - bam! 4/10.
Team Andromeda
Member
Sadly people like you are also the issue, ones who don't buy games on the day of their release.
That's the issue with the industry today, so many so-called gamers would rather just watch a game being played over YouTube
Mr Hyde
Gold Member
You can't expect us to buy every game under the sun just to prevent a possible studio closure. That's a ridiculous notion.
xrnzaaas
Member
First time I hear about coop, damn that would be a disaster. I'm not surprised about Jensen, though. They would surely try to start with something brand new, knowing they wouldn't be able to give Jensen's storyline a proper conclusion.
Dazraell
Gold Member
If I remember correctly, that rumor about co-op came from job adverts posted by Eidos Montreal where they were looking for specialists who had experience on co-op games. Lack of Adam Jensen was confirmed by the actor who played him, he stated he was never approached nor contacted about returning to this role
As for Mankind Divided sequel, the past rumors said that Eidos originally wanted a larger game but Square Enix Europe wanted to release more games under the "Deus Ex Universe" label and came up with an idea of splitting MD to two parts. That's why it ended so abruptly, at least if rumors were true. Sequel was cancelled after MD's weak reception and sales
Team Andromeda
Member
No, of course not. But I would have liked you to have bought a game made by the team on its launch, in the thread that you're complaining about Industry shutdowns.
No doubt you'll be upset when Appeal will be closed down and then maybe buy the game
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Little Chicken
Member
I was always going to buy their game at some point this year. Had it not launched within a week of Dragon's Dogma 2, I'd have it already.
Mr Hyde
Gold Member
Yeah, like I could read the future about this studio closure because their game didn't sell. Like I said, I'm not the biggest fan of Alone in the Dark, but I would get around to it eventually. It's a matter of priority and economics, there is too much games releasing now + other things that happens in life. And I can still be sympathetic for a studio closing even if I didn't buy their game day 1.
tommib
Gold Member
It’s just that publishers are ruthless. People keep buying games on sales and through the years. Hell, recently I got Resident Evil 6 and I’m sure Capcom is happy about that. But we’re at a point where studios are being closed if they don’t see millions being sold on the first week. There’s no tolerance. The investment needs to pay off automatically.
We can’t buy everything all the time like you said. We will eventually get to the games but publishers aren’t waiting.
Team Andromeda
Member
Buy you come in a thread crying about the closer of a studio whose game you didn't buy, Just like so many on Twitter and forums
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Team Andromeda
Member
Resident Evil 6 sold millions straight away that is the difference and publishers make their main money off game sales in the launch month, not decades down the line.
Remind me again why Capcom closed down Clover?
The industry has always been ruthless
Hudo
Gold Member
I remember when Mikami et al. categorically denied that they even knew about Alone in the Dark during the RE1 media push (interviews and the like). Turns out, decades later, that they did that because they feared law suits etc. So they just said that they never knew about Alone in the Dark. But they did. And it was, in fact, a big inspiration for RE1.
Team Andromeda
Member
Of course, it was along with Dr Hauzer on the 3DO and we all knew it.
Mikami does like to spin it a little now again mind. I seem to remember him saying he'll never work on the PS2 LOL
Mr Hyde
Gold Member
Team Andromeda
Member
Yep, I'll continue to be the dick who buys games on Launch week thanksFine, be a fucking dick about it then
Skifi28
Member
Please keep buying them so we don't have to, thanks!
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