1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

News MS nearly destroyed FASA and Bungie

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 26 Aug 2009.

  1. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

    Joined:
    3 Apr 2007
    Posts:
    11,346
    Likes Received:
    316
  2. DragunovHUN

    DragunovHUN Modder

    Joined:
    30 Oct 2008
    Posts:
    5,149
    Likes Received:
    181
    Westwood, and more recently Stormregion come to my mind. But there are many examples in this industry, sadly.
     
  3. Tyrmot

    Tyrmot Minimodder

    Joined:
    12 Mar 2008
    Posts:
    309
    Likes Received:
    1
    Makes you wish FASA had never been bought by MS in the first place really. Who knows what games they might have brought out otherwise?
     
  4. Omnituens

    Omnituens What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    5 Apr 2006
    Posts:
    954
    Likes Received:
    11
    Bullfrog too.
     
  5. Gunsmith

    Gunsmith Maximum Win

    Joined:
    23 Sep 2005
    Posts:
    9,759
    Likes Received:
    2,331
    nearly? id say they did a pretty good job of destroying them through corperate greed,
     
  6. Veles

    Veles DUR HUR

    Joined:
    18 Nov 2005
    Posts:
    6,188
    Likes Received:
    34
    Pretty much any developer acquired by a big publisher loses what it once had. Although I do still like what Rare are doing.
     
  7. talladega

    talladega I'm Squidward

    Joined:
    18 Aug 2007
    Posts:
    5,258
    Likes Received:
    495
    So MS bought the company and then closed it down so no other systems could have games from those IPs?
     
  8. UrbanMarine

    UrbanMarine Government Prostitute

    Joined:
    7 Aug 2008
    Posts:
    1,135
    Likes Received:
    19
    Westwood, Black Isle Studios, DICE, 3DRealms, FASA (too many to list) are all companies that went to **** when bought up or failed in contracts.

    I loved the first 3 Mechwarrior games. Then MS came and it wrecked a good series. They need to get back on track with the novels and restart the series.

    @Talladega: EA's well known for buying up IPs and not producing games. They're locking out the market and letting classics die.
     
  9. DragunovHUN

    DragunovHUN Modder

    Joined:
    30 Oct 2008
    Posts:
    5,149
    Likes Received:
    181
    Oh yeah, Bullfrog : (
     
  10. Lizard

    Lizard @ Scan R&D

    Joined:
    17 Feb 2007
    Posts:
    2,890
    Likes Received:
    37
    Origin went completely downhill when it got bought too, from being one of the biggest, most successful developers to a practically unheard of outfit putting out crappy Ultima Online addons.
     
  11. TGImages

    TGImages Grandpa

    Joined:
    11 Aug 2004
    Posts:
    163
    Likes Received:
    1
    "Have you ever seen your company ruined by a ham-handed buy-out,"

    No, we are the ham-handed buy out company... :)

    Actually it isn't quite that simple. We're merging many of our sister companies into us, but this is all at the direction of our parent company (which one way or another owns all of us) so in this case we're just the middleman. As we incorporate them into us, they will be required to follow the corporate standards which many don't like. All along they were required to do so but most got away with ignoring that directive for a number of years.

    So, for the rest of the year we get to make life miserable for a bunch of other people all because their upper management wasn't willing to make the necessary changes years ago when they should have. On the other hand, if we weren't going in and taking them over, with the economic hit they took, I think they would be shutting their doors instead.

    I'm certainly not defending MS here and I think that with any merger or acquisition, you have to openly evaluate the differing processes and adopt the one that makes the most sense even if means you change instead of them changing.
     
  12. Skiddywinks

    Skiddywinks Minimodder

    Joined:
    10 Aug 2008
    Posts:
    932
    Likes Received:
    8
    Some specifics would be nice.
     
  13. Skiddywinks

    Skiddywinks Minimodder

    Joined:
    10 Aug 2008
    Posts:
    932
    Likes Received:
    8
    Not you, TGI. I mean Weisman.
     
  14. DLoney

    DLoney What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    21 Feb 2005
    Posts:
    208
    Likes Received:
    0
    what MechWarrior game is that image from?
     
  15. AWowzer

    AWowzer What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    1 Aug 2009
    Posts:
    20
    Likes Received:
    0
    biggest ever tragedy was the destuction of Origin by EA. their technology was always years ahead of everyone else. they always pushed hardware to its limits, achieving what people never thought would be possible.

    will never forget in 1994, origin coming out with wing commander 3, the first game that felt like you were in an interactive film where your actions determined what happened. the graphics engine, the game and film production value. would love to see what they would have produced on current gen hardware.

    its weird how sony's and nintendo's first party studios are keeping their consoles from being a failure whereas the 360's success has been driven mainly by 3rd party. if microsoft could back that up with more successful 1st party studios without ruining them they would be streets ahead
     
  16. somidiot

    somidiot Minimodder

    Joined:
    18 Aug 2009
    Posts:
    115
    Likes Received:
    1
    Way to go microshaft with your "we've got lots of money we can do whatever the (insert choice explative) we want to"
    Little guy? what little guy? :p
     
  17. PQuiff

    PQuiff What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    7 Sep 2001
    Posts:
    557
    Likes Received:
    4
    Yeah i remember Origin and Wing Commander 3...it needed 6 or 8 megs of ram....and i remember my PC only had 4...was truly gutted.

    Im a bit perplexed at large studio buyouts. Surely the reason for buying a dev studio is because there profitable or the games they make show promise. They they go in and break a thing that is working by making the studios do things there way. Why not leave them alone, and once in a while send someone along to make sure they are not going compleatly batshit crazy.
     
  18. Trefarm

    Trefarm No matter what... It's all good

    Joined:
    16 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    139
    Likes Received:
    2
    ... one word Management... There is always a guy responsible for the 'Streamline Integration' of the new dev's in the company, (who can't do what they do) but has to justify his existance/fat paycheck to his boss.
    Because he's Management it's all about the promotion for him, so he does what he knows best... buzzwords, mission statements, cost analysis and all that....
    Guess how many Dev's give two hoots about Mission Statements?
     
  19. Star*Dagger

    Star*Dagger What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    30 Nov 2007
    Posts:
    882
    Likes Received:
    11
    The list is long, which is why i get so peeved when people whine about the fine dev companies like Blizzard, Valve and iD that are still around and doing quite well
     
  20. sear

    sear Guest

    Remember, kids. Whenever you think someone important cares about you, your company or your intellectual property, you're wrong.
     
Tags: Add Tags

Share This Page