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Double Fine loses a project, and lays off 12 staff

P

Parham

Banned
SuperBanana said:
Guess I need to post this again since there are some people who seem to have already forgotten after 2 page. Wow, how the mind slips!

"Allegedly"

Opening admitting to sexually assaulting someone(then banning anyone who called him out for it)
1508785001663-WgTMVEd.jpeg


Posting revenge porn with their real full names then another admin(a now jailed pedophile) printed the photos and jacked off over them and sent it to the boyfriend.
uRGmEGL.jpg


You're right, how can we even know if he's guilty or not? HMMMM

Also:
6B7C1lb.jpg
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ZQmUpHL.png
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Wondering if the publisher was Majesco/Midnight City, who are currently undergoing serious financial difficulties from what I've heard.

Edit: Alternatively, could it be the second game they were working on for Indie Fund?
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
wwm0nkey said:
That does make sense, sucks because isn't Midnight City a new thing too?
Click to expand...

Midnight City is the brand Majesco established when they lost the Zumba license and basically decided to get into indie publishing to save their company because they no longer have the resources to develop stuff in house.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
McDougles said:
You mean that the script for Broken Age Act 2 being completed only last month was on schedule?
Click to expand...

I don't understand what the response has to do with the prompt (an unrelated project was cancelled and employees working on that project were laid off), or is this just a Pavlovian response to the game's name?
 
G

Gazoinks

Member
That's a real shame. It seems like DF's been taking a lot of hits lately, which sucks because I've been a fan for a while.
 
J

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
I have to wonder about Double Fine's longevity. The company's existence is largely contingent upon successful Kickstarters and the development of Spacebase being halted well before the original vision had been realised will undoubtedly invite quite a lot of scepticism and cynicism the next time DF asks for the community's help to fund a project.
 
J

jett

D-Member
Yikes.

I really wish this company was doing better, but it seems like they just stumble constantly.
 
O

OmegaX

Member
It doesn't surprise me one bit. I'm guessing we'll be seeing their third Kickstarter pretty soon. I'll never understand why fans, let alone publishers, trust them with their money.
 
V

Vulcano's assistant

Banned
OmegaX said:
It doesn't surprise me one bit. I'm guessing we'll be seeing their third Kickstarter pretty soon. I'll never understand why fans, let alone publishers, trust them with their money.
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I guess fans because Schafer is one of the top writers in the medium. But that doesn't explain the non Schafer projects.
 
H

HariKari

Member
After the Spacebase DF-9 nonsense, I'm not surprised. Sucks that people have lost jobs over what seems like an inability to manage projects effectively.
 
T

The Illiterati

Member
OmegaX said:
It doesn't surprise me one bit. I'm guessing we'll be seeing their third Kickstarter pretty soon. I'll never understand why fans, let alone publishers, trust them with their money.
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Maybe they should finish their first.....oh yeah TWO kickstarters before starting another. Or heck, maybe they'd be getting some more money if they released those games. I find it mindblowing that people aren't madder about Broken Age. Good title though.
 
S

ShogunX

Member
Lost any kind of trust in Double Fine after the shit they pulled with Spacebase but this is sad to hear. They clearly as a studio took on too many projects rather than concentrating on what they could handle and putting out the best quality product they could.
 
O

OmegaX

Member
Vulcano's assistant said:
I guess fans because Schafer is one of the top writers in the medium. But that doesn't explain the non Schafer projects.
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I guess, I'm not a fan of his humor. I specially hated every second of the 5 minutes I endured of Psychonauts. Still, fans should know by now that he shouldn't be trusted with money ever.
 
W

wwm0nkey

Member
sn00zer said:
Why the hell does Double Fine work on 4+ projects at once for a small studio with funding problems?
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Because working on one bigger project with everyone at once made them less money.

I do think Grim Fandango and Broken Age part 2 will do well. Same for Massive Chalice when its out of Early Access.

But I do think Psychonauts 2 and Brazen would be a risk but would probably have a big pay off for them. Psychonauts would have the cult following factor but be expensive and Brazen would be a Monster Hunter type game on PC which would probably sell a fair amount and be a good game to allocate a small team to.

OmegaX said:
I guess, I'm not a fan of his humor. I specially hated every second of the 5 minutes I endured of Psychonauts. Still, fans should know by now that he shouldn't be trusted with money ever.
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oh cool, then you didn't even complete the tutorial level.
 
T

Teeth

Member
wwm0nkey said:
Because working on one bigger project with everyone at once made them less money.

I do think Grim Fandango and Broken Age part 2 will do well. Same for Massive Chalice when its out of Early Access.

But I do think Psychonauts 2 and Brazen would be a risk but would probably have a big pay off for them. Psychonauts would have the cult following factor but be expensive and Brazen would be a Monster Hunter type game on PC which would probably sell a fair amount and be a good game to allocate a small team to.

oh cool, then you didn't even complete the tutorial level.
Click to expand...


I don't think Brazen could be completed with a small team. They shopped that around to publishers for a long time and they all passed on it, yet they never opted to try a kickstarter for it. That makes me think the price tag was too high for crowd funding and therefore the team size would need to be large.
 
K

Kade

Member
Maybe they shouldn't work on 23 games at once without employing an accountant and they should do a Kickstarter for Broken Age Episode 2 so they can actually start work on it. Maybe then publishers won't cancel projects on them.
 
graywolf323

graywolf323

Member
JaseC said:
I have to wonder about Double Fine's longevity. The company's existence is largely contingent upon successful Kickstarters and the development of Spacebase being halted well before the original vision had been realised will undoubtedly invite quite a lot of scepticism and cynicism the next time DF asks for the community's help to fund a project.
Click to expand...

announcing Broken Age's delay almost immediately after Massive Chalice was funded didn't help their reputation either
 
W

wwm0nkey

Member
Teeth said:
I don't think Brazen could be completed with a small team. They shopped that around to publishers for a long time and they all passed on it, yet they never opted to try a kickstarter for it. That makes me think the price tag was too high for crowd funding and therefore the team size would need to be large.
Click to expand...
Hmmm maybe just do Psychonauts and then follow with that done by a big team. I really think there is a big market for MH games on PC and DF needs to stop doing crowd funding and release a few games with a publisher for a bit.

Honestly I wonder if they could strike a few deals with Disney.
 
T

Teeth

Member
wwm0nkey said:
Hmmm maybe just do Psychonauts and then follow with that done by a big team. I really think there is a big market for MH games on PC and DF needs to stop doing crowd funding and release a few games with a publisher for a bit.

Honestly I wonder if they could strike a few deals with Disney.
Click to expand...

Psychonauts would be a big team game. Schafer said it would be around 20 million for a proper sequel and there is no publisher that would touch that with a ten foot pole. The charm in that game is voice over, variety of locales, cut scenes, and animation; it would be extremely difficult to replicate the core ideas on a lower budget.

I agree completely on MH games on PC, but the only ones with the expertise and budget to do that style are Capcom and they aren't for whatever reason.

DF specifically went to KS because they were having trouble with publisher work. Pitching products is murder and work for hire starts you on a hamster wheel that is almost impossible to get off of. They specifically went to multiple projects to mitigate risk: one project won't bury you and more chances to stumble on a single hit that could float the entire company in search of more hits. Unfortunately, all of their games have been just successful enough to get by.

I fear that their core strengths are leading them to a path of a much reduced company with less art asset capability.
 
Y

Yamka

Banned
NewGame said:
Doublefine seem too be biting off more than they can chew.
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Agreed. They are showing a significant level of incompetence in scheduling, planning and managing projects.

Tim may be a great "ideas" guy, but he and his mgmt. team are showing a definite lack of being able to run a successful business.

They appear to be a studio living "paycheck-to-paycheck". They really need to evaluate their activities and portfolio and focus on making good, complete games.

This is the 3rd major strike on them:
1. Broken Age fuck-up
2. That space game fuck-up
3. Having to lay off people because of scheduling/planning fuck-ups

Other companies get their asses handed to them on forums like this all the time for single issues. DF deserves no "better" and need to be held accountable for their incompetence and called out on it as well.
 
Z

Zarx

Member
wwm0nkey said:
This was the pub pulling out, don't think it was a manegment issue.
Click to expand...

A project being mismanaged is a pretty good reason for a publisher to pull the plug on it. It wouldn't be the first time DF's mismanagement of a project has lost them a publisher.
 
Y

Yamka

Banned
Add to that the fact that Tim really has not had a real hit with Double Fine. Some have a good cult following but none have been a big money maker for either DF or the publisher.

He is coasting significantly on nostalgia from his LucasArts games.

I am concerned the time/effort they are spending on the Grim Fandango update is diverting time, people and money away from their other games/commitments in a desperate effort to get some cash flow.
 
V

Vibranium

Banned
NewGame said:
Doublefine seem too be biting off more than they can chew.
Click to expand...

Yep, they really need to refocus and stop taking on so many projects. Get Broken Age done and everything else and then....begin Psychonauts 2. Get Notch to supply the cash and Wolpaw to write again.

I hope everyone who got laid off finds jobs soon.
 
S

Smash88

Banned
I want to say that due to the shitty management and planning of Spacebase DF-9 that it had some effect on this (pure speculation of course). First Uber Entertainment and now Double Fine (of course EA and Ubisoft are part of it as well), devs that can't properly plan and execute games should be punished - albeit it is sad that people lose jobs because of mismanagement at the top.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
Do we know who was laid off?

(If it's any of our business, I guess.)
 
R

Recall

Member
HariKari said:
After the Spacebase DF-9 nonsense, I'm not surprised. Sucks that people have lost jobs over what seems like an inability to manage projects effectively.
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Publishers cancel projects it is a common and unfortunate thing. There are many instances of it that never make the light of day on a message board.
 
K

KePoW

Banned
sn00zer said:
Why the hell does Double Fine work on 4+ projects at once for a small studio with funding problems?
Click to expand...

This is the exact thing I have thought about them.

I've never worked in game development, but it seems to me that such a small studio should not have more than 2 different projects at a time.
 
M

Myggen

Member
Zarx said:
A project being mismanaged is a pretty good reason for a publisher to pull the plug on it. It wouldn't be the first time DF's mismanagement of a project has lost them a publisher.
Click to expand...

That's speculation based on pretty much nothing.
 
T

thefro

Member
sn00zer said:
Why the hell does Double Fine work on 4+ projects at once for a small studio with funding problems?
Click to expand...

They took on so many little projects to try to keep everyone employed there. Noble goal, but impossible to maintain considering their projects aren't well-managed and lack of a true hit game.
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
sn00zer said:
Why the hell does Double Fine work on 4+ projects at once for a small studio with funding problems?
Click to expand...
Because if your one big project, the only thing you're working on fails - you're fucked.

Working on several smaller-scale projects mitigates risks and - if one of said projects were to be a breakout hit - would allow for longer-term self-sustained funding and publishing.
 
Z

Zarx

Member
Myggen said:
That's speculation based on pretty much nothing.
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What like Brutal Legends missing key deadlines, needing an extra 9 months of development and $7m added to it's budget (of $15m) leading to Activision dumping the game? Because that actually happened.
 
D

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
Never a positive thing to say, but I can't help to think that I don't see Double Fine making 2016. Or if they do, it'll be a very different company.

That sucks if it's the Majesco thing. I feel like every time they try to make a shot at 'real games' it blows up in their face. Where as their non-game stuff has always been their bread and butter. Maybe Gone Home will do ok on the PS4 for them.
 
P

PaulloDEC

Member
OmegaX said:
I guess, I'm not a fan of his humor. I specially hated every second of the 5 minutes I endured of Psychonauts. Still, fans should know by now that he shouldn't be trusted with money ever.
Click to expand...

Except in the case of Psychonauts, Brutal Legend, Costume Quest, Costume Quest 2, Stacking, Iron Brigade, Once Upon a Monster, Happy Action Theatre, Middle Manager of Justice, Kinect Party, The Cave, Dropchord, Hack 'n' Slash and Massive Chalice.
 
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