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Layoffs at IO Interactive

F

fireflame

Member
I feel things would have been different with a non episodic release model. And a better marketting because i feel that somehow, the game did not have the marketting it deserved.

I think that episodic model is a tricky choice especially when a big budget is involved.
 
L

Lunar15

Member
Aangster said:
FFS Square: all the individual talent contributed to what HitmanTM so great. I'm incredibly concerned for Hitman's future but alas, survival first for its only (and deservedly so) maker.

While those gimps at Square Europe/UK are at it, have they considered firing their marketing heads? Niche products will never sell volumes like popular series, but the fact they didn't use marketing strategies to overcome these obstacles, leaving IOI to do most online communication, is fucking embarrassing. Like the publisher work done for Deus Ex, they should take a good and hard look at the qualityTM content they pumped out for both franchises, especially the stuff they put out on their YouTube channel: the pack of embarrassing fucks.

On a side note, I think Arkane are in a much better position with publisher Bethesda Softworks, although the complete lack of narrative DLC says a lot about Dishonored 2's sales performance.
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Ironically, Square Enix's US division won multiple marketing awards for Hitman and Final Fantasy last year. They were heavily decorated.
 
E

ElBoxyBrown

Banned
NolbertoS said:
I call it Karma, for the Kane and Lynch fiasco 10 years ago on Gertsmann. Now IO is being downsized. I guess SE couldn't find any buyers, so they're cutting staff left and right
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1. That wasn't IO.
2. That blame is more on GameSpot at the time.
3. Your being petty as fuck for an incident that Gertsmann has moved on from.
 
T

thepenguin55

Member
EvilKatarn said:
I regret thinking last year that Square Enix is treating their western stuff well. Deus Ex, Hitman, Tomb Raider all seemed to be going up and up. Sleeping Dogs should have been a sign.

Now the studios are getting sold off or tossed into the Marvel sweatshop. Ugh.
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Yeah, the moment i heard about the Marvel deal I knew it would be bad for the western dev teams. Everything Square does feels like it's all in the name of funding another shitty Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest game. Nothing else matters to them.
 
F

fireflame

Member
I wish I knew what led Square Enix to want to experience the episodic release system. What made they think it would be profitable ?
 
G

Gator86

Member
Alpha Phoenix said:
Square Enix had two amazing games in 2016, Deus Ex and Hitman. This is how they reward the talent that made them.
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Basically. I wish SE could move these studios to a real publisher so they can keep making amazing games and SE can go back to re-releasing old FF games and doing jack shit nothing worth buying.
 
S

Stigfinnare

Member
I guess I can keep my tag here but man :(

7686178464_fdc8ea66c7.jpg
 
I

I H8 Memes

Member
People seemed to love the game, did it not sell well? I'm not interested in episodic gaming myself but most people seemed to love it. If it didnt sell well then was it the game or the episodic release schedule?
 
F

fireflame

Member
Hum i did not follow everything so why is someone making a link between this and Kane and Lynch?Edit: i just read on wikipedia about the Gamespot controversy but i fail to see how Io would be responsible since it was originally Eidos who threatened Gamespot. because editor Jeff Gerstmann gave Kane and Lynch a 6/10. Eidos, not IO.
 
O

OBias

Member
So this is another failure for episodic games that are not adventures, after Half-Life 2 and SiN Episodes. I don't think I can remember any other major attempts.
 
R

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
Alpha Phoenix said:
Square Enix had two amazing games in 2016, Deus Ex and Hitman. This is how they reward the talent that made them.
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its business. Youre talking like they did it as a prank in college.
 
F

fireflame

Member
OBias said:
So this is another failure for episodic games that are not adventures, after Half-Life 2 and SiN Episodes. I don't think I can remember any other major attempts.
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I think the problem is: some players may want to play the whole game at once; they may wait for the full series to be released, but meanwhile people who wait do not buy the game. Then, you may have players who get one episode or two but no the whole season. Maintaining hype over a whole season is not easy, new games come and get attention. You have big games being forggoten after a week or two, so imagine how to get attention over a year.
 
T

thepenguin55

Member
I H8 Memes said:
People seemed to love the game, did it not sell well? I'm not interested in episodic gaming myself but most people seemed to love it. If it didnt sell well then was it the game or the episodic release schedule?
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I believe it did around a half a million? I could be wrong but I feel like I read that somewhere. Honestly though the game had so much heat last year that I think they would've seen a pretty dramatic uptick in sales with season 2. I don't understand how Square doesn't see that. The hilarious thing though is that in the same announcement where Square said they were going to sell IO they said that they plan to double down on making games that are a service. Ya know, kind of like Hitman. lol.
 
Hari Seldon

Hari Seldon

Member
Sad to see everyone get laid off, but I was extremely lukewarm about Hitman 2016. It was a game that I played after purchasing on deep discount and gave up on quickly.

The episodic model was a complete disaster. Sure it kept the attention of Giant Bomb, but no one else besides GB fans gave a flying fuck and wrote the game off because of this.
 
C

Comrade Crunch

Member
thepenguin55 said:
I believe it did around a half a million? I could be wrong but I feel like I read that somewhere. Honestly though the game had so much heat last year that I think they would've seen a pretty dramatic uptick in sales with season 2. I don't understand how Square doesn't see that. The hilarious thing though is that in the same announcement where Square said they were going to sell IO they said that they plan to double down on making games that are a service. Ya know, kind of like Hitman. lol.
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It did quite a bit better than that, the steam version alone has sold around 600k copies.
 
Interfectum

Interfectum

Member
Hari Seldon said:
Sad to see everyone get laid off, but I was extremely lukewarm about Hitman 2016. It was a game that I played after purchasing on deep discount and gave up on quickly.

The episodic model was a complete disaster. Sure it kept the attention of Giant Bomb, but no one else besides GB fans gave a flying fuck and wrote the game off because of this.
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Pure hyperbole. Many media outlets put Hitman in their top 10 for 2016. The gameplay certainly isn't for everyone but SE should have let them get through Season 2 to see if there was an uptick.
 
K

kqedequalsvolvo

Member
fireflame said:
I think the problem is: some players may want to play the whole game at once; they may wait for the full series to be released, but meanwhile people who wait do not buy the game. Then, you may have players who get one episode or two but no the whole season. Maintaining hype over a whole season is not easy, new games come and get attention. You have big games being forggoten after a week or two, so imagine how to get attention over a year.
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Yeah, mostly agree with that. Plus balancing how you respect those audiences must be really difficult. For example, I was interested in the game but the episodic model didn't suit my schedule properly (I tend to have to binge single player games when I get the chance, unfortunately) so I figured I'd wait until a compiled, GOTY or whatever release. But then noted there was a lot of time sensitive content that I had and would continue to miss out on, which put me off. But then, it's totally understandable for them to create content such as that to reward those who bought early and return to the game frequently. It's difficult.
 
J

JonnyDBrit

Member
DarknessTear said:
Didn't Hitman sell pretty poorly?
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I H8 Memes said:
People seemed to love the game, did it not sell well? I'm not interested in episodic gaming myself but most people seemed to love it. If it didnt sell well then was it the game or the episodic release schedule?
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Hasn't even broken a million on Steam.

Unfortunately, this is not surprising, however frustrating. Hopefully those fired will land on their feet.
 
F

FrontalMonk

Banned
Stigfinnare said:
I guess I can keep my tag here but man :(

7686178464_fdc8ea66c7.jpg
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We really appreciate all the excellent work you and yours have accomplished, Stig. I don't know if you were part of the layoffs, but I hope everyone lands on their feet and I hope this isn't the end of Hitman.

This is awful news, and it couldn't have happened to a better team. :(
 
G

Guerrillas in the Mist

Member
Awful news, Hitman 2016 was possibly my 2016 GOTY, and a glorious return to form for the franchise. A lot of people were put off by the episodic aspects of it, and just seemed to write it off without actually bothering to check if it was good - as evidenced by the last thread on this.
 
M

Marcel

Member
The episodic model ultimately didn't work and I believe the completion percentages went way down with each new episode (PS4). Unfortunate for those involved but not unexpected.

Video games are becoming a more cutthroat business with each passing year. I'd argue the company obituaries in 2018 may be even worse.
 
S

Shredderi

Member
They are clearly in the upper echelon of developers in the industry. They proved that with Hitman 2016 which is one of the best comeback stories in gaming history. Ok, so they think Hitman is not going to sell what they want. Fair enough. Then why sell such a high calibre studio away? Fucking keep them working on something else. Good, seasoned talent doesn't grow on trees.
 
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