I just finished a main story play through on PS4 a couple of weeks ago after completing it on 360 previously. It's not as smooth/detailed as PC, but still a solid port - and the game itself is awesome.
Pretty bummed about this whole situation.
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RIP United Front Games
- Thread starter bishoptl
- Start date
Pretty bummed about this whole situation.
steam early access a few weeks ago
Xamtheking
Member
Sleeping Dogs 2 could happen eventually
Think of all the otherwise insane things that have happened recently in the gaming sphere
TLG actually got announced, alongside Shenmue 3 and Psychonauts 2
Some Nobody
Junior Member
Well, it's true that they didn't consider Tomb Raider a good enough success either after it sold far more than Sleeping Dogs. But my assumption came with a secondary assumption (yeah, I know) that these games weren't profitable because their development was kinda troubled.
We know the story behind Sleeping Dogs and why that would've had to be a monster success to make its money back all the way, but...are we really at the point where a game under normal circumstances sells 2+ million and it still can't be considered profitable?
Holy fuck this industry is screwed.
bearythebear
Member
Now that I'm thinking about it, Sleepy Dogs might just be my favorite open world crime game. Such a bummer we won't get a sequel.
Yep! its been on special many times so you can always wait for a discount.
Amazing game.
Alebrije
Member
SeanBoocock
Neo Member
Best of luck to everyone at United Front. It is incredibly hard to survive as a "middle sized" independent developer, particularly if you aren't doing work-for-hire jobs to establish some sort of financial baseline outside of publisher backed projects.
You can mitigate risk, and usually the potential upside, by working on lots of smaller projects, or concentrate on one or two larger projects, the cancellation or poor performance of which will endanger the future of the studio.
You can mitigate risk, and usually the potential upside, by working on lots of smaller projects, or concentrate on one or two larger projects, the cancellation or poor performance of which will endanger the future of the studio.
D
Deleted member 80556
Unconfirmed Member
So what you're saying is that we have to wait at least 10 years or so to get a Sleeping Dogs 2?
Yeah, that's not much consolation.
BreezyLimbo
Banned
Yeah, Giant Bomb played it just 3 days ago on UPF, and it seemed like an interesting game. This is really shocking. That sucks :l Hopefully they land on their feet.
Admiral Woofington
Member
Tired puppies was like my hope we could god damn leave America for these games
If I have to play in New York or California one more fucking time
If I have to play in New York or California one more fucking time
D1renegade
Member
RIP to the studio. Sleeping Dogs was amazing
EYEL1NER
Member
Good luck in your future endeavors, UFG employees. Sleeping Dogs was one of my favorite open-world games last gen and replaying the Xbone port was some of the most fun I have had this gen. And I hardly EVER replay games, but Sleeping Dogs was just as fun on the second play.
Really bummer news this is...
Really bummer news this is...
GringoSuave89
Banned
Couldn't be more bummed... Sleeping Dogs was such a great game. Hope the employees bounce back.
There's a reason we see so few AAA $60 games these days...
There's also the catch that these games have to be making a pretty good profit to be worthwhile. You don't want to invest $40+ million to earn $2 million in profit. You'd be much better off just dumping your money in the stock market.
Given the astronomical risk involved in making a game in the failure case, you want some big returns in the success case.
TheSpoiler
Member
SD came at a time when the industry, specifically the Japanese side, put ludicrous demands in terms of sales for their games. Capcom, for one, wanted far too much for far too little, and ended up fucking themselves for it.
By the time things swung around, which is like in the past few years or so, UFGs was already doing other things or SE simply wasn't interested in a sequel. I'm sure a subpar remaster didn't help chances either.
Yeah, unless you plan on slicing costs heavily, getting another source of revenue either through DLC or by being games-as-a-service, or some other buffer like taking the hit to establish a franchise, games need to be profitable. They always had to be for the most part, but with rising costs, it's harder and harder to justify ones that aren't big sellers, much less take risks.
I think it's getting better, since who the fuck was going to buy a niche game like Nier 2 but somehow SE is bankrolling it, but it's not a problem solved overnight.
Two million wouldn't be enough for such a game, at least not how we would want it to be.
Games cost a lot to make.
bloodyroarxx
Member
Hope everyone lands on their feet.
Sleeping Dogs was a goddamn treasure.
Sleeping Dogs was a goddamn treasure.
Agreed, it's why we are seeing so many AAA full price games with micro-transactions. The thing is, with the constant push for better graphics and more detailed games with larger worlds, it also means development costs shoot through the roof. The problem is: games prices haven't really changed. I remember buying brand new SNES and PS1 games for the same price and buying a new game today, and with the rare exceptions(FF7 and 9) I doubt most of them would be anywhere near the cost to produce as current games.
Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_video_games_to_develop Look at the years most of the games on this list were produced.
ChaosZeroX
Banned
Fuck man. That sucks. Hopefully those people find jobs quickly.
I really wanted more Wei Shen. Sleeping Dogs 2 lol
I really wanted more Wei Shen. Sleeping Dogs 2 lol
MillionStabs
Banned
Same, on both the original and Remaster. I bought it full price because it was such a good game.
Who are you? Wei Shen, motherfucker. Who you?
BaraSailey
Member
This sucks :/ Sleeping Dogs is one of my favorite open world games; shame we probably won't get to see a sequel. Best of luck to everyone from the studio; they're a talented bunch.
cripterion
Member
Sleeping Dogs was good but i found Smash & Grab awful. Still that's too bad for them.
A lot of people were looking for a sequel to Sleeping Dogs, too bad they didn't work on that.
A lot of people were looking for a sequel to Sleeping Dogs, too bad they didn't work on that.
A bit of column A, a bit of column B.
I think Smash and Grab floppped. It had like... 200 players for Early Access?
Xamtheking
Member
It's something
Scrub Mcgrubb
Member
This comes a big shock to me... from what I heard Smash + Grab was a pretty fun game. I missed the free weekend but was planning on picking it up.
WHAT THE HELL.
Square has a lot to answer for this. They bought the rights for a game a that turned out to be one-off the best games of 2012 and then decided on how squeeze the game into their 'social F2P, game' ideology. When it failed they just decided it was okay to ditch the devs who've probably done more than most of Square's Japanese division.
It's fucking stupid that Square is willing to let go of Wrstern developers who have actually been profitable, makes me worried about how other properties are being handled.
Honestly I stil don't think Square understands how the western markets works.
Square has a lot to answer for this. They bought the rights for a game a that turned out to be one-off the best games of 2012 and then decided on how squeeze the game into their 'social F2P, game' ideology. When it failed they just decided it was okay to ditch the devs who've probably done more than most of Square's Japanese division.
It's fucking stupid that Square is willing to let go of Wrstern developers who have actually been profitable, makes me worried about how other properties are being handled.
Honestly I stil don't think Square understands how the western markets works.
Son Of Sparda
Member
Fuck no! Come on.... ugh!
Thank you for Sleeping Dogs, guys.
Thank you for Sleeping Dogs, guys.
We just had another thread that says psychonauts needs to sell 2 million copies to break even.
And sleeping dogs, good as it was, sold a lot of copies at rock bottom bargain bin prices.
Poetic.Injustice
Member
If Square own the Ip you can forget about ever seeing a sequel to sleeping dogs.
It's sad that the first game did not sell that well, but it came too late in the last gen. If it had released between 08 and '10 it would have been a big hit.
It's sad that the first game did not sell that well, but it came too late in the last gen. If it had released between 08 and '10 it would have been a big hit.
E.Some Nobody
Junior Member
It hit 1.75 million by the end of the second month it was out. So I'm imagining the copies you're talking about are on top of that. Either way, I get the picture and I'm gradually realizing the way the industry is headed we're going to be stuck with paying $100+ for a game or playing some shitty mobile titles and I'm depressed.
We gotten some amazing indie games that were made by small teams.
R_thanatos
Member
MOd nation racers would have been so Greatif it had even half the loading times.
And sleeping dogs was Awesome.
What a shame UFG
And sleeping dogs was Awesome.
What a shame UFG
No it sold 1.75 by March 2013.