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member
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Joined: Nov 2010
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Instead of buying out Larian should consider working together with some of the other indi studio's. You know pool resources. Would think them and Daedalic could produce some awesome games ( http://www.daedalic.de/en#1) Daedalic could definitely add some more story depth as well as the franchises they have available to them like Das Schwarze Auge. On top of that they are a publisher in Germany and so have connections/experience on that front as well. On the humor department they are also a good match with Larians humor vs Deponia or Harvey's new Eyes. Don't think CDPR is a good fit with Larian, too different....
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Apr 2013
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Instead of buying out Larian should consider working together with some of the other indi studio's. You know pool resources. Would think them and Daedalic could produce some awesome games ( http://www.daedalic.de/en#1) Daedalic could definitely add some more story depth as well as the franchises they have available to them like Das Schwarze Auge. On top of that they are a publisher in Germany and so have connections/experience on that front as well. On the humor department they are also a good match with Larians humor vs Deponia or Harvey's new Eyes. Don't think CDPR is a good fit with Larian, too different.... Daedalic doesn't have the money to buy Larian.
WOOS
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member
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member
Joined: Nov 2010
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Didn't mention anything about buying out LC, said something about a partnership/working together
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addict
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addict
Joined: Mar 2013
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So a quarter of million units sold already? Congrats Larian!. But if the news of buyout that is a nightmare!
I hope Larian do not sell it's soul to the devil. Please.
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Dec 2010
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Well, they could sell Larian, have everyone quit, and use all the money to form Larian 2.0 under a new name and keep being independent.  Win/Win?
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Apr 2013
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Didn't mention anything about buying out LC, said something about a partnership/working together For what purpose? They already working together since Daedalic does distribution in Germany/Austria/Switzerland. I don't think Daedalic could help Larian in any other way, storytelling/writing included. I think Larian should increase their inhouse writing team instead with the money they probably made with D:OS. Three writers are really a small number for story heavy RPGs imo. I think the next Larian game (or D:OS expansion) would profit from "more" and more in depth writing. You can't achieve that with only one or two writers imo. In the old Infinity engine games each companions were written by different authors which also gave them some variety. 
WOOS
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Apr 2013
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If they do sell themselves I'd prefer Paradox as they seem to allow their developers more time and leeway. However they are developing two new fantasy CRPG's right now (Runemaster and Pillars of Eternity) so from a business standpoint I don't see how grabbing Larian would benefit them or diversify their offerings.
Paradox don't develop Pillars of Eternity. They don't even publish it. They only do physical distribution and a bit of marketing and PR. They are a contractor of Obsidian Entertainment, that's all. Right I should have stated otherwise as it is Obsidian who is developing the game however I do think Paradox will be the publisher if they are distributing it. No, they are not. Being the publisher actually means that a publishing company finances the development of a video game made by development studio. In most cases the publisher also owns the trademarks of the game. In the case of Pillars of Eternity, Paradox is only a contractor. They don't invest any money in the development in the game. Instead they get a share of the sales for their services in distribution and marketing/PR and quality management. So you could say that Paradox do a few thing a traditional publisher would normally do but their connection with Obisidan is completely different. They also don't own the game or the trademark so they don't have any power to influence the development of the game. That's 100% up to Obsidian themselves.
WOOS
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jul 2014
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^exactly.
Besides, having a publisher doesn't mean you're no longer independent in development. Think of publishers of books. The author can be completely freely creative if they're famous enough.
Publishers help with advertisements, localization, support the devs on multiple platforms etc...
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member
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member
Joined: May 2013
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Publishers help with advertisements, localization, support the devs on multiple platforms etc... ...setting deadline, telling the devs to push out games before they're ready, telling the devs what can and cannot go into a game, preventing devs from using the IP they themselves developed etc...
CPU: i7-4930k, Gfx: EVGA 950, RAM: 16GB DDR3-2133 (quad channel), OS: Arch Linux
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apprentice
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apprentice
Joined: Jul 2014
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Publishers help with advertisements, localization, support the devs on multiple platforms etc... ...setting deadline, telling the devs to push out games before they're ready, telling the devs what can and cannot go into a game, preventing devs from using the IP they themselves developed etc... Exactly. Hell, it got to a point that publishers wouldn't even fund some genre's at all! Think about the clone wars, cheesy FPS and RTS rip offs for 15 years. Hardly anything else was getting funded.
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member
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member
Joined: Oct 2010
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I stopped buying games from Bioware and Westwood Studio the day they have been bought by EA.
And I was a very big fan of a) Baldur's Gate (as almost everybody here I guess ;)) and b) of Command & Conquer serie.
Both have been completely destroyed by EA.
Since the Might & Magic heroes 6 fiasco from Ubisoft I stopped buying games from them too.
My last 2 games were: Age of Wonders 3 and Original Sin ... 2 from Indies companies.
Larian, please, continue on, do not sell your soul.
Imarion
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Apr 2013
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^exactly.
Besides, having a publisher doesn't mean you're no longer independent in development. Think of publishers of books. The author can be completely freely creative if they're famous enough.
Publishers help with advertisements, localization, support the devs on multiple platforms etc... Book publishers and game publishers are not the same. A traditional game publisher finances the game development. In fact the publisher owns the game, having almost 100% control over the project. Everything else is not video game publishing in the traditional sense.
Last edited by LordCrash; 17/07/14 06:02 PM.
WOOS
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: May 2014
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[quote=Tombeatster][quote=LordCrash]
No, they are not. Being the publisher actually means that a publishing company finances the development of a video game made by development studio. In most cases the publisher also owns the trademarks of the game. In the case of Pillars of Eternity, Paradox is only a contractor. They don't invest any money in the development in the game. Instead they get a share of the sales for their services in distribution and marketing/PR and quality management. So you could say that Paradox do a few thing a traditional publisher would normally do but their connection with Obisidan is completely different. They also don't own the game or the trademark so they don't have any power to influence the development of the game. That's 100% up to Obsidian themselves. Thank you for clarifying that.
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2011
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I would like to think any signed agreement can have variations of how the structure is set up between publisher and developer. There isn't a one size fits all stipulation.
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Apr 2013
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I would like to think any signed agreement can have variations of how the structure is set up between publisher and developer. There isn't a one size fits all stipulation. Of course there are variations. But it's pointless to call a company a publisher of a game if the actual contract lacks various important points which define the status of a publisher...
WOOS
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Moderator Emeritus
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Moderator Emeritus
Joined: Dec 2012
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I just would like to join the chorus of the people here who plead with Larian to stay independent...
Last edited by Elwyn; 17/07/14 07:34 PM.
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Apr 2013
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Hell, I really can't wait for Swen's next blog post. I hope it will include all the business stuff (publishers, media, sales, lessons learnt, future plans,...) 
Last edited by LordCrash; 17/07/14 07:51 PM.
WOOS
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addict
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addict
Joined: May 2013
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Indeed, what Swen says is infinitely more interesting than speculation.
That said, someone mentioned Paradox and I thought they might not make a bad match (I personally think Paradox are pretty good, but I can't say I know much), but I can't really think of any good Paradox RPGs off the top of my head, so I ultimately don't know how well that'd work.
Unless otherwise specified, just an opinion or simple curiosity.
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member
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member
Joined: Jun 2014
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Indeed, what Swen says is infinitely more interesting than speculation.
That said, someone mentioned Paradox and I thought they might not make a bad match (I personally think Paradox are pretty good, but I can't say I know much), but I can't really think of any good Paradox RPGs off the top of my head, so I ultimately don't know how well that'd work. Paradox develop grand strategy games and publish risky and niche titles fairly often without meddling too much, but their DLC policy is the same as EA's, well not exactly, but it's close.
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Moderated by ForkTong, gbnf, Issh, Kurnster, Larian_QA, LarSeb, Lar_q, Lynn, Monodon, Raze, Stephen_Larian |
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