Gothic 4 - Official Announcement by JoWooD

As promised, here is the content part of JoWooDs´ official press release:

JoWooD Productions is currently working on Gothic 4

Liezen, Austria, May 22nd 2007; JoWooD confirms having been in promising negotiatons for the development of Gothic 4 on PC and console with various prospective development studios. Releasing Gothic 4 on current-gen console is the next logical step for the Publisher's strategy. JoWooD puts most of its focus on high quality standards as well as reacting to the communities comments and requests for the sequel to its flag-ship title.

Since Pluto 13 and JoWooD have not come to terms regarding the development of Gothic 4, the collaboration has come to an end.

And the German PR again:

JoWooD Productions arbeitet an Gothic 4

Liezen, Österreich, 22. Mai 2007; JoWooD Productions befindet sich bereits seit mehreren Wochen in positiven Gesprächen mit potenziellen Entwicklerstudios für Gothic 4 auf PC und Konsole. Bei der Auswahl des Entwicklers wird insbesondere auf sehr hohen Qualitätsstandard sowie eine abschließend fehlerfreie Programmierung des Spieles fokussiert. Mit der Veröffentlichung des vierten Teils des erfolgreichen Rollenspiels auf Current Gen Konsolen verfolgt JoWooD zielstrebig die neue Unternehmensstrategie in Richtung Konsolenmarkt.

Die Gespräche mit dem bisherigen Entwickler Pluto 13 führten zu keinem akzeptablen Ergebnis, weshalb die Zusammenarbeit beendet wurde.

More information.

I feel sorry for PB.

I wonder if they will scavenge people from PB … in the Mac games world Westlake was doing all of the porting and Aspyr was just publishing - then they bought the people and took over the whole thing.

Troika springs to mind but I really hope not.

Aw, man - this is horrible. Looks like PB needs to take this to court to retain their development rights for Gothic 4 but they have a cash flow problem, right?

I wonder how the german fans are taking this?

I didn't know that Jowood even had a software development team, I thought they were just a publisher.

Originally Posted by Dr. A
Aw, man - this is horrible. Looks like PB needs to take this to court to retain their development rights for Gothic 4 but they have a cash flow problem, right?

I read that someone from PB said that they didn't even get any money out of Gothic 3, in fact "quite the contrary." As Gothic 3 did sell moderately well, I can't imagine that Gothic 3 cost more than it made. I'll assume all this profit went straight to JoWooD. Of course, without all the details I can't say it, but I will anyway. Bastards!

Jowood did have a development team but not anymore (I heard they closed them down in 2005?).

They are just going to pay another development team to make Gothic 4 I believe.

Depending if PB have anything to say about that ofc.

But like some would say on these forums thats sound business ethics from Jowood.

So Piranha Bytes is nearly bankrupt and still working on the mysterious Gigabyte Gothic 3 Patch? JoWooD made real good money with Gothic 3 (according to their own press releases) and now dumps the development team that safed their ass (JoWooD was always in money troubles over the years, without Gothic 2 and Aquanox they would've been vanquished). That's really frustrating.

So we probably will see "Gothic 4" from unknown east-europe dev team and "The game that should've been Gothic 4" from PB then? They're still fighting about the rights, so maybe one of them will have to dump the Gothic brand?

I wonder how the german fans are taking this?

I am disappointed by Jowood and PB.

If they want to break up they should finish their unfinished business - Gothic 3 - first.

I'm a local PB-fan ever since I heard of the development of Gothic 1.
I am living 20 km away from their old base Bochum.

Who can I blame for the Gothic 3 disaster ?

I don't know - I blame all persons who wanted to make a second Morrowind out of Gothic 3. They should have stayed by their old Gothic 1 virtues - small unmistakable world, interesting characters, chapter system leveling and so on.
Developing an engine and a huge game with such a small team was a bit too tough.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
Developing an engine and a huge game with such a small team was a bit too tough.

Was G1/G2 not made with their own engine?

BYE BYE GOTHIC was nice knowing you.

BYE BYE PB was nice knowing you.

BYE BYE patch?

Was G1/G2 not made with their own engine?

Yes - but the had similar time problems with the completion of Gothic 1, too - they could handle it because Gothic 1 was a relative small world.

In Gothic 2 they could use a drilled out Gothic 1 engine.

@ ShadowMoses: Yes, I believe the engine for the first two games was theirs as well.

I agree with HiddenX. The game world in Gothic was tiny by modern comparisons, yet I never once, and even today, do not feel that the game is cramped. I think developers should stop leaning on the "We've got the biggest game world" crutch, and start making solid games that don't make you notice that your avatar has only walked 2 miles instead of 10.

If PB didn't make any money from G3 as it sounds, then I doubt they will be around to make any more games - they won't be able to afford it. They will probably dissolve the group and all go get jobs at other studios. Then about 2 -3 years from now a game will come out with some sort of name and characteristics that makes us wonder if it was intended to be the sequel, kind of like Arx - DMofMM.

Originally Posted by ShadowMoses
Was G1/G2 not made with their own engine?

Yep, and it remains absolutely gorgeous to this day. Perhaps something to be learned there …

CD-Projekt for Gothic 4 anyone

Good idea :-)

Hey, I already said that in another thread!

But CDProjekt will almost certainly make sequels to The Witcher before anything else.

Originally Posted by HiddenX
Yes - but the had similar time problems with the completion of Gothic 1, too - they could handle it because Gothic 1 was a relative small world.

In Gothic 2 they could use a drilled out Gothic 1 engine.

I expect that their team would have grown since G1? and again after G2? Increasing the size of the world shouldn't have been that much of a problem. Or at least, it's ultimately their own fault if they made it too big.

I agree though that smaller detailed worlds are better but it's more than just that, it's the level design thats most important. G1/G2 felt alot bigger than they actually were simply because the level design was good. You were frequently blocked off and had to go round or avoid certain areas and return to them later. The illusion of a big world was there… it's the same with U7. Oblivion's "go anywhere, do anything" philosophy just makes the size of the world completely irrelevant and bland. You can pretty much travel in a straight line between any 2 points on the map, it's completely boring… it's no wonder they added fast travel!

I have to say G1,2 is the biggest games of its day in RPG experience created by landscape complexity…a castle is a castle, a house is a house, a hut is a hut. it is about how it feels in stead of measuring it with a yard stick. G3 feels smaller whenever there is archetecture around…just as I exprience play MW or oblivion.