JoWooD - Materially Insolvent!
- Thread starter Gorath
- Start date
Concurred. Couldn't have put it better.
- Joined
- October 19, 2006
- Messages
- 2,469
I don't want to wish ill on anyone, but this was inevitable. They took a chance, gambled everything on ArcaniA, and lost. So whoever made the decision to ruin Gothic franchise must feel proud now.
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2006
- Messages
- 2,469
That's great news if it's true. Unfortunately Jowood has already f*cked up the Gothic series so badly that I'm not sure if it could be resurrected at this point.
The latest news seems to indicate that PB plans to stick with Risen, though who knows, that could morph into more Gothic!!
Dhruin
SasqWatch
I believe this is correct - JoWood does not have rights to Gothic 5 etc. That said, I'd stick with developing Risen if I were PB and Deep Silver.
khaight
Sentinel
I agree. The guys at PB created the value in the Gothic franchise, and we've seen how quickly that value eroded once they were no longer working on it. Better for them to create new value in the Risen franchise than spend their time cleaning up JoWood's mess. I'm pleased to have done my part by not buying ArcaniA.
The lesson for game publishers and developers: I don't have a shortage of things to do with my leisure time. If you make games I don't want, you won't get my money, even if your game shares the name of a different game I did like.
Kostas
Dormant Watcher
Risen is nowhere as big as Gothic is though, even after the mess that G3, FG and Arcania were. Sure sticking to your new franchise might be the "right" thing to do but developing a new Gothic makes sense financial-wise.
skavenhorde
Little BRO Rat
Agreed!
I'd much rather play Risen 2 than Gothic 5. Arcania pretty much ruined the series on any future releases for me. Plus Risen is a brand spanking new world to explore. New ideas, new monsters, new everything.
I loved that game right up until the end. Then it went all downhill from there, but I won't hold that against them. It was really entertaining up until that point.
I would say good Riddance to anyone who ruined Gothic.
A pitty for all the employers
even a sad day for all of us. They didn't create good games, but it is also 1 company less that makes RPG's (good ones or not)
@Corwin: I completely agree. Risen 2 could become the real Gothic 5
A pitty for all the employers
even a sad day for all of us. They didn't create good games, but it is also 1 company less that makes RPG's (good ones or not)
@Corwin: I completely agree. Risen 2 could become the real Gothic 5
People seem to forget that JoWood also published a bunch of somewhat good games that most publishers would not be willing to go for, such as SpellForce, the original Gothic, The Guild and so on. Small German developers trying to publish their games have to go through publishers like JoWood - there is no way Activision, EA and so on would even consider putting their money on the table for such titles.
Also, please point me in the direction of a publisher that has *not* released crap games.. ?
Based on the opinions of this thread, I'd say most people want all publishers to go down the drain. That would also mean no more gaming industry I'm afraid, since developers generally have no funds when they start out.
Also, please point me in the direction of a publisher that has *not* released crap games.. ?
Based on the opinions of this thread, I'd say most people want all publishers to go down the drain. That would also mean no more gaming industry I'm afraid, since developers generally have no funds when they start out.
I think the animosity towards Jowood is not due to some bad game releases, but rather due to how they treated Piranha Bytes and the Gothic series. There's a distinction between being a creator of bad games (which is in itself pretty harmless), and being an enemy of good ones. Jowood appeared to have no regard for the talents of Piranha Bytes, or for the merits of what they created with the Gothic series. They threw out Piranha Bytes, and announced sequels, without even having a developer or anything resembling a creative vision (unless "it will be bug free and make us lots of money" counts as a creative vision). Obviously, this was offensive to fans of Piranha Bytes and the Gothic series. It didn't help things that what they finally spat out was a watered down mockery of the original series.
Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, the Gothic series is dead. As far as I'm concerned, there are 3 games in the series, all of which are great. Yes, despite its problems, I consider Gothic 3 to be great. I'm now happy to see Piranha Bytes focus on a new, possibly even greater series of games called Risen.
Kay
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2010
- Messages
- 115
The whole Gothic 3 incident is not as one sided as many people think: The blame lies with both PB and JoWood. Keep in mind that JoWood willingly pushed the deadline several times, but PB kept failing to meet the new deadlines. At some point, a publisher has to draw the line or a game will need to sell millions to break even.
Sure, the add-on was terrible and JoWood is most likely to blame for that, but at that point JoWood was already on their way down the drain due to serious financial problems.
Prior to all that, they had quite a few good releases.
Edit: Just to clarify.
I'm not saying JoWood didn't make a bunch of poor decisions. They clearly did. I'm just saying they're not the devil, which people seem to think they are - they're no better or worse than most publishers. Yes, they're in it for the money, but every publisher is.
Sure, the add-on was terrible and JoWood is most likely to blame for that, but at that point JoWood was already on their way down the drain due to serious financial problems.
Prior to all that, they had quite a few good releases.
Edit: Just to clarify.
I'm not saying JoWood didn't make a bunch of poor decisions. They clearly did. I'm just saying they're not the devil, which people seem to think they are - they're no better or worse than most publishers. Yes, they're in it for the money, but every publisher is.
I certainly don't place the whole blame for Gothic 3's unfinished state on Jowood. Piranha Bytes were probably at least as responsible for that. My post refers to what happened after the release of Gothic 3.
Kay
Kay
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2010
- Messages
- 115
H
Hindukönig
Guest
Just wanted to say that the first Gothic was originally published by shoebox, not JoWood.
And shoebox was a joint-venture between dtp and ... forgotten the second company.