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Jedi: Fallen Order's reveal has me questioning why EA shut down the Visceral game even more.
- Thread starter breakYODAy
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I assume they fired most after Dead Space 3 already. Dead Space 3 was putting all sorts of moronic AAA trends into its design to justify Visceral's existence to EA basically. When that did not pay off (with good reason lol) EA probably went on a firing spree, and by the time they got shut down you'd assume it was already a shadow of its former self.
People said that about Madden but they always renew. Mostly nothing but mediocrity is fine as long as it makes them both money. Hell Battlefront II is having a resurgence lately despite the massive controversy when it launched nearly two years ago. The Old Republic is still hanging in there as profitable and a new expansion is on the horizon. Games people thought were complete disasters (because of EA) can still be salvaged and improved.
Sure you'll still find pessimism whenever anything EA-related gets posted here, but I try to find optimism in the fact they actually turned the game around as a response to their mistakes. Trying to put myself in Disney's position, a new deal with another publisher would just set back any potential earnings for several years anyway given how long AAA development takes these days.
It's the most annoying thing about this forum to be honest. People constantly complaining then they get butthurt when it isn't the most innovative thing.
Vince/Respawn has a good track record shipping games this gen and generally seems to have their shit together moreso than the other project and management surrounding it. Doesn't help the studio was in such an expensive area. Some don't wanna consider this but it feels like Hennig may have lost a bit of her development aptitude what with the multiple canceled projects (plus the UC4 takeover). Canceled projects aren't anything special in this industry but that recent track record doesn't look the greatest regardless.
I think most of the rumors indicate this. EA didn't help with all the team switching and that Battlefield game nobody wanted, but it seemed to be cursed. I think there was confusion in the reasoning, assuming EA cancelled it in favor of a GaaS, when in reality it was a money pit and they would rather invest in a new game that was GaaS
This.
The Collapse Of Visceral's Ambitious Star Wars Game
It seemed like a surefire hit: a Star Wars take on Uncharted, published by Electronic Arts and developed by the longrunning studio Visceral Games. But nothing is sure in the video game industry, and on October 17, 2017, when employees of Visceral were told that the company would be closing, some...
kotaku.com
"Ragtag's scope was a glaring red flag. All of those ideas surrounding multiple protagonists and sabotaging Stormtroopers sounded wonderful in theory, but some high-level staff at Visceral were concerned that they didn't have the time or budget to pull everything off. "
"Hennig began clashing with others at Visceral, particularly the design team, according to all of the staff who spoke to me for this story. Designers described Hennig as a brilliant writer and story-teller who was spread too thin on Ragtag. Because she wanted to direct every aspect of the game, and many decisions had to run through her, it became difficult for Visceral staff to get her attention. "
"At Naughty Dog, Hennig had always worked in tandem with a second director whose job was to manage gameplay. On the brilliant Uncharted 2, that role was filled by Bruce Straley. According to three people familiar with the situation, Hennig said she didn't feel like she had anyone who could fill that role on Ragtag. As a result, sources said, Hennig took control of every aspect of the project, from story to gameplay to level design. "Amy is amazing with story, tone, a lot of stuff," said one person who worked on the team. "But she's not a level designer, so if you're a gameplay person, you would not be as into Amy controlling everything. Whereas if you're a story person, you'd be like, 'Sure, man, lead the way.'"
At least three former Visceral employees told me they left the studio because they felt frustrated by Hennig's direction. Said another person who worked with Hennig: "Amy's phenomenally smart, fiercely smart, talented, incredibly good at cutscenes. But she was balanced by other talented individuals at Naughty Dog… This was a team she hadn't worked with before. I felt like she didn't really trust us.""
"for Visceral, that simple animation was months in the making. They spent hours and hours of development time just working on the way in which Dodger would touch the door. This was a frustrating experience for some members of the team, who felt like they didn't have enough core features in place to be spending so much time on a demo. That demo may have looked good, but people who worked on it said you couldn't play very much. "Dodger couldn't even shoot his gun and we're fine-tuning where his hand placement needed to be," said one Ragtag developer. "We don't have a single environment for Dodger to exist in... How do you build a system if you don't know what your average area is gonna be?" "
Even without EA's meddling, the game was clearly doomed from the start. It was mismanaged, and they were focusing on making cinematics instead of making the game. Even with years of extra time and infinite leeway from EA, it's not clear that the game would amount to anything.
I guess they have their good reasons we don't know but that doesn't change Jedi Fallen Order looked quite bland and unpolished, there ae dozens of games like that. (Tomb Raider the most recent one last year)
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