Interesting - Demiurge no longer owned by SEGA

bluewolf
bluewolf Posts: 5,729 Chairperson of the Boards
in MPQ General Discussion
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-02-demiurge-co-founder-buys-the-studio-back-from-sega
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  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    Interesting news.  Not clear what the ramifications will be just yet, but now we are all playing an indie game again, so our street cred just went up (until people remember it's licensed by the disney overlords)!


  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    Going forward, Demiurge will continue running Marvel Puzzle Quest and Sega Heroes. Reed can't say specifically what other projects the company is working on, but he does say it will be supporting work on other companies' titles and not original Demiurge games.
    "That's what we're going to focus on for the next 12 to 18 months." Reed says. 

    This means lesser time for Sega Heroes and MPQ. 

  • TriggerTime
    TriggerTime Posts: 72 Match Maker
    'To be this good at being an independent games developer takes AGES'
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,092 Chairperson of the Boards
    HoundofShadow said:
    Going forward, Demiurge will continue running Marvel Puzzle Quest and Sega Heroes. Reed can't say specifically what other projects the company is working on, but he does say it will be supporting work on other companies' titles and not original Demiurge games.
    "That's what we're going to focus on for the next 12 to 18 months." Reed says. 

    This means lesser time for Sega Heroes and MPQ. 

    So we are screwed. Lol!
  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 5,729 Chairperson of the Boards
    It’s hard to know what drives a sale like this. But it’s reasonable to think that SEGA Heroes, at least, has been underperforming and hence SEGA would rather have the cash from the one time sale vs trying to keep pushing a game along that wasn’t working out. 

    Who knows how MPQ is doing. Probably fine, the brand remains strong. 
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    HoundofShadow said:
    Going forward, Demiurge will continue running Marvel Puzzle Quest and Sega Heroes. Reed can't say specifically what other projects the company is working on, but he does say it will be supporting work on other companies' titles and not original Demiurge games.
    "That's what we're going to focus on for the next 12 to 18 months." Reed says. 

    This means lesser time for Sega Heroes and MPQ. 

    Possibly.  But it might also mean less time for one (Sega Heroes) and more for the cash cow (MPQ).  I don't think we have a clear enough picture of the studio's finances to know for sure what going indie will mean for the current projects. 

  • supergarv
    supergarv Posts: 408 Mover and Shaker
    Buying out will cost them in the short run - but long run, less overhead. Only Disney and D3 will get their share then.

    Not being owned by Sega will mean their employees will need to be paid by Demiurge directly, to me that sounds like less of a safety net. Plus I think since D3 probably is the main money maker here, and they pay Demiurge for maintaining the game, they won‘t get more share of the player spendings. Maybe 20 shards more. ;)

    Demiurge will need to put their devs on things that can get them more money - that means, games where they are more involved, or spreading out their base with more games. That would definitely mean, only bare metal changes to the game. 

    But we‘re used to that for 5 years, to run in low-maintenance mode. Don‘t think that‘ll change, unless corona tanking the economy kills spending in the game.

    I might be completely wrong, of course. :-D
  • Phill_C
    Phill_C Posts: 13 Just Dropped In
    Saw the thread and thought “oh dear god not again” (avengers alliance flashbacks) but good to hear commitments are staying strong in this game. 
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,387 Chairperson of the Boards
    Can confirm, it is a decent time to do co-development. I hope this is a net positive change for everyone involved. 
  • IceIX
    IceIX ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 4,320 Site Admin
    Phill_C said:
    Saw the thread and thought “oh dear god not again” (avengers alliance flashbacks) but good to hear commitments are staying strong in this game. 
    Too soon, Phill, too soon.  I miss whacking stuff with my Coulson's Revenge......
  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 5,729 Chairperson of the Boards
    Demiurge_[bagman] said:
    Hey all - just wanted to jump in here to say that Demiurge is still 100% committed to Marvel Puzzle Quest. Our team and plans aren't affected by this news, and nothing is changing in the schedule for future development. 

    We have lots of stuff cooking that we're excited to share in time (including the revamp to SHIELD Training, you didn't think we forgot about that, right??). 




    I notice no mention of SEGA Heroes in this statement of commitment......
  • Projectus2501
    Projectus2501 Posts: 218 Tile Toppler
    Demiurge_[bagman] said:
    Hey all - just wanted to jump in here to say that Demiurge is still 100% committed to Marvel Puzzle Quest. Our team and plans aren't affected by this news, and nothing is changing in the schedule for future development. 

    We have lots of stuff cooking that we're excited to share in time (including the revamp to SHIELD Training, you didn't think we forgot about that, right??). 




    Please don't forget to implement some kind of new game mode... I know it is a big development investment but, for a +200 hero game I bet it is worth it. Thank you
  • shardwick
    shardwick Posts: 2,121 Chairperson of the Boards
    Projectus2501 said:
    Demiurge_[bagman] said:
    Hey all - just wanted to jump in here to say that Demiurge is still 100% committed to Marvel Puzzle Quest. Our team and plans aren't affected by this news, and nothing is changing in the schedule for future development. 

    We have lots of stuff cooking that we're excited to share in time (including the revamp to SHIELD Training, you didn't think we forgot about that, right??). 




    Please don't forget to implement some kind of new game mode... I know it is a big development investment but, for a +200 hero game I bet it is worth it. Thank you
    They already did but they did it as their April Fool's joke. :(
  • DarthDeVo
    DarthDeVo Posts: 2,178 Chairperson of the Boards
    Demiurge_[bagman] said:
    Hey all - just wanted to jump in here to say that Demiurge is still 100% committed to Marvel Puzzle Quest. Our team and plans aren't affected by this news, and nothing is changing in the schedule for future development...

    ... but it should. This schedule that we seem to be on (4/5/4/5 with no boss events) needs to die quickly, but in a slow, miserable, painful way it so richly deserves. 

    What I'm trying to say is, I'm not a fan of the current release schedule with no boss events. And it's pushing me closer to the exit each day. 
  • sinnerjfl
    sinnerjfl Posts: 1,275 Chairperson of the Boards

    @bluewolf said:
    (Quote)
    I notice no mention of SEGA Heroes in this statement of commitment......

    ... and it's dead now, doesnt inspire a ton of confidence into MPQ's longevity.

  • Tony_Foot
    Tony_Foot Posts: 1,790 Chairperson of the Boards

    @sinnerjfl said:

    @bluewolf said:
    (Quote)
    I notice no mention of SEGA Heroes in this statement of commitment......

    ... and it's dead now, doesnt inspire a ton of confidence into MPQ's longevity.

    It’s lasted 6 years, I’ve truely lost count of the amount of times in my 5 years playing I’ve seen that said. I don’t think anyone expected to get 3 years out of this game let alone 6 years enjoyment.

  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 5,729 Chairperson of the Boards
    sinnerjfl said:

    @bluewolf said:
    (Quote)
    I notice no mention of SEGA Heroes in this statement of commitment......

    ... and it's dead now, doesnt inspire a ton of confidence into MPQ's longevity.

    It's hardly surprising that SEGA Heroes would stop after SEGA sold the developer off.....  Apparently SEGA has been doing some internal reorganizing as of 4/1/20.

    I am not sure what will happen with MPQ in the future but I suppose time will tell.  I wouldn't draw any conclusions, though, from SEGA Heroes ending. 

    For those interested, SEGA Heroes is running until May 21 and opening up some of the stuff for free, no more IAPs either.
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited April 2020

    @sinnerjfl said:

    @bluewolf said:
    (Quote)
    I notice no mention of SEGA Heroes in this statement of commitment......

    ... and it's dead now, doesnt inspire a ton of confidence into MPQ's longevity.

    When Sega sells off the developer of Sega heroes, we shouldn't be surprised that the game is quickly shut down. If the game was going to last, Sega would have little incentive to sell of the dev studio.

    But MPQ is licensed by Disney and Sega was always a slightly odd fit for demi that I am sure required some interesting contracting. I don't see much reason for the fates of these two games to be linked (unless demi itself is going under, but they literally just bought it back. Winding it down immediately would seem like unbelievably bad planning, or an indication of nefarious financial games being played with corporate debt).

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