Logic Artists shutting down after Expeditions Rome, will transition to NFT/blockchain development

[Trithne]

Team Fortress 2 was was an NFT Game before it was cool.

Once the hats became a thing, that is.

Remember, the NFT isn't the JPG. It's the token that says you "own" the JPG. Just like there's a token that says you own an instance of a given TF2 hat. You can trade that hat, for another hat or for money, by passing over control of that token. NFTs aren't even a new concept, it just means "a token which cannot be duplicated, that is used as proof of something". What's different about the current craze with them is exposing the underlying mechanics (the token itself) in the language, and using the blockchain to verify transactions.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

on one hand: NFTs are retarded
on the other hand: George Floyd NFTs are hilarious

 

[Wunderbar]

Damn, looked more into Dynasty and I feel sad for Jonas.

Logic Artists was founded by him, Juan Ortega and Ali Emek in 2011.

Dynasty was founded by Ortega, Emek and Cem Ercan (guy managing their studio in Istanbul since they opened it in 2019). So they poached 90% of the team and left Jonas on ice.

Spoiler

Edit: OP of the Steam thread thanked Jonas for answering, but kept the thread open. Some retards argued over covid and conspiracies for a few pages until THQ mod locked the thread.

In the spoiler below I'll be posting everything I found on Dynasty:

Spoiler

Dynasty's About Us

Ali Emek
https://dk.linkedin.com/in/ali-emek-01a81122

Juan Ortega
https://dk.linkedin.com/in/juan-ortega-2961bb32/en

Cem Ercan
https://tr.linkedin.com/in/cem-ercan-a8513b39

damn turks!

 

[HoboForEternity]

My biggest fear is this is the exact same process as microtransaction and lootboxes. When it was first implemented, there were quite a stir and pushback from journos and gamers alike. Eventually they kept beating the same horse, again again, again, again until people became desentisized. Stuff like GSC game world and ubisoft is like tactical retreat instead of surrender. They will wait until the fire blow off, try again until people get tired and it suddenly become normalized. This is such an insidious process that just happened few years ago now everyone suddenly forget.

If it wasnt for indie scene (hell it's now infecting indie scene) gaming is trult dead

 

[Ismaul]

have no fucking idea what an NFT game is

it's nifty

 

[ShaggyMoose]

I wanted to contribute something meaningful, but I could probably just sum it up with FUCK THIS, FUCK EVERYTHING.

 

[Gradenmayer]

Team Fortress 2 was was an NFT Game before it was cool.

Once the hats became a thing, that is.

Remember, the NFT isn't the JPG. It's the token that says you "own" the JPG. Just like there's a token that says you own an instance of a given TF2 hat. You can trade that hat, for another hat or for money, by passing over control of that token. NFTs aren't even a new concept, it just means "a token which cannot be duplicated, that is used as proof of something". What's different about the current craze with them is exposing the underlying mechanics (the token itself) in the language, and using the blockchain to verify transactions.

Not even that.
NFT does not say that you own the jpg, it's like a spot in the digital memory marked by that jpg.
It's a unique spot yes, but someone else can create another bunch of spots and use that same image to represent it. You don't own shit.

The reason why these dipshits are going crazy over it, is the fact that you can make those digital spaces for basically free, artificially raise their value by trading them back and forth with the friends and take % fee from every exchange on top.
It's not about tech, new gameplay systems, etc. It's just a scummy way to make money.

 

[LESS T_T]

Well looking at that this news picked by a few news outlets, I feel a bit bad for Jonas and others at LA who have nothing to do with the new business (and to some extent THQ people involved in the game). It's almost like I intentionally broke the news just before the release of the game.

 

[Sarkile]

Got home from work to play Rome, and saw this thread. Holy shit, I am literally dumbfounded. I had always shilled for Logic Artists as agents of moderate incline, but this is a fucking plummet into depths of decline in gaming I had never even considered before. I'm actually struggling to remember what I was thinking of before I read the first post of this thread.

 

[Infinitron]

I wonder if VentureBeat's editors were instructed to downplay the Logic Artists closure as condition for being given the story. It's the type of thing that should have been a headline. Absurd that it took a month until some random dude on a forum (no offense LESS T_T!) discovered the news hidden in a paragraph in the middle of an article about NFTs.

 

[Wunderbar]

It's almost like I intentionally broke the news just before the release of the game.

Now we know whom to blame if the game underperforms and THQ axes Expedition series!

 

[Alphons]

Well looking at that this news picked by a few news outlets, I feel a bit bad for Jonas and others at LA who have nothing to do with the new business (and to some extent THQ people involved in the game). It's almost like I intentionally broke the news just before the release of the game.

They all cite the Steam thread, no need to blame yourself. Dynasty also could have waited with that promotional article or avoid mentioning LA and doing NFTs just after finishing Rome.

 

[Rahdulan]

Is now the time to wonder should you even spend money on Rome? Since studio is dissolving and going into this cancerous endeavor. Conveniently, only THQ Nordic remains to reap the profits.

 

[Sarkile]

It seems fun so far. I think if you liked the previous two games, this should be a no brainer. Also, it seems like Jonas is willing to stick around. I don't know how much he played a part in these games as a creative lead or designer, but I can't imagine future games hurting overmuch if they had to bring in new people for UI, graphics, or programming. The pseudo-historical settings and strategy/RPG mashup is what made the series, IMO.

That is to say, if this game does well it could hypothetically lead to superior examples of the genre. But, I'm pretty high on my copium at the moment.

 

[Shrimp]

It seems fun so far. I think if you liked the previous two games, this should be a no brainer. Also, it seems like Jonas is willing to stick around. I don't know how much he played a part in these games as a creative lead or designer, but I can't imagine future games hurting overmuch if they had to bring in new people for UI, graphics, or programming. The pseudo-historical settings and strategy/RPG mashup is what made the series, IMO.

That is to say, if this game does well it could hypothetically lead to superior examples of the genre. But, I'm pretty high on my copium at the moment.

Can't speak for his involvement with the development of the game, but I can attest to the fact that he's been extremely active on the Steam forums. I remember frequently seeing him answer random questions about the games even back when Conquistador was the only instalment in the series. He does at the very least seem to be passionate about the games since I somehow doubt he's being paid to play Q&A and provide tech support on Steam.

 

[Luka-boy]

In MMORPGs in game gold can be converted into real life dollars.

So anything with an in game gold value has a cash value as well.

This could be resources like ingots, houses, or powerful items but you can also sell rare drops that are purely cosmetic for large amounts of money.

For example, if you have the only plate helm on the entire shard that is red instead of gray, someone will pay a lot for it, way more than you might think.

So in that sense your in game items already have value and it make sense for the developers to help you sell them and take a cut, instead of banning you for selling them. Same with selling your character.

But making this explicit is probably going to have a detrimental effect on gameplay at least at first. And there are gonna be a lot of games that either fail or are scams, so people lose their investment if they fail to cash out early enough.

Eventually it might become a common feature in MMOs though.

(Not endorsing it, just saying)

So something like the Diablo 3 auction house?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

the only people who made any money from diablo 3 AH were people who ran bot farms
hope that clears up how great "playing to earn" will be

 

[PorkaMorka]

So something like the Diablo 3 auction house?

Seems like they found a new way to market the Diablo 3 auction house, so maybe people will accept it this time

 

[Alphons]

Not really surprising, it seems Jonas and the others staying at LA get kicked out of their offices.

https://dynastystudios.io/news/discover-dynasty-copenhagen-office/
https://dynastystudios.io/news/discover-dynasty-istanbul-office/

https://www.logicartists.com/contact

Infinitron
Dynasty articles don't mention the adresses, but Bredgade street where LA Copenhagen is right next to the Nyhavn canal Dynasty mentions.

The Danish Dynasty Office is placed in the center of Nyhavn – the famous brightly-coloured coastal canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen (dated back to the 17th-century).

Istanbul is even more clear cut- same street next to the waterfront.

 

[Trithne]

the only people who made any money from diablo 3 AH were people who ran bot farms
hope that clears up how great "playing to earn" will be

I mean, the proponents of "Playing to earn" are exactly the sort of people who will run a bot farm and call it "Hustling"

 

[quixotic]

I was interested in the Expedition series when I suddenly remembered they went full retard and decided to shift into NFTs, but it seems like their social media accounts are completely inactive? What happened?

 

[Sarkile]

I was interested in the Expedition series when I suddenly remembered they went full retard and decided to shift into NFTs, but it seems like their social media accounts are completely inactive? What happened?

The remnants of Logic Artists who didn't want to grift NFTs became Campfire Cabal.

 

[Fargus]

So was their shitty NFT scam a success? Are they billionaires now?

 

[Infinitron]

This is their game, announced earlier this month: https://playprovidence.io/

 

[Fargus]

So a done to death crappy spacer survival game and no mention of NFT gold digging operation at all.

These guys are winners.