Company News Gas Powered Games picked up by... the guys behind World of Tanks

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Gas Powered Games; Wargaming; Wildman

World of Tanks must be doing well because the developers of it have just bought up Gas Powered Games after their failed / cancelled Wildman KickStarter:

MMO developer and publisher Wargaming picks up Seattle-based Dungeon Siege and Demigod developer for undisclosed sum.

World of Tanks studio Wargaming announced today it had acquired Dungeon Siege and Demigod developer Gas Powered Games.

Terms of the deal were not divulged.

Gas Powered Games canceled its Kickstarter campaign for the RPG/RTS hybrid Wild Man last week, just days before the campaign was to end. The fate of Wild Man is unclear.

According to the announcement, a "contingent of veteran developers" from the studio, including Taylor, will stay on following the acquisition. Gas Powered Games laid off a significant portion of its staff last month.

Wargaming last month purchased F.E.A.R. 3 developer Day 1 Studios for $20 million.​

All your developers are belong to our Free-to-Play MMO company? Along with their creatively named World of Tanks and World of Warplanes, does this mean we'll get World of Dungeon Siege?

 

[Metro]

Had no idea World of Tanks was so successful. Anyway, this will only delay the inevitable for GPG. I see them being in trouble/closed down after another year.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Yeah, unless they are completely integrated into making f2p games for Wargaming. Still better than seeing your company closed down, I guess.

 

[Israfael]

Its immensely popular here, in countries east of Potatoland.. I never played it, but it seems people are ready to give them cash for those microtransaction goodies (which is quite surprising, knowing russian and "former CIS" mentality)

 

[Indranys]

That's depressing.
Those guys made a decent action games, and now all hope is lost.

 

[Metro]

'Decent' is a charitable description.

 

[Indranys]

'Decent' is a charitable description.

Haha, It plays like Diablo clones, so it's good for what it is.
Those kind of games are boring and shallow anyway.
Divine Divinity is the best Diablo clone because it has a pause button.
And I managed to play it for 3 hours before getting bored.

 

[Metro]

So presumably you played Taylor's games less than three hours?

 

[EG]

Guess Wildman drove Chris insane . . .

 

[MicoSelva]

I feel kind of sorry for Chris Taylor, but I never liked any of the games made by GPG, so nothing of value is lost, IMO.

'Decent' is a charitable description.

How about 'soulless'?

 

[Cyberarmy]

So are we going to pay for better spell casting in game?
EMPOWER YOUR FIREBALLS WITH MICROTRANSACTİONS! BETTER SUPPLY OF GUANO FOR $0,99!!!1!

 

[Wizfall]

I'm shocked.
I always believed free micro transaction MMO were a very minor market.
I never bothered to play one myself.
A big surprise it's a working business model.

 

[Country_Gravy]

So are we going to pay for better spell casting in game?
EMPOWER YOUR FIREBALLS WITH MICROTRANSACTİONS! BETTER SUPPLY OF GUANO FOR $0,99!!!1!

The eurofags will probably use commas instead of decimal points when writing about the amount of currency, too.

Fucking savages.

 

[sea]

I'm shocked.
I always believed free micro transaction MMO were a very minor market.
I never bothered to play one myself.
A big surprise it's a working business model.

Where have you been the last 7 years? Free to play games are massive and in the MMO market in particular have almost entirely usurped subscription sales. They have the advantage of picking up players who otherwise wouldn't spend money on subscriptions, while also encouraging the expanded userbase to spend more money than they might normally. The downside is the model tends to rely on excessive grind + paid time savers to make money, which can lead to the "waiting to have fun" problem if you don't spend money.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I really dont get it too, got many friends in Turkish forums who pirate the shit out of normal games.
But they are spending a fortune on "F2P" games like World of Tanks, Planetside 2 or even games that not really need like Tribes 2. They are buying $100 worth packages o_O

 

[Country_Gravy]

I really dont get it too, got many friends in Turkish forums who pirate the shit out of normal games.
But they are spending a fortune on "F2P" games like World of Tanks, Planetside 2 or even games that not really need like Tribes 2. They are buying $100 worth packages o_O

Emphasized to show that you answered your own question.

 

[Wizfall]

I'm shocked.
I always believed free micro transaction MMO were a very minor market.
I never bothered to play one myself.
A big surprise it's a working business model.

Where have you been the last 7 years? Free to play games are massive and in the MMO market in particular have almost entirely usurped subscription sales. They have the advantage of picking up players who otherwise wouldn't spend money on subscriptions, while also encouraging the expanded userbase to spend more money than they might normally. The downside is the model tends to rely on excessive grind + paid time savers to make money, which can lead to the "waiting to have fun" problem if you don't spend money.

Yea i completely miss that.
I of course knew regular MMO was kissing the dust in part because of the emergence of free MMO.
But for me it was more because people were becoming tired of MMO in general. How naive hehe.
Never though that free MMO had massive success or could raise a large amount of money. For me they were cheap game that you play for half an hour max when you had time.
I'm completely out of date apparently.

 

[sea]

There are a lot of people out there for where "free" overrides a lot of the problems in a game (especially outside the West, where people don't have high-end computers and demand cutting-edge visuals). Not to mention that with MMOs the fun comes more from the community than the game itself.

I really dont get it too, got many friends in Turkish forums who pirate the shit out of normal games.
But they are spending a fortune on "F2P" games like World of Tanks, Planetside 2 or even games that not really need like Tribes 2. They are buying $100 worth packages o_O

Because free to play games rely on things like peer pressure, community and friendship to get you to spend money. Ever been out with friends and found that you spent more money on stuff than you would have otherwise, maybe bought something you'd never buy on your own? It's because in social situations people almost always spend more money on things - heck, they even eat more when they visit restaurants etc. - because they aren't spending time thinking about the money, and are thinking about their friends and what they can do to impress or fit in with them.

 

[Israfael]

Never though that free MMO had massive success or could raise a large amount of money. For me they were cheap game that you play for half an hour max when you had time.

It's not the genre, but rather the business model.. I never played a f2p mmo, but i spent hundreds of kwanza-dollars on TF2 keys..

 

[Snerf]

"Free to play" or micro transaction mmos aren't just popular (they are, insanely popular in fact), but publishers love them because the game designs allows for predatory and manipulative pricing mechanisms that drive gameplay design. It's not about making games now, it's about making more and more successful slot machine handles and dopamine dispensers. This appeals to players who are either young and will play anything free, or older players who want to be able to spend more money for in game content in lieu of time or skill.

They are a goddamn blight.

 

[Snerf]

Never though that free MMO had massive success or could raise a large amount of money. For me they were cheap game that you play for half an hour max when you had time.

It's not the genre, but rather the business model..

This is it. It's not just MMOs that have this. Publishers see the model as the holy grail and are heavily pushing to transition AAA single player games into micro transaction realms. See the news currently swirling around Crytek as a perfect example.

After all, what would you rather do as a greedy ass publisher - sell your product for 50$ total or give a demo of your product away but get far more than that on average per customer who is forced to pay ala cart for each little portrait, characters, map, skill, or piece of gear.

 

[Indranys]

So presumably you played Taylor's games less than three hours?

I'll try any games for a few hours as long as they're free and I have a free time.
I played Dungeon Siege in my friend's PC, as well as Witcher 2 and a few Bioware's games.
I was paid to play videogames for a few times, especially by some rich kids who love my comments and reactions regarding their shitty favorite games.
Last time I played a shitty visual novel about a teenage boy dressed as a girl then flirt and pound the girls around him.
I got $30. But the horrors stay forever.
After that day, something inside me has died.
Man I'm talking crazy again, I'll just go home and have some rest.
It's 1 am around here.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

I really dont get it too, got many friends in Turkish forums who pirate the shit out of normal games.
But they are spending a fortune on "F2P" games like World of Tanks, Planetside 2 or even games that not really need like Tribes 2. They are buying $100 worth packages o_O

Emphasized to show that you answered your own question.

Only now do I truly grasp the wisdom of Cassidy's EU3 LPs.

 

[l3loodAngel]

It's not about making games now, it's about making more and more successful slot machine handles and dopamine dispensers. This appeals to players who are either young and will play anything free, or older players who want to be able to spend more money for in game content in lieu of time or skill.

That's exactly what they are and they are just as addictive to some social groups. I wonder how long will it take the authorities to start regulating these casinos games. I do believe that they appeal to people who are shunned by the society or just can't fit into it, but are able to afford a PC and internet connection. It's not a surprising that they are very popular in Asia, because I think that the less freedom individuals have, the more prone they are to play such garbage and pretend that they are doing something meaningful. It would be nice to see a scientific study about it.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Free-to-suck