Might and Magic Might & Magic X - Legacy

[LESS T_T]

I hope he goes independent if possible.

 

[Iznaliu]

Screw Easter Eggs, make Might & Magic XI.

There is zero chance of that happening.

 

[Castozor]

Screw Easter Eggs, make Might & Magic XI.

There is zero chance of that happening.

From what I (perhaps falsely) remember it didn't sell very well but the budget wasn't all that high either, so didn't they make enough profit for another low-budget sequal?

 

[Darth Roxor]

Screw Easter Eggs, make Might & Magic XI.

There is zero chance of that happening.

and good riddance

 

[duchU]

Screw Easter Eggs, make Might & Magic XI.

There is zero chance of that happening.

From what I (perhaps falsely) remember it didn't sell very well but the budget wasn't all that high either, so didn't they make enough profit for another low-budget sequal?

Dude, see what ubishit did to Heroes VII. They buried it. So what chance is there for MMXI? None. I would sell my soul for a new M&M in style of Mandate of Heaven but let's face the truth: it's not gonna happen.

 

[Siobhan]

From what I (perhaps falsely) remember it didn't sell very well but the budget wasn't all that high either, so didn't they make enough profit for another low-budget sequal?

Even if they did it wouldn't matter. The AAA gaming industry operates exactly like modern Hollywood: big tent-pole blockbusters, there is zero interest in anything that doesn't at least make a hundred million in profit. I don't know why the economics of scale work out like this nowadays, but for some reason one product with 100 million profit is apparently more desirable than 10 with 10 million each. Ubisoft wanted LoG-style numbers, and they definitely didn't get that.

 

[ilitarist]

From what I (perhaps falsely) remember it didn't sell very well but the budget wasn't all that high either, so didn't they make enough profit for another low-budget sequal?

Even if they did it wouldn't matter. The AAA gaming industry operates exactly like modern Hollywood: big tent-pole blockbusters, there is zero interest in anything that doesn't at least make a hundred million in profit. I don't know why the economics of scale work out like this nowadays, but for some reason one product with 100 million profit is apparently more desirable than 10 with 10 million each. Ubisoft wanted LoG-style numbers, and they definitely didn't get that.

Well it's quite obvious. You have a pool of world-famous creators and franchises, you market them to the whole world. Most of the world is global now so it makes sense that if you make a movie for the American 16-year old it will appeal to German teen as well as Chinese, South African, Turkish teens and so on. Hollywood also does regional movies but you're probably from the first world country so you're not exposed to them. They've got plenty of less expensive movies done in Russia. They marginally differ from USA movies in graphics but otherwise are very similar. But you don't ever hear about those movies - just as you wouldn't hear much about American movies if you'd live in a hypotetical richer region where they'd make exact same movies but with more resources.

 

[Siobhan]

Sorry, I don't get your point. Of course movies are made in other countries and sometimes for other countries (e.g. Keanu Reeve's kung-fu movie for the Chinese market), and they're usually made on a smaller budget. And there's also plenty of American movies that never make it outside the US (I doubt the Greasy Strangler had a large international release). I was talking about the monetary aspects of the business model, and there we have seen a large shift towards "high investment - high return" over the last 15 years. It wasn't nearly as pronounced in the 90s, and if you go back to the 60s and 70s you'll see a completely different business model where great expenses where avoided following debacles like Cleopatra.
And the same has happened in gaming: mid-tier has disappeared, it's either indie or the giant AAA juggernaut.

You're right that a globalized market is a precondition for the monstrous budgets we see nowadays, but that does not explain why this is now the only business model in town. It's a very high risk strategy.

Edit: Anyways, the basic point is that Ubisoft definitely had very different expectations for MMX.

 

[ilitarist]

You're right that a globalized market is a precondition for the monstrous budgets we see nowadays, but that does not explain why this is now the only business model in town. It's a very high risk strategy.

It's not the only business model, today small quality movies are produced more than ever. Just as if you go to a random gaming forum you'd see casual players whine about lack of good modern games like Baldur's Gate or Heroes of Might and Magic or whatever - even though today there are lots of good games like this, just not in AAA market, not shoved into your throat.

With movies you expect general public to be able to have attention span enough to remember a limited number of directors, actors, franchises. You can't make 10 movies with Christian Bale in a year. Yet everybody knows Christian Bale, magazines write about him, and if you have 2 movies with Christian Bale this year your best bet is to make sure everyone watches those movies. You will still produce movies with, say, Felicia Dei who has smaller coverage but is already imprinted in minds of Comic books loving gamers, but it's harder for you to find such person for all the different demographics. So the sane thing to do is to urge journalists to write even more about Christian Bale (not talking about paid articles - journalists are happy to support circlejerk themselves), make sure that everyone still remembers who Christian Bale is, and to throw all your money at movies with him.

Another type of short attemption spam of people is award ceremonies and various lists. If you google most anticipated movies you'll probably find list of 10 movies for a year. And most people wouldn't probably read even this list to the end. And if they're buying something to watch at home they'll probably look up the list of best movies of 2016, not something aimed at them specifically.

In short, it's obviously harder to force people to visit 10 movies a year than 2 movies. Every time you try to release $10m hoping to have some people to watch it you'll fight against a $100m movie aimed, and you'd get 1% of its viewers, not 10%. And it's even harder to specifically target 10 different movies at 10 different demographics to hope to get the same value as you get from one big movie everyone talks about.

 

[Siobhan]

I still think there's several confounds in your reasoning (ignoring the significantly decreased relevance of star power since the early 2000s, overestimating the percentage of movie goers and underestimating the size of the currently untapped market relative to previous decades, ignoring that diversified portfolios of mid-tier movies used to be a thing in Hollywood until very recently with big budget blockbusters usually limited to the summer, and so on), but I'll stop here since we both seem to agree on the main point, i.e. that a small game like MMX isn't worthwhile to Ubisoft even if it ends up making some money.

 

[B0rt]

And the same has happened in gaming: mid-tier has disappeared, it's either indie or the giant AAA juggernaut.

...this is a pretty interesting observation, there does seem to be some neglected territory in the middle nowadays.

I've enjoyed Subnautica this summer, I guess that's an odd AA title -- Subnautica does have some serious patronage now but might be a good example of a mid-budget game. Ditto some of Paradox's titles -- they seem to have found a way to make AAA profits from AA games, and good on them. Not too keen on all the DLC but the core games are solid, they couldn't pull off what they do if they weren't.

Probably our best bet for a new M&M will be from some Grimrock-level project (also mid-budget?) -- while particular gameplay features of Grimrock might turn off some blobber purists it at least demonstrates the fiscal feasibility of a new M&M type game. Will Ubi let go of the IP if it's not profitable enough, or just sit on it until it dies (ala EA : Ultima) for reasons unknown? I've never been too attached to the particulars of the M&M cannon (well, maybe if they brought back the game world from 3/4... "generation spaceships gone feral" was a pretty cool idea for a fantasy setting) so maybe one of those "spiritual successor" deals is our path out of the woods here. Just call "Force & Sorcery" or something.

 

[Eggs is eggs]

There is no future for M&M. Maybe a spiritual successor or fan-type indie game possibly? But JVC is working on F2P mobile garbage so he's not even interested anymore, it seems.

 

[Iznaliu]

But JVC is working on F2P mobile garbage so he's not even interested anymore, it seems.

You don't need the original creator of something involved to make a sequel to that thing.

 

[Infinitron]

There is no future for M&M.

Yep, there probably isn't.

Might & Magic under Ubisoft made sense for a limited amount of time as a Euro-ware popcorn game franchise, but it's now a sorely outdated brand. Even if they wanted to relaunch it someday, they'd be better off creating a new fantasy IP.

 

[Average Manatee]

I'm sure there's still the possibility of a M&M MOBA spinoff.

 

[fantadomat]

Or maybe they should make it in to an open world action rpg/light shooter looter mmo moba?

 

[fantadomat]

Btw MM X is bigger pile of shit than MM 9!

 

[Average Manatee]

Or maybe they should make it in to an open world action rpg/light shooter looter mmo moba?

Add Minecraft-style building and survival mechanics and I'm sold.

 

[fantadomat]

Or maybe they should make it in to an open world action rpg/light shooter looter mmo moba?

Add Minecraft-style building and survival mechanics and I'm sold.

Ohhhh i forgot diversity too.

 

[V_K]

Or maybe they should make it in to an open world action rpg/light shooter

They already did that with MM6-8.

 

[fantadomat]

the best mm games

 

[Eggs is eggs]

I played a few hours of MMX. I got to act 2 or 3 maybe, the part where you get to the capital city of the island. The game was alright, it felt like they were trying to merge the MM3-5 gameplay, with some influences from 6-8 and lots of modern RPG combat stuff (heavy emphasis on buffing and debuffing). It didn't super feel like M&M but it wasn't a bad game.

 

[undecaf]

There is no future for M&M.

Likely true; and too bad too. I had hoped it'd remain as a sort of soft spot for Ubisoft (like it seemed with the last games in the series... MMX:L and HoMM 6&7).

 

[YES!]

I don't give a shit about HoMM but if bard tale's 4 does well, coupled with Grimiore and some other rpg blobbers in the pipeline, who knows? There could be an MMXI, or at least more games like and of the quality of MMX.

 

[fantadomat]

Well the strongest part of MM games is the exploration,while MM X didn't have any exploration it was linear shit.I do hope there is more games like that will come out.If you haven't played "The quest" you should try it.It is really fun game in MM fashion.