It does and more importantly the constant cash flow it gives them helps. They aren’t accumulating big debts and costs and then getting a financial windfall right after release. I’d imagine they’ve made vastly more money from CK2 and Stellaris dlc than they ever made from selling the base game itself. They keep their games relevant and selling by servicing them for years after launch. Their dlc also don’t cost anywhere near as much a new game to make as well. That model probably won’t translate well to games that aren’t grand strategy. Even as successful as BG3 was on a $100 million budget, that three year early access period gave them three years of cash flow before they even released, I think they made the whole game’s cost back prior to release, and then continued to sell millions of copies post release. Don’t think that didn’t give Larian much needed breathing room and comfort space prior to final release.The power of DLC allowing them to absorb the tens of millions of losses they had with Hardsuit's Bloodlines (25 million,) Lamplighters League (30 million), and Life By You (20 million).
Though all this turmoil did kill their collaborations with Digimancy and Draw Distance, among others.
I would imagine that’s all an accounting trick. Financial guys aren’t stupid, they probably threw every cost they could possibly fit into the total cost before they claimed a loss on it.Holy fuck. I can't believe each of those games cost that much. I expected Bloodlines to be half that loss, and Lamplighters League looks like it could have been made for <1million. I never even heard of Life By You. Maybe they are actually a money laundering operation.
One interesting detail I once heard from the CEO of Colossal Order was that releasing a new DLC always also boosts the sales of the base game even without any sort of discount. DLCs double down as advertisement. This is one of the reasons why Paradox pressures the developers into doing a lot of them.It does and more importantly the constant cash flow it gives them helps. They aren’t accumulating big debts and costs and then getting a financial windfall right after release. I’d imagine they’ve made vastly more money from CK2 and Stellaris dlc than they ever made from selling the base game itself. They keep their games relevant and selling by servicing them for years after launch. Their dlc also don’t cost anywhere near as much a new game to make as well. That model probably won’t translate well to games that aren’t grand strategy. Even as successful as BG3 was on a $100 million budget, that three year early access period gave them three years of cash flow before they even released, I think they made the whole game’s cost back prior to release, and then continued to sell millions of copies post release. Don’t think that didn’t give Larian much needed breathing room and comfort space prior to final release.The power of DLC allowing them to absorb the tens of millions of losses they had with Hardsuit's Bloodlines (25 million,) Lamplighters League (30 million), and Life By You (20 million).
Though all this turmoil did kill their collaborations with Digimancy and Draw Distance, among others.
I would imagine that’s all an accounting trick. Financial guys aren’t stupid, they probably threw every cost they could possibly fit into the total cost before they claimed a loss on it.Holy fuck. I can't believe each of those games cost that much. I expected Bloodlines to be half that loss, and Lamplighters League looks like it could have been made for <1million. I never even heard of Life By You. Maybe they are actually a money laundering operation.
Not to give them accolades but I do respect on some level their ability to not follow the sunk-cost fallacy and just cancel what they feel won’t work. It does make me a little more confident in BL2 as if they really thought it was trash it would definitely be dead already. That doesn’t mean it won’t be trash though, it’s almost August and all we’ve seen is a warehouse fight.
And gods willing, postmortem as well)) Like poetry, it rhymes.It will be a piece of postmodern art.Domination won't work on an elder malkavian such as Wesp.
Sorry, but I played a Toreador and unless Bloodlines 2 is a piece of art like the original, I will not touch it!
I think it is even simplier: they made a big deal out of it by making it Bloodlines 2 and selling it to people in advance (you know, the special versions including the future DLCs and stuff?), so now they have to at very least deliver on the promises they made, even if it turns out to be shit in the end. Had this been some no-name project they could've easily just cancel it and avoid generating even more loss.Paradox is hesitant to scrap Bloodlines 2 because they made the mistake of purchasing the WoD franchise. In order to get back the money they wasted and justify the acquisition to their investors, they need to push out big budget games like this to boost brand recognition and get people interested in buying other WoD products.
They paid like $5 million for the whole franchise almost a decade ago. They aren’t worried about it.Paradox is hesitant to scrap Bloodlines 2 because they made the mistake of purchasing the WoD franchise. In order to get back the money they wasted and justify the acquisition to their investors, they need to push out big budget games like this to boost brand recognition and get people interested in buying other WoD products.
They paid like $5 million for the whole franchise almost a decade ago. They aren’t worried about it.
A Swedish-language report on digital.di has Paradox boss Fred Wester saying "this is our biggest investment to date", and claims the purchase involved "several tens of millions" - Paradox confirm to us that this is in Swedish Krona rather than US dollars or Euros; for reference, 10m SEK is approximately $1.2m.
Oh, don't worry, there's still plenty of self-hating white shitlib cucks in that demographic.Modern audience is an IQ80 mongrel of indistinguishable heritage
Lamplighters doesn't push the envelope in any regard though. Graphically it's ordinary. Gameplay is like NuXcom+. Making this game should have been formulaic. It seems to offer very little over Shadowrun Returns. I'm aghast that it would take that much time and money to make.Lamplighters League looks like it could have been made for <1million.
Graphics are way too detailed (actually a flaw, the style doesn't look right). This is a game that was made for roughly a million https://fionabrunerart.artstation.com/projects/GXv9OV
Add to that full-voice acting, a cinematic trailer, and around 40 or so devs working for 4-5 years (Battletech was released in early 2018).
Ravnos were genocided and are now no longer ethnic gypsy or Indian.What will come next?
Well there was a covid disruption in the middle that destroyed productivity across the board.Lamplighters doesn't push the envelope in any regard though. Graphically it's ordinary. Gameplay is like NuXcom+. Making this game should have been formulaic. It seems to offer very little over Shadowrun Returns. I'm aghast that it would take that much time and money to make.
I think that it would've fared much better if it hadn't gone for that cartoony style. There's definitely a market for old school adventure pulp, but the way they went about trying to tap into it was misguided imho.It doesn't, but Lamplighters was decent imho, and could be good if it wasn't abandoned. Some love and an expansion or two and could go a long way.
Honestly, for pulp adventure stuff (but with a different sort of narrative focus), I'd rather recommend something likeUgly cartoonish graphics, an ostensibly 1930s setting that is actually ahistorical, and supposed pulp influences that are overshadowed by Current Year quirkiness.![]()
It will be a piece of postmodern art.
unless Bloodlines 2 is a piece of art like the original, I will not touch it!
I was thinking more of the butthole gallery, but this will do.It will be a piece of postmodern art.
unless Bloodlines 2 is a piece of art like the original, I will not touch it!
![]()
I know about The Curious Expedition. It was a very interesting little game. How the developer has managed to screw up the sequel?(Avoid the sequel though. That's peak current year soulless garbage - closer to Lamplighters, really.)
I mean, gameplaywise you might still enjoy the sequel, but the zany cartoon style they went for is pure cringe and a great downgrade over the original's.I know about The Curious Expedition. It was a very interesting little game. How the developer has managed to screw up the sequel?(Avoid the sequel though. That's peak current year soulless garbage - closer to Lamplighters, really.)
Not having played the 1st one I can't compare it with the sequel.I mean, gameplaywise you might still enjoy the sequel, but the zany cartoon style they went for is pure cringe and a great downgrade over the original's.I know about The Curious Expedition. It was a very interesting little game. How the developer has managed to screw up the sequel?(Avoid the sequel though. That's peak current year soulless garbage - closer to Lamplighters, really.)
I also recall the devs stating outright that they wanted to be more PC in their approach with the second game, but I can't tell you how much of that translates into a worse design for the sequel. Although they were woke from the start, so no surprise there. Perhaps Taka-Haradin puolipeikko can tell us more since he seems to be a fan of the sequel.