BREAKING: Warner Bros. Games is shutting down Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and WB San Diego, sources tell Bloomberg News.

[skulblaka@sh.itjust.works]

All the best games of the last 10 years have been built and published by teams smaller than 20 people.

[krudler@lemmy.world]

29 years later, after working with Monolith on one of the worst projects in history... I can finally piss on their grave. Fuck you Matt, fuck Monolith. Yeah this is fucking personal.

[iapar@feddit.org]

What happened?

[dubyakay@lemmy.ca]

Indie. That's how.

[tiredofsametab@fedia.io]

There are plenty of countries with better worker rights in which to set up shop as well.

[kingthrillgore@lemmy.ml]

There was a Blood 2 and it sucked, you have a good point

[krudler@lemmy.world]

They were contracted to design the API for our new Internet-enabled touchscreen gaming network kiosks (world first at the time) and they were fucking useless. And then had the gall to present the piece of shit at the CGDG 1997, as a half-finished completely non-functional, but presented it like it was their own product and not a massive NDA violation. Presented like their own product which could be generically extended to other platforms. Fuck you Matt. Fuck you Monolith you fucking cunts.

[ripcord@lemmy.world]

I'm still not getting why the level of hate here?

[msage@programming.dev]

Ubisoft is french and... ugh no

[msage@programming.dev]

You pay someone to do X with a contract; they

• take your money
• not do X
• instead show the idea of X, which is yours, as THEIR product, which doesn't even work
• • voliating non-disclosure agreements in your contract
• • doing untold damage to your business plans

Yeah, I don't know about anything else, but fuck Matt with a cactus.

[echodot@feddit.uk]

It sounds like your company could have sued them into oblivion. It's a violated a non-disclosure agreement that should be the end of their company.

[cosmonova@lemmy.world]

Big money first bloated up the industry and is now scooping it out from the inside until it collapses. Well, AAA and AA gaming anyways. I‘ve noticed I‘ve been playing smaller indie games for the most part in the last decade and I know why. It‘s not so much a deliberate choice but simply where quality has been shifting.

[cosmonova@lemmy.world]

Stories like these sound wild to most people but sadly they happen all the time. It‘s literally how Google got this big. Still makes me mad how they robbed and trolled Terravision out of their code now known as Google Earth. Not like it‘s a flagship for Google or money maker but they still literally stole the code via hard drive like they stole from so many others. The tech world is full of absolute asshats leeching off of the most talented. It‘s very evident in today‘s tech culture full of crypto, AI and whatnot.

[krudler@lemmy.world]

Such naïvety
Sorry bro

[krudler@lemmy.world]

I'll tell you a secret. And this is coming from somebody that was at the top-top Top of the gaming world for 2 decades... 95% of tech people are complete frauds and charlatans. Its a miracle anything ever gets made. Look at today's coders... they don't even know what a computer does, they just download other people's modules, cobble them together and pray. The vast majority of people who self-identify as being in "comp sci" don't even understand the very basics.

[simulation6@sopuli.xyz]

There were some AAA standouts, like Baulder Gate 3 and Hogworts Legacy, that did very well. It is possible if the company focuses on producing a fun user experience.

[sebastrion@leminal.space]

The Problem is... I Love The fucking Gameplay, this together with the Nemesis System was super addictive to me.

[theresnodiee@lemm.ee]

Success in indie development tends to be very uncertain though. Unless you end up at an established indie studio with a good track record but it's not like indie studios hire in droves.

[kandoh@reddthat.com]

Seems like if you're publicly traded you can't also be profitable in the videogame industry.

[msage@programming.dev]

Can I subscribe to more of your experiences and insights?