Another one bites the dust [Presto]

[Derek Smart [3000AD]]

There goes another one (http://www.gdxbox.com/interviews/death_presto/001.htm). I suspect this is going to be happening a lot in the 2003-2004 season.

I was just reading another story about this in the current issue of Game Developer mag.

*sigh*

[Anonymous]

They didn't really go bankrupt or anything, they just plain closed down. Maybe they took a long, hard look at what they created and just couldn't work in this industry and live with themselves?

[wumpus]

What else did they do other than Whacked! ?

On a related note, I hope the developers of Kabuki Warriors committed hari-kiri after seeing what they had wrought.

[Ben Sones]

They did Myst III, which was actually a pretty damn good game, if you like that sort of thing (I do).

[Matthew Gallant]

This was actually announced in early September. They said they were going to shut down because they couldn't get a publisher to sign on for their wacky game ideas. I guess they figured that they were hardcore enough that someone would throw money at them and let them do their own thing, and when nobody did, they just decided to dissolve rather than, you know, stick their own neck out and self-fund development.

Having the lights turned off two months later now says to me that they were hoping the announcement of closing would attract someone.

[Mark Asher]

Yeah, I remember reading that. The guy interviewed, the CEO I guess, made some comment about travelling around the world for a year or two and then coming back to start something new, so the owners obviously had money but didn't want to risk their own.

If you were a publisher would you fund an adventure game company if they DIDN"T have the license to Myst anymore?

[Sparky]

I read that Game Developer Presto postmortem as well. Sadly, their story was all too familiar (friends of mine experienced the same thing not long ago). Everyone's working on the game, no one is out drumming up new projects or funding for the next title. No one wants to do that icky business or marketing stuff (no one knows how, anyway - they're programmers and artists). Besides, no one has time! But when the current game is done...the money's gone and there's nothing in the pipeline. Poof.

[Derek Smart [3000AD]]

Everyone's working on the game, no one is out drumming up new projects or funding for the next title. No one wants to do that icky business or marketing stuff (no one knows how, anyway - they're programmers and artists). Besides, no one has time! But when the current game is done...the money's gone and there's nothing in the pipeline. Poof.

Yep. I don't know how devs can become so complacent. The story of Presto's demise reeks of lack of direction. They diverged from what they're known for and good at into unfamiliar territory - all without the talent to complement such a move. You can only ride on a name and product for so long.

Hell, even l'il ol me just got signed* up for a multi-product PC deal, in talks for my XBox project which I am already in pre-production (after finally being accepted into the XBox RDP (http://www.xbox.com/dev/unsigned.htm) program last month or so) for and with a demo due out early next year.

The bottomline for publishers is risk assessment and product viability. If you don't have these two assets, even being a super star isn't going to help you one lousy bit. Unless you can fund it all yourself and pitch a finished game. Even then, it had better have potential.

And as far as I'm concerned, having spent decades fostering a franchise and a crabby fanbase, the last thing I need is to go shopping my projects around to publishers who don't particularly care about the fanbase who made it possible for my teams and I to even have projects to shop around.

If you can't take the risk yourself, then its time to close up shop. And thats what Presto did. In some circles, I've seen dissent wrt how the closure happened. I'm not sure I understand why it is perceived as being wrong for Presto to close down, even though they still could operate. I mean, think about it. Does a company always have to go out in flames, leaving the principals - who started it to begin with - penniless? They got out while they could because they didn't see a future. So, whats wrong with that? Maybe I'm missing something here, but not all folks can weather a storm to the bitter end.

*Don't even think about asking me to elaborate. Wait for the press release in the next week or so.

[Linoleum]

I am wondering how many independent PC-only development studios will still be operating in the US by the end of 2003. That have more than 5 people and aren't producing budget titles. It's getting scary out there.

[Mark Asher]

I am wondering how many independent PC-only development studios will still be operating in the US by the end of 2003. That have more than 5 people and aren't producing budget titles. It's getting scary out there.

There are a lot that have firm relationships with publishers and/or own IP that's valuable, like id and 3DRealms. Those will always be safe.

Take 2's on a buying spree and snapping up the indie studios that have developed games for them. That may be another trend that sees fewer independants in the future.

The gold rush days may be over for game developers. It's hard to imagine an unknown founding a company and having the kind of financial success that someone like Garriott had. Now you can't really publish your own games. You have to find someone to do that for you, and I'd guess any contract that would be offered to a new game studio would be heavily in the favor of the publisher.

[Linoleum]

There are a lot that have firm relationships with publishers and/or own IP that's valuable, like id and 3DRealms. Those will always be safe.

But how many such firms are there in the PC side that aren't owned by a publisher? Probably not more than 10.

Take 2 and Activision have both been on an aquisition spree, but those are primarily console studios. And it's part of the cyclical nature of internal/external that we always swing through.

I'm more wondering at the economics of PC (not console) development, it's come up in several threads recently. Given the development costs, average sales, it's hard to *not* have to go overseas to be able to break even on a title.

[Derek Smart [3000AD]]

and I'd guess any contract that would be offered to a new game studio would be heavily in the favor of the publisher.

oh, like these were ever favorable for developers to begin with? :roll:

The only way a dev - an indie at that - is ever going to even be able to deal with publishers on an even playing field, is if


you have something they want
you have a clue wtf they're talking about
you have what it takes to stay focused and with a clear course of action
due diligence


Anything short of the above and you're wasting your time - and their money to boot. Waste their money and you'll be worst than you were when you started out.

[Anonymous]

Presto did the impossible: they produced a game adaptation of a wildly popular anime franchise, and no one even heard about it. I did a search on the web for reviews of their Gundam game, and found almost nothing.

That's some bad PR work, there.