Wouldn't surprise me in the least to hear that IdeaFabrik somehow wrangled control of TR from the original devs.
The Repopulation was the headline game for Hero Engine. Having it yanked and moved to UE would have been a body-blow for IdeaFabrik and their Hero Engine. They desperately needed it back.
The deal that IdeaFabrik offers indie devs is very sweet. The indie project gets everything virtually free: billing, accounts, dev and production server hosting, etc. It's a total package. But beware of the small print....
The original devs are saying it wasnt a hostile take over but that doesn't make me any happier.
"There has never been lawsuit between the two companies (or us and anyone for that matter). This isn't a hostile takeover or anything of that nature. This was a deal which seemed to make the most sense for everyone involved at this time.
We understand that some players are going to be disappointed by this, but this is also something that many players have been asking for and voicing their opinions in the reviews on Steam. This move ensures that Repop will get back online in a timely manner. If we had not made this move the fate of the game would have been determined entirely by the success of the console launch. In the best case scenario that would have meant being back in testing this Summer, and the worst case scenario was unthinkable."
The fact that all parties are SAYING it's just a friendly deal doesn't convince me at all. However, for contractual reasons we will never know what really happened.
All I know is IdeaFabrik desperately needed a "big name" project to "prove" that Hero Engine in it's current form is viable. And Repop was the only Hero Engine project that fits that bill. All the other indie projects using the current Hero Engine are tiny in comparison.
Why else would a game engine developer suddenly decide to become a MMORPG developer ?
Well i will just say it... fk J.C.Smith and Above and Beyond for stringing along backers for a year while behind the scenes:
"Working alongside Above and Beyond Technologies the last few months we have gathered a lot of valuable information"
Cant say i didn't expect something like this... many times i refereed back to the first youtube vids showing the earliest alpha development but nothing at all was shown for the year they were meant to still be working on it in the new engine.
To all the Repop white knights... here is another example why you should stop assuming what developers are doing and pushing it as facts to people who were wondering what was happening with the project. Our fears where completely warranted...
What a scumbag move to sell the project to the people who "forced" you to abandon and change engine... idk how it goes from the engine company closes because of money issues to the same company then buying out the project.
To another company i would be much more acceptable and understanding, but to the old engine company just takes the biscuit.
First of all. When you back a game or buy an Early Access title, you have to understand the risks. It's pretty clear from Steam's TOS. That's also the nature of MMOs. Did Daybreak/SOE offer refunds after shutting down their games? It doesn't work like that.
Second, if they had money left to reimburse anyone, do you think they would be selling out to IF, having had to layoff most of their staff for budget reasons, as well as lose control over the 6-years old brainchild? No.
Third, how in your wildest imagination would you feel like you deserve a refund when the game you backed/purchased is actually coming back shortly now? That doesn't make any remote sense.
I understand the anger and frustration -- this is not the scenario that I would have liked to see unfolding either. But refunding is the last thing that will happen, and it makes complete sense.
IF had ABT between a rock and a hard place, and they took advantage of it fully.
IdeaFabrik will probably "honour" all earlier purchases and KS contributions, without offering refund options. They will argue that the development is continuing from where it stopped at the end of 2015, just with a new dev team.
There's a very high probability that many of the original TR backers would opt for refunds if they were offered. I doubt IdeaFabrik can afford to lose that much money.
They made clear there are no refunds but that they will offer the same rewards and access as all the backers/buyers of the game had been promised.
And why would they offer refunds now? They're actually opening the servers again, lol. Duh.
Comments
All I know is IdeaFabrik desperately needed a "big name" project to "prove" that Hero Engine in it's current form is viable. And Repop was the only Hero Engine project that fits that bill. All the other indie projects using the current Hero Engine are tiny in comparison.
Why else would a game engine developer suddenly decide to become a MMORPG developer ?
"Working alongside Above and Beyond Technologies the last few months we have gathered a lot of valuable information"
Cant say i didn't expect something like this... many times i refereed back to the first youtube vids showing the earliest alpha development but nothing at all was shown for the year they were meant to still be working on it in the new engine.
To all the Repop white knights... here is another example why you should stop assuming what developers are doing and pushing it as facts to people who were wondering what was happening with the project. Our fears where completely warranted...
What a scumbag move to sell the project to the people who "forced" you to abandon and change engine... idk how it goes from the engine company closes because of money issues to the same company then buying out the project.
To another company i would be much more acceptable and understanding, but to the old engine company just takes the biscuit.
Second, if they had money left to reimburse anyone, do you think they would be selling out to IF, having had to layoff most of their staff for budget reasons, as well as lose control over the 6-years old brainchild? No.
Third, how in your wildest imagination would you feel like you deserve a refund when the game you backed/purchased is actually coming back shortly now? That doesn't make any remote sense.
I understand the anger and frustration -- this is not the scenario that I would have liked to see unfolding either. But refunding is the last thing that will happen, and it makes complete sense.
IF had ABT between a rock and a hard place, and they took advantage of it fully.
You're getting what you paid for and they lost control of the game they had worked on for almost 6 years. Everything. Hello?
And why would they offer refunds now? They're actually opening the servers again, lol. Duh.