Relic close to shutting down - not profitable

Relic is great company full of great people. This thread as a topic should have been shut down at start. This is not about the game but about the company and people who have jobs and make there living through the company. Relic has supported this site with positive promotion since 2012. You would think that the staff in this forum would put a stop to something like this. This game has such a small community, this topic has over 12k views. If relic lost 1 person because of this thread it's a trajedy,I fear that the negativity in this thread has caused many to doubt relics ability. Its time for a change.......

Relic is great company full of great people. This thread as a topic should have been shut down at start. This is not about the game but about the company and people who have jobs and make there living through the company. Relic has supported this site with positive promotion since 2012. You would think that the staff in this forum would put a stop to something like this. This game has such a small community, this topic has over 12k views. If relic lost 1 person because of this thread it's a trajedy,I fear that the negativity in this thread has caused many to doubt relics ability. Its time for a change.......

There are errors in your post, dukejason, so let me help you.

First off the bat, it is untrue that

Relic has supported this site with positive promotion since 2012

If that sentence were true, this community would not have had to crowd fund Operation Charlie Fox in September 2015.

Second,

You would think that the staff in this forum would put a stop to something like this.

Oh really? We do not operate like the Official Forums, run by Relic - on which you are a Moderator, I understand? This site was established independently and is funded independently. It operates without fear or favour to Relic. We do not allow disrespectful comments to be made of individual devs. It has always been so. However, if the game is going awry, and if we hold the majority of active core players, which we do, it is a nonsense to say we should suppress all adverse comment. Robust comment, if stated fairly, is in order. You need to know what top players think of the game. Otherwsie, you are a blinkered carthorse, useful only for hauling hay trucks and shitting to provide manure. Are you such a carthorse, dukejason?

Third, I am well aware that you have been caught boasting about setting up a rival site to this one, and that yours will be the best. You can stop your punk activity right now, at least over here.

Neither the moderating team, nor the Admin from here go to the Official Forums and lay down the law about how poor the standard of moderating may be over in the Official Forums, even though the subpar performance has been a 'k' for constant, judging by the moans we get. So equally, I don't expect you to come here and chance your arm.

Courtesy, Bro! You need to learn that, otherwise we will pin back your ears - HARD - just like the Moderators apparently love to do on the Official Forums. If you have a gripe, you will PM the Director of Moderation here. Comprende?

And with that, back to topic.

My post is on topic. Positive promotion means marketing,main website,twitter,facebook,in-game.

The topic is clearly set by the author. The topic is clearly not about the game. The testing team on this site worked very hard on the latest patch,the game is far from any danger. This topic is clearly done to slander the company. There are so many topics created on the official forum complaining of the shenanigans that go on here on coh2.org,they are closed and the user is warned. The official forum is there for players to speak about the game,balance and what's next,not to slander the staff on coh2.org.

As far As me starting another site to rival this, when it comes to coh2, coh2.org has no rival.

I have planned to create my own site down the road based on rts,but unlike what was done to gamereplays, I don't need to destroy in order to create.


Update to bloodnock: The moderating team that you have insulted up until 2 months ago was lead by KYLE who is a very fair and unbiased individual,the volunteer moderating team thats been around for close to 10 years are a wonderful group of people. Dont ever insult the integrity that the moderating team at relic has worked for the past 10 years to create.

Lolwut @ thread.

It's like politics in here. The are plenty of people who are trying to get their foot in the door as they believe they have a prospect of employment with Relic.

Those people tend to butt heads with community members and fans of Relic games over how and what is said.

Customers are already out the money and have nothing to lose. Thise who are not in perpetual interview with Relic are happy to speak their mind.

De facto interns have EVERYTHING to lose, and act accordingly. People have complained about games and their makers since there have been games.

The varying stakes that people perceive from a thread like this is a little balking to say the least.

I am no intern my friend, what I do is for my love of rts. Nothing more,nothing less. The sad part about all of this is that we are all on the same team,we all love coh franchise.

People have complained about games and their makers since there have been games.

One exception: Our Lord and Savior John Carmack! The greatest individual ever placed on this spinning turd ball.

The sad part about all of this is that we are all on the same team,we all love coh franchise.

I think Relics past lack of communication and the DOW3 issue make all of us fans a little scared. Relic could fold tomorrow and vCOH and COH2 are gone. Forever. So many are emotionally invested that Relic does not drop the ball. Hopefully they read this thread and can pull some insight out of it. We CARE enough to put the time in writing stuff. Hopefully they CARE enough to read it.

COH2.ORG RULES!!!

I am no intern my friend, what I do is for my love of rts. Nothing more,nothing less. The sad part about all of this is that we are all on the same team,we all love coh franchise.

Closing your eyes won't stop your locomotive from a trainwreck. Loving something doesn't mean you should ignore it's faults.
This thread is like smoke and how people react to it. The facts/data presented is the actual smoke (people leaving Relic, number of sales, official statements, etc.). Then you have people who are already screaming fire and running like headless chickens, others who completely ignore it and saying that everything is fine and other who peaks around, check that there is no actual fire YET but have an eye on it.

You know which is the best way to close this thread down? By inspiring trust and actions. Relic overall has been known for it's back n forths on their communication with the community and then going full radio silence. There's nothing tangible to look forward to, no announcements. Everyone knows DoW3 was a release failure. AoE4 development is a question mark and W10/W store already puts me on the defensive. Not a single PvP RTS had success since the release of CoH2 (player retention). I'm waiting for an RTS which can retain 5K online players on average and not dying 1 or 2 months after release. The only notable thing on the horizon right now is Iron Harvest but thats going for 2019. If Relic doesn't release a massive success with AoE4, it's ggnore for the RTS genre unless some indie studio releases the next PUBG or suddenly Blizzard decides to work on WC4.

PD: when i say RTS, i'm not talking about CIV/HoI, turn based or any pve game (example with the recent sucess of Theyarebillions).

RTS isn't dead there's just enough diversity in the genre now that there aren't mega hits that everyone gravitates towards like AoE or SC. Now there's COH, Total War, Wargame (and Steel Div), Paradox titles, a million space titles, UG Civil War, Graviteam Tactics, MoW, and so on. People found their niche games they prefer over the few big boys on the block.

The Glassdoor website is crappy,anyone can make an account. They do not truly verify anything. So to sound the alarm and there is no factual proof that the individual even exist is wrong.

I am an American and im 100% on the side of free speech, but you have to be sure before you put a topic like this out there.

Why are you people taking his bait? I mean, this is so obvious lol.

I am an American and im 100% on the side of free speech.

Somehow these statements contradict each other lol. I mean come one people, you take him seriously lol?

My post is on topic. Positive promotion means marketing,main website,twitter,facebook,in-game.

It seems that you have forgottten your place already. You are not on staff here, and you do not dictate what is on topic or not. Our Moderators tell you that, or I do. And, much as I am embarassed to tell this to a Moderator from the Official Forums, I am nevertheless telling you flat-out now, that your sentence here is off topic and has zero to do with the topic which is:

Relic close to shutting down - not profitable

Therefore, when you write

The topic is clearly set by the author. The topic is clearly not about the game.

Dukejason: master of the bleedin' obvious.

The testing team on this site worked very hard on the latest patch,the game is far from any danger.

This sentence is off topic, so I am not bothering to reply to it. I told you to stop this, in my previous post.

This topic is clearly done to slander the company.

If a person writes a defamatory comment - if they do - it is libel, not slander. At least get your basic terms right, even if you are in the wrong?

There are so many topics created on the official forum complaining of the shenanigans that go on here on coh2.org,they are closed and the user is warned. The official forum is there for players to speak about the game,balance and what's next,not to slander the staff on coh2.org.

Sources?

As far As me starting another site to rival this, when it comes to coh2, coh2.org has no rival.

I have planned to create my own site down the road based on rts,but unlike what was done to gamereplays, I don't need to destroy in order to create.

What was done to GameReplays?

Do you recall writing this?
,

"i am not here to take part in community,i am here to take over. soon the war will begin."

You are being disingenuous. That is the politest way I can express this.

Update to bloodnock: The moderating team that you have insulted up until 2 months ago was lead by KYLE who is a very fair and unbiased individual,the volunteer moderating team thats been around for close to 10 years are a wonderful group of people. Dont ever insult the integrity that the moderating team at relic has worked for the past 10 years to create.

Update to Private Pike:
Know your place. Follow instructions, or else the Invisibuling Fairy's Wand may flash your way.

My personal opinion is that any post or statement here should stay, if it is pro-Relic or against Relic, as long as the poster keeps it within common set border and doesn't assault or deflamate anyone.

Positive critism is welcome in my opinion and so is marking out the positives of the company.

Also this thread seems to be a derailment of itself and unless the post is really about unicorns or something completely away from Relic it should go. But otherwise, if it meets previous criteria, it should stay IMO.

This is my personal opinion about the topic and the rules. Nothing more and nothing less. I know that I have no power and never had it, to measure what is right and what it not for the forum (even if I sometimes tried to do so).


My post is also not aimed against anyone, if you find yourself in it, good, but do not try to find in it what is not. Its just my personal opinion.





And to the topic itself.

I think that Relic did many wrong things in the past, I am not gonna name them, we all already know them. And I also think that things are going into good rails again, thanks to awesome community patches and general being more open to community and .ORG staff members like Sturm or Mr.Smith or Tric.

Right now I think we can walk around a hot soup as long as we want to, but there are only 2 factors that will determine the future of coh2, Relic and coh3.

a) if there will be a new coh2 community manager. If Relic doesnt announce new one, then the game patching is done for good and we are literally left with "dead" game with current balance state. I think the balance isnt the worst right now, so this shouldnt be as big problem as it may seem. As well we have great community and .ORG staff members, who often create awesome tourneys and guides and stuff.

Who knows, maybe finally with Community manager and our hopes also dies the shitton of balance thread. Maybe some individuals will finally realise it is time to put their nose into the State Office instead of crying like babies in shitbalance forums. Maybe. In paralel universe.


b)Success of AOE4. Right now I would say about it the same what Elchino said. It is a big unknown for me, how the game would fare. I am a big fan of both aoe ror and aoe 2 HD, but I didnt really like aoe3, because it lacked serious resource deplention system. And as elchino already pointed out, having a game Win Store + Win10 exclusive is already a big minus for the game itself. Hopefully it will not suck as a game, get stable playerbase and Relic will strenghten its position as RTS developer and creates awersome, non-rushed up coh3.

But right now, this is only in stars and all what matters is how the aoe4 will fare.

The future of Relic as is, will be determined by the success of aoe4, not by their previous fuck-ups with coh2 and dow3. If aoe4 fails, rip Relic. If it shines, Relic will shine with it.

Thats my 2 cents about this topic.
Nothing more needed to add from my side.

Somehow these statements contradict each other lol.

Incorrect

RTS isn't dead there's just enough diversity in the genre now that there aren't mega hits that everyone gravitates towards like AoE or SC. Now there's COH, Total War, Wargame (and Steel Div), Paradox titles, a million space titles, UG Civil War, Graviteam Tactics, MoW, and so on. People found their niche games they prefer over the few big boys on the block.

A single Total War game/HoI/Europa/Civ has more people than the sum of all PvP based clasic RTS (without AoE2/SC2). Each of them gravitates between 10K/20K players. Wild guess without checking numbers.

All of this are the average of the last 30days
Show Spoiler

A single Total War game/HoI/Europa/Civ has more people than the sum of all PvP based clasic RTS (without AoE2/SC2). Each of them gravitates between 10K/20K players. Wild guess without checking numbers.

All of this are the average of the last 30days
Show Spoiler

What's your point? The number of people playing HoI4 right this second is similar to all time peak for COH1. Was RTS dead in '07 too? COH2 has a decent size playerbase despite not living up to all the hype and there being far more substitutes now.

I think it'd be worth pointing out that the collaboration that Relic put forth with community members during vCoH's 2.602 patch really helped drive Relic's fanbase to create this dedicated website. The involvement with 2.602 was rather unique, to say the least, but there were a lot of bridges built and momentum created that was simply not expecting... what was to come.

And I don't think there's anyone, from the fanbase or otherwise, who want to see a repeat of THAT. Which is why I am entirely unsurprised about this thread's content.

What's your point? The number of people playing HoI4 right this second is similar to all time peak for COH1. Was RTS dead in '07 too? COH2 has a decent size playerbase despite not living up to all the hype and there being far more substitutes now.

That while we have a bigger market of people playing games compared to 10 years ago, classic RTS are taking an even smaller share of the market and less and less sequels have been relevant or new titles released with success compared to the last 10/15 years.

Read slow, and careful again. I'm talking about traditional REAL TIME strategy PvP games. HoI4, Civilization, Europa Universalis, Stellaris, Total War (with the exception of Arena), don't fall into this category. Guess what? They are the ones with the biggest sales and player retention (DLC targets).

From the 90s to 2010s, it was the best time for RTS. From 2013 onwards it has been a downfall. We talk about CoH2 having a relative small playerbase for automatch "balance matchmaking" with it having around 5K players (which in general less than half are looking for a game). Not a single title has been close to having these numbers. I'll give a memorable mention to Men of War, that while been basically an ARMA of the RTS, it was a success for what it is. A really niche game which manages to retain a healthy playerbase.

Sequels and spiritual successors of many gems from the 90s/00s had rough releases, didn't come close to expectatives or basically shut down, which basically kills the saga or put it on a really long stasis with no hope for a new release soon. C&C (Tiberium, Red Alert n Generals), Total Annihilation, Homeworld (kinda), Halo Wars (for it's IP name is was not even close), recent DoW3. It would all be fine if other titles would had taken the lead. I've seen hype for ex-Westwood's Greygoo or Steel Division. Look at how they are now.

There's nothing in the incoming future. The only 2 relevant titles are AoE4 and IMO Iron Harvest and those are at least pushed to 2019

The Glassdoor website is crappy,anyone can make an account. They do not truly verify anything. So to sound the alarm and there is no factual proof that the individual even exist is wrong.

I am an American and im 100% on the side of free speech, but you have to be sure before you put a topic like this out there.

You can attack the source, but Why would relic remain running and profitable if they bomb AOE4?

Its "Factually proven" that DOW 3 does not have a large player base at this time and I doubt relic has DLC plans robust enough to monetize 500 people playing a game and sustain a staff of 120 people.

I'm certain no large company is going to subsist on Coh2 revenue.

You don't really need the best sources to argue "If this company stops making products people buy they will probably shut down"

And this is more supplementary evidence to the Factual staff that have left relic over time such as PQ, lead balance designer on coh2, The art director who recently left and one of the Head Devs on DOW3, Developements which were also reported and or mentioned by SturmtigerCobra and Nigo.

Finally This is a speculative thread on a video game, theres no need for APA citations from textbooks to justify even talking about how DOW3 isn't doing well

Sorry, long post..

Fansite censorship vs Relic accountability
I see "new Relic" fanboyism trying to play the victim card (I'm an "old-school" Relic fanboy) that this thread should be shut down to prevent further damage to Relic.


This is a fansite, not your commercial plaything or Relic biased "echo chamber". If we as fans don't hold Relic's feet to the fire then who else will.
I love the CoH franchise and would not have these long info posts here if that was not the case.
Besides this review has already gone viral on the internet so more censorship on this fansite would not damage control this. Rather to the contrary, trying to silence dissent can easily have the opposite effect.
Personally, I view this "leadership review" as open dev letter to MS/Sega that could result in more Relic oversight. Serving preemptive as; "all hands on deck" before the whole house starts burning.

Read between the lines including Relic GM reply. I don't think this is just one disgruntled dev and it clearly says "we" as representing one or more Relic teams. If the review is legit this is newsworthy and MS/Sega might increase on Relic oversight and leadership accountability.
Try to see the forest here (the big picture), not just the trees.

Conflict of interest?
It's interesting to watch how some people that are close to Relic are ignoring uncomfortable "fan criticism". Trying to subtle spin the story to fit a positive "Relic narrative" and belittle fan criticism. This might work with new fans, but this is playing with fire. Soon or later the chickens come home to roost.

For more balanced view of possible pros/cons on AoE4, I have posted much positive related news/info here;
https://www.coh2.org/topic/62922/relic-working-on-age-of-empires-4/page/4#post_id649118
https://www.coh2.org/topic/62930/could-aoe4-be-modern
I did not want this "internal leadership review" to be true but it looks legit. That's just my opinion. With all the leaders failing and leaving with DoW3 it's crazy if/why Relic has not taken big steps to prevent another flop.
Actually, I'm going to defend MS/Sega on this one. I think they are willing to help fix this mess.

Dow3 backslash & Abandon ship
The dow3 backslash is a good example where fans feel they were ignored or belittle fan criticism since the first screenshots were released. Obvious the art style was not aligned with what they saw in the Dawn of War III – Announcement Trailer made by Axis Animation which was well received by fans.

http://www.axisanimation.com/

The dow3 executive producer (Stephen MacDonald, as seen in vid) + brand manager (Danielle Robinson, involved since 2014) abandons ship well before launch and are not even in the end credits;

From LinkedIn;

Spear-headed the development of the global strategy and franchise roadmap for Dawn of War, revitalized branding efforts and created overall marketing materials. Responsible for increasing brand awareness, analysing market and consumer trends and defining positioning and messaging to reassert AAA position after 5yr hiatus.

The two game directors involved abandons ship post-launch.
From Relic website 2016;
https://web.archive.org/web/20160517010602/http://www.relic.com:80/#meet-team


After abruptly "leaving" Relic, Stephen MacDonald goes to make mobile game studio "Heartsy Studios" which also fail miserably. It took a year to find a replacement so DoW3 launch without the new production leader which are David Littman.
Spotlight on Heartsy Studios
https://www.novascotiabusiness.com/articles/spotlight-heartsy-studios

Although Relic offered him excellent opportunities, the game Stephen was working on was based on war, and he didn’t feel it was a good fit for him and his family. Instead, he wanted to create high-quality games for kids and parents. “We want to be the Pixar of games,” he says. “Pixar makes movies that everyone can enjoy – they’re targeted at kids, but you don’t have to be a kid to enjoy the film. That’s what Heartsy is all about. It’s going to be targeting that audience, with that kind of appeal.”

Linkedin;

The founder and CEO for Heartsy Studios. Heartsy was started to make the best kids games in the world with a focus on quality, fun (obviously) and heart! No murder simulators for us!

4.409 views on youtube.

I could go on, but we are beating a dead horse here.

The Golden Goose vs sustainable growth rate

As for CoH2 marketing failures, I highlighted EA for a reason. It's the story of how the golden goose died and "New Relic" predatory business practices.
Premium pvp commanders were just the first stage, rest assured they were planning to sell loot crates (with rare commanders) in the in-game store. Fortunately, this system never got to the second stage (selling loot crates). I'm not saying loot crates with cosmetics are bad, but trying to place "rare pvp commanders" into loot crates was greed, plain and simple. Some fans also will see this as bait-and-switch marketing.

Before WFA War spoils, we already had a decent progression system for those that remember the system (I do). It just needed more polish. Instead, "New Relic" decides to focus on the "Golden Goose" and give achievement hunters the middle finger. That group should have been their primary source of income from a cosmetic ranking/progression system. Prestige ranks and bulletins still useless to achievement hunters because of this.
It takes a lot of arrogance and greed (chasing the golden goose) even trying to implement this predatory system on top of a retail game in 2014. For almost 2 years there is little focus on making money from cosmetics which are sustainable growth that doesn't significantly devalue brand/alienate fans.

Relic First CM - Buggo
CoH1 had Buggo (Allie Henze) as the first CM from Relicnews. Now with Microsoft with Gears of Wars.
https://www.zoominfo.com/p/Allie-Henze/1053557097

Buggo's Video Interview Sean Dunn, Creative Director CoH1

http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/company-of-heroes/credits
There is also a bunch of ex-Relic from Spacemarine/CoH that has worked on Gears of War. Such as the current AoE4 narrative/game designer (Bonnie Jean M) which recently joined Relic.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-jean-m-b091409/
One of the lead programmers from CoH1 is also involved in Gears of War;
Cei Gladstone
http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,68858/

My question is what happens if AOE4 fails commercially? Can Sega justify operating Relic after two failures in the row?

MS have a lot of money (over 100 billion) which they could potentially invest in future games/tech.
The higher-ups in MS have not taken PC games seriously until recently where Phil Spencer got a big promotion. They got the money and market data to become bigger than EA.
But do they have the right leadership to make these big investments?
Will Phil Spencer do the same mistakes as EA and "chase the golden goose" or instead look for sustainable growth rate?

Microsoft Xbox boss Phil Spencer just got a big promotion and will now report directly to CEO Satya Nadella
http://nordic.businessinsider.com/microsoft-xbox-phil-spencer-gets-promoted-to-executive-vice-president-2017-9?r=US&IR=T

I highly doubt Sega will allow Relic to fail with AoE4, that's why I suggested we could see some kind of studio merger happen in 2018-2019 before Relic move to a new office (two studios sharing same building). If so, CA/Sega buy a new studio in Vancouver. If Relic keeps failing, they become CA Vancouver which continues AoE4 development under CA studio leadership.

http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/relic-entertainment-vancouver-mount-pleasant-headquarters-285-west-5th-avenue
Relic is set to occupy 47,000 sq. ft., about 66% of the building’s space, allowing the company to almost double its workforce from its current 180 employees to up to 350.

That's a lot of office space for ONE studio.
The second studio could be http://www.smokingguninc.com/ (run by former CoH1 devs).

FYI; Tric suggested/speculated in my other thread (link below) we might see CA move some of their management to Vancouver.

New Relic General Manager?

https://www.coh2.org/topic/67621/new-relic-general-manager

Former Relic GMs/Studio Directors; 1997-Present
Alex Garden, Founder & CEO 1997-2004
https://www.linkedin.com/in/agarden/
Ron Moravek, 2004-2006 (former COO, before Alex Garden left)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-moravek-a776b05/?authType=name&authToken=hOkW&trk=prof-sb-browse_map-photo
Tarrnie Williams, 2006-2009
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarrnie-williams-927586/?ppe=1
Jonathan Dowdeswell, 2009-2011
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathandowdeswell/?ppe=1
Alex Peters, 2011-2013
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexpeters99/
Tim Heaton, 2013 ( interim general manager, Current Creative Assembly Studio director & Sega EVP Studios)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/timheaton1/
Responsibility across SEGA Studios in the West - Creative Assembly (Horsham and Sofia), Sports Interactive (London), Amplitude (Paris) and Relic (Vancouver)
Justin Dowdeswell, 2013-2018
https://www.linkedin.com/in/justindowdeswell/

Sega Buying Smoking Gun Interactive? (CoH1 devs)
Also possible related here is Smoking Gun Interactive. Last month they got a new seasoned GM (David Elton) and they already have a CEO which is now redundant (joining Relic?). Sega buying them? and share office space with Relic in 2019.
New Smoking Gun Interactive GM;
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdavidelton/

Ron Moravek (former Relic GM) and Ed Fries also help Smoking Gun as Business Development Advisors.
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=49443931
I would not be surprised Smoking Gun Interactive has been hired to make the pitch for CoH3 on behalf of Relic/Sega.
Q&A: John Johnson Talks Smoking Gun (after leaving Relic & future goals)
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/106407/QA_John_Johnson_Talks_Smoking_Gun.php

Moravek had a corporation (Sitemasher) with current Relic finance director (Curtis Terry) from 2007-2010.
Curtis Terry, Cofounder of Relic as Chief Financial Officer (1998-2004) and THQ director of finance 2004-2006. Smoking Gun COO 2009-2012.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtisterry/

First off the bat, it is untrue that If that sentence were true, this community would not have had to crowd fund Operation Charlie Fox in September 2015.

I loved OCF/fan art and was very sad to hear what "New Relic" leaders did (or lack of).
Bad community interactions like that would not happen during the Relicnews era when Alex Garden was running the studio, without any CMs btw.
"Old Relic leadership" that was behind CoH1/HW had an excellent relationship with its fan base but perhaps, more importantly, they had visionary leaders.
Some of these old Relic leaders are now running their own studio
I was connected to Relic's oldest fan base (not this name) from Homeworld, some of which was helping to run Relicnews/forums (as fans). It was only later Relic got their own forum and their first CM, buggo which was great.

Some quotes from old threads/Relicnews era;

As one of the oldest studios in Vancouver, Relic has a rich history with many talented devs that today have created their own independent studios. Most noticeable (Vancouver), Blackbird Interactive (former HW devs), Klei Entertainment (former DoW devs), Smoking Gun Interactive (former COH1 devs) and Hinterland (former Spacemarine/console devs).

The Unstoppable ÜberJumper (Relicnews Admins)
Relic News Admins (Uberjumper, one of the biggest HW fan) was pretty close to the founders of Relic, had this to say; This will also be an interesting read into the history of the Essence Engine (improved version used for DoW3).

https://www.reddit.com/r/homeworld/comments/2wxhuv/homeworld_2_e3_2001_trailer_full_version/

I'm a guy that happened to live in Vancouver and liked video games. I saw the Homeworld trailer on the HL disk IIRC... thinking "That's dumb, who'd want to play Starcraft in 3d..."
Penny-arcade was raving about it, so when I saw news the demo was out in August of 1999 I downloaded it on a whim (a whole 65 MB or so).
I fell in love almost immediately. It felt like Battlestar Galactica, Starwars, Starblazers... all rolled into one. I was hooked.
I had trouble alt-tabbing out of the game... so I was trying to troubleshoot it. Went looking for forums... found Relic's website... they were in Vancouver! Hey I know that guy!
Couldn't find a post about my problem, so figured out the issue and posted it. Then stuck around to help other Homeworlders, then Impossible creature players, then HW2, dawn of war, company of heroes... 50 or 60 thousand posts later I was one of the most well known members of the "Relic Community". I also helped run relicnews.com, which for a few years was the unofficial official forums (Bart Mazus, another local guy owned Relicnews.com and was doing website work for Relic). Went to a couple of E3's, wrote a few articles and a few hundred news posts, etc etc.
So yeah, they had me as their number one fan for a while, I worked on HW2 as a contractor (I tell that story in another post), and in 2010, Rob Cunningham invited me over to show me the pitch video for what was Hardware (now Homeworldhipbreakers) so I helped out at Blackbird Interactive, but sadly haven't been bringing them donuts for more than a few months after my day job in Healthcare IT got exciting.
So yeah, some lucky guy that got to watch and help an awesome game community grow and made some awesome friends along the way.

The Moderator Interviews: The Unstoppable ÜberJumper (relic news admins)
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?132532-The-Moderator-Interviews-The-Unstoppable-%C3%9CberJumper

Obtuse: I noticed the note in your yearbook entry, "Contract @ Relic Summer ‘03", how did that come about and what did you do there?

ÜberJumper: Well... I don't know how much you know about the History of Relic and Sierra, so I'll go back a bit. Homeworld was a successful product, didn't cost Sierra much to make, but Relic had to offer up their next 3 titles to Sierra before anyone else could bid on them. Relic started work on Impossible Creatures (which Sierra passed on, and Microsoft published), and there was another title that Sierra passed on as well (I think) then finally Homeworld 2. Relic had been working on Homeworld 2 since almost the end of Homeworld. I was there for a visit in July of 2000 IIRC with a couple of community folks (RipperT and Carradine). We sat in on a dev meeting, saw the game in action, played with it a bit, had lunch with them, it was all good. The Next E3 rolls around, and before that started, Sierra launched the now infamous Homeworld2.com site which had a timer on it counting down to the game's launch, so, I book a flight to LA for E3.

Meanwhile, Relic and Sierra are having some issues over money (which is what a lot of developers go through I hear), and the E3 display of Homeworld 2, and the launch of the website are cancelled. Anyway, while I was there, I got a chance to see Homeworld 2 (in it's then current form) and I was gob-smacked. Flash forward a couple of months to August and news breaks that Sierra had cancelled Homeworld 2. So the game, at that point, is Dead. I hang out for a while longer in the community, and when I think it's clear that Homeworld's not going anywhere, I "left" the community. Alex Garden heard that, and called me up and offered to take me to lunch. He convinced me to stay with the community, that it wasn't dead yet, so I hung out for a while longer. May of 2002 rolls around, and Relic's started work up again on Homeworld 2. They're hiring folks to fill positions that they'd had to let go as HW2 had been stopped (this is when Mecha, long time community member, moved over from England to work on HW2) so anyway, they're working away and basically starting from scratch, but Sierra's not the same Sierra that helped Relic birth Homeworld. They didn't put as much effort into it as they could have. Turn-around time on bug tracking and what not was essentially not happening, so they needed to bring people in to test.

Pike and I were both contracted to do "first pass QA" (credited as additional design support in the credits) on the game. I was working a full time job, getting to Relic at 4pm, working till 10-11pm, then heading home. That was for all of July. The game went gold first week of August and it still needed way more QA on it but it ended Relic's contractual obligations to Sierra and let THQ buy them up. I actually had a chance to see some of the DoW stuff while I was working there, was pretty cool, the early DoW stuff that is.

This - "Old Relic";

Alex Garden heard that, and called me up and offered to take me to lunch. He convinced me to stay with the community, that it wasn't dead yet, so I hung out for a while longer.

This - "New Relic";
Relic wanted feedback for CoH1 vs CoH2
https://www.coh2.org/post/create/thread_id/62130/quote/619124

It's called wisdom, Hooli. Most of the questions asked in the OP were answered specifically and in great detail back during the COH2 beta in these very forums. Marcus and I personally gathered and organized a group of top COH1 players and community contributors to provide feedback before the launch of COH2. Our private feedback forums are still there to see as a log of this interaction, and Relic can still access them.

Those of us that love the beauty of the core Company of Heroes design achievement saw time and time again how our feedback was ignored, how a flawed business model was prioritized over make-or-break gameplay issues. The COH2 commander system is a perfect example.

We've seen the incredible enthusiasm of these community members crushed as their interactions with Relic inevitably go south. We've seen Relic churn through "beta feedback groups" like chopped liver, opting to discard the current group if they don't like what they hear, only to be surprised that the next group has the exact same complaints.

Imagine if all CoH2.org staff similar to Relicnews staff was thinking about leaving, you think AmiPolizeiFunk/Marcus would get an email from the Relic GM with cheerleading words and support? When is the last time these studio leaders have done AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit? or CoH2.org?. Oh right, let's do some more scripted interviews so we look good.
IMHO, "New Relic" have never managed to build much goodwill within its communities and I don't think they have been honest about this either to its publishers.
Yes, Kyle did try and he should be commended for that.

For me problem is that posts on this forum can scare off anyone who is not utterly insane. One who knows that some of those patients can influence changes and drag game down to their level would abstain from playing.

Well, we can agree to disagree.
Open minded readers and/or viewers more than ever are fed up with the lack of authentic writers/journalists. All the censorship/language police while masquerading as gamers voice of conscience (while not being real gamers themselves ofc).

15 Things Highly Authentic People Don't Do
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/15-things-highly-authentic-people-dont.html
Americans' Trust in Mass Media Sinks to New Low
http://news.gallup.com/poll/195542/americans-trust-mass-media-sinks-new-low.aspx
The mainstream/gaming press have lost readers/viewers by the millions and a dying dinosaur compared to consumer trusted "internet stars" like Pewdiepie (nr.4 most subscribed with 60,496,236).
https://socialblade.com/youtube/top/100/mostsubscribed

Pewdiepie making fun of the language police/PC Culture (pro-censorship)

Pewdiepie playing SOUTH PARK THE FRACTURED BUT WHOLE

Forced politeness is destroying authenticity. This video is a great example;
Aziz Ansari’s recent SNL sketch on ratings pressure