Profile of SturmtigerCobra

Some updates & connect-the-dots info.
Looking at linkedin, this month Relic started building a new third team with key leadership.

3 Relic Game Development Teams
1) AoE - Microsoft (contracted for more than AoE4 based on job announcements)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/quinn-duffy/ (Quinn Duffy, Game Director)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-wilson-2ba7046/ (Greg Wilson, Executive Producer)
2) CoH3 - Sega Europe (unconfirmed, educated guess)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecaponi/ (Erik J. Caponi, Game Director)
Erik J. Caponi:

Hey! You! Are you an awesome producer? Does building a brand new project and a brand new team sound exciting? Do you want to partner up with me to make something awesome?
You know you do.

Erik J. Caponi is connected with the two new job announcements production & marketing
3) Relic mystery box?
Maybe announced this year, educated guess? console game/port or turn-based strategy game?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bdisbrow/ (Brent Disbrow, Game Director | former DoW3)
https://linkedin.com/in/david-littman-52668b27 (David Littman, Executive Producer)
Quote Brent Disbrow linkedin:

Game Director on an exciting unannounced strategy game, the kind that Relic Entertainment does best! Currently working with an excellent team to build a creative vision, game pillars and the feature set. Lots of engaging, fun work to be done and great people to do it with.

http://archive.ph/w5uvD

RELIC SENIOR CAMPAIGN DESIGNER:
You would be a good fit if you…
▪Have helped create some of the best turn-based strategy games in the market

http://www.thesequencegroup.com/relicentertainment2018/ (new CoH trailers TBA!)

Hello Relic Entertainment!
Eager to pass along some of our new material in hopes we can collaborate again.

http://www.thesequencegroup.com/company-of-heroes-2-the-british-forces

Relic External Development Teams & d3t Modding Tools

Re-posting info from my reddit post, 5 months old:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CompanyOfHeroes/comments/a02dbl/relic_working_with_keywords_studios/
Update;
Keywords Studios: “We are going to keep acquiring new companies”
The video games outsourcing giant on expanding its services, fixing crunch and how it will avoid competing with its clients (November 2018)
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-11-22-keywords-studios-we-are-going-to-keep-acquiring-new-companies

To help ramp up content production in art and engineering/programming Relic is working with two studios now owned by Keywords international.
https://www.keywordsstudios.com

Keywords international are a growing services provider to the global video games industry.
Microsoft Studios and Relic/Sega are involved with this.

1) Sperasoft Studios
Client source:
https://sperasoft.com/about/ (see Relic in the client list)
A big international studio.

2) d3t Studio
A growing UK studio run by former THQ.
One of the operation directors is the former Relic senior programmer, Noel Austin:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/noel-austin-4b603912/
Client source:
https://d3tltd.com/projects/company-of-heroes/
Quote d3t: “We really enjoyed developing the Steam Workshop support for the classic Sega title"
The d3t 10 YEARS MODDING UPDATE:
Company of Heroes.”COMPANY OF HEROES GETS A MASSIVE MODDING UPDATE 10 YEARS ON (June 1, 2017):
https://www.gamespace.com/all-articles/news/company-of-heroes-modding-update/

-----
The founder of Sperasoft and co-founder of d3t (Jamie Campbell) were recently promoted to key leadership positions within Keywords international.
Keywords Studios announces Senior Management Team changes (07/10/2018):
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/321687/Keywords_Studios_announces_Senior_Management_Team_changes.php
Both of these two studios was recently acquired by Keywords international:

Keywords buy d3t for £3 million (October 2017):
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-10-19-keywords-buys-d3t-for-3-million
Keywords buy Sperasoft for $27 million (December 2017):
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-12-13-keywords-buys-sperasoft-for-USD27-million

Keywords International are connected to Vancouver based XDSummit which Relic/The Coalition has been involved with for years.
Microsoft currently has 3 people on the XDS advisory committee:
http://xdsummit.com/about/advisory-committee/

Below is Relic's XDS presentation in 2014 by Dilber Mann. XDS committee member 2014-2018.
Relic Development Director, External.

Linkedin Profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dilber-mann-7364212/
Dilber Mann's Blog:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DilberMann/994704/
A similar Microsoft director position as Dilber Mann, also XDS member:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/samcarlisle/

Why did Dilber Mann leave Relic to join The Coalition studio in 2017? (Microsoft's Vancouver studio)

The d3t/THQ Team working on Relic games?:
Richard Badger Studio Head at d3t
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricbadger
Steve Powell Co-Founder and Director at d3t Ltd
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-powell-b748829/
Jamie Campbell Engineering Service Line Director at Keywords Studios
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-campbell-0390b02/
Andrew Booth Studio Technical Director at d3t Ltd
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-booth-76681814/
Matthew Green Head of Art at d3t Ltd
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-green-75b71113/
Noel Austin, Operation Director (former Relic):
https://www.linkedin.com/in/noel-austin-4b603912/
Kenneth Jensen Localization Project Manager at Keywords Studios (former QA Lead on Company of Heroes 2)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenneth-jensen-mtl/

Relic CoH Art Directors/Leads
They have at least 2-3 Art leads, previous work on CoH:
Roland Longpre | 17 years with Relic
https://www.linkedin.com/in/roland-longpre-7887981/
https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,105899/
Tristan Brett | 13 years with Relic
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristan-brett-3891a01/
https://zerply.com/tbxturbo/ (CoH Credit, non-confirmed)
https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,40562/
Geoff Coates | 3 years with Relic, CoH2 credit
https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoff-coates-71abb532/
https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,7289/

CoH2 Art Directors/Leads that have left
Ian Guise | left 2018, 12 years with Relic. Now Hinterland Studio Art Director.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-guise-3217633/
https://www.ianguise.com/art-direction.html
https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,243197/
Ian Cumming | left 2018, 14 years with Relic. Now Art Director at Blackbird Interactive.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-cumming-5849711/
https://www.artstation.com/corvx
https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,60711/

CoH: Cold War/Modern Art (1983–present)
Art hints. One of the key artists from CoH1+CoH2 posted this cool LAV-25 art/3D:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/JZEEn
Credit:
Allan Dilks | 18 years with Relic.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dilks/
https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,105453/


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAV-25
http://www.military-today.com/apc/lav_25.htm

In the 1980s the US Marine Corps (USMC) began looking for a light armored vehicle to give their divisions additional mobility. They selected a design, that had its origins in Switzerland. The Light Armored Vehicle (or LAV), is an 8x8 variant of the MOWAG Piranha I, license-produced by General Motors of Canada for the US Marine Corps.

Since Quinn Duffy and many CoH2 leads are still busy working on AoE, maybe Sega/Relic's focus will be cold war/modern?

Re-post from reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CompanyOfHeroes/comments/bhw1er/new_sega_europe_ca_studio


Creative Assembly/Sega opened a new studio in Bulgaria. This includes Sega Europe’s new QA team that will support future CoH games and core IPs owned by Sega.
Currently looks like Microsoft is not buying the CoH IP but their buying spree is not over and MS need a strategy studio.

https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-assembly-and-sega-open-new-state-art-studio-bulgaria
https://twitter.com/CAGames/status/1116680521638137856
SEGA and Creative Assembly have opened a joint new state-of-the-art studio in Sofia, Bulgaria. This follows the acquisition of Creative Assembly Sofia in 2017 and the future transition of SEGA Europe’s QA services to Sofia. Tim Heaton, Studio Director at Creative Assembly and EVP of SEGA Studios in the West, said; “Our new studio is designed to promote creativity and collaboration, providing ample room to grow our talented Sofia team, and create more world-class gaming experiences. “Bulgaria is an ideal place for a growing game development community, already being a European leader for IT development and having a history of technological accomplishment and innovation. It offers a new hub of talented aspiring game developers that we can nurture in an experienced AAA environment.”

From local news (google translate):

https://www.pcgamesinsider.biz/job-news/68852/creative-assembly-expands-sofa-bulgaria-office-sega-staffing-up-qa-staff-in-the-region/
Sega Europe boss Gary Dale: "Sega is in the process of recruiting new testers and a management team by working closely with the existing Sega quality operations in the United Kingdom. The team in England is at the heart of this transfer of development services to Sofia, providing training, support and guidance to this new team. By June 2021, the transition will be completed and we will have a large team of permanent employees and civilian employees who will help us make sure that the games we run are pre-tested strictly."

Sources & Articles that could be relevant
1. Sega will shift QA team from UK to Bulgaria (October 2018):
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-10-11-sega-shifts-qa-team-from-uk-to-bulgaria
2. Sega expands Creative Assembly with Crytek Black Sea acquisition (March 2017)
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-03-07-sega-expands-creative-assembly-with-crytek-black-sea-acquisition
3. Sega Europe promotes John Clark, Tim Heaton (July 2017)
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-07-25-sega-europe-promotes-john-clark-tim-heaton
https://www.linkedin.com/in/timheaton1/
4. Alex Peters joins Sega as VP of production and development (February 2018). Former DICE COO and Relic studio head.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-02-09-jobs-roundup-alex-peters-joins-sega-as-vp-of-production-and-development
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexpeters99/

Sega CoH3 Ownership & Marketing?
This reply was posted by the AoE4/CoH2 game director some weeks ago in response to fans questioning CoH game development. Relevant to Relic acquisition rumors and future of CoH3 publishing+marketing.
MS buying Relic won’t necessarily includes the CoH IP.

*SNIP*
https://twitter.com/QuinnDuffy/status/1113119498263912448
@treboruk92
So when CoH3
@QuinnDuffy
We don't own the game any more - when THQ went bankrupt, Relic/THQ lost a lot of the IPs to other purchasers. Homeworld to Gearbox/Blackbird, Impossible Creatures to THQ Nordic etc. (IC is on steam with all the mods!) https://www.relic.com/article/8374

@treboruk92
Doesn’t Sega own Relic + CoH...?

Relic radio silence? hmm

Potential outcomes & predictions for Relic IPs?
1) Relic is sold to MS, including a separate acquisition of the CoH IP.
In comparison, Gearbox acquired the Homeworld IP for $1.35 million.

Brian Martel (co-founder), Gearbox Software's chief creative officer, spearheaded the acquisition out of passion for the franchise.

https://www.polygon.com/2013/7/23/4551528/gearbox-candidly-shares-story-of-homeworlds-acquisition
Brian has since left Gearbox.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-martel-a6b8b4/
Blackbird Interactive (former Relic vets) now has to work with Randy Pitchford if they want Homeworld 3. Good luck with that.
I love HW, but BBI and/or Relic is better off making Halo Wars 3 in space and try to combine the fan base from both franchises.
Artist Shows Off Canceled Pitch For Halo Wars 3:
https://kotaku.com/artist-shows-off-canceled-pitch-for-halo-wars-3-1819507983

2) Relic is sold without the CoH IP and become a dedicated AoE studio. In worst case, even without Relic I'm confident the CoH franchise will continue with Sega.
Be happy the franchise is not owned by EA/Activision/Gearbox.
3) Relic is contracted to work on X number of AoE games and MS postpone studio acquisition.

Based on recent Relic job announcements
- Relic is working on AoE's franchise not only AOE4:
https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/relic-to-hire-narrative-lead-for-aoe-franchise/37166
Job archive:
http://archive.ph/DPJuY
- Sega is planning to publish at least one more Relic game (CoH3?) and hiring an internal brand manager + Executive Producer to lead this team (see below).
A significant turn of event after the top Relic brand/marketing team was laid off in 2018 including the CoH brand manager (2015-2018) and studio marketing director (2013-2018).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexdelamaire/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-e-price/
Also note Sega Europe, which includes the Football Manager IP, don't have a history of abusing P2W and loot boxes. That might change as they expand core IPs into China/Asia, where p2w gaming culture is still dominating. Due to piracy, Relic retail games will not be financially successful in China/Asia. Relic/Sega do need alternative business strategies that goes beyond retail.


CoH2 & EA Fifa Marketing History
Before the Alex Price "marketing team" it was EA loyalists James McDermott (former Relic and top EA Fifa marketing) and his EA buddy Darin Perfonic that was involved with CoH2 marketing.
“your digitallife” (now defunct) marketing agency with very close ties to EA.
Quote yourdigitallife; "Behind the scenes at World War 2 event we put together for Company of Heroes 2."
https://www.instagram.com/p/b0gmOXkaH4/ (Darin Perfonic had rejoined EA at this time)
Darin Perfonic, co-founder yourdigitallife
https://www.linkedin.com/in/darinperfonic/ (EA marketing to this day)
James McDermott, founder yourdigitallife
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mcdermott-29603716/ (former Relic marketing & EA)

Primary Achievement:
Partnered with HQ publishing on business strategy and established the supporting business models for multiple titles. Influencing brand communications, development direction, business models and service support for Company Heroes 2

Game credits James McDermott:
https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,72188/
Darin Perfonic:
https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,134384/ (Marketing FIFA 18 + Star Wars: Battlefront II)

How Asian P2W MTX's spread to the West
To further research into Fifa's/EA's influence on CoH2 pay-to-win MTX's and progression based loot crates (not fully implemented) dig deep back to UEFA Champions League 2006-2007.
A game created by EA Vancouver and later pioneered by the current EA CEO (former Executive Producer for Fifa). EA started to adopt their primary business strategy from South Korea p2w MTXs (Nexon games pioneered F2P in Asia) and loot boxes/gambling practices from physical collectible card games (Magic: the Gathering).
This all happened many years before digital collectible card games became popular such as Blizzard's Hearthstone.

Sources | Related Info:
1) p2w gaming culture are winning in China to the detriment of western gamers.
Americans largely won’t pay to win a video game — but Chinese gamers will:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/30/pay-to-win-video-games-differences-between-us-and-chinese-gamers.html
http://www.danwei.org/electronic_games/gambling_your_life_away_in_zt.php

2)
Progression based loot boxes & Pay to Win — The History of Microtransactions in Video Games:
https://medium.com/@sacrfox/pay-to-win-the-history-of-microtransactions-in-video-games-48ca64425704

In 1993, EA acquired exclusive rights to the FIFA license. Among EA’s hundred plus games, FIFA makes up 26% of EA’s total revenue. In 2007, EA released UEFA Champions League, a Canadian FIFA spinoff which included a new game mode, “Ultimate Team Mode”. As described by one of the game’s creators, “This new mode allows you to collect and trade virtual player cards to build a team.” Users could earn credits through playing matches, then spend those credits on card packs, which came in bronze, silver, and gold, respectively denoting the chance of acquiring a powerful player card. Although there was no way to purchase these packs with real money, this model had all the elements of modern-day loot boxes. EA was sitting on an untapped goldmine.
In 2009, EA CEO Andrew Wilson decided to introduce Ultimate Team Mode to their flagship FIFA, this time with the option to buy packs with real money. This essentially gave users two ways to succeed — invest time, or invest money.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewwilson5/

3) The Untold History of EA's Long (and Rich) Pay-2-Win Love Affair:

Reddit commentary on Skillup's EA investigation:
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/7fcrtb/the_untold_history_of_eas_long_and_rich_pay2win/

4) Alex Garden, founder of Relic and Nexon NA:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/agarden/

After joining the advisory board of Nexon Corporation in early 2000 I had the good fortune of seeing the growth of the free-to-play video game industry first hand. In early 2006, Nexon's then CEO, David Lee recruited me to lead the development expansion of Nexon's first North American game development studio.

After leaving Relic, Alex Garden had close business ties with former EA and top MS executives, Don Mattrick. Don is the grandfather of the Vancouver gaming industry.
Mattrick almost killed the Xbox brand with Xbox One and Kinect. Phil Spencer saved the Xbox brand.
Xbox Creator Says Don Mattrick Had Little Faith In The Console (March 6, 2019): https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-creator-says-don-mattrick-had-little-faith-in/1100-6465344/ Seamus Blackley@SeamusBlackley

I’ve never talked about this before, but the irony of Don Mattrick as Xbox Chief was huge for me: when I first came to EA Canada to present the idea of a Microsoft console, he nearly blocked me from addressing the company because he didn’t believe it was possible. It was tense.

Don Mattrick New Report, 2013: The New CEO Of Zynga Is A Hardcore Name-Dropper Who Flies A Private Jet To Work And 'Lives Like A Saudi Prince'
https://www.businessinsider.com/don-mattrick-zynga-ceo-2013-7?r=US&IR=T&IR=T
Mattrick hired Alex Garden to help lead Zynga mobile games. Alex retired from the gaming industry after another failure.
Zynga’s head of game studios (former Relic CEO, Alex Garden) quietly left before CEO change from Mattrick to Pincus, 2015
https://venturebeat.com/2015/04/09/zyngas-head-of-studios-quietly-left-before-ceo-change/

5) Relic co-founder Ron Moravek, also former Nexon, EA and THQ. Nexon later ditched pay-to-win, but business ties to keep in mind.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-moravek-a776b05/?authType=name&authToken=hOkW&trk=prof-sb-browse_map-photo

6) Vancouver's video game family tree (close ties with EA Vancouver/DSI)

https://www.straight.com/article-198534/video-game-family-tree

For future reference I achieved the two jobs below:
INTERNAL BRAND MANAGER:
https://boards.greenhouse.io/relic/jobs/744038
http://archive.ph/YTK3Y

*SNIP*
Do you believe that marketing for games is not only about creating hype for products but also providing the design team with critical player-driven insights?
Lead the strategic brand management of our titles from inception through to live operations to long-term brand health & consumer engagement
Make sound business recommendations to the Executive Producer and the SEGA publishing group to enhance agreed marketing programs
Guide SEGA’s media briefing and planning process through close collaboration with SEGA’s Marketing team

This job announcement, executive producer seems related. Unless someone is leaving, Relic is working on 3 games (2 unannounced). Usually only one executive producer for each game development.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
https://boards.greenhouse.io/relic/jobs/1651424
http://archive.ph/V4u6f

Live and breathe Relic’s “Player First” development philosophy, collaborating with players to create world-class strategy games

The Sega lead consumer research guy (Jean Yves Lapasset) involved with CoH surveys:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jylapasset/

Strategic insights to Sega top management

Lead consumer research for Sega West (US/EMEA) on key franchises (Sonic, Total War, Aliens, Football Manager, Company of Heroes, Endless franchises) and new content

EDIT: Updated Info/Sources

News Report - Epic games exposé;
Fortnite developers complain about constant crunch and huge working hours at Epic Games
https://www.pcgamesinsider.biz/news/68887/fortnite-developers-complain-about-constant-crunch-and-huge-working-hours/
How Fortnite’s success led to months of intense crunch at Epic Games
https://www.polygon.com/2019/4/23/18507750/fortnite-work-crunch-epic-games

*SNIP*
That's according to an exposé by Polygon, which says that staff - both in-house and contractors - are working as much as 70 hours a week, with that figure rising to 100 in some instances.

Polygon interviewed current and former employees of Epic, including full-time staff, managers, and contractors working in development, QA, and customer service departments. They all requested that their identities be protected, for fear of retribution from Epic or other employers in the game industry. Epic requires that current and former staff sign nondisclosure agreements limiting their ability to speak about the company’s operations.

“All [management] wanted was people who are disposable,” said a source. “The situation was, ‘Come in and do as many hours as we need you.’ They put the contractors in a situation where if they don’t do that overtime, they know they’re not coming back.

“One senior guy would say, ‘Just get more bodies.’ That’s what the contractors were called: bodies. And then when we’re done with them, we can just dispose of them. They can be replaced with fresh people who don’t have the toxic nature of being disgruntled.”

Epic Under Fire For Working Conditions, Manager Calling Staff ‘Bodies’:

Update;

Relic paid Colliers $6M to organize the move and interior design:
https://www.colliersprojectleaders.com/projects/relic-entertainment-office-fit-up

SERVICE:
FURNITURE, EQUIPMENT PLANNING AND MOVE READINESS
https://www.colliersprojectleaders.com/services/furniture-equipment-planning-and-move-readiness

Supporting employee growth.
Their new space, spanning across three storeys, features open workstations, collaboration space, meeting rooms, games rooms, and shared amenities, and will allow them to double their workforce to 350 employees. Our team is leading the initiation, design, and construction of the new office. When the space is ready, we will assist with the move of their operations. The scope of our project management services includes the preparation and maintenance of the project budget and schedule, procurement of the designer and contractor teams, liaising with the landlord, and resolving any concerns as they come up.

Posted by Relic Director of Finance, 4 days ago:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtisterry/
Our new office is starting to take shape. Move in date is still WIP.:

Relic Office Update - $6M colliers contract:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CompanyOfHeroes/comments/bgffld/relic_office_update_6m_colliers_contract/