Exactly a year ago, on 24th April 2018, Frostpunk has landed on PCs all around the world. By now the game has sold over 1.4 million copies. We - all 11 bit team members - are taking our hats off to you for supporting us, for establishing this great community and for giving us feedback and ideas that helped to create what Frostpunk has become now.
In celebration of this momentous anniversary, we wanted to share some of the numbers behind the in-game economy and show how the game is performing overall. Let's take a look at the stylish infographics:
Frostpunk is making its way to Xbox One and PlayStation 4!
Our community asked and we have listened. We are very excited to confirm that Frostpunk, the first of its kind in strategic gaming is officially coming to consoles. A gritty simulation of society survival in a frozen post-apocalypse, the Bafta-nominated Frostpunk was a bestseller of 2018 and multiple award winner in its genre. Frostpunk: Console Edition is a finely tuned adaptation of the PC hit that will be making its way to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 later this year.
*SNIP*
Focusing on a smooth transition to consoles, great efforts are being taken to re-design the game and adjust its mechanics for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, especially when it comes to controls. 11 bit studios still have some work to do but are close to the finish line, creating an intuitive interface allowing gameplay to feel natural even when playing with a controller. “We don’t want to reveal the exact release date yet, but I can say that the game should be out in the summer,” says lead designer Kuba Stokalski.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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."
Future of Relic/Sega IPs in doubt - The plot thickens
Sega give up on the Games Workshop license for DoW+Space Marine?
Microsoft buying Relic for AoE?
Future for Relic IPs and/or merchandise?
Confirmed
Games Workshop DoW2 + Space Marine (lacking Sega trademarks?) soundtracks are coming to Vinyl (see below) AND collectible DoW3 statues selling for $1,349.00.
Yup, you heard that right.
Unconfirmed - educated guess:
Former Relic vets from Gasket Games make spin-off game from DoW2:Last Stand.
Relic "Atlas" Project? (see below).
*SNIP*
Gasket Games are a cross-platform game development company based in Vancouver and comprised of former team members from Relic Entertainment (Dawn of War, Company of Heroes) and Blackbird Interactive (Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak). They will leverage their passion, talent, and more than fifteen years of experience making strategy games in the development of a brand-new Games Workshop title in a rich universe.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
*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.
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
https://twitter.com/relicgames/status/1120782345026465792
If you haven't heard, we're moving to a new office later this year! Now that the building finally has walls, we put up a temporary sign to let the neighborhood know! #gamedev #ThisIsRelic
*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’:
New Activision Blizzard greed exposed in re-hiring practices and cost-cutting initiatives.
Former BLIZZARD Employee Calls Them Out Over Dodgy Hiring Practices:
"Building up the Hearthstone community and global communications efforts these past six years."
https://twitter.com/ZerinaX/status/1120380097503072256
Christina Mikkonen @ZerinaX
22. apr.
Reminder that two months ago, Blizzard laid off a significant number of people. Many of them are my colleagues and friends who are STILL looking for work. Some of them have been forced to uproot their families and move out of state.
As a punch in the gut to these people, Blizzard is rehiring for some of the exact positions they were laid off from.
Not only is this incredibly shameful and downright embarrassing, virtually no one is calling them out on this.
Know your worth and don’t be fooled by #passion.
To those of you retweeting these “job openings” that work at Blizzard and were there during the layoffs AND got to keep your job, shame on you for enabling this behavior.
You don’t speak out about this because you want to keep your job, I get that. But at least have some grace.
To the Blizzard people filtering into my DMs in agreement, I understand. I know if they say anything on social media or even interact with my post, it can come back to bite them in the ass. Just remember to always look out for yourself, because a company will not.
Last word: To any current employees still using #BleedBlue or #lifeatblizzard unironically and have friends that were affected by the layoffs, let that privilege flow through you. People you KNOW stay awake at night wondering how they are going to pay rent. Disgraceful.
As this blew up a bit, I would like to suggest supporting @GameWorkers with a follow and stay aware of what is going on in the games industry.
Obviously the new hires will be getting paid less.
And yes, a corp that lays off 800 people in a record setting financial year did what I would consider “bad”. This isn’t about keeping a struggling company afloat. This is about acknowledging that it is a system rife with abuse.
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.
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Relic Entertainment
