The team at Re-Logic has been watching the recent events surrounding Unity with both interest and sadness. The loss of a formerly-leading and user-friendly game engine to the darker forces that negatively impact so much of the gaming industry has left us dismayed to put it mildly. While we do not personally use Unity outside of a few elements on our console/mobile platforms), we feel like we cannot sit idly by as these predatory moves are made against studios everywhere.
We unequivocally condemn and reject the recent TOS/fee changes proposed by Unity and the underhanded way they were rolled out. The flippant manner with which years of trust cultivated by Unity were cast aside for yet another way to squeeze publishers, studios, and gamers is the saddest part. That this move was wholly unnecessary pushes things into the tragedy category - a cautionary tale the industry will not soon forget.
We do not feel that a simple public statement is sufficient. Even if Unity were to recant their policies and statements, the destruction of trust is not so easily repaired. We strongly feel that it is now equally important to get behind some of the other up-and-coming open source game engines. Lighting some candles in an otherwise dark moment. To that end, we are donating $100,000 to each of the open source engines listed below.
Additionally, we are sponsoring each of these projects with $1,000/month each moving forward. All we ask in return is that they remain good people and keep doing all that they can to make these engines powerful and approachable for developers everywhere.
Godot Logo FNA Logo
Re-Logic has always been supportive of game developers and indie studios that do things the right way. We feel that our actions in this moment are the best way to carry that mission forward - by accelerating and strengthening competing open source game engines, we hope to empower and assist studios that are struggling with how best to proceed given these recent events.
Maybe Microsoft could stop vacuuming up all of the studios that have built names and reputations based on putting out great games. They’re going to ruin these companies. Damn corporations always coming in and wrecking stuff.
Oh hahaha I know them. Yeah they suck, havent released anything good since like… Fallout 3? Maybe Doom 2016? I do mix uo the dev and the publisher in this case but wow the latest fallout games and starfield were utterly tragic
I'm definitely a little confused about Tango - I'm hoping we'll at least get more details come out about why Microsoft shuttered them. I mean, Ghostwire Tokyo was... whatever, and I could understand Microsoft not wanting to have them working on that kind of scale again any time soon. It wasn't bad by any means, but it was fairly expensive and perhaps didn't do as well as they hoped. But I'm surprised they didn't want to just downsize the studio and aim for another HI-FI Rush-esque game (or sequel).
But Arkane Austin being closed definitely makes sense. Not only was Redfall a disaster, but by the time Redfall released, 70% of the people who'd worked on Prey had left the studio. (Largely because the studio's president had left the studio just after Prey, I believe, rather than because of the Microsoft acquisition of Bethesda.) All that was really left was the name.
So Redfall was set up to fail, and you make those people fall on the sword, and then Hi-Fi Rush is a game people clearly want more of and could have stood to cost more than $30, and you let those people go too instead of hitting the ground running on a sequel? What is wrong with you, Microsoft?
The way they see it, their best interests don’t involve those of the game studio. Buying a studio does two things. It gives them a new business to latch onto and suck all the money out of quickly, and it eliminates competition in the gaming industry. Killing the studio still meets both of those goals. And then they just move onto the next one.
I mean, yeah, if you’re expecting intelligent long term decisions, those expectations are still too high.
Remember: This is the group of people STILL actively trying to cover up anthropogenic climate change. Something that not only threatens their long term profitability, but literally threatens the planet with extinction.
Going by MS‘s track record the last couple decades, it‘s all business as usual. It‘s expected from them to eventually close everything down they incorporate into their ecosystem. Sometimes after draining it or letting it rot away, and sometimes sooner than later.
Because being received well isn’t what Microsoft are after. They’re after making as much money, as (un-)realistically possible, even if it means shutting down things. This isn’t the first, and definitely not the last time. They’ve had more than a handful of studios with iconic IPs, that got absolutely annihilated after acquisition
Being after well received titles is congruent with their Game Pass strategy. Being after as much money as possible would mean they probably should have charged more than $30 for one of the best games of the year.
Ten years to make one well received game. After two failed high budget titles, an attempt at a franchise, Ghostwire and a mobile game supported for only five months.
The studio head Shinji Mikami left shortly after Hi-Fi rush. So I would guess any projects they had in the works weren’t interesting enough to justify the costs.
Just because the company you work for is making bank doesn’t mean they won’t fire you at the drop of a hat if they think they can make more by doing it.
For now… 🖕🏽 They worded that so weasely, they’re just waiting for the storm to pass and for Legal to come up with some compelling reason why they’re totally “obligated” to make it happen, “hands tied” “so sorry” and all that.
Fuck Sony. They made this SOP way back when, and there’s no way they let this stop them forever. It’s all about profit, not what “we” want.
Yes. This is exactly how capitalism is supposed to work. The corporation bows to the wants and needs of the consumer, or they risk being replaced.
And this is an even greater example, consumers telling a mega-corp to get fucked and getting results.
But don’t let me get in the way of you kids and your anti-capitalism bent, typed on a machine made possible by capitalism. If I could send every fucking one of you back to the 70s and let you get an eye full of communism, I’d deport every one of you to the USSR.
Why should they go anywhere else? They are right. Making an echochamber by literally gatekeeping people with different political views than you isn’t productive either.
Their comment is incredibly ignorant. They’ve been fed a steady stream of propaganda from a fire hydrant of fox News, that’s why they should go somewhere else. Down vote all you want.
I’m curious, what’s the problem? There was an upsetting change, review was negative. That change was walked back and not happening. What would the reason be to keep it negative?
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Aktywne