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It feels more like financial difficulties from the COVID-19 pandemic than anything else, given:quote:But then COVID-19 happened. Also the mention that they're not going to proceed with the four remaining minor guilds plus some hedging about whether GB will return. I think they should have just kept it short and sweet about having to suspend Guild Ball work for some time owing to COVID-19. None of this bizarre retrospective stuff and dumping on competitive players. I imagine any good PR person would be wincing all the way through that post.
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Aug 10, 2020 15:34
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 01:51 |
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Yeah that's true. Guild Ball was pretty dead locally anyway so I'm personally not * too* bummed out but i hope they do decide to bring it back. Might've been smarter to say it's going on indefinite hiatus rather than flat out saying "It's dead but we might bring it back idk"
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Aug 10, 2020 16:17
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F. It wasn't my thing but I had a handful of friends who loved it.
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Aug 10, 2020 16:49
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I hope they keep the rulebook online or whatever. My poor Farmers never even got to play one game.
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Aug 10, 2020 16:52
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Not to understate the other issues, but I think both Guildball and Warmahordes illustrate both the virtues and the risks of focusing on highly competitive play. You pretty much commit to having a really narrow base of support, and IMO will never overtake the major companies. That's fine if you accept it and make your business to work around it, but I've seen a lot of games not understand it instead, to their peril. (Not familiar enough with Guildball to know if that's a factor here or not.)
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Aug 10, 2020 18:49
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All the above is true but that statement reads a bit like they are throwing the game under the bus, they could have just put it on hold, or done what GW would do which is never mention it ever and just slow releases until it suits you. I guess they were locked into supporting the game live with seasonal releases and all that sort of thing. Probably a bad idea to give your development cycle over to something that people can't play in the short term. They should have just declared a hiatus and kept their powder dry until post covid times.
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Aug 10, 2020 19:01
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Southpaugh posted:All the above is true but that statement reads a bit like they are throwing the game under the bus, they could have just put it on hold, or done what GW would do which is never mention it ever and just slow releases until it suits you. I guess they were locked into supporting the game live with seasonal releases and all that sort of thing. Probably a bad idea to give your development cycle over to something that people can't play in the short term. They should have just declared a hiatus and kept their powder dry until post covid times. Yeah, it seems odd to just kill the game instead of just not putting resources into it. Makes me think they were planning on gutting it long before, and covid just accelerated their plans.
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Aug 10, 2020 19:10
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It's arguably more respectful of your fans to just kill it if you don't really intend to ever come back to it, which is the impression I get. Otherwise you're just kind of stringing people along, aren't you?
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Aug 10, 2020 19:13
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Based on the tone, they have no intention of ever doing more Guild Ball but why not leave that door open if you think it might make you some cash down the road.
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Aug 10, 2020 19:36
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They were basically bought by private equity back in 2019. Their video-game mini kickstarters do the biggest business for them, so the writing was on the wall for Guild Ball, sadly. It was a great game, even when it had some high-end balance issues, and I'm sad it never got the last Minor Guilds to finish off the set. That being said, once you sell your soul to private equity, anything that doesn't maximize next quarter's profits is on the chopping block. Condolences to the fans, and a hearty rest in piss to the company.
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Aug 10, 2020 20:18
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LeSquide posted:They were basically bought by private equity back in 2019. Their video-game mini kickstarters do the biggest business for them, so the writing was on the wall for Guild Ball, sadly. It was a great game, even when it had some high-end balance issues, and I'm sad it never got the last Minor Guilds to finish off the set. That being said, once you sell your soul to private equity, anything that doesn't maximize next quarter's profits is on the chopping block. Condolences to the fans, and a hearty rest in piss to the company. This. It reads like sales aren't growing (possibly declining) and they don't have a plan that would result in a big sales boost. They are probably low on stocks and need to do a large reprint which the stake holders don't want to sink capital into when they could just do more Kickstarter games instead. They do seem to be implying that the GB community has become a barrier to expansion though, which is awkward. I was very much reminded of the Privateer Press 'play like you've got a pair' attitude and how it creates unwelcoming communities. Nobody wants to go to their first tournament and come away feeling like a piñata. Dropzone under Hawk had a strong competitive scene but it always felt welcoming to me because they kept the focus on people having fun while using the tournaments to balance units.
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Aug 12, 2020 18:21
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Ugleb posted:This. It reads like sales aren't growing (possibly declining) and they don't have a plan that would result in a big sales boost. Steamforged has basically treated Guild Ball as a non entity since Season 2 which coincided with the Dark Souls kickstarter. They would be totally silent for months on end and the recent field test for the game the head of the company didnt even know what season the game was in. Anywhere Guild Ball was still active had incredibly welcoming and educational communities, the company however completely mismanaged the game while chasing kickstarter money for awful licensed games. To then blame the players for playing the game as designed is tremendously lovely. Covid being a cause is also nonsense, they fired the game's lead dev in March. The community was basically begging for some news and one of the SF guys posted "Don't worry, something is coming!" like two weeks before that announcement. Steamforged is an incredibly terrible group of people and I'd never give them another cent.
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Aug 15, 2020 03:30
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