Why does this guy constantly talk smack about the game I like so much?

If a developer were to make say 3 or 4 MMO games, using the same engine, they could create a great business model because often in MMOs various parts of the teams are not being utilized because they are either ahead or other teams are behind, so you have those teams working on other projects and way you get everyone being used efficiently to produce more with the same amount of people and cost. You then link the games together and allow a monthly sub for 1 to allow access to all the others for as much content as you have bought.

This allows a single team produce the work of several teams and with a engine upgrade you upgrade all titles... you also pool the subs so if the niches don't overlap you tap into a pool of subs that have minor interests in the other niches and spend a bit of money on them >.>

This is a great model and Cryptic is one of the only companies to be shown to have the potential to do it right now but the problem... Cryptic has a bad rep and with that rep it can't do it and there in lies its failure.

Cryptic is going down that path - one 'engine' team and then a separate team for each game. They also appear to spend less on MMO development than other studios - according to recent Emmert interviews, CoH cost US$6m to develop and CoV cost US$8m (which is about half what I've heard, but anyway). This is in an industry where MMOs are increasingly costing tens of millions - APB cost between $50m and $80 (maybe even closer to $100m) depending on where you look and it basically closed in 3 months.

I've got no idea about how much was spend on ChampO or STO, but I doubt either of them cost $50m just to launch. There appears to be a general plan to be profitable on about 100k players for each title, which is a sensible target, but it also restricts the size of the development budget (and hence features that make it into the game).

Interesting tidbit I saw today: Aaron Brady (don't think he had a red name) who stayed with Paragon Studios when Cryptic sold out to NCsoft - and was Chief of Technology at NCsoft for a bit - is the Executive Producer of Cryptic's Neverwinter title.

The reason MMOs cost so much is because of one piece of the puzzle.

Anyone who has developed an MMO doesn't want others to so they don't license their engine. Engines are the single most expensive part of most games to license...and to make, well it's a huge cost.

So anyone who hasn't made an MMO before can't make an MMO now without incurring this huge cost.

Now...If you have that engine already made and it's yours then your costs are pretty much reduced to art assets, the story and world building, and pretty much data entry and module creation.

Also with the engine already made it reduces time for MMO creation because you don't have to waste time building it, and in general because you don't have to spend time learning it.


The problem with Cryptic is that they don't realize what they have the ability to do and are trashing their own reputation with bad huge amounts of bad PR, horrible word of mouth, and noone really liking their products (CoH excluded) but are viewed as the only place to get x experience... such as STO.

Its interesting how time fogs the history and the real story behind Slippery Jack's work:

(Spring 2004)
City of Heroes launches.

(November 11th 2004)

Cryptic and NC Soft being sued by Marvel:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/20...-avatars_x.htm

(October 31st 2005)

City of Villains launches

(December 15th 2005)

Announcement of the suit being dropped by Marvel:
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardwar...arvel_ncsoft/1

(September 26th 2006)

Less than a year later, Microsoft n Marvel announce Cryptic to design Marvel Universe Online.
http://marvel.com/news/vgstories.655.marvel_mmo

(November 6th 2007)

NC Soft announced they're buying CoX's IP and taking 15% of the staff from Cryptic with it:
http://kotaku.com/319628/ncsoft-acqu...tes-new-studio

(November 13-14th 2007)

First announcements that Microsoft will be cancelling their funding/agreements for the developement of the Marvel game with Cryptic. The official announcement doesnt happen until 3 months after this:
http://www.1up.com/news/leaked-detai...niverse-online

Read the information why: 2-6 months prior to this, the game was in major dispute of how to get it to work and virtually little to nothing to show for over a year's time since the game was announced to be developed. That's telling.

(February 11th 2008)

Final Official announcement occurring:
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/02/marvel-universe/

(February 20th 2008)

Shortly(and boy do I mean shortly) there after Cryptic announces the developement of Champions online:
http://www.1up.com/news/cryptic-anno...ampions-online

Essentially Champions was the fragments left over from the Marvel project. Supposedly now independent, infused with cash from the sale of CoX's IP and free of contractual obligations(and profit sharing) with MS and Marvel, they now get to take those fragments and try to make something of it.

(December 9th 2008)

Atari annouces the purchase of Cryptic. (Evendently they weren't that cash infused afterall).
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/12/09/at...yptic-studios/

Notice they were supposedly to recieve a 20mil cash bonus if CO and STO did well....

(March 18th 2009)

First stories of Cryptic using NC Soft and CoX forums to send out official Beta invites for their Champions game.
http://www.massively.com/2009/03/18/...eta-recruitme/

Then on the 20th of March it is confirmed:
http://www.1up.com/news/cryptic-conf...ng-city-heroes

This goes to show the type of thinking that pretty much is reflected prior to this and after this with the management philosophy and "game development". It also perhaps shows their desperation with regards to the Atari purchase and "incentives". This article implies Cryptic is a "publisher cast off" as well, hehe.


(September 2009)
Champions online releases amidst a myriad of issues and controversy
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Essentially what you have here is that bad developement and mismanagement led to the these chain of events.

Central to all of it: Jack Emmert.

So I'm not suprised -in-the-least- to see repeatedly over the years Jack's comments one day praising next day slagging CoX. I'm also not suprised in the least with how he's using the same rhetoric, used car salesman talk with regards to his next pet rock project.