What is happening at Black Isle?

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 6:03 am

From [url="http://www.Gamespy.com"]www.Gamespy.com[/url]

"It's official. Interplay has now sent out a brief note on the cancellation of Black Isle's fantasy RPG TORN, which was revealed just four months ago at the Game Developers Conference. When contacted by HomeLAN after receiving this note, a spokesperson for Interplay would not comment on why the game was cancelled nor on what the remaining Black Isle team members are currently working on. Here is the note we just received:

Black Isle Studios' title, TORN, has been canceled. In conjunction with the cancellation, five of the 56 member Black Isle Studios staff were laid off. All of the remaining members of the TORN team are now working on other internal Black Isle Studios RPG products"

Maybe they are panicking about meeting the promised release date for NWN?

We should get these five members onto Gamebanshee!

[ 07-30-2001: Message edited by: Yshania ]

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 6:12 am

Shouldn't this be in the RPG discussion thread?

IT is a sad state of affairs, i am bemused, why would they sack 5 members of staff if they were under stress about Neverwinter.

It is suprising to see you about at this time Ysh

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 6:27 am

Hi Sleep!

Whoops - I was switching between boards sorry! I will post it on RPG! lol!

It was my guess on Neverwinter.

I am around at this time as I am working earlies at the moment

Ok - too late! It is already on RPG. I am slow on the uptake again....
I thought I would pop in and see what was going on....

[ 07-30-2001: Message edited by: Yshania ]

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 7:04 am

Lots of strange things are afoot

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 9:16 am

Let's all hope interplay isn't in finaical trouble...

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 10:41 am

Maybe Weasel could sub them a few quid

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 11:05 am

@Aegis, I don't think Interplay is hurting. They've posted good profits for several years. But a company doesn't get that way by producing games which only do well--they have to smell like fantastic success. Perhaps the odor of success around TORN just wasn't strong enough for Fargo.

Drakron Du´Dark · Post by **Drakron Du´Dark** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 11:55 am

4-5 people of Torn have been laid off of Black Isle.
The remaining were reassigned.
I belive that Interplay itself did fired more people.
The end result is about 50 people but Black Isle itsef lost only 4-5 people.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jul 30, 2001 2:04 pm

On a slightly more upbeat note, I've been told that yes, Pool of Radiance *is* set to release in October, and that the folks who are designing it are alreadly in negotiation with Ubi Soft on another CRPG followup title. I've also heard the same thing, with mention of the word "engine improvements," for Troika Games' contract with Sierra, following the expected release of Arcanum in September.

Nippy · Post by **Nippy** » Tue Jul 31, 2001 3:50 am

I would hate to say this Ladies and Gentlemen but all is not well at Interplay. Their stock has dropped by 41% and they have laid off a total of 15 members of staff. At the moment Interplay, even though the quality of they games they release is fantastic, are in serious trouble. They are one of the worst out there at the moment. It really does sadden me to see that. Most of my games are Interplay...

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Tue Jul 31, 2001 4:27 am

This is quite a state of affairs. Why is it that companies like EA can release crap titles or sports titles that are all the same and make a huge profit and a company who produces innovative and stylish products are running into financial trouble.

I will lament at the loss of such a fantastic company as Interplay, why do i get the feeling that fairly soon it will be EA and Microsoft as the only people producing games for the PC. Which in this little spammers opinion is not a good thing

Nippy · Post by **Nippy** » Tue Jul 31, 2001 5:33 am

@ Sleepy I definitely agree. I have the Freespace series, Giants: Citizen Kabuto (hilarious game btw), Sacrifice, the BG series. What is good is that Interplay go for the smaller development companies and make them big. Who ever heard of Planet Moon before Giants?

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Tue Jul 31, 2001 5:55 am

Originally posted by Nippy:
<STRONG>@ Sleepy I definitely agree. I have the Freespace series, Giants: Citizen Kabuto (hilarious game btw), Sacrifice, the BG series. What is good is that Interplay go for the smaller development companies and make them big. Who ever heard of Planet Moon before Giants?</STRONG>

I don't own the freespace series but i own Giants, sacrifice and the BG Series (all of the Black Isle games in fact) Giants was undoubtedly one of the funniest games ever.

It had me ROTFLMAO on many occasions "TIMMY!" ROFL

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Jul 31, 2001 6:05 am

I would hate to say this Ladies and Gentlemen but all is not well at Interplay. Their stock has dropped by 41% and they have laid off a total of 15 members of staff.

Now, wait a sec. Let's check this out for a minute.

I can't speak to the loss of 15 staff, but has anybody else discovered where those 15 came from? Were they actual layoffs, or were they people temporarily hired for a given project who were terminated when that project concluded? Concerning at least 5 of the above, I'd heard they were the latter.

Regarding Interplay Entertainment (NASDAQ: IPLY), they're not doing fantastically well, but they're doing fair. Their stock has always been volatile. They reached a high of about 4 in November last year (which you'd expect from a computer games company), and a low of about 1.30 is April. In May, they were up at 4, again. Earlier this month, they were around 1.4. Now, they're at 1.8.

I wouldn't worry about 'em, yet. The time to start worrying isn't when the stock nosedives or some people are laid off, but when they stop delivering at least a couple of big hits a year. Those hits fuel the employment and the stock highs.

[ 07-31-2001: Message edited by: fable ]

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Tue Jul 31, 2001 6:17 am

Thanks for clarifying things Fable. What are your opinions on EA and Microsoft?

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Jul 31, 2001 6:27 am

@Sleep, just my opinion--but I'm worried about EA. Their internal expenses are enormous (they pay their executives huge salaries and perks), while making their cash off one internal division (EA Sports) and acquisitions that either produce quickly or are immediately used as cannon fodder: Origin Systems and Berkeley Systems come to mind. Their leverage is heavy marketing and great retail connections. Right now they're pushing heavily into the console market. Assuming that works for 'em, I'd expect the PC games to be phased out in the future.

3DO is having troubles, too. Their cash cow was New World Computing, but they over-milked NWC's Heroes of Might & Magic series, IMO. They're more than a year away at least from a new Might & Magic, and the last one, very quickly churned out, did relatively poorly.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Tue Jul 31, 2001 6:33 am

Originally posted by fable:
<STRONG>@Sleep, just my opinion--but I'm worried about EA. Their internal expenses are enormous (they pay their executives huge salaries and perks), while making their cash off one internal division (EA Sports) and acquisitions that either produce quickly or are immediately used as cannon fodder: Origin Systems and Berkeley Systems come to mind. Their leverage is heavy marketing and great retail connections. Right now they're pushing heavily into the console market. Assuming that works for 'em, I'd expect the PC games to be phased out in the future.
</STRONG>

Is this common knowledge? I am usually fairly up to date with the technology market but i did not realise EA were acting quite so stupidly. They remind me of a British train company i could mention and look at what is happening to them

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Jul 31, 2001 6:54 am

Sleep writes:
Is this common knowledge? I am usually fairly up to date with the technology market but i did not realise EA were acting quite so stupidly.

Within the industry, yeah--and even outside, if you think about it. They pushed Ultima VIII out the door without Garriott's knowledge, which p*ssed him off. They pushed Ultima IX out the door when it was clearly half-done; not that many of us considered it an RPG so much as a beautiful action game, but still... They touted the latest version of Ultima Online, then decided it wouldn't pay, killed it, fired its staff--and of course, kept the same heavily salaried executives who never seem to do anything at the company.

Take a look at [url="http://www.fatbabies.com"]www.fatbabies.com[/url]. It is *not* an unbiased website. The opinions and attitudes expressed are often juvenile, the rumors are often wrong, but the "stories" section is sometimes right on the mark with its information. There's more than enough accuracy in its archive of EA material because they've have a series of insiders relaying information. It at least hints (in the most lurid fashion possible, unfortunately) at the layer of unproductive fat which has accumulated around the top levels of one of the most venerable computer gaming companies.

[ 07-31-2001: Message edited by: fable ]

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Tue Jul 31, 2001 7:11 am

Thanks Fable i will check out hte link at the next possible conveinience.

Nippy · Post by **Nippy** » Tue Jul 31, 2001 10:25 am

Ok I didn't realise that Interplay is volatile, sorry to worry people I only read it in a magazine so sometimes they can be wrong! However I agree with Fables POV on EA. There is a lot of talent there but they don't seem to make much use of it...