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Dmitry Yudo aka Overlord, jack of all trades
David Lister aka Listy, Freelancer and Volunteer

Sunday, July 21, 2013

[ALL] New IPs Acquired

As some sources report (link 1, link 2), Wargaming has recently acquired in an auction of now dead Atari two new IPs - Total Annihilation and Master of Orion. "World of " series of games is far from over yet, however it's time to broaden wargames universe. 

Any expectations? 

79 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Fixed it for you: f2p only.

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    2. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....

      i don't have anything against f2p. But there are IP's who shall never become f2p.

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    3. Because if it's a single player experience (which Master of Orion particularly was, and hopefully will be again) I want to be able to just buy my game and play it. Not have sections of it locked away.

      I deal with enough grind in MP games, sometimes I just want a timekiller to cool off by myself.

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    4. F2P should be an inherent part of game design, I do agree that the model itself wouldn't automatically suit any game. Anyway we adhere to the principle of not "tight" monetization

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    5. bullshit!!

      I'd rather play a game I pay 50-60$ and know there won't be any p2w issues with it
      f2p is a cancer, 99.99% of the f2p titles out there are pay to win

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    6. F2P is fine for multiplayer games, but single player should just be buy and play. If you want a game that is a mix of single player and multiplayer, then the single player part should just be purchasable, with the multiplayer being the F2P part. That way, if someone *only* wants the single player part, they buy it and are done. If someone *only* wants the mutiplayer, then they go the F2P route, without having to buy the single player stuff. Make sense?

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  2. New game?
    World of Armoured cars! I keep telling you its the way forward to make tons of cash.
    ;)

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    1. Because there's million of driving games already.

      If you did World of armoured cars... well there's more armoured cars designs than tanks during the same period. Equally it'd be more balanced, at most the average armoured car had less than 30mm of armour often less. Even AT rifles can deal with that.
      More often than not the first forces that bumped into each other would be recce formations using, you guessed it: Armoured cars.

      Armoured cars would be very very very difficult to implement into WoT due to armour and gun developments, however throughout the war most armoured cars stayed at roughly the same level.

      With the recent technology break through of wheel vehicles, WG.net already has done all the leg work. All you need is a bit of programming to monetize it. I've already got lots of ideas on that score!

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    2. Personally I was thinking more towards combination of racing, shooting and progression.

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    3. Ok. I was thinking more of WOT on wheels, with more gold customization visual options.

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    4. so you thinking of making a modern Interstate 76?

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    5. We are thinking about evrrything, literally. Not everything gets greenlight tho.

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    6. Well if you need more to support World of Armoured cars you know where to find me ;)

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    7. I like the idea of an Interstate 76 or Car Wars themed game. Fast vehicles, fixed mount weapons (you aim the guns by aiming the car), dropped weapons (oil slick/mines/spikes), smoke screens, ram plates... it could be fun. :)

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  3. How could you not get fatty bear's birthday surprise. You know how much serb wanted Backyard Sport Franchise ;)

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  4. I have mixed feelings about this. I have never played Total Annihilation games, but Master of Orion is my childhood (along with Master of Magic, which was equally as awesome), so.... try not to screw it up, please. The franchise deserves only the best.

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    1. Its been for a while since last Master of Orion title indeed. And the series deserves decent continuation.

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    2. Lost untold hours playing Master of Orion 1 and 2.

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    3. Master of Orion 1 & 2 were strategy gems. I doubt WG is up to the task of making good a Master of Orion title given WGs previous attempts.

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    4. Previous attempts like? Order of War, Massive Assault?

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    5. Both are RTS as far as I remember. That's really good for TA, and you've got the lead designer of TA working for you, so congrats... But MoO is a different beast. You insert any real time here and you gonna end up in MoO3 category. And I don't even imagine how you intend to put F2P here... Premium Turns? Unlock Doomstars for 1500 gold? how...

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    6. Aurimas, you are not right with at least one thing. Massive Assault was turn-based strategy, not RTS game. And perfectly balanced, if you ask me.

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  6. Total Annihilation was my favourite RTS ever, the never ending stream of user created mods, maps and units just kept this going and going. Thrilled to bits that the IP rights have been acquired but please please don't destroy what made this game so good, being able to play skirmish mode against 3 enemy AI's was great fun.

    Oh and bring back the Krogoth.

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  7. I expect they'll finally make these games "work as intended."

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  8. Whoot. 2 of the best games ever..
    Look forward to WG working on updates for these two games.
    Or whatever they decide to do.

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  9. Master of Orion modern version and multiplayer I'm in.

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    1. We are doing multiplayer games, so thats sort of decided.

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    2. Master of Orion needs a solo player part.

      If you only make it MP and add this always on BS, you will scare the traditional fanbase away. That will kill that game before it even gets going.

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  10. I hope they are not gonna fuck up Total Annihilation. I have high expectations for a sequel as long as it is faithful to the original and doesn't turn in to micro transaction bullshit like WoT is.

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    1. Id be happy if all our games turned into the same bs as WoT

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    2. then you have a lot of BS on your plate - good job! :)

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    3. Yes, I am sure V.Kisly considers WoT a total BS failure... somehow though, that new Mercedes and Crimea datscha help to alleviate his pain a bit... :)

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    4. Just to clarify, I would love to see Total Annihilation being as successful as WoT, but not with similar manner. For example, I don't want to buy premium account to achieve next tier of robots in a RTS game.

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    5. Frank .. your comment am amazes me, knowing very well you eat from the same plate

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  11. I expect the technology used to create another order of war to compete with COH/air land battle.. or another massive assault game.

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    1. as well as IMPROVE CURRENT PROJECTS!!

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    2. No doubt. Current teams will be working on current projects. Its Chris Taylor who has nothing to do at the moment.

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  12. MOO2 for IOS and Android, with working multi-player capebiletys(local/internet)

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  13. Good news.

    Looking forward to more news about those upcoming projects.

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  14. possible to explore directions;
    Steel Panthers(tbs, use limited budgets and smaller units only) done Total Annihilation(rts) style with 5 or 10 per side on BIG maps?
    Sci fi version with "Hammers Slammers" universe?

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    Replies
    1. What I wouldn't give for a decent up to date Hammers game...

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    2. No, no, no.
      Do not make TA a squad-based strategy game. Any sequel to TA should be a massive scale epic RTS or it'll just disappoint. I've got plenty of games to play for squad-based strategy.

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  15. What can we expect from current projects in future?
    Will there be more similar projects?
    Will You make an game similar to WoT/WoWP/WoWS but with infantry?
    What can we expect at all?

    I suppose that players on WoT, WoWS and WoWP forum are trying to get more information, currently they think that they are not informed well.. Try to answer on more questions, try to give them more information.. It should decrease ranting then.

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    1. Not doing any more world of games right now. GPG will most likely involved into smth else. Plus we have got one more top secret project.

      As for plans for wot, wowp, wows - thats a long story. Cant reply in a few words.

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    2. You can always reply(send me pm) on EU WoT, WoWP, WoWS forums.

      Good luck and have fun, anyway this sounds interesting too.

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  16. Any sequels to the IPs Total Annihilation and Master of Orion would be welcome if they are half as good as I anticipate WoWS will be.

    Supreme commander series, a good series in its own right and a spiritual sequel to TA. Master of Orion 3 though was a let down, too many bugs, compared to the previous titles in the series. If we are talking about titles then I would have no complaints if WG got the IP rights to Imperium Galactica. IG2 had some issues and many expected an IG3 but this never happened and a spiritual IG3 was created call Nexus: Jupiter Incident

    I see the current " World of *** " series by WG as just the starting point. Yes previous titles like Order of War are not perfect but then you need to break a few eggs while making the cakes. Also you cannot cook the cake over night as it takes time to get all the ingredients together. It looks to me that this is happening with the quality of the media released about WoWS and the maps and engine use in WoWP which I was part of during Beta. The future looks bright for WG ... so for now I am behind you all the way with with any A grade IPs you acquire so good luck with TA and MOO and cant wait to hear your ideas about them.

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  17. How about updating the orginal version of MOO & MOO2 & TA so that they can run on modern OS platforms... That would be welcome. MOO as a game I played a lot when I was younger and I would love to see it come back. I have mixed feelings about it being a micro transaction game. To be truely accepted by the old hardcore MOO fan's it would need to be very true to the earlier titles...

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    1. All MOO, MOO2 and TA are available from gog com site (DRM free). They bundle Dosbox for most of old games that have problems with modern systems.

      So you can either buy from them (6$ or so) or configure Dosbox by yourself (it's free) if you have the game already.

      As far as MOO games go I was a big fan of MOO and MOO2 but I did hate MOO3.

      I am looking forward to f2p World of Orion from WG! It would be great if it was a turn-based game.

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    2. I agree with MOO3. I am aware of DosBox and have used it.

      I'm just saying I would pay for the option of an updated OS and maybe graphics version.

      I am hopefull of what WG will do with one my all time Fav games. Just hopefull I will not be disapointed as well.

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  18. Is Mr.Chris Taylor happy with the acquisition of his old franchise? Will he finally get the chance to make Total Annihaltion 2?

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    1. now with added micro-transactions .. yay! not!

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    2. Chris is definitely happy - saw his reaction on FB. His prodigal son is now back after all.)

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    3. Chris Taylor seemed to be pretty happy about joining WG. He can make games without worrying about money.

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    4. games is broad term
      he was happy his studio dodged the bullet

      as for the games he'll be making, they will be games WG orders him to do, not the games Chris wants to do
      before the aquisition, GPG was working on a game, where is that? dead

      oh, and last time I checked, GPG Net was still down - so much for WG caring; they don't care, they want money, money and more money

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    5. All hear industry expert zmeul! Anything else you can share with us, pretty pls? Im all ears.

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    6. I'm an industry expert now? can I haz you job then :)

      when WG has the ability to fuck something up, you can count on them to fuck it up
      case and point: WoWp

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    7. Feel free to apply then

      WoWP is not failure.

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    8. WoWp not a failure ... mwhahhahaha, you're funny

      as for me applying for a job at WG, any job ... not even if my life would depend on it

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    9. Pity. I"d at least consider you for cleaning staff openings.

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    10. I'd be overqualified for those positions, "industry expert" and all that

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    11. WoWP is not really a good game YET. But it is still in beta, and I have high expectations for WoWP in the future.
      I think at the beginning of WoT also a lot of people found it a failure.

      WoWP needs more perfection like WoT does. If it does, maybe it'll get better than the War Thunder planes section. Because I know that War Thunder is played more than WoWP.

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  19. Overlord... my dream game... A modern remake of steel panthers or something similar. Turn based, PBEM option, with WoT graphics. Throw in a persistant world map option similar to CWs.... I know about spwaw and spmbt.. they are running on a modified version of the original dos engine.

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    1. Doubt we are going to do smth turn-based. I used to be a fan of tbs as well though.

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  20. TA online RTS made by GPG could be good.

    but please make a MOO game like 1 and 2. not a WoT in space with spaceships instead of tanks.

    MOO is 4X turn based. anything else it;s just bastardization of the IP.

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    Replies
    1. These games wont belong to World of series, they will be different.

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  21. Oh. My. God. You guys just aquired two games from my personal list of THE best games ever made by human race (right next to Civ, or Close Combat series). MOO was one of the best 4X strategies, with limitless potential, and Total Annihilation... well, I used to review it for Polish games magazine when it was released, and I honestly rated it 98%, because apart from the first real 3D RTS, it was way ahead of it's time when it came to scale of battles, number of available units (with one of the first DLCs ever that introduced even more of them), interaction with evironoment (recyclable wrecks, vegetation, ruins, etc., hills that could cover you from some long range artilery, underwater bases), not to mention one thing that most RTS games don't have even now- any shot fired was not guaranteed to hit, even homing missiles could be evaded by planes that were actualy trying to dodge them. Oh, and you could at least try to shoot anything with any gun- there was nothing more satisfying that a bomber tanking direct hit from a battleship, as it was turning after bomb/torpedo run. Total Annihilation had a bad luck of being released just prior to Star Craft which cenrtainly is a good RTS, but not better that TA, sadly Blizzard was better at selling their game and TA eventualy vanished from the market.
    I'm aware of WG's origins and it's quite clear that you're at least as much into strategy and tactical games as I am, so I have no doubt that you'll make them both shine again. I've never commented on any articles here before, but I'm a frequent guest on this blog and I think it's a good opportunity to say that Wargaming managed to materialize plenty of ideas that me and many other players had about games, ideas that other game developers seemed to ignore for so long, that we almost accepted their non-existance. I won't even specify all the things that I saw in your games and I tought "hey, that's one of the feature that I always wanted to see!", so with that, and TA/MMO, I've got really great expectations. As always, keeping my fingers crossed.

    Dominik/Vivisector

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    1. Thx, mate. Will do our best to not let you down.

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  22. With great IPs comes great responsibility...

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    1. Thats true. However its time for new things, cant do world of games all the time.

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  23. You guys bought GPG and TA? Wow, Viktor must have really loved TA.

    Bring on TA2!

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  24. I can bet moo4 will be a real time, multiplayer, "f2p" game if I understood correctly? Not a classical single player box? I guess there are 3 outcomes for the quality: revoulutionary, excellent, dissapointing.
    Personally, I'm dissapointed by WG's stubbornness - I would attribute it to failed management, but that would be a bet. I'm playing MOO2 since it came out, till present day on my laptop so I'll play MOO4, how ever it turns out. Can't congratulate you on those acquisitions though.

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  25. Nice to see someone pick up on Total Annihilation again.

    Will we be able to see a new game (either remake, sequel or what have you) with the name to compete with the likes of Planetary Annihilation?

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