Another developer vs. publisher debacle

[ywhtptgtfo]

Instead of it being Ubisoft vs. Blackhole this time, it is Paradox Interactive vs. UV.

Background: UV is developing a game called "Magna Mundi" which is supposed to be one of the most sophisticated historical grand strategy games. It originated as a popular mod for a Paradox Interactive game called "Europa Universalis III" and was given a green light to turn that mod into a full game (kinda like in some way DOTA I suppose).

Current Situation: Apparently, the product had missed 2 deadlines by now and is likely not to make the 3rd release deadline. Paradox Interactive released a statement announcing a possible cancellation of the project due to recurring stability issues in the game on multiple levels and a degree of pessimism regarding whether or not the product can be released on time with an appropriate level of quality.

The statement triggered comments from fans supporting or criticizing the various parties. The developers also actively took part in the discussion and tried to quell the worries by denouncing the publisher's statement as an exaggeration of the situation.

IMO: The devs sounded pretty pissed and were pretty combative on some occasions. Definitely a contrast with the Ubi vs. BH incident where it's just this alleged BH dev mouthing off and mysteriously deleting his posts afterwards.

Original Statement:

Hi all,

I wanted to give you an update on the current state of project Magna Mundi. Unfortunately its fate is looking grim. The latest Release Candidate was not at all where it needs to be, far from it.

We failed the latest Release Candidate due to numerous crashes, and will deliver a more extensive list of bugs to the dev team this week.

This latest submission follows a string of Release Candidates who were also failed, and the sad fact is we see just as many crashes, bugs and imbalances as we did 6 months ago, some of them brand new and some of them old and well known. This is not a good sign and a terrible sad one as well as it indicates that the development of the game is not happening in a controlled manner. The game was announced in Jan 2010 and the target was a 2011 release. We have reached a point where we no longer can see an end to this, at least not honestly.

We will see what power the developers can muster to remedy the many holes in the game, but given the recent history of development hopes are not high. It cannot go on like this, and we are at a point where time, money and patience is long gone. Only hard and sad choices remain. Choices we will not make lightly but need to make. We will keep you posted.

Mattias Lilja
Executive Producer of Magna Mundi

Source: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/sho ... of-affairs

[ywhtptgtfo]

Update:

1. The game got cancelled. The publisher, Paradox Interactive cited developmental issues, stagnated progress, and mutual distrust with the developer Universo Virtual.

Hi all,

today Paradox Interactive decided to cancel Magna Mundi. It will not see the light of day under the current set up: Universo Virtual (UV) will not be part of this project any more.

The reasons for cancelling the contract with Universo Virtual include the following:

- Lack of progress; we have seen this project drag on and the code we have gotten has not shown significant improvement for many months. Some old and known problems persists and new ones appear with each delivery.

-L ack of trust; the leadership of UV has given a sunshine version of the project to Paradox and reacted with irritation and anger when we have pointed out obvious problems with the deliveries. It has come to a point where they claim the project is done, and the game is ready for release – despite the many critical issues found and reported on our end.

- Internal strife within the MM team; we have gotten information from members within the MM team desperate to save the project whom report to us that the project lacks active leadership. Key personnel in the project see what Paradox sees but instead gets silenced by the UV leadership.

All in all, these are not circumstances under which we can work with a team and it will now stop. At this point we have no more news than the above.

Sincerely and regretfully,
Mattias Lilja
Executive Producer for Magna Mundi

Source: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/sho ... st13978345

2. Days later the CEO Universo Virtual announced the possibility of a lawsuit

Greetings Magna Mundi fans,

I am just writing this post to let you know that Universo Virtual and myself will answer in the proper legal forum to the weird "cancellation" of the game. I'd also like to make it known the "cancellation" issue is just a detail on everything that's going to be settled there.

I am not going to allow that my name and my credibility are to be placed in jeopardy as they have been for some time now. I intend to come out of this with a big smile in my face and my name clean.


In the following days Universo Virtual legal team will make a public statement about this issue.


Thank you for your support,

Carlos Gustavo Benavente

Source: http://forum.universo-virtual.com/viewt ... =13&t=4291

[Kalah]

Sounds a bit silly to me. Like they're saying: "OK, we failed to make the game, but we're gonna sue you for cancelling it ..."

[ywhtptgtfo]

Yeah it seems like there are major issues of competence on the part of the devs. But what's most hilarious of all is that the devs are/were openly attacking the publisher and the gamers. It also appeared that one of them tried to use an anonymous account to bad mouth the publisher and got banned.

[GreatEmerald]

Well, cancelling a game is also a mean thing to do. Sure, it may be an Obvious Beta, but it's better than nothing! In fact, if they're willing to not release the game at all, why not open-source it and let the community do the work for them? All that work going down the drain is just silly.

[ShadowLiberal]

Long term it's probably better for PV to cancel it without it being released rather then burn it's reputation releasing a crappy product that doesn't work. That could hurt their sales of all their games long term.

Still, it would probably be better to invest the extra time and money in actually getting a good quality game out, rather than give up and sue each other.

[GreatEmerald]

No it wouldn't burn the reputation. In case of MM9, it was pushed as an actual finished version. Here it would be labelled as a beta, so nobody could get confused; and if they really want to, they can just remove all the references that they are the publishers of the project, and that's it, they won't be associated with it.

[jeff]

Here it would be labelled as a beta, so nobody could get confused;

Really, and you think would buy it?

[GreatEmerald]

Who said it would be full price? Make it half. It's a bargain, so it would be good to buy it just to experiment and develop mods on it. And then it wouldn't be a complete loss to both the developer and publisher.

[jeff]

Who said it would be full price? Make it half. It's a bargain, so it would be good to buy it just to experiment and develop mods on it. And then it wouldn't be a complete loss to both the developer and publisher.

We failed the latest Release Candidate due to numerous crashes, and will deliver a more extensive list of bugs to the dev team this week.

This latest submission follows a string of Release Candidates who were also failed, and the sad fact is we see just as many crashes, bugs and imbalances as we did 6 months ago, some of them brand new and some of them old and well known. This is not a good sign and a terrible sad one as well as it indicates that the development of the game is not happening in a controlled manner. The game was announced in Jan 2010 and the target was a 2011 release. We have reached a point where we no longer can see an end to this, at least not honestly.

Ok, if you say so; why anyone would want to buy at any price a game that crashes, has bugs and imbalances. Oh wait that sound like.......