glasshawk

Simple business lessons? I work in the software industry. I've been a programmer for about 15 years. I watched the way EA moved in, bought Access Software, pillaged the games they made, and then fire everyone there who wasn't willing to take a pay cut and move to California. No small time game company has the money to go through the whole development cycle of a game without a publisher willing to back the game. An established company, with a number of games that can push a large number of units might be able to do it, but those companies can nearly always self-publish. And do you think a big softare company is just going to give 15 million dollars to a small company out of the goodness of their corporate heart? Not going to happen. Before any company hands over that much money, there are contracts in place that pretty much bind that game to the funding company. Once this hits court, its going to come out that Double Fine signed away part of the rights on the game, and their attempting to sell the game's publishing rights to EA is a breach of said contract. Activision and EA will come to a mutual agreement on this, wherein EA publishes the game but ends up paying royalties to Activision or pays a much larger then 15 million dollars to get the full rights to the game. Been there, watched the same kind of thing happen from the front lines of a company. So go cry all you want how Activision is evil, every company is this way. If a independant company had gone through EA, Microsoft, UBISoft, or anyone elseand got money to make a game, there are strings attached. And no company is going to just cut those strings. Activision may have scuttled development of the game, but ater sinking that much money into the development of it, no way are they just going to give EA a free 15 million on a game and go happily skipping through the flowers.

So before you go telling me to learn business or logic, go work in the software industry. Or even better, go wrap yourself in bacon and swim in the shark tank, that would be safer.

-Karasudark-

Too bad that Activision/Sierra paid the startup money for this game. So in this vein, Activision-Blizzard deserves royalties/revenue to offset the money they paid for the development of this game. And to use the art scenario, Activision paid for your food, paint, brushes, canvas, and shed you painted in.

So you all would be ok if someone gave you a large amount of money to paint a picture and after you were partway done, they decided they didn't want you to finish the picture. They paid for the picture right? So its theirs, not yours, not unless you give all the money back. But you then take that picture to someone else and they say they will pay you to finish the picture. But doesn't the picture belong to the first guy? So you can't give the picture to someone else who doesn't own it. So when you try to give the picture to the second guy, the first is going to get mad for sure. You are stealing from him effectively. That is what is going on here, not Activision-Blizzard being the evil empire. You want evil empire, look at EA. They came into Utah, bought 6 small game companies, laid off the people working on them, and sent the game ideas to California to be made. So is EA the good guys? I think not. I've been dealing with EA since the days of Hard Hat Mack and Archon, and EA is no longer in it for the games. They just want the next big thing that will make them the money they need to buy a mansion and a yacht.

Yes please?