Atari Drops Cryptic

Basically, yes, but I can't imagine someone wouldn't buy Cryptic.

push comes to shove I have a large Hobbit hole on LOTR online everyone can crash at, ya know... should the need arise ;)

Quote by Captdry

push comes to shove I have a large Hobbit hole on LOTR online everyone can crash at, ya know... should the need arise ;)

Much appreciated but I can't get the Pando Media Craptastic to work correctly.

It's shocking news definitely but I'm not too concerened. Cryptic is a good company that has made some very successful and quality products. I'm sure Atari invested a lot in the development of STO which is probably a good sized part of their profit losses over the last two years. They were hoping to get a quick return on a sizeable investment but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way and it seems a lot of companies have forgotten that. It's like the TV networks that cancel TV shows in their first or second seasons before they can actually build a sizable audience. But this'll probably be a good thing for Cryptic because once they find a new home (and they will) they will no longer owe Atari for their losses and they'll go on doing what they do. The way that press release was worded was a little overdramatized; companies do indeed get bought, sold, traded, merged, invested, and divested all the time by larger corporations all the time. Unless the company is being dissolved and sold off bit by bit (which Cryptic isn't) it's things don't really change much for the company itself. I work next door to Konami and know some people there and they've said that Cryptic has nothing to worry about although they do think its strange that this happened almost 2 months ago and this is the first anyone's hearing about it.

To respond to the statement about Cryptic and City of Heroes/Villains. Cryptic did in fact originally create COH/V. However the higher ups had a falling out with NCSoft who owned the proprietary rights to the COH/V universe. So Cryptic basically split, about 1/3 of their workforce stayed with NCSoft and created Paragon Studios to replace Cryptic. They sold off the little bit of shares and rights they had to the engines to NCSoft. Hence they created Champions Online because at the time they knew superheroes. And since Cryptic was one of the father figures, credit has to be given to them for their work, so their name is still on the product in places.. That "experience" with MMO engines, also gave them a foot in the door when they bid on the Star Trek liscence as well.. ;)

Quote by chemkarate

Hm, that sucks, but more for the people at Cryptic. I'm not too worried about the game for the time being. Additionally, I'm pretty sure that my lifetime sub has actually broken even by now, so I'm not worried about having lost money either. :P

The one company I really, really do not want buying Cryptic is Activision-Blizzard, and that's mostly because of the Activision section. They way they run products into the ground and treat their employees is downright shameful. If Bobby Kotick gets his hands on Cryptic, that is when I will pour a 40 on the curb, as STO's demise will be all but certain.

I don't think Activision will ever pick up STO. I have to admit they were the best designers of Star Trek gaming in my opinion, but after all the law suits I don't think they'd consider it. I also agree they are terrible to their employees and while they made good games they often ran them into the ground, SFC3 anyone? Unless there is speculation I haven't heard :P

Quote by Ranir

To respond to the statement about Cryptic and City of Heroes/Villains. Cryptic did in fact originally create COH/V. However the higher ups had a falling out with NCSoft who owned the proprietary rights to the COH/V universe. So Cryptic basically split, about 1/3 of their workforce stayed with NCSoft and created Paragon Studios to replace Cryptic. They sold off the little bit of shares and rights they had to the engines to NCSoft. Hence they created Champions Online because at the time they knew superheroes. And since Cryptic was one of the father figures, credit has to be given to them for their work, so their name is still on the product in places.. That "experience" with MMO engines, also gave them a foot in the door when they bid on the Star Trek liscence as well.. ;)

I have to admit I wish Cryptic would have mad CO more like COH... I know that's bad, but wow I loved COH :P

Would be interesting if Blizzard picked it up.

Quote by Jasonmillard

Companies do indeed get bought, sold, traded, merged, invested, and divested by larger corporations all the time.

This is so true.

Gotta love people who don't know what they are talking about, or even play...

http://www.gamebreaker.tv/this-week-in-mmo-48-divesting/

Hats off to the guy in the Angry Birds tee for ticking the box of every negative stereotype I associate with American gamers lol

Shallow is a good word for STO to be honest. I'll probs rage the beast for saying that...

Saying a game is shallow doesn't rile me one bit at all as it is very much true.

Even free form games such as Oblivion are shallow as at the end of the day they all folow the same format: you fight stuff by using basic abilities or powers, loot your enemy to get better stuff or trash to get money. You then raise your level and get tougher monsters to do the same.

Sure there are slightly different looks each 'level' but they are all basically the same. For a game to be complex and not be shallow would take so much programming that in the end a human player would likely not even be able to play it easily. I must admit though if they could introduce an 'Elite'esque trading element into the game it could help keep those who want to do a Farmville session and not blow stuff up.. Still maybe the duty officer system will do that role beautifully.