Hypothetically. Reality Studios

[Maverick]

Hey gents, and gals, I was wondering, I just read the PR2 thread(again lol) and I came up across a thought:

If a publisher such as EA, or Activision, came up to RS(Reality Studios) and offered you a chance of acquisition, would you do it? What if they saw PR and saw that PR2 was in development, and saw the potential and wanted to support you? If not, what if they said that you will get a huge budget and the freedom to do what you want? Would love to get a DEV's opinion and the general public

[charliegrs]

I doubt if the PR team was approached by a major development studio (and they accepted) that the end result would resemble anything like the PR we know and love. It would probably be another water downed, dumbed down, Modern Warfare or Call of Duty type game. In other words, it wouldnt be PR anymore, but it would make lots of money and thats what the studios care about. I dont think they would give the DEVs full freedom either, because ask yourself this: If PR was sold in stores (in its current incarnation) how many copies do you think it would sell? Probably not too many. The ADD generation just wouldnt have the patience for it. PR is a niche product, its part of what makes it so good but it also is somewhat sad because a lot of hard work and dedication went into it only to be played by a (relatively)small amount of people.

It is an interesting question though, Id love to hear what the DEVs have to say about it.

[ShockUnitBlack]

The funny thing is PR's server population would seemingly suggest the PR model is a good business model also. It's not very often you see a six year old mod - let alone a game - running with average server populations of 250+ players.

[charliegrs]

The funny thing is PR's server population would seemingly suggest the PR model is a good business model also. It's not very often you see a six year old mod - let alone a game - running with average server populations of 250+ players.

I agree, its very impressive that PR has the amount of players it has for a mod based on such an old engine. But I think it is more due to the fact that PR addresses a player base that is more or less unserved by any other game (maybe the ARMA series) which is the FPS player who demands realism. I would love to see what would happen if a major game studio made a military FPS solely based on realism yet kept the fun aspect like PR has. Sadly, I dont think a game like that would sell very well to the general public.

[Maverick]

I agree, its very impressive that PR has the amount of players it has for a mod based on such an old engine. But I think it is more due to the fact that PR addresses a player base that is more or less unserved by any other game (maybe the ARMA series) which is the FPS player who demands realism. I would love to see what would happen if a major game studio made a military FPS solely based on realism yet kept the fun aspect like PR has. Sadly, I dont think a game like that would sell very well to the general public.

Unfortunately, you are correct because well for one, PR is only for one maybe two types of audiences. Realistic Gamers, and Teamwork Gamers. Kids these days only know how to play COD and not play fair. It's really unfortunate when a game doesn't sell just because it doesn't have features of another game or doesn't feel like another game.(Speaking of which, im tired of seeing games that use auto regen health, the only game that I have played that last used the health packs was MoH: Airborne, maybe a little regen, but at least it had health packs, but that's why I love PR )

[hobbnob]

I think it would be more likely that BIS would offer this kind of financial support. They've made realistic games before (Arma) and know that it's a viable business model as it is. The main BF2 mod wouldn't develop any faster, and neither would the splinter mods. This is because the EULA of BF2 says you can't make money of any mod, so there's no point in a company putting money into it.

Instead you'd get an increase in the speed of development of PR2, but possibly a rushed release similar to BIS's previous titles.

If EA itself managed to get influence on PR, it would probably try and steer it more towards the cod style market, because it sells more basically.

[badmojo420]

I think if a big company was looking to back PR Studios, they would do it because they see PR offering something that isn't already on the market. They wouldn't want to dictate how the game was going to be made, because if they did that, buying the PR team is pointless.

And even if they made a game similar to COD to make the higher ups happy, it's still going to be in the spirit of PR. Could you imagine how good a Call of Duty game could be if the PR devs got their hands on the source and just tweaked things? PR isn't all that different from vBF2, but those small changes set it apart from almost everything else on the market.

[Spec]

The community is a major aspect of what sets PR apart from your average game. Let a huge bunch of average gamers lose onto PR, and it'll quickly turn into a horrible playing experience, and then quickly die, except for a few hardcore fans who'd stick around - and then we're where we were already.

A game like this won't be a huge commercial success. Doesn't mean it can't be commercial, see ArmA, but it won't be a huge best-seller.

[narref]

The community is a major aspect of what sets PR apart from your average game. Let a huge bunch of average gamers lose onto PR, and it'll quickly turn into a horrible playing experience, and then quickly die, except for a few hardcore fans who'd stick around - and then we're where we were already.

A game like this won't be a huge commercial success. Doesn't mean it can't be commercial, see ArmA, but it won't be a huge best-seller.

Agree, a commercial version of PR might not be a huge succes but still it would be viable just like ArmA is or Paradox Plaza games are.

[Bringerof_D]

hey man i have A.D.D. and i have more paitence than the virtue itself. which allows me to play exceptionally well.

good example of why i dont believe in ADD, I was supposed to ahve it too when i was in elementary school, then i joined Cadets, then later the Army. That straightened me out just fine. Yes it's a real condition but really it didn't seem to make a difference any other time before we knew about it. Parents just have no ability now a days to keep their kids in line.

back on topic. I would buy it, i know a few other people who would, and that's about it. YES this is a 6 year old game with servers running with lots of people playing at almost anytime. but how many different players are there? I'd say at best given we have about 200 or so players on at any given time that our full player base is somewhere around 500. Increase advertising throw a famous logo on it, give it a cooler name but keep PR the way it is and we may see it increase to say 1000 or 2000. That is not profitable. Sure a long time from now those 2000 people will still be playing the game, but only 2000 will have bought the game This type of long term success is only profitable if there is a regular fee that must be paid. Similar to WOW or other MMOs. Generally though FPS are not meant for long term playability. PR's Success will only be whittled down by such a fee.

[Jaymz]

If not, what if they said that you will get a huge budget and the freedom to do what you want?

They wouldn't I'm afraid. Companies like EA and Activision are publishers, not just distributors. They would want a certain amount of say in the creative process and we'd be opposed to that regardless of the company.

The only way game developers get total creative control is by paying out of their own pockets for development and then going straight to distributors (see Red Orchestra) or by having independent investors.

Have a read of this editorial in which Tripwire President John Gibson mentions some of the publishing "deals" they were offered for Red Orchestra....

We were getting pitched offers like, "We'll give you a 15 percent royalty rate, take the IP rights to your game, and slap a $1.5 million administrative fee on top of your recoupment costs." And deals like this were being offered for a game we funded ourselves!

Absolutely ridiculous.

[oakman26]

No, since it would ruin the game.