You don't know that. They might have money from selling themselves to PDX, they certainly have contacts in the industry, they have Kickstarter.
But yes, another Battletech is probably not in there for a while.
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HBS and Paradox will part ways at the end of the year.
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But yes, another Battletech is probably not in there for a while.
There are avenues that Mitch, Dagger and his brain trust are no doubt exploring… that and hopefully the prospect of reuniting with Jordan, will hopefully bear some fruit by the early New Year. i am not saying we’ll hear something on 01 or 02JAN. I am saying that the longer we go after 01JAN without hearing from HBS, the worse our prospects of ever hearing about a next game from Team HBS.
But even that is not necessarily a bad thing… sometimes the best way forward, is moving all the way back to square one and getting a fresh start. It may take a year or three, but Mitch is a young man… he could build up a new development studio, moving forward with a core of HBS folks with Big or Shadowy or other ideas for the Future.
But even that is not necessarily a bad thing… sometimes the best way forward, is moving all the way back to square one and getting a fresh start. It may take a year or three, but Mitch is a young man… he could build up a new development studio, moving forward with a core of HBS folks with Big or Shadowy or other ideas for the Future.
Well, that's only kind of true, it's ignoring the fact that Paradox had a change of leadership (some say a "coup") and the new leadership
- Made zero marketing for Lamplighters.
- Decided to axe 80% of HBS three months before Lamplighters released instead of marketing the new game and making sure it was polished and ready for release.
- Decided that it was worth it to take a $30 million loss on Lamplighters/HBS, just to give the previous management a black eye.
I would “Like” @stjobe ‘s comment but the “Like” button is absent for me…
So, I like stjobe’s comment. :bow:
So, I like stjobe’s comment. :bow:
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I didn’t know about the change in leadership, but I did find this news release: https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/...ab-publ-changes-ceo-and-chairman-of-the-board
Where can I read up on the context or additional info around this change?
Where can I read up on the context or additional info around this change?
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Most of the articles at the time are just reprints of the Paradox PR release. Some of the best discussion on the situation that I’ve found, it’s a forum thread so opinions rather than facts predominate. But in lieu of anything much more than PR, it does go a ways towards offering the context you and I are interested in (https://forum.quartertothree.com/t/conflict-at-the-top-of-paradox-interactive/153329/9).
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I do know that.
They have next to no employees.
They may have money left over from the Paradox buyout but they have no revenue stream because someone else owns their games.
They may well be able to put something together eventually (if that's what they want to do, seeing as how they have to earn a living in the meantime) but they aren't in a good position to do that right now.
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@Eximar, things may be as bleak as we both believe them to be, but neither of us are privy to all the details.
There may be a path forward that preserves some of what came before.
Or there may be entirely new chapters for Mitch and our favorite Team of Big and Stompy game developers, as they continue to starburst toward what comes next for them all. :bow:
Either way, they can count on the support of many of us. We may not be able to show it in more than game forums and game preorders, but some of us are sure to continue to be fans of theirs, their games and careers…
There may be a path forward that preserves some of what came before.
Or there may be entirely new chapters for Mitch and our favorite Team of Big and Stompy game developers, as they continue to starburst toward what comes next for them all. :bow:
Either way, they can count on the support of many of us. We may not be able to show it in more than game forums and game preorders, but some of us are sure to continue to be fans of theirs, their games and careers…
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Absolutely true.
We're probably all rooting for them regardless of whether they ever do anything BT again.
We're probably all rooting for them regardless of whether they ever do anything BT again.
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What is 30 million loss about? Unrecovered developing costs? Salary & wages? Missing Sales? Something different?
I've read a few posts mentioning this 30 million loss, but I haven't found any reference to what this very large loss is due - I mean, IIRC Paradox acquired the whole HBS Studios' assets and resaources for 7 millions USD, so I wonder what this 30 million loss is about, and I'd be very grateful if anybody could point me to the right starting piece of news about this.
Salaries, Rent, Equipment, probably some insurance or whatever, licence fees for third party software like Unity.What is 30 million loss about? Unrecovered developing costs? Salary & wages? Missing Sales? Something different?
I've read a few posts mentioning this 30 million loss, but I haven't found any reference to what this very large loss is due - I mean, IIRC Paradox acquired the whole HBS Studios' assets and resaources for 7 millions USD, so I wonder what this 30 million loss is about, and I'd be very grateful if anybody could point me to the right starting piece of news about this.
As I understand it that's about what a game of the scale of LLL costs. Usually there's a big chunk of marketing and advertising costs on top of that but Paradox didn't do any marketing, so that's probably not in there.
The 7 millions cost of acquiring HBS are almost certainly not included, that has been reported years ago.
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@Panzer-Killer, what @Spartakus said plus & according to various Reports to Shareholders, Paradox amortizes the costs of both, games that make it to Launch… and games that don’t make it to Launch. Depending on how many games failed to launch at HBS, these costs could have ballooned into the 30m. Additionally any games that failed to Launch, for tax purposes, I believe there is a benefit to forecast foregone sales… that would have added up quickly, especially given that BATTLETECH would have been the benchmark going into the sale. With such a high benchmark, from the start HBS would have been hard pressed to turn a profit beyond forecasts.
Now that I think of it, from the very start, HBS made an excellent investment… not for its very possible future success, but for all the accounting and tax realities of its eventually being spun out of the Paradox orbit. Depending on how Paradox farmed out LL-supporting work to other of its studios, the poor performance of LL may have been a vehicle to defray if not out right write-off losses from its core studios… this is a possibility, though not a certainty. Though it would have been an exceptionally savvy accounting/business tactic/technique/procedure. Rather than have losses across a mid-to-wide swath of its family of studios, concentrate losses under a single title/studio, cut its workforce then cut it loose.
None of this changes my perspective on Paradox, though it increases my respect and sympathy for Mitch and Team HBS. Paradox is a business savvy family of game development studios, likely to be in business and service its game communities for years and years to come. Team HBS is a wait-and-see, come the new year. Such are the realities our favorite game developers face on a daily basis.
At the end of December 2023, Paradox will have emerged leaner and more focused on its core studios. HBS will have regained its Agency and Autonomy…
…whether I (or any of us!) can win Powerball and become an Angel Investor in HBS by the beginning of January 2024, remains to be seen! :bow:
or possibly…
Now that I think of it, from the very start, HBS made an excellent investment… not for its very possible future success, but for all the accounting and tax realities of its eventually being spun out of the Paradox orbit. Depending on how Paradox farmed out LL-supporting work to other of its studios, the poor performance of LL may have been a vehicle to defray if not out right write-off losses from its core studios… this is a possibility, though not a certainty. Though it would have been an exceptionally savvy accounting/business tactic/technique/procedure. Rather than have losses across a mid-to-wide swath of its family of studios, concentrate losses under a single title/studio, cut its workforce then cut it loose.
None of this changes my perspective on Paradox, though it increases my respect and sympathy for Mitch and Team HBS. Paradox is a business savvy family of game development studios, likely to be in business and service its game communities for years and years to come. Team HBS is a wait-and-see, come the new year. Such are the realities our favorite game developers face on a daily basis.
At the end of December 2023, Paradox will have emerged leaner and more focused on its core studios. HBS will have regained its Agency and Autonomy…
…whether I (or any of us!) can win Powerball and become an Angel Investor in HBS by the beginning of January 2024, remains to be seen! :bow:
or possibly…
It's from a Paradox Press Release:What is 30 million loss about? Unrecovered developing costs? Salary & wages? Missing Sales? Something different?
I've read a few posts mentioning this 30 million loss, but I haven't found any reference to what this very large loss is due - I mean, IIRC Paradox acquired the whole HBS Studios' assets and resaources for 7 millions USD, so I wonder what this 30 million loss is about, and I'd be very grateful if anybody could point me to the right starting piece of news about this.
"Paradox Interactive has today decided to write down capitalized development costs for the game The Lamplighters League, in addition to the regular degressive amortization done during the game’s first three months. Overall, this will result in that all of the game’s capitalized development costs of MSEK 320 will be recognized as costs in the fourth quarter of 2023. The game’s impact on profit before tax for the fourth quarter is estimated to MSEK -248."
320 MSEK is roughly $30 million.
Please note that the press release is dated October 10th, Lamplighters League released October 3rd. So they didn't give it more than a week before officially writing it all off as a complete loss.
Also please note that Paradox laid off about 80% of HBS staff all the way back in July, three months before the release of Lamplighters.
Not compelete loss as estimated income for Q4 is 248 MSEK. I think this writing down costs is more to do with accounting than thinking this project was totally worthless.
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Thats minus-248 MSEK. In other words, regardless of the performance of other titles, Paradox is forecasting that Lamplighter League will wipe out any income it itself can generate in the 4th Quarter AND ONLY THEN drive down profits company-wide and before taxes by 248 MSEK (https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/investors/financial-reports/interim-report-january-september-2023).
I regularly attend Paradox’ reports to shareholders… I’ll bring the JAN report back here for our information. :bow:
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https://x.com/prussian_havoc/status/1722064892809674815?s=61&t=85FdFMITSWkRoWjUEsI97w
I believe that Microsoft holds the license to Battletech so I'm not sure why HBS or any other game developer couldn't at least try and negotiate with Microsoft to make another Battletech type game. And I still wonder if HBS continued to produce additional Battletech content rather than going in a totally different direction with LLL, PDX wouldn't have cut them loose. Or at least if they did, some other company would have picked them up.
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All I can say is that if there is another Battletech title in the future, I will support it. Been a longtime fan of the game (since tabletop days) and nothing has caused that to change.
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I don’t know if you’ve hear but MechWarrior6 just might be hitting in the New Year… thankfully for some, it’ll be a solo-game taking place from a Smoke Jaguar MechWarrior’s perspective.
Well bargained, and done. :bow:
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Is it going to be a FPS game, a RTS one or a Turn-based strategy game, then, if any info have been disclosed up to now?
What is the new MechWarrior game in 2024?
Piranha Games have announced that MechWarrior 5: Clans will launch in 2024 for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. MechWarrior 5: Clans follows the story of an elite squad of mechs in a clan called Smoke Jaguar. It takes place during Operation Revival, which was an invasion of the Inner Sphere.Just a DLC for mechWarrior 5 ??? Or spinning off as a standalone game ?
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