Developer rejuvenation?

[Riddler]

I was thinking a bit about the trajectory of various famous developers: Blizzard, Bioware, Bethesda, Square Enix and how when the decline started it didn't really ever reverse even if it was sometimes halted.

Has there ever been a game company that made two games of declining quality in a row and then bounced back with a hit? Or even bouncing back after a single turd?

 

[Faarbaute]

I think Piranha bytes would qualify. Although, they still seem to be on a terminal decline, when you plot a course from their very high starting out point, all the way through their ups and downs, to where they are now.

 

[luj1]

No one is great all the time. Just like in sports.

 

[Vic]

Individual talent plays a major role in the quality of games, usually decline is related with said talent either leaving or becoming disconnected with their craft.

In the case of Blizzard, I think Chris Metzen did a lot to make their universes cool. He has recently returned to Blizzard so maybe they can come up with something cool for their next wow expansion or something.

 

[luj1]

In the case of Blizzard, I think Chris Metzen did a lot to make their universes cool.

Because the modelers used his drawings as a base

 

[Vic]

In the case of Blizzard, I think Chris Metzen did a lot to make their universes cool.

Because the modelers used his drawings as a base

he did a bunch of other stuff too including writing the story for warcraft 3, which was peak blizzard

 

[luj1]

Yes he was cool. Starcraft has a good story too.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I was thinking a bit about the trajectory of various famous developers: Blizzard, Bioware, Bethesda, Square Enix and how when the decline started it didn't really ever reverse even if it was sometimes halted.

Has there ever been a game company that made two games of declining quality in a row and then bounced back with a hit? Or even bouncing back after a single turd?

After two decades of floundering, InXile famously regained the hearts and minds of the Codex in 2020 with Wasteland 3.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Damn OP, scrolled through entire steam lib and nothing.....nice one.

 

[Modron]

Has there ever been a game company that made two games of declining quality in a row and then bounced back with a hit? Or even bouncing back after a single turd?

I mean doublefine shat out two kickstarter games out of early access with just 5% of the promised features Massive Chalice and Spacebase whatever then followed that up with Psychonauts 2, which while not as good as the first wasn't bad from what I understand. That's about all I can think besides Risen 2-3 then Elex.

 

[Maxie]

it's unlikely because fat hasbeens are too scared about their mortgages to do anything else than remakes of stuff they did as clueless kids with vim and vigour
since the population in developed countries is aging less starry eyed kids are joining the industry especially now when the novelty has worn off and it's more profitable to work on ai

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Thought about it some more and this is kinda bugging me, Piranha Byte is not my jam so I wouldn't exactly know but there must be some right?

 

[NecroLord]

No one is great all the time. Just like in sports.

Looking Glass Studios.
Troika.
Depends on your definition of "great". Their games were generally not known for commercial success and generating big $, but their legacy and impact was tremendous.

 

[Vic]

but their legacy and impact was tremendous.

how were Troika games' legacy and impact tremendous?

 

[NecroLord]

but their legacy and impact was tremendous.

how were Troika games' legacy and impact tremendous?

Are we gonna argue semantics now?
They are cult classics.
Indie projects try and rip them off all the time.
VTMB 2 (when and IF it will be released) should probably beg to be as beloved as its predecessor...

 

[Faarbaute]

There seems to be a bit of a pattern where the creative direction (lets be charitable for a moment) of a developer or a development studio changes, resulting in a departure from what made their games good in the first place. Followed by a phase of producing unfocused shit, chasing trends etc, with subsequent entries doing significantly worse than your claim to fame.

After a couple of bombs, if your studio has managed to stay afloat, the now bitter devs resign themselves to a loveless retreading of their old steps. Which is really just a cynical cash grab, rather than a true return to form. If successful, and if you have a particularly dense retard in charge, you can then repeat the cycle again, until you have bombed out of the industry entirely.

There really doesn't seem to be a lot of room for an actual rejuvenation to take place. Unless, maybe there's some studio out there which made a couple of bad offerings for budget or mismanagement reasons, which then proceeded to secure a lot of capital, or come under new management, which then allowed them to return to their original form? It would have to be something external to the actual creative drive and capacity of the studio, which set them back temporarily for some reason.

 

[luj1]

No one is great all the time. Just like in sports.

Looking Glass Studios.
Troika.
Depends on your definition of "great". Their games were generally not known for commercial success and generating big $, but their legacy and impact was tremendous.

And where are they now?

Cain and co. made that trash Outer Worlds

Case in point

 

[Modron]

No one is great all the time. Just like in sports.

Ryu ga Gotoku haven't let me down yet.

 

[None]

Has there ever been a game company that made two games of declining quality in a row and then bounced back with a hit? Or even bouncing back after a single turd?

Could make a case for Bethesda, with Redguard and Battlespire flopping until Morrowind came along.

 

[Maxie]

but their legacy and impact was tremendous.

how were Troika games' legacy and impact tremendous?

Are we gonna argue semantics now?
They are cult classics.
Indie projects try and rip them off all the time.
VTMB 2 (when and IF it will be released) should probably beg to be as beloved as its predecessor...

semantics is what you have to argue when the other party throws around meaningless phrases
if you're arguing that troika had a tremendous impact on the industry, name games directly inspired by troika games...

 

[Vic]

name games directly inspired by troika games

b-but he did, VTMB2

 

[Maxie]

name games directly inspired by troika games

b-but he did, VTMB2

damn, I kneel. where do I purchase this VTMB2 product

 

[Iucounu]

I believe most creative individuals peak at an early age, then the rest of their careers just build upon that heritage (perhaps best seen with musicians). I suppose a game development company could hire new blood to replace the old, but in practice it doesn't seem to work.

 

[Roguey]

Larian bounced to even greater heights after Beyond Divinity.

 

[JarlFrank]

No one is great all the time. Just like in sports.

Looking Glass Studios.
Troika.
Depends on your definition of "great". Their games were generally not known for commercial success and generating big $, but their legacy and impact was tremendous.

Looking Glass Studios was great but when the devs came back to Kickstarter after a decade of doing nothing, they shat out Underworld Ascendant.

When Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky went to Obsidian and finally got to work together again, they made Outer Worlds.