Although Sega is a Japanese company, there's no server in Japan nor is there a Japanese version of the game. They don't seem to be promoting it or investing in it, and apparently, they just lost (drove away) their lead designer.
It would be nice if they'd let us know just what they are doing to make this uniquely wonderful game more successful.
Although Sega is a Japanese company, there's no server in Japan nor is there a Japanese version of the game.
Presumably Sega bought Three Rings because Sega thought that the purchase would increase Sega shareholder value --- that is, make money. Deploying Spiral Knights in Japan has little to do with it. For example, Motorola has mobile phones that it doesn't deploy in the USA. Companies place products in markets where they think they will work.
They don't seem to be promoting it or investing in it
I don't know much about the day-to-day running of Three Rings, but do we have any indication that the development team has been reduced (other than Nick's departure)?
they just lost (drove away) their lead designer
Has Nick said that he was driven away? The announcement I saw was very gracious. He stayed with the project for something like 7 years. That's pretty long in this industry.
"Although Sega is a Japanese company"
Mind if I remind you that there's something called "Sega of America" as well?
From Wikipedia:
Acquired studios (2005-present)[edit]
[...]
Three Rings Design -- Sega America -- 2011 -- Spiral Knights
[...]
Look at the April Fools day S3cr3t GM F0RuM. Oooh boy that's where you see why...
(Hint: Smelly Sonic Suit)
Of course, he wrote a gracious farewell message. That's just being smart and professional and not burning your bridges and all.
But he said "As of today, I have resigned from my position at Three Rings and will be pursuing a new adventure in independent development."
Wasn't Three Rings, the company he founded, an independent game developing company? Well, yes, it was, until Sega bought it.
Maybe he got bored and left like so many players - just speculating. It just seems like awkward timing (a Thursday in the middle of the month just before the release of a major update) and a strange reason.
It would behoove Sega or Three Rings to offer more in the way of assurances and information. We aren't stock holders, but we are their client base, after all. I'd just like to know that the company has an actual marketing and recruiting strategy of some kind.
Because I am sure it was Sega of America that bought Three Rings and not Sega of Japan or Sega of Europe.
Sega just wants to Use OOO pretty much like a mony generater. The first reasone they brought OOO Was probably to hog all of the mony but I think that was the first reasoned the joined the game in first place. Believe it or not I actually think Sega's been Using OOO As a puppet since the beginning, like A parasite in the human body Sega's feeds of spiralknights Income. This might be the reason nick left. He said this in his last post "Spiral knights was a childhood dream of mine" Not just some Way to earn profit. Sega's been using it that way lately that might of got him frustrated.
I hope Sega don't come here to this thread and ban us all.
Wasn't Three Rings, the company he founded,
I have to remark that OOO is not, and has never been, Nick's company. It was actually founded by quite different people who are still in charge of the enterprise. Nick was a project leader inside it, indeed, but 7 years ago (when he joined) OOO has already been in existence for another 6 years.
I made an unfounded assumption when I should have checked my facts on wiki or something. Thank you for bringing that to our attention.
I'm just going to hope that the current and future Spiral Knights team continues to add to and improve the game in a fan-responsive way while whatever company that owns it does its part to market and promote it.
It was an impulse purchase.
The CEO of SEGA was like "Maaannnnnn, I knew I shouldn't... but that submarine office? Had to have it!"
Because Sonic is not profitable anymore.
/laugh
/e laughs harder.
probably someone saw some potential in some of the games OOO was producing, so they bought it and waited for profit to come. if that worked or not, well, we don't know, but we're still here.
You all act like Sonic is the only other game Sega has. You act like Sega had to buy OOO to make money at all. You act like Sega's biggest source of income is Spiral Knights. You guys really have no clue.
@Iamnoone: And games Sega has made like the Total War series, Company of Heroes, and Football Manager haven't been successes at all.
The Total War series has been pretty popular... and surely you must have heard of them. Where do you think our Tricorn, Laurel, and Medieval War Helm came from? Company of Heroes is a name I've seen and also seems to be pretty popular as well. Football Manager? Well that seems to be in the top ten played games on Steam. Right now, there's 70,000+ players on Steam in Football Manager 2014. Not to mention, these games can be found in the top 100 played Steam games, whereas Spiral Knights has dropped from that list a while back.
Danielle is a girl's name. Pretty sure his name is Daniel.
Also, if you aren't an expert on Sega and their games, stop trying to talk like you are.
Sure Sega and it's games aren't the entire industry, but I don't see how you can say you are "very knowledgeable about the game industry" if you aren't even aware of the games I mentioned. My point is Sega doesn't get a big portion of their income from Spiral Knights if they have several other much more popular games. I don't understand why you seem to think otherwise.
man, there's a difference between making profit and making more profit.
SEGA bought OOO probably because they needed help, and because SEGA's CEO wanted to do an investment that would have probably paid off.
seeing the number of games SEGA has done in the past years, I don't think they need so much more profit to get developers fleeing. remember you don't need to advertise a game to make it profitable. I'm not a SEGA fan either (I'm a Sonic casual fan), but I had (still have, but doesn't work) a dreamcast and I can say that those were good games.
I'm about 100% sure that SEGA makes its entire profit off of Spiral Knights. Every other project breaks even, but keeps their name big so that Spiral Knights can slowly grow out.
Not sure if Iam is disillusioned, in possession of extremely inaccurate facts, making up opinions based on nothing, or trolling.
But Fehzor is definitely trolling. :P
IMO? It was because they saw how SK along with OOO's other titles (Bang!, Puzzle Pirates, etc) were relatively successful and they were already publishing for them, so they acquired the studio to 1) keep them developing more successful games (like that doctor who game I don't think many people play) and 2) to keep their current games afloat and profitable with sega's financial backing. And of course 3) because they thought it would make them more money.
If Sega bought OOO, Dosen't it mean that spiral knights will have an OP server... I think that OOO ask Sega to sponser the game so that they have a head start and copy some stuff from Sega...
@Hollows:
"@Iamnoone: And games Sega has made like the Total War series, Company of Heroes, and Football Manager haven't been successes at all."
Yeah, Total War is a very successful series. If you were knowledgeable as you are claiming (Or trying to imply that), you should've known that Total War series have been releasing games that are unplayable, and fixed after a year of work. Like you pay 60$ for a beta. TW Rome II was ****** letdown in all aspects. Graphics? LOL. Bugs? Total Bug Rome II pretty much. Gameplay? More LOL.
SEGA is not exactly known for their high-quality servers. (See: Total War) And either way, SK uses amazon cloud servers which are pretty good.
Don't mix up game quality with commercial success. Looks like Total War: Rome II had it.
If SEGA truly wanted more money, then they should raise the price of the Steam Sonic Pack to $50 instead of $30. Also more Racing Transformed DLCs. Gimme Billy Hatcher as a character!
@ Dragneel and @Krakob: Yeah, I'm talking about the income Sega has gotten from those games. After all, I WAS comparing the profits Sega gets from their own games versus Spiral Knights.
Because Sega just sees OOO as a source of income besides terrible sonic games?