Minecraft Super Duper Graphics Pack Is cancelled + Orcs Must Die Unchained server shut down.
I doubt if they are able to make AoE4.
Super Duper Graphics Pack was announced during E3 2017 for Minecraft, now its cancelled.
https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/super-duper-graphics-pack-ceasing-development
Also their free2play game Orcs Must Die! Unchained did shut down recently their servers. The official statement about it isnt even longer available. https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/07/robot-closes-orcs-must-die/
https://robotentertainment.com/20190107/index.htm
“Orcs Must Die: Unchained and Hero Academy 2 have been unable to maintain a sufficient player base to cover the operational costs to keep the games running,” Hudson wrote.
Put simply: If you don’t have enough people, they won’t spend enough money, and the games can’t pay for themselves let alone generate a profit.
Is Microsoft too bad at supporting games? Sure they are. There have been tons of games software project with too obvious design flaws.
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Microsoft as usually has a combination of 3 mistakes.
1 announce a huge patch and delay and delay it, till its dead, that’s not how you do it
you have to upgrade game in small steps, so you stay on track and keep people on the game
2 test if the game concept you make, is one people want to pay for
thats why you have betas, there are not there to some day pre release make some hit fix bug patches
a free2play game is a game where people wont pay, we are meanwhile too familiar with your company practices
basically Orcs Must Die Unchained failed for same reasons as Age of Empires Online
3 not check their plan. You can see way ahead certain developments and have to start way ahead to make preparation, it simply doesnt happen by bigger companies, like release small patches of what was already made or prepare offline version.
Problem is, its no longer speculation, we just know how they all do work as a company.
They are not going to surprise people by doing in time a smart move, they simply wont be even able to see the obvious flaw their plan has, despite they did made several times same mistakes.
Considering after several years we still had zero info on AoE4, its probably again the same, a project with a massive flop in the design, but presented too late to fix.
While Microsoft develops both Minecraft and Age of Empires, the connection being made between the Minecraft Super Duper Graphics Pack, Orcs Must Die Unchained and Age of Empires IV is very weak.
For starters, Orcs Must Die Unchained was developed and published by Robot Entertainment. Microsoft was not involved on the project.
The Minecraft Super Duper Graphics Pack was an enhanced graphics update. Minecraft will continue to do well without it.
Age of Empires IV is an AAA RTS game which takes years of development time in order to perfect and balance. The game was announced about two years ago, which is much less than “several years” waiting for info on the game. Adam Isgreen has been quoted as saying there will be more info about Age of Empires IV revealed this year. Relic Entertainment is still making Age of Empires IV as stated in the weekly official streams. The Age of Empires Insider Program was created for all upcoming Age games, including Age of Empires IV, for beta testers to provide feedback for months in advance of release. It’s simply too early to pass judgement on Age of Empires IV because we know so little about the game.
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Oh thanks, you give us hope and reason to wait for Age of Empires IV!
@ RadiatingBlade
1 Em, Publisher for “Orcs must die” is Microsoft. What makes them the owner of it.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orcs_Must_Die!
2 Problem is, Microsoft does allow a lot as publisher.
Just check what “they” have done to Battletoads 2019.
I was thinking it was some kind of April fools announcement, but no that’s how they did redesign a classic.
the odd thing is we had / Battletoads - E3 2018 trailer
and after 1 year of complete silence, we got a gameplay trailer that looked like it was drawn by a 6 year old. For a Simple side scroller, they could not hire a better artist.
How old is Battletoads fan base meanwhile?
OK lets assume people were 6 years old as they did play 1991 this game. By now they would be 34.
So for people who are meanwhile 20 or 50 years old, they did came up with graphics, that would rather fit a 4-7 year old demographic.
thats the big issue with delay of information, in case of Battletoads they did basically waste 1 year development, because nobody did notice the game does require a better artist. Maybe the artist is good, but got just bad input for characters design , who knows. Point is a lot of people who were actually interested into the game, won’t buy it now. And it was avoidable.
Now is AoE4 gameplay reveal some month away. And I really have to ask, how can it be a good idea to delay for so long information, the longer it takes, the less time is left to fix it.