[NEWS] SEGA sells Relic Entertainment, and more Layoffs in coming

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
1

"About the recent Relic news… "

I’m very Happy by the possibility of new civs, but as the video of Drongo has so much information, there are 2 points that scared me, and it’s better to clear things up once and for all:

It’s time to discuss two Elephants in the room since March 28th. I didn’t say anything until now because I didn’t know if it would be controversial, but let’s clarify something once and for all.

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Fuente:

1).- RELIC HAS BEEN SOLD BY SEGA TO EMONA CAPITAL

Relic has been sold by SEGA to Emona Capital. And there is more: Sega layoff 240 employers, and yesterday Relic layoff nearly 41 employers.

Isn’t anyone scared of this? What does it mean?

There is already a fear that there will be licensing issues or delays in game updates due to this personnel change.

According to some Reddit users, we wouldn’t have to worry much, because if it turns out that Relic wants to become independent from Microsoft, it doesn’t own the game licenses, so in theory Microsoft would simply change the game studio if they already They don’t want to develop it further.

In fact, a new news story came out yesterday saying that aside from Sega’s 240 layoffs, the company will lose more than 40 employees. Will the game still be on? Oh no.

I will talk about the other elephant later, it has to do with the Relic logo on Twitter.

And well, in my sincere opinion, now would be a good time to

"PANICCCC!!! !!! !!! !!! !!! !!!

PANIC

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It’s not an elephant, it’s perfectly normal.

Companies updates their branding like this all the time. It’s nothing to get wound up about.

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I don’t know, this whole thing with Relic becoming independent has yet to come to a head (it was just announced publicly after all). If something is going to change with the game we’ll hear it from an official post or by a change in tempo with development. All things considered, AoE 4 may be the money making product for relic, and may receive more support so the company can receive more investor attention.

Best we can hope for is that they communicate with the player base on this issue. It would definitely help with speculative fear, I really like where this game is going!

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This is you inserting your own politics, completely unverified and off-topic at that.

I’m just a poster, but keeping this to the layoffs themselves is much better in my opinion. Companies are free to brand themselves however they wish, just as you’re free to dislike that. But we don’t need to make a big deal about it here. The layoffs are much more important.

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If Relic’s going to blow up, then I hope they do it publicly. The silence behind any development in this company is defeaning and perhaps more will be shared as to what actually goes on in this perpetual development hell of a studio.

Best wishes to those who were let go because of corporate vultures and the failings of modern age managers, MBAs misunderstanding their role in these systems. Hope they get back on their feet swiftly.

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In the words of Bender the Bending robot, 'We’re #######

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We’ll see, maybe it’s a renewal of the Relic team as a result of the rise of AI… the industry is undergoing many very rapid changes, causing thousands of developers to be laid off… probably to focus on games as a service that are profitable…

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Actually, I’m surprised that Microsoft didn’t buy them, since they are responsible for the game from Microsoft game series.

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its probably not out of the question for relic to eventually be bought by microsoft, once the ABK deal stops making legal rounds

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Maybe it’s because AI is replacing many artists and designers, while the companies are doing fine and stand to make even more profits post-layoffs? Maybe the only thing workers in the video game industry can do is unionize and strike like the Hollywood writers and actors did in 2023.

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and relic is starting to crumble again.

It is becuase it only shows their priorities instead of making or fixing a good game. Its over gorb

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Yes, the people in charge of social media accounts develop the game, very good.

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and those ppl take part of relic resources that could be invested in something better

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Every company has a social media team, it’s a completely separate budget to development (and typically a very small one at that - a single developer can cost as much as several such roles).

Maybe you should consider your own lack of knowledge before making these assumptions? Or nah?

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yes they have but the media team fails to comunicate to the player which is the point of it which is better that it gets dissolved at this point and fix the damn game

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The entire industry has been experiencing restructuring. While it is true that Relic entertainment has had recent releases that have had mediocre reception, I’m pretty sure we can safely say that supporting LGBTQ+ rights through having a rainbow avatar has nothing to do with their structural changes. It’s definitely something that people are activated over, as seen in this thread, but it has absolutely nothing to do with organizational changes.

Fear of loss, fear of change, fear in general seem to be the guiding factors in people exerting a negative opinion. We all feel for you for feeling fear during a time of change, but for real, it’s for your benefit as much as the communities not to trash other posters over petty conflict. Whether or not there is a future has yet to be determined, it’s extremely unlikely that these staffing changes will determine whether or not the Age franchise continues to be supported… Forgotten Empires is already doing things for map and balance changes, even if Relic fails the game will remain. I feel like this is obvious.

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Yes, we have to see how this is resolved…

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Please refrain from making any false doomsday assumptions when a lack of know-how behind business.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who owns relic, be it SEGA, or Relic standing on their own two feet.

What matters is the Contract between Microsoft and Relic.
They have a formal contract where Microsoft has ordered a product from Relic which Relic needs to fulfill as this is a long-term contract (especially in Game Development).
Failure to deliver on this will result in rather huge consequences for Relic in its entirety.
It is at Relics best interest to try fulfill the contract requirement because especially now as a Independent Studio with no major back-ers, a large contract like this is exactly the monetary insurance they need to keep their studio afloat as it is a “secure” income for them to rely on.

For the fate of the game? Not so much, as Microsoft will simply find someone else to pick up the contract of developing the further.

One must remember that Relic isn’t alone in the Age of Empires IV development cycle.

Worlds Edge studio is also heavily involved, and is the team behind mostly the operation of the ongoing game, while Relic is mostly behind the production of whatever content Microsoft orders them.

So it is not like a 1 team studio fully behind the game’s development and progress, unlike say, Company of Heroes 3 which is a game where both operation and production is in the hands of Relic.

If Relic is unable to fulfill the quota that they have to contractually fulfill towards Microsoft, it is Relic, not Age of Empires IV that will have a problem.

Yes this will cause some speedbumps to Age of Empires IV, but it is far from the cause that will “end” the game.

We have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes.

Who isn’t to say that Microsoft is letting Worlds Edge studio take more over the development of AOE4. and that perhaps Lay-offs from Relic are in fact Business transfers from Relic to another studio, say those 40 devs that lost their job at Relic, might have just been transferred between World Edge studio and Microsoft, if they were to play an integral part in the development cycle of AOE4.

To sum it up short:

If Microsoft, the owner of the Age of Empires license has ordered a major DLC content in Q3 this year.

There will be a major DLC content coming up. If Relic fails to deliver, we will simply see the DLC content being delayed, and Relic being booted out of the contract with Microsoft, and another studio, if not Microsoft themselves, will pick up the development and finish the ordered product from Microsoft.
and the worst case scenario the promised DLC package will be delayed to Q1 next year depending on how far in the development cycle Relic managed to produce.

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When does this contract expire? AoE4 came out 2.5 yrs ago, so was just wondering what you know about how much longer Relic is on the hook for?

I hope Relic does well and devs/artists are able to keep their jobs. From what I saw on social media a few days ago it seemed like Relic was excited with their announcement of the private investor

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Long term contracts for normal corporations tend to last 5 years +1 +1

Meaning 5 years with possibility for renegotiations of contract terms and pricing after 5 year.

In essence is a 7 year contract where the contractor could possible pull out after 5 years if they cant come to terms with the renegotiations, without reprecussions of breaking a contract.

How game studio did it might be different, but the fundamentals should stay the same.

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