Company News Bizarre rumours: Troika shutting down?

[Spazmo]

Tags: Leonard Boyarsky; Troika Games

<a href="http://www.gamespot.com/pc">Gamespot PC</a>'s quite interesting weekly <a href=http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/28/news_6117482.html>Rumor Control feature</a> includes, among a bevvy of console tidbits, the rather surprising idea that Troika Games, developers of the recent Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is closing its doors, which they got from a <a href=http://www.quartertothree.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16709>thread</a> at <a href=http://www.quartertothree.com>Quarter to Three</a>.<blockquote>While many independent developers are enjoying success (i.e. BioWare, Obsidian Entertainment), others are not faring as well. This week, word surfaced that indie shop Troika Games, which was founded by several former Fallout developers and Interplay castaways, had fallen on hard times--so hard that, by some reports, it was closing its doors. So GameSpot went to the man himself, co-CEO and co-founder Leonard Boyarsky, to find out what's what. Boyarsky then gave us this cryptic answer: "We are basically perusing some options...after the beginning of February, we'll be making a statement." So, for now, they're still in business. But with February less than a week away, that could change soon.</blockquote>I personally don't buy it at all since they just shipped a game that seems to be doing well and since Temple of Elemental Evil sold pretty solidly as well. Hopefully, this mysterious February statement will be the formal announcement of FAILSAFE: A POST APOCALYPSE RPG.
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And yes, <i>rumers innuendoes n lies!</i>, but given that Boyarsky responded with something that isn't a firm denial, I figure that makes it newsworthy.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

Bleh. I'm not gonna even bother speculating on anything until this mystery announcement is made, if it's made at all. For all anyone knows, that could have all been completely fabricated just to start rumors.

*shrugs*

Life on the internet.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Leon more or less validated the fact that Troika is having some sort of financial difficulty, hence the 'perusing some options' statement.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

OMG PAYPAL DONATE TIME

It might be good for them so they can get bought out and work as a division for some company(bioware, ea LOL). It was just a matter of time, they just arent very good business people.

 

[undead dolphin hacker]

Read the thread on QT3... I wouldn't be surprised if this was true.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I wouldn't mind if they were bought over by Bioware, but not by EA. Bioware would put them to good use, as they've got plenty of brilliant and creative minds at Troika. They're just really bad at business, and project management, that's all.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

chrisbeddos dream might be true

Bethesda buys troika, troika makes FO3

World peace begins

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

This just in

Tim Cain: "I FART CAKE BATTER LOL MONKEY FLOP WIENER ON HEAD"

Basically its just a ploy to get publishers ineterested in them.

 

[Ap_Jolly]

Given the reputation of their games being too buggy, I doubt that's going to happen (anyone buying Troika).

 

[jiujitsu]

Hopefully, this mysterious February statement will be the formal announcement of FAILSAFE: A POST APOCALYPSE RPG.

Or what it is ACTUALLY going to be: "We are going to be developing an MMORPG. Published by... Interplay.*sob*"

OMG PAYPAL DONATE TIME

chrisbeddos dream might be true

Bethesda buys troika, troika makes FO3

World peace begins

This just in

Tim Cain: "I FART CAKE BATTER LOL MONKEY FLOP WIENER ON HEAD"

Basically its just a ploy to get publishers ineterested in them.

Well, my prediction is that this 'MYSTARY!' anouncement will not be a good thing for us. I do hope, however, that it is at least a good thing for Troika. They need to tell us to fuck off already and try and make some money for themselves.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Not if they decide to make fucking kiddified console action games. Maybe we should start a death betting pool for Troika. Dibs on the 2nd week of Feb 2005.

 

[Talorc]

If they are trying to get a publisher interested in them - who would it be?

They pissed off Sierra / VU Games with Arcanum
They pissed off Atari with ToEE
I suspect they may have pissed off Activision with Vampire...

Which publisher is left?? EA doesnt really go for Roleplaying games. JoWood is about it really *snicker*

They hae some talent, but I totally agree with everyone that they shouldnt actually be in charge of anything.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

God if this is true it sucks on so many fucking levels.

 

[HanoverF]

Uhhh... what exactly on that thread seems credible as a source?


And if messageboard speculation can be a source, why hasn't Gamespot done a story on Exitium being totally ghey?

 

[Sol Invictus]

Quarter to Three Forums are a very reliable source for industry information, because a lot of employees and game insiders post there. On top of that, Leonard hasn't categorically denied it. If it was a hoax, wouldn't he deny it outright? It can't be good for the company's image.

I'm denying that I'm gay or ghey in any way or manner.

 

[The Exar]

Given the reputation of their games being too buggy, I doubt that's going to happen (anyone buying Troika).

You know, friend, Troika have much more advantages than disadvantages. And these advantages are realy rare.

 

[Surlent]

This is bullshit ! True or not, it just plain sucks to make that kind of rumors.

Last year they were talking about planning 4 projects, didn't they get any publishers for any of them ?
Did Leon forgot to pay rent or why he answered so vaguedly ? Perhaps they are just going to lay off some people and become 1project/studio?

OMG PAYPAL DONATE TIME

hell yea

Good thing is, we don't have to wait long, February is just few days away.

 

[Sammael]

I am not surprised.

The only reason why I hadn't uninstalled Bloodlines and thrown the disc into the trash is because of its superb atmosphere and intriguing NPCs. Otherwise, it's an unplayable piece of garbage on my computer. A game that requires five minutes to load an area and then drops into single-digit FPS after a bit of stuttering is not something Troika needed to publish. Or is it a new and creative way of increasing the gameplay time?

 

[Balor]

That's strange. After the patch I've yet to discover a single critical (oh, damn, I remeber one bug - sniper rifle has not appeared. Well, everybody say it's POS anyway.. and it's definetely not critical) bug, load times range from 5 (shops and small areas) to 20 - 30 seconds (for 'Hub" zones). Only slowdowns I get are in those hub zones again - and only when a lot of NPCs are in sight (And I cranked up almost all settings except for AA and AF). And my card is, while not exactly old and lame, but definetely low-endish RadeOn9600XT.
And if you have Geforce 4MX... well, you just deserve it.
On the other hand, it IS (a bit) slower then HL2 it got it's engine from. On the other hand, time and money spend on HL2 and VTM polishing cannot simply be compared, I'm sure.
So far only grudge I have is the combat areas - not just because they are unavoidable, but because they get repeative and boring... not too much, but nonetheless. A very stark constrast with great dialogues and story... I still remeber LMAOing when Prince got me dominated into giving him 3 reply options... all equal, all positive . That's having in mind that I've played Ventrue too (now thinking that I should have picked Malk... ok, I'll save that fun for an other run ).

 

[Sol Invictus]

It is a lot slower than Half Life 2. Half Life 2 doesn't have sound stutter, either.

 

[Avin]

bloodlines (as toee) has a lot of flaws. it was very frustrating that you aren't able to play setite, assamite or caitiff. i'm not even talking about lasombra...

the loading times are horrible.
even if you play a diplomatic character you are forced to fight most of the time.

but it's a nice game... good atmospher, interesting characters (well, except for the prince cliché...) ... if troika is going to face the same destiny of BIS it would be sad... there's not better D&D conversion than toee's...

 

[Jinxed]

It is a lot slower than Half Life 2. Half Life 2 doesn't have sound stutter, either.

So I guess the sound stutter everyone got in HL 2 doesn't exist huh? The patch they released for that didn't fix anything for me. In fact, HL2 runs as bad if not worse than Bloodlines. While BL had long loading times, Santa Monica ran very well, as did Downtown. The problems began after reaching Hollywood, while in HL2 I get loading times that try a monk's patience straight from the beginning. The stutter is the main reason why I shelved the game for now.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Everyone? You're kidding. I don't get any stutter in HL2.

Troika was also supposed to implement the stutter fix patch, according to Leon or one of the other guys, but they never did it.

 

[Lomer]

Maybe we should start a death betting pool for Troika. Dibs on the 2nd week of Feb 2005.

Troika was/is one of my favorite RPG developers. I would like to show some sympathy for them at that moment. That's why I am not going to participate in such pool. If the rumours prove right, that would be a great loss for most of us here.

 

[The Exar]

Exitium, just shut up! I'm tired of your constant lack of good taste for RPG's. Not only can't you rate Troika's proffesionalism properly, but you continue to compare it with a lame game like Half-Life 2. Don't to mention your thoughts about Bioware buying Troika. Just imagine: the commercial sluts commanding the real and only good developers. Just hide. And don't bother yourself with commenting that, because I simply won't answer.

It is true that the death of Troika is preharps the greatest blow on the RPG development. I find Arcanum a great game. I still play ToEE regrdless of bugs. I still replay Bloodlines WITHOUT ENCOUNTERING A SINGLE BUG AND WITH LOADING TIME OF NO MORE THAN 10 SECONDS. The originality is going to die. We can only expect more NWN clones, Bethesda's awfull games and Morrowind with rifles(FO 3)
Tell me then, whats left? Everyone of Troika's games was original, always trying something different to please us - the gamers. They did never COPY their games unlike Bioware CONSTANTLY do.
I still have fate. I hope in 1 week we'll learn the truth.