Earlier today, a news surfaced regarding Hasbro‘s decision to shutdown Backflip Studios; the publisher behind Transformers: Earth Wars.
Hasbro stated the following:
“We have made the difficult business decision to close Backflip Studios. Despite working with the studio for the past few years, we’ve been unable to find a viable path forward. While we hoped for a different outcome, all employees will ultimately be departing the organization. Affected employees have been informed and will be eligible to receive severance packages. We are also exploring potential opportunities for impacted employees that may be a fit for open positions within our broader organization. Hasbro remains committed to digital gaming in other areas of our global business as well as part of our long-term strategy and we will continue to invest where we see opportunities for growth.”
However, TFW2005 reached out to Space Ape Games; the developer of Transformers: Earth Wars, for a special statement. Despite the closure of Backflip Studios, the developer assured that the game will continue on in absence of its publisher.
“The game has been operated entirely by Space Ape for many years so the changes won’t have any impact on the game or its players. The GI Joe release will go ahead as planned and players will be able to enjoy the game for years to come.”
Hasbro acquired Backflip Studios for US$ 112 million, back in 2013.
SG Unicron
Nooooo! I loved their Dragonvale games!;(
Lionheart
But also look at what the Fire Emblem mobile game offers that makes people want to whale and spend actual money on jpg's. When you roll a character, not only can you use them in gameplay but they have voiced lines, you can unlock dialogue for them, you can give them accessories, and put them in a decorated room, and they talk to you. There's an incentive to roll for your favorite character because you can interact with them. While I was playing Earth Wars, I didn't feel a strong incentive to roll for anyone because they offered me nothing outside of gameplay. The micro-transaction model is predatory but I'll give it to the Japanese over western mobile game developers that they know how to entice their players more efficiently.
octobotimus
Don’t know how you can interpret the word “closes down” as anything other than they were shut down.
Enigma2K2
… okay. I'm gonna get back to wanting a sequel to Transformers: Devastation now.
Sideswipe523
I don't think they actually shut it down, it's more along the lines of partnership
Scarlet knight
Cool
ScientistMan
According to one of the articles, the DragonVale team is staying on a little longer while they decide on what to do.
Scarlet knight
What's gonna happen to dragonvale?
User_124141
Oh my I thought Earth Wars was done, I would have lost almost 600 hours of gameplay for nothing
Calabask
This guy takes a whole look at the gaming industry as a whole. While I lament space apes employees being out of jobs and hope they find employment elsewhere, Earth Wars is a scummy whale hunting shit show of a game.
jackgaughan
I'm not sorry I'm very smart and cool.
[Wing_Saber-X]
M
Maybe I should have put that in blue text…
jackgaughan
Aw yeah, poor wee diddums. How will the big company make it back after this?
cj37a
My heart stopped for a moment there. Space Ape Games will keep it going.
primalxconvoy
I don't fully agree. Mario partly flopped due to Nintendo not making it a FULL Mario game. They've deliberately designed them to be crappy, in order to "promote" their own, walled-garden systems.
Also, there ARE successful, premium mobile games, such as "Monument Valley", and games with IAPs that are purely cosmetic, such as Fortnite.
The market is also there, on Android and iOS-based consoles, like the Nvidia Shield TV and recent iteration of the Apple TV, not to mention "gaming phones" (such as the ROG 2)
For example, although I've got issues with this game, have a look at this fairly recent mobile game:
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Or even imagine Earth Wars, but with IAPs that unlocked characters, skins, etc that allowed them to be used in a squad. No loot boxes, but rather "digital collections" of characters, with a dedicated virtual collection room for them, or a hub to parade them in.
I think Hasbro is trying to imitate Games Workshop's approach to IP and (mobile) gaming:
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One could even argue that this is what Nintendo is also doing with it's own IP (but for me, it's just cheapening the brand).
Michael Kenney
When\'s that Transformers Online game coming out? It\'s been four years since Devastation and I need a new TF Console game ASAP
[Wing_Saber-X]
Aww. Poor Hasbro..
lars573
So, anyone want on bet on how long before Hasbro announces a game publishing arm?
Mines 6 months to ayear.
ScientistMan
I don’t remember when it happened, but they took most of their games off the App Store and replaced them with nothing. After that, Hasbro relied on Budge, D3 Go!, and other third party developers for their games.
Take note, Boulder Media. This could be you if your My Little Pony movie doesn’t do any better than the last one.
griffin-of-oz
It sounds a bit odd that they are shutting down the business, instead of trying to sell it. Shutting it down costs them money paying out redundancies and the process of closing up the physical business… while selling it, even cheaply, makes them money, and saves all of those jobs.
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