Turbine Acquired

[March]

BURBANK, Calif., April 20, 2010 – Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group announced today the acquisition of Turbine, Inc., the largest privately-held online gaming studio in North America, further strengthening Warner Bros.’ position as one of the industry’s fastest growing, full-scale games publishers.

http://www.turbine.com/news/99-warner-bros-home-entertainment-group-acquires-turbine-inc.html

[Ingmar]

Maybe they'll get to stop tiptoeing around all the names from the Silmarillion now. 

[LK]

further strengthening Warner Bros.’ position as one of the industry’s fastest growing, full-scale games publishers.

"I don't mean to brag, but..."

[LC]

How did i manage to miss this thread? Either way, it's not like they were going places. Everything since AC1 was terrible.

[Trippy]

It was hiding in the graveyard.

[Cheddar]

Not sure how to feel about this.  I have a soft spot for turbine, so am hoping for the best.  At least its not EA.

[Shapechanger]

I loved supporting Turbine because they owned themselves.... remember when they fought so hard to get out from under Sony so they could do it their way?

Man, Warner Bros.? 

You notice how they said that LotRO was designed after their movies?  Way to fail, Warner Bros.

Good start.

[Trippy]

Microsoft, not Sony.

[UnSub]

Hilarity ensues if WB tries to pull SOE off DCUO and give it to Turbine. The PR statement makes it all about LOTRO though, plus I'm sure someone at WB is thinking of all the other properties that could be MMOs.

Like, say, all the animated DC series characters they have. Probably not the Matrix again.

[Grimwell]

Hilarity ensues if WB tries to pull SOE off DCUO and give it to Turbine.

That won't happen.

[kildorn]

Turbine has always been my favorite talented people who keep just barely missing the idea of fun. Also, their management can't seem to get a break on shitty freaking contracts.

[UnSub]

Claims that WB paid up to $160 million for Turbine, including performance payments.

The Financial Times ignores the whole LOTRO angle, indicating that what was wanted is Turbine's micro-trans experience / tech and to link that to console gaming.

[Mosesandstick]

Just so I'm not confused, we are talking about the same Turbine that thought dealing with SmartRewards, infesting users' computers with spyware and giving away their emails was a good idea?

[CharlieMopps]

lol, yea, WB plans to make some TERRIBLE hobbit based "online" game and then dump turbine like the dirty whore they are. This is the end of turbine. Too bad.

[Numtini]

My big regret here is I loved Dereth. It was quirky, unique, and for me completely engaging. The Glorantha or Tekumel of MMOs. I can't possibly see that happening now.

[Modern Angel]

Some of you people are fucking idiots.

It doesn't fill me with a warm and fuzzy feeling, that's for sure. Invariably, every single time an MMO company gets folded into a big suit run corporation the suits running the corporation demand WoW success. Meaning be more like WoW. Then they do because what else are they supposed to do and the game ends up sucking. I'd love to be wrong because I fucking love LOTRO. I hope WB gives Turbine a lot of leeway.

[Mrbloodworth]

Some of you people are fucking idiots.

 

[Stabs]

I imagine the move is less inspired by a desire to screw up Turbine's current titles and more by a desire to get WB's IPs out onto the web in some way.

Bugs bunny and Tom & Jerry would seem good fits for Facebook type games and Blade and Terminator perhaps good IPs for traditional MMOs.

They really have a ton of stuff that could be turned into some kind of internet cash:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros.#Warner_Bros._franchises

[Dtrain]

Like the Matrix!
 

[sam, an eggplant]

WB never really had a solid gaming strategy to exploit their IP. They licensed it out frequently but were never particularly successful. They've dipped their toes in the water a couple of times, investing in eidos and buying midway and whatnot, but never really committed to the business. They don't seem to be driven, unlike activision and EA. On the bright side, this makes them much less evil; god knows I'd be happier with WB than Beelzebub Kotick. But the ceiling is lower.

Maybe this is just WB's second or third move in a bid to be a real player in the gaming space. But I kinda doubt it. They're just bumbling along like always.

[Arthur_Parker]

Turbine have their own game engine, which is very good, I wonder if they plan to take advantage of that.

[Ingmar]

From what I am hearing through the grapevine, you folks would probably be more upset by the other main contender they were negotiating with - I don't know which Chinese MMO company it was, but it was them or WB. (Mind you what I heard could have been BS.)

[AmericanMcGeesBambi]

Keep in mind, Warner invested $40 million in Turbine in 2008.  Industry sources put the size of this deal at ~$160 million plus performance payments.  I'm semi-out of my depth here, but that gives me the impression that Warner likes what it's seen out of Turbine in the past two years (particularly DDO's phoenix-like rise from an early grave -- Warner seems big on microtrans).

[Slyfeind]

Yeah if it were EA I'd be all doom and gloom, but with WB, not so much. Agreed it's likely more about getting more WB MMOs out there. (Harry Potter maybe?)

[AmericanMcGeesBambi]

How's Wizarding 101 (or whatever it's called) doing as Ghetto Korean Harry Potter?

A fully licensed version of that would pretty much be money-hats, right?

Their engine already has the tech to handle some degree of air physics, as the DDO Winter Games ski-jump-hit-the-midair-coins events demonstrated.  The Turbine Engine wouldn't be everything they need for ZOMG Quidditch, but it's a start.

[Mrbloodworth]

Uhhh....

[Musashi]

[stu]

The Financial Times article surprised me a bit. Barely a single mention of LoTRO. Looks like Warner Bros. is making an effort to curb second-hand game sales by churning out DLC for its non-MMO titles.

[Stabs]

The Financial Times article surprised me a bit. Barely a single mention of LoTRO. Looks like Warner Bros. is making an effort to curb second-hand game sales by churning out DLC for its non-MMO titles.

It's 5 lines long and mentions it once. It also seems as if it's written by a non-gamer because he doesn't examine the MMO aspect. Most British people don't know what a MMO is - they've heard of World of Warcraft from TV ads but couldn't say how it is different from Call of Duty or Modern Warfare (except superficially).

It's a reasonable brief, superficial, article for the financial community not an insider leak on the "real deal". It really doesn't say anything that couldn't be gleaned from the press release.

[squirrel]

How did i manage to miss this thread? Either way, it's not like they were going places. Everything since AC1 was terrible.

Ah. Really? No. LoTRO may not be your cup of tea, or for that matter mine, but it's easily one of the better products on the market. DDO I never played but it seems to be finding it's feet with the F2P model. AC2? Yeah sure it sucked ass and didn't give you Dereth 2. Let it fucking go.

[Soln]

this isn't necessarily "bad".  Remember, Turbine was trying to raise $15-45M? in capital two years at the start of the recession.  This could help them avoid a Mythic-like sellout with WAR inasmuch as they already have they 2 solid, modern, and probably profitable titles.  Thus, less pressure to outperform immediately.  If anything though it does explain they lack of a published roadmap for LotRO.  They've been really into maintaining state in that game for awhile now.

[AmericanMcGeesBambi]

Yeah, aren't they basically 3 for 4 on games that don't suck?  And don't those 3 games offer a more varied range of competently delivered experiences than pretty much any other MMO company out there?

I mean, fuck, they're far from perfect, but is there really another major MMO dev studio doing half as much for people who see WoW and go "meh" but like MMOs?

If anything though it does explain they lack of a published roadmap for LotRO. They've been really into maintaining state in that game for awhile now.

Didn't the second major expansion, Siege of Mirkwood, come out ~5 months ago?

[Count Nerfedalot]

Turbine has a mostly competent in-house engine that's been tuned, reused, and forged in the fires of MMOrdor, yes, but with one huge Achilles heel - server lag.

From rubber-banding in AC1 to feeling like you're underwater in LotRO, whatever magic it is that lets you hit an action key and have your character seem to do said action RIGHT THEN that pretty much every other MMO has, Turbines games lack.  And though I like many things about most of their games, I really really dislike dieing due to my character not reacting nearly as quickly as I do, or after suddenly finding myself in the middle of a dozen angry mobs due to rubber-banding.  And if their next game feels just as laggy, no matter how good it is otherwise it just aint gonna keep my subscription very long.

But that's just a whiny way of saying I wonder if WB actually got what they thought they were paying for.

[AmericanMcGeesBambi]

LoTRO I agree with you, but didn't they supposedly change that with Mirkwood?  I thought that was one of the major features of the expansion.  I might be wrong.

AC1 was totally hit and miss, its feel is either incredibly responsive or really awful, and it was very random.  From what I understand, the real problem is that the game's underlying coding is shitty (UDP?) and there's only so much they can do.

DDO felt great, IMHO.

[Sheepherder]

Most games use UDP.