Mark Jacobs Goes Casual

[IainC]

Forbes Woman Link.

Not sure if this is news or simply reporting the inevitable.

[HaemishM]

 

[Reg]

It's nice to know that failed MMO devs can always go make Facebook games.

[Slyfeind]

Woot, he will make movies and TV shows based on his ideas.

[Rasix]

Forbes Woman Link.

Not sure if this is news or simply reporting the inevitable.

News to me.  Thanks.

He's been away for so long I thought this was about Marc Jacobs at first. Best of luck to him and I hope he makes something fun/interesting on the platforms he's working on.  So much of the casual gaming space is filled with uninteresting crap or revenue models hiding behind a bunch of cow clicking.

It's rare that the free or $1 game I get on my iphone is worth even that lower barrier to entry.

edit:

Didn't see this nugget at first.

Though he didn’t reveal details on the games that the company is working on just yet, he said that the company will be focused on creating wholly original intellectual properties that will eventually be translated into other media, like comics, television and film.

Sounds like a great way to piss away your profits and/or set your sights on something that's out of your achievable scope.

[sinij]

Someone trying to be Zynga too hard...

[Paelos]

Here's what I got out of it:

After months of meeting with venture capitalists in Asia, he eventually decided to use his own money to fund the company.

Venture capitalists told you your idea sucked. You decided to invest your own money in it anyway. This makes me question why you went to them in the first place unless you knew your idea sucked as well, and were hoping to piss away someone else's cash.

In fact, Jacobs said that three of the people on his staff have never played a game before they were hired at City State.

What? You invest your own money AND hire people with no gaming experience? That's the kind of outside the box thinking that will make you billions, my friend.

[sinij]

Accountant, Secretary and Janitor?

[eldaec]

In 1995, he co-founded Mythic Entertainment and went on to create massively multiplayer online games (or “MMOs”) such as Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. However, despite having vast experience making these niche but beloved online games, Jacobs thought it was finally time to set his sights a little broader.

Are you allowed to say 'such as' when you list literally every project Mythic ever delivered?

What the fuck did Marc Jacobs do before daoc anyway? I vaguely assumed he'd come over from Morrowind but iiam.

All this 'failed developer' shit is a bit silly though.

DAoC was more successful than any mmog of the last 6 years, developing it and then selling Mythic to EA must have made him an eight figure sum.

[Rasix]

What the fuck did Marc Jacobs do before daoc anyway? I vaguely assumed he'd come over from Morrowind but iiam.

Mythic made numerous online games in the mid and late 1990s, ranging from online action first-person shooters to online RPGs. Some titles include Silent Death Online, Magestorm Millennium, Darkness Falls: The Crusade, ID4 Online, Spellbinder: The Nexus Conflict, and Splatterball.

From the wikipedia article on Mythic.

Mark's been involved with online RPGs since the mid 80's.  I remember Magestorm being mentioned a lot around the time Dark Age was coming to market.

[Rendakor]

I've never heard of any of those.

[Arrrgh]

After months of meeting with venture capitalists in Asia, he eventually decided to use his own money to fund the company.

Good, I hope he fails so epically he ends up a street person.

Yes, I still remember what they did to my smite cleric.

[Morfiend]

In fact, Jacobs said that three of the people on his staff have never played a game before they were hired at City State.

What? You invest your own money AND hire people with no gaming experience? That's the kind of outside the box thinking that will make you billions Warhammer Online, my friend.

Sorry but I just had to go and fix this one.

[Rasix]

I've never heard of any of those.

Neither had I.  Although, I suppose there was/is a decent enough market for them.  My only experience with pay to play muds was DragonRealms, and I think I managed to not pay money for any of it. 

[Paelos]

Accountant, Secretary and Janitor?

If you hire an accountant that doesn't understand the industry, you're a fucking idiot.

Hell, I'd want my secretary to play games too. If you can't sell casual games to the secretaries of the world, you're going to fail.

As for the janitor, none of the ones in our building spoke really great English, so I'm not sure how to poll that audience.

[Slyfeind]

Accountants should definitely understand game company accounting, but anything else isn't necessarily necessary. I've been at places where HR was handled by game developers, and other places where HR was handled by HR people. The latter tended to be more efficient.

[Xuri]

I don't get how people who make Facebook/social-games are willing to admit to this in public. If you're a maker of Facebook/social-games it becomes blatantly obvious really quick that you're only after one thing - as much money as you can possible get away with, at any cost to the quality of your product, the welfare of the people consuming your product and to your integrity as a game developer.

No offense meant to anyone actually in the industry of making social-games.

[WayAbvPar]

“I’m tired of strings and being told what to do by other people,” said Jacobs in an exclusive interview with Forbes.com

Probably should have considered that before selling out to EA. 

[Mrbloodworth]

I worked on a Magestorm clone (1:14 mark) using the Genesses3D engine ( Good times ). I am surprised you guys never played Magestorm or Splatterball.

-20 Game cred the lot of you!

Haha! * Finds old ass screen shot *

[luckton]

I worked on a Magestorm clone using the Genesses3D engine ( Good times ). I am surprised you guys never played Magestorm or Splatterball.

-20 Game cred the lot of you!

Mythic striking it rich with DAoC was like the Clampetts discovering oil out of sheer goddamned luck.  Had they not done so, no one would have ever heard about them, as the whole 'indy dev' thing was about 10x smaller compared to today.

[eldaec]

“I’m tired of strings and being told what to do by other people,” said Jacobs in an exclusive interview with Forbes.com

Probably should have considered that before selling out to EA. 

Pretty sure selling out to EA is what meant he stopped having to listen to anyone ever again.

[KallDrexx]

Mythic striking it rich with DAoC was like the Clampetts discovering oil out of sheer goddamned luck.  Had they not done so, no one would have ever heard about them, as the whole 'indy dev' thing was about 10x smaller compared to today.

It wasn't luck, they did actually know what they were doing at that point.  DAOC was their graphical attempt at using everything they learned from the relatively successful Darkness Falls: The Crusade pay 2 play MUD. 

[Merusk]

And IIRC the problems with WAR can all be traced back to the decision to abandon that decade and a half of knowledge and try something else, so as to not hurt the older game.

[stray]

Lol..So much hate.

I don't see why this is worse than MMOs.

[Rasix]

Yes, stray, this crowd fucking loves cow clickers and iOS games to death.  It's taking over the boards.

[NiX]

Accountants should definitely understand game company accounting, but anything else isn't necessarily necessary. I've been at places where HR was handled by game developers, and other places where HR was handled by HR people. The latter tended to be more efficient.

Seeing as I work in the HR field and with lots of other companies HR staff, I'm calling bullshit on you claiming they're efficient.

[stray]

I guess that goes either way. A lot of HR people are educated in a generic kind of way, while a game developer would potentially know his field - and how to get people working together.

OTOH, some developers are neckbeards who don't know the first thing about people.

[waffel]

Mythic made numerous online games in the mid and late 1990s, ranging from online action first-person shooters to online RPGs. Some titles include Silent Death Online, Magestorm Millennium, Darkness Falls: The Crusade, ID4 Online, Spellbinder: The Nexus Conflict, and Splatterball.

From the wikipedia article on Mythic.

Mark's been involved with online RPGs since the mid 80's.  I remember Magestorm being mentioned a lot around the time Dark Age was coming to market.

I played and enjoyed silent death online...   I'm a mark jacobs hipster, I guess.

[Fabricated]

Yeah, we're not gonna be just another company of old white guys!!

*outsources all programming to India*

[Azazel]

Didn't see this nugget at first.

Though he didn’t reveal details on the games that the company is working on just yet, he said that the company will be focused on creating wholly original intellectual properties that will eventually be translated into other media, like comics, television and film.

Sounds like a great way to piss away your profits and/or set your sights on something that's out of your achievable scope.

That's hilarious.

When I first saw the thread I was confused. I thought Jacobs was Paul Barnett for a couple of minutes. 

[schild]

Funding it with his own money is a terrible idea. I'll just leave it at that.

[Amaron]

Mark Jacobs pissing away all his money and getting away from real gaming is a GREAT idea.

[UnSub]

As best I can tell, the main point of the website is to promote City State's desktop art. That's the only substantive thing on the site.

Admittedly the announcement is only notable because of the Mark Jacobs connection, but what was the point of this particular PR push? "Hi, I've started a new studio and don't really have anything else to talk about"? If Jacobs wants to talk about stuff with no outcomes, he's already got a blog.

Off the site:

11) So, what’s up with the name City State Entertainment?

We were originally going to be based in Singapore, and it seemed a really appropriate name. Even after we walked away from that deal we decided to keep the name. It’s better than saying, “Boring Part of Fairfax Entertainment.”

I've got no issue with iOS titles or Facebook games, but tidbits like, "We were going to start up in Singapore, but decided to go with Virginia" don't strike notes of confidence to me.

[Mrbloodworth]

Mark Jacobs co-founded Mythic Entertainment and made some kick-ass games like Dark Age of Camelot. Then he traded the company and his soul for a bunch of shiny beads. After winning back the soul in a Dubai poker game, he’s ready to do it all again. And this time, he’s got beads and he’s not afraid to use them.

 

[schild]

As best I can tell, the main point of the website is to promote City State's desktop art. That's the only substantive thing on the site.

I hope the drawing of the team was done by an 17 year old weaboo. It's... so bad.