FASA Founder: Microsoft 'Destroyed' Dev Culture at Former MechWarrior Studio

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Jordan Weisman, founder of defunct MechWarrior developer FASA Interactive, now says that the studio's culture was "destroyed" following Microsoft's acquisition of FASA in 1999.

"I don't think the studio ever really had a chance," said Weisman to GamesIndustry. "It was destroyed right in the beginning."

"The two reasons they bought us was, one, they wanted the catalogue of intellectual properties and, two, they felt that we had developed a really good development culture," he said. "And the reality is that, pretty much from the day we moved to Redmond, that development culture was destroyed."

Wiesman says that he was instrumental in making sure Bungie's unique culture was maintained after Microsoft acquired the Halo developer in 2000:

When we were acquiring Bungie, they wanted me to sit down with the owners of Bungie and tell them how well the transition went," he explained. "And it was like - 'what planet are you guys on?' This transition did not go well. And actually I became the lead vocal pain in the ass to get things done very different for Bungie.

I tried to convince them to leave Bungie in Chicago, but not winning that I did succeed in getting them to put them in a walled off room, which didn't follow any of the other Microsoft stuff. We were much better able to defend Bungie's culture than we were FASA's culture.

FASA was shut down in 2007. Weisman is now licensing his properties back from Microsoft through his new company Smith & Tinker, including the MechWarrior franchise. Piranha Games is set to develop a new MechWarrior sequel--provided a publisher deal can be established.

"We're operating under some pretty tight restrictions of the license that make publishing the games kind of challenging," said Weisman of MechWarrior.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    August 26, 2009 7:26 PM

    Microsoft doesn't care about gaming people!

    Seriously.
    FASA? Dead!
    Bungie? Split!
    ACES? Dead!
    Ensemble? Dead!

    Games for Windows is a running joke. Microsoft Game Studios has ZERO PC titles in development right now. Not even a console port.

    • reply
      August 26, 2009 7:37 PM

      Their first party 360 line-up is looking pretty skimpy as well. Halo 3: ODST and Alan Wake... Big whoop.

      • reply
        August 27, 2009 6:41 AM

        Halo: Reach, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Forza 2, L4D 2, Fable 3.

        • reply
          August 27, 2009 7:31 AM

          First party does not include Ubisoft and Valve.

          • reply
            August 28, 2009 6:25 AM

            Well they're exclusives, so honestly what difference does it make?

      • reply
        August 27, 2009 10:44 AM

        You forgot Forza 3

    • reply
      August 26, 2009 8:02 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      August 26, 2009 8:02 PM

      Yea, its sad.

      Fucking microshit.

    • reply
      August 26, 2009 8:09 PM

      Oh, Microsoft cares. It'd be nice if they cared about more than goddamned Halo, of course.

    • reply
      August 26, 2009 8:11 PM

      Access Software. :(

    • reply
      August 26, 2009 8:22 PM

      M-M-M-M-MONSTER KILL

    • reply
      August 26, 2009 8:33 PM

      I wish I knew what type of rules or operations or methods they force on you once you are brought into the fold. I find it fascinating that something so mundane as corporate culture can be so poisonous to product development.

      • reply
        August 26, 2009 9:25 PM

        Exceptional groups have chemistry. Chemistry is a strange property that cannot be forced into creation; it just happens when the conditions are right. Those conditions are impossible to determine, so when it sparks and the whole thing starts to ignite, it should just be left to itself. The reaction becomes self-sustaining if conditions persist. Interference of any sort can douse the reaction. Once it's gone, it's gone. You will not be able to restart or recreate it.

        A smart manager would institute a near total hands off policy in these cases.

        That's been my personal experience. I worked for a startup in the semiconductor industry. We were purchased by a billion dollar company. Their funding allowed us to become 100 million dollar per year business unit, and their managerial interference destroyed that same business. The product line was canceled when it all fell apart due to massive loss of personnel.

        I guess that's a fancy way of saying "If it ain't broke don't fix it."

        • reply
          August 27, 2009 4:04 AM

          Yeah, unfortunately Microsoft is legendary for enforcing their culture on newly acquired entities (just like Jordan Weisman said in this article). Large companies tend to do that because it makes business sense for them, even if it ends up killing the chemistry that was originally in the acquired company.

          Sometimes there are glitzy press releases saying that they'll be "hands-off" or isolate themselves from the newly acquired company, but in the long-term, resistance is futile.

    • reply
      August 26, 2009 9:15 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      August 26, 2009 9:28 PM

      That's why their membership in the 'PC Gaming Alliance' is such a hideous affront to any pc gamer. PC gaming has it tough as it is without MS shoving it to it's grave. Fucking a-holes.

      • reply
        August 26, 2009 9:46 PM

        Valve and Blizzard are the only ones really keeping PC gaming relevant, both through their games and their online services. Microsoft couldn't give a fuck about the PC as a gaming platform.

        • reply
          August 26, 2009 10:14 PM

          there are a few more, but its not a long list.

          • reply
            August 27, 2009 12:06 AM

            It isn't a long list, but I'd say that most of the companies that would be on it fall under the Valve column because of Steam. That service, possibly more than their own games, is what is keeping PC gaming relevant to quite a few gamers.

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          August 27, 2009 4:52 AM

          Bioware, id, Remedy, Relic. Quite a few ACE development houses you missed out. Microsoft are a set of total tossers imo. They want the death of PC gaming so we all go buy XBOX's, well, it ain't gonna happen.

          • reply
            August 27, 2009 7:35 AM

            Remedy is pretty much a console only powerhouse...

          • reply
            August 27, 2009 9:51 AM

            I don't know if you noticed buddy but Microsoft just forced Remedy to make Alan Wake, that game that showed off DX10 so good, a console exclusive.

            • reply
              August 27, 2009 11:28 AM

              Lol, it's weird how MS is still making DX APIs (That DX 11 has 3 great new major features) while now ignoring the PC games completely! Though, to be sure, it seems that they're just merely in the business of making and then selling the DX APIs to the developers in preparation for their future consoles that would support them.

              • reply
                August 27, 2009 11:29 AM

                "Selling the DX APIs" - actually I may be wrong on that one, perhaps just 'delivering' for the purpose of generating more game title sales on their OWN consoles, so hence making more money.

            • reply
              August 27, 2009 11:53 AM

              Alan Wake was a Remedy-only deal in the beginning, a baby of Sam Lake's.

              Trouble only started when Remedy went to MS for help/publishing for whatever god-damned reason.

        • reply
          August 27, 2009 6:14 AM

          Don't forget Popcap games! :D

    • reply
      August 26, 2009 9:48 PM

      Worth noting, Bungie is still partnered with Microsoft despite their new independence, and while Ensemble itself may be no more, both spinoffs Robot and Bonfire also appear to be continuing the relationship, only as independent developers (Bonfire I'm not 100% certain, but Robot has been handling the post-release Halo Wars updates).

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      August 27, 2009 5:31 AM

      It's a shame, really. In the times of the original XBOX, Microsoft Game Studios published some really great titles for both systems. Now that there is money to be made with XBOX 360, we're swept aside, despite those Microsoft promises that PC gaming is still a priority for them.

    • reply
      August 27, 2009 7:15 AM

      What baffles my mind, is I thought they had some kind of 'Software Development Enviroment' where if developers programmed a game to work on the 360, it would automatically work for Windows....

      And that would be their selling point, .. Developers make 1 game, and reap the benefits of the PC and Console world....

      What ever happened to that plan?

    • reply
      August 27, 2009 10:24 AM

      LOL...right.

    • reply
      August 28, 2009 12:02 PM

      OUCH!

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