Eidos, Ion, & The Romero

If I was Carmack, I would be all, Romero, let's get back together. With my coding skills for the engine and your level designs for the maps, Doom3 would be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Romero, I miss you, come back.

But that's not likely to happen, is it?

veggie, you are an idiot! $25 mil. to set up a development house, and pump out games. Not just Daikatana. You had Dominion ( which really doesn't count), Daikatana, Deus Ex, and Anachronox. Hmmm, $25 mil. for four games? Not a bad deal if you ask me......

Behind the copy machine?

LOFL.

Where were the Nuclear Secrets of the United States of America for 24 days?

Resign Bill Richardson. You are a bigger joke than Janet Reno! And the Senate is on your ass! Even the democrats will not protect you!

RESIGN NOW! You fat fuck!

btw- you might be sucked down in a conspiracy just for being a blind loyalist. WAKE THE FUCK UP!

Gimme DooM3 or gimme death.......

Thomas Paine

btw- from my cold dead hand mutha fucka! and cold steel awaits those who would take my freedom and my life.

Al Gore is the whore of the liberals...........

So...let's ask Romero a question only he would know, something like how fast does a ferrari really go or the middle name of his daughter or something...

Im drunk............ my advice.............

#227........... 225 doesnt know jack shit. ;)

Romero.... go on that sababtical. Cut your hair.... burn it... go into the desert and come back......

btw- coming back is the most important thing...... and its the hardest thing to do........... when the music is in your head....... then...... hehe......... your already back.

"Leave me alone, you dont even know what your promising......"
Ozzy

Advice for 'The Romero'.

Go back to where you are safe and comforatable. Where you can think freely........

Find youself amoung the noise dude........ and come back to us.

*adapted from Exacalbur (the movie) *

Obviously a lot of mistakes were made in the birth of Ion Storm, possibly more mistakes than any game company in the past decade. Not only has Ion Storm learned a lot from its past, but so has the rest of the gaming industry. Canning Ion Storm or John Romero would be even further counter-productive and in effect do absolutely nothing positive. These are good game designers that were brought through poor management and company situations, I think it's time people put the past in the past, and move on to success in the future.

--Valiance--

It's amazing how little so many of you understand about business. But maybe not because you might have to work in business for a few years to grasp the basic financial concepts.

The 25 million spent for Ion is called an asset. In business a return on an asset is what is the owner of that asset is looking for. You do not build a factory(asset) and expect it to be paid for with the first years production. It just doesn't work that way...

Sales = return on investment. A top ten game is more than any company can ask for. Ion is getting their return.

I knew this rumor of Romero's demise was false the second I read it because of the sales data I had seen for Daikatana.

The game may suck but it is selling and that is the name of the game in business and why Romero can feel secure. Plus, canning a well-known game designer in such an ugly manner would insure that no other well-known game designers would ever want to work for Ion.

End of Business101 lecture.

hehe

Soldier of Fortune
Week 1 16,033 copies $743,225 revenues $46.36 average price
Week 2 9,237 copies $435,192 revenues $47.11 average price
Week 3 7,515 copies $325,070 revenues $43.26 average price

Daikatana
Week 1 6,532 copies $216,782 revenues $33.19 average price
Week 2 4,762 copies $146,215 revenues $30.70 average price
Week 3 1,891 copies $71,142 revenues $37.62 average price

Messiah
Week 1 2,842 copies $134,802 revenues $47.43 average price
Week 2 1,743 copies $82,761 revenues $47.48 average price
Week 3 1,018 copies $49,225 revenues $48.35 average price

Local EB and Babbages both say that the game has sold poorly and had more returns than anything else. Romero's simply full of shit.

Here's the smart play for Eidos.

Cut losses, try to survive another year. Several games are in the pipeline, and X-Box is on the way, too. Eidos should also be in line for a nice cut of the Tomb Raider merchandise tie-ins. That's promising: Angelina Jolie's sweet ass could move a lot of plastic and other shit next year, not to mention the inevitable movie-tie-in-game-about-the-movie-based-on-the-game. ;)

Meanwhile, force Ion to push its remaining two games out the door this quarter exactly as Looking Glass was pushed on Thief 2. Crack the whip; those boys need money.

When Deus Ex and Anachronox have shipped, each selling 25 - 50k units (a.k.a. "The Dominion/Daikatana Gold Standard"), fire everyone at Ion and sell the assets.

Final move: never, never, never throw money at a boutique game house again. Bet on the hungry developer who wants to make it, e.g., the Cro-Teams of this world, not the poor misunderstood hair artist.

No it's not complete dumb bullshit, you asshole! It's wishful thinking! People hate you and they WANT you to loose your job! You SUCK ROMERO!

ok, everyone knows that Romero is a gaming GOD (Garbagepale O]f Dogshit)

please The Romero, do not kill me with a wack of your hair....

originally found on http://www.stomped.com
also linked from http://www.gamebasement.com with commentary

valve has finally confirmed that the TF2 engine is from scratch and not based on Quake 2. This is probably a big reason why the game is taking so long.

Just remember who you owe for "The Romero"...

:)

If you guys haven't heard yet, we are giving away a free GeForce DDR at gamebasement. If you're interested all you have to do is register with a valid e-mail address at the site.

http://www.gamebasement.com

Just thought you guys might like a chance to win, I doubt there will be all that many entries, so the odds are decent.

Romero is once again playing his shit eating PR game. I'd put money on it that Eidos wants to dump that fucker and his gang of slacker assholes faster than a case of the crabs.

Here's the problem with the business lecture. The original contract between Ion and Eidos was a standard publishing deal: an advance and royalties in exchange for several titles. Once Eidos recoups the advances, Ion gets a % of the sales and the publisher gets the rest.
It was not a long term investment, it was an expectation that Ion's titles would more than cover the advances. So in fact, it's quite fair to compare the net revenues against the $26 million dollar advance (plus several million in later advances).

Now that Eidos had to buy/bail out Ion, it's more of an "asset" in the sense that you meant it, but that's certainly not how it started out. I'm not happy that a company with promise turned into a circus, but the fact is, the game is not selling anywhere near the amount that Eidos originally hoped or expected, nor enough to cover the costs it took to produce.

If you like the game, you like the game. That's fine. But it just isn't a commercial success....

Valiance is a gentleman of well spoken words, I believe that Ions rocky past is behind them, and that they will push forward and make good fun games. Isn't that the bottom line? I have alot of fun playing Daikatana. It's not the best game i've played, but it's up there. The bottom line is not money, JR has plenty of it from his Doom days. By reading his interviews, it sounds to me that all he wants to do is make fun games. And isn't that what games are for? To have fun, not bash and be children?

144 and 151, could not have said it better myself, good to see that somebody who knows whats going on stopped by. It's not veggie's fault that he has nothing better to do during his summer vacation than to spout out falsehoods on a mesageboard......

Sorry Veggie, shows how much you don't know about the gaming industry. And selling video games at Best Buy doesn't mean you work in the industry. Listening to an Eidos rep, hmmmmm. First of all, reps don't work for the company directly, they are employed through rep firms. And most of these bozos are the last to know true information. You were safer with posting the clips.......

game companies are invincible --lgs anyone?

if they make a game, they automatically rake in money

it doesn't necessarily have to sell

*licks lips, blank stare*

Where is the Daikatana patch that was supposed to be out within two weeks?

Not the feared french people

Ha! These lies and foul disinformation shall not turn my fans against me!

Those who have seen the light and loyal and see through such deceit!

Isn't Eidos a German company???

I wonder if romero reads this page... and i wonder if he posts here?