'We are still working on making that GAAS business global.'

Monster Closet Games is a small studio with big ambitions – and the experience to match. Most of the core team has been in the industry for 20-plus years, and they’ve worked on a number of gaming’s biggest franchises, from Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia to Far Cry and Halo. They’re currently developing an online multiplayer title codenamed Project Shrine, with plans to launch on PC and current-gen consoles.“High-level, it’s a third-person co-op dungeon raider,” says Monster Closet CEO Graeme Jennings. “You and your group get together, build synergies between your characters, and raid dungeons for treasure. It’s about working together as a team.”Teamwork is at the heart of Monster Closet’s approach to game development, and the studio plans to stay tight-knit and focused. “I’d rather have 40–50 developers who love working together, who love the way we work, and who build great games because of that,” says Jennings. “I have a genuine belief that great teams, with the right tools, can build great games.”Monster Closet’s artists and developers are used to working with a powerful tech stack of proprietary solutions. Starting over from scratch meant this wasn’t an option, so in the first few months, the team carefully curated a toolchain that would scale with their ambitions.For Project Shrine, Monster Closet is accelerating production with Unity’s engine-agnostic DevOps solutions and automations, including Unity Version Control for source control and Backtrace for error tracking. We interviewed Monster Closet’s lead online programmer, Patrice Beauvais, and CTO, Thomas Félix, to learn about what they’ve been creating and how they built a tech stack designed to scale.What did you consider when you started building your tech stack?Thomas Félix: A few of us have had different experiences with live games, and we wanted to have a solid DevOps foundation that could support that in the long term. Even though GAAS [games as a service] is not at the core of our game, we wanted to make sure we had a powerful tech stack that would help us release and iterate quickly.We all had experience with Perforce, but we’re not necessarily big fans – it works well enough, but we had been doing things that weren’t really meant to be done with it. We were also looking at Git as a solution, but then we found Unity Version Control.On paper, Unity Version Control mixed the great approach you get with something like Git, but also something much more powerful like Perforce to manage data. We were seduced by Unity Version Control’s task branch workflows; after about six months of evaluations, we decided to give it a try. At that time, we were around six or seven people. Because the team was growing slowly, it was a nice, smooth ramp-up. We’re now at around 43 team members, and so far, so good.What was your process for testing this version control system?Patrice Beauvais: For us on the tech side, we didn’t want to have half our project on Git and half on Perforce. We know how much of a burden it is to have to use and maintain two different source code management tools – it’s common with live service games where the online systems and game data aren’t necessarily fully integrated.And a team of your size just couldn’t support that type of approach – the fact that Unity Version Control can facilitate both of those workflows is helpful?Patrice Beauvais: Totally.What kinds of problems have you encountered previously using two different version control systems?Thomas Félix: In game development, you always need to build customizations for the tools you use, no matter how good they are. Unity Version Control is a great example – even though it works well, we still found ways we wanted to tailor it to our workflows. If you have to support two source control systems, you double that work, which is always painful. Someone who’s good with Git might not be as familiar with Perforce, and vice versa. Training people takes twice as long.Patrice Beauvais: For me, the worst part is integrating data between two different version control systems. If you’re using Perforce but your data library is stored in Git, that data will need to go back into Perforce, so the two need a way to interface. Even though there are many solutions, these interactions aren’t really meant to happen, and sometimes you lose the project history. A bigger team can make it work, but I’m not going to spend six months building a solution to migrate data from Git to Perforce.It sounds like your team has used many different version control systems over the years. What are the benefits and challenges of some of the solutions you’ve explored?Thomas Félix: Let’s start with Perforce – it’s super resilient, it manages data very well, and it’s not that complex for nontechnical team members. You don’t find that anywhere else, really, except with Unity Version Control. On the other hand, the big monorepos you see in Perforce aren’t really suitable for game development – fast integration, multiple branches, that kind of thing. You can manage with Perforce, but it’s far from ideal, especially if you want to build a robust CI/CD pipeline.Patrice Beauvais: Git’s UI is great for programmers, but I probably wouldn’t ask an artist to work with it. It’s not ideal for managing large files and data, and it doesn’t support locks natively very well, yet.Thomas Félix: Unity Version Control is a better solution in many regards – the UI is tailored for content creators, so it’s great for usability. We see Unity Version Control as the perfect marriage of Git and Perforce.Programmers usually want to be in Git, and you can get pretty much the same workflows in Unity Version Control. For nontechnical content creators, it’s easy to submit their data, which solves one of the biggest problems teams run into with source control.Data loss is the worst thing that can happen to us. Code is easy to handle in every source control solution, but data is always tricky. We cannot afford to lose work, and each mistake made on the data side means paying for it a thousand times later on. We try to be very, very careful with that. With Unity Version Control, it’s a win for both our programmers and content creators.Do you have any best practices you can recommend for maintaining build integrity?Thomas Félix: For a small company like ours starting out, we knew we couldn’t afford to have broken builds because we submitted bad data or code to the main branch.With Unity Version Control, we never work in the main branch. We’re always in control of it, it’s always stable, and the mergebot actually does most of that work for us. That really resonated with us when we were trying it out, and it’s one of the first things we put in place, even when we were just five people working on the main build. It’s worked really well: The main branch is almost never down, and it’s been like that for almost two years now.How does Unity Version Control handle speed when working with large files and switching between branches and workspaces?Thomas Félix: In terms of task branches and switching back and forth, that works well, too. It takes a bit of time for people to get used to this workflow – task branches are a new concept to many people, and it’s maybe not as fluent immediately for artists as it is for programmers.That being said, every week – not every day – we do catch small problems through mergebots and our CI/CD processes, but they never enter the main branch or break the build. It takes a bit of time to get used to, but working in one branch will always be quicker than working across two – not by much, but if you step back and look at your pipeline as a whole, you start to realize it’s a much, much better way of working. At least for us, as a small-to-medium-sized company, it’s perfect.So there’s a culture and learning change you have to make to move to continuous deployment, but it seems like you’re saying you’ve already caught a lot of bugs or other potential issues before they even hit main.Thomas Félix: Totally. I would never go back to one-branch development. A team like us just can’t afford to spend days debugging or fixing problems that hit main.When we interviewed Apocalypse Studios, they discussed the “culture shift” that task branch workflows can require. They were using Perforce before Unity Version Control and talked a lot about branches versus streams. What’s your take on that?Thomas Félix: Branches and streams are quite different to me. If Unity Version Control didn’t exist, we could probably build something around streams and try to get the same thing going, but it would be complex and error-prone. In Unity Version Control, it’s much easier and much safer, because branching is what it’s built for.In Perforce, streams are the equivalent of tasks. If you’re super technical, you can make it work, but I would never put that in the hands of artists. With Unity Version Control, currently we have more than 1,000 branches – most of them are archived, and we have about 10–15 open at any given time. I’m not sure I’d like to have 1,000 project branches in Perforce.What challenges do you anticipate as you move further along in development? What challenges have you faced already?Patrice Beauvais: As we mentioned, people aren’t immediately used to the task branch way of working. For artists, it’s really new to them, so we’re careful to explain how it works and why we’re doing it.Thomas Félix: That’s true. People weren’t resistant to it or anything, but it’s definitely a cultural switch. Anyone looking to switch to Unity Version Control, like we did, needs to take that into account. It’s a better way of working, but you have to be willing to think outside the box. We started fresh, from pretty much nothing – no office, no infrastructure, and a very small team – so it was a little easier for us than it might be for other studios. Building your infrastructure in the cloud sounds cool, but it comes with challenges in terms of iteration time, costs, setup, security…. In the end it’s a win, but it took us some time to get a reliable workflow up and running.You’re also using another of Unity’s engine-agnostic solutions: our verified solutions partner, Backtrace. Can you tell us what your error tracking pipeline looks like?Thomas Félix: We use Backtrace to track every single bug in most of our applications – the first ones, obviously, being the game and the Editor. We mentioned before that we built some tools around Unity Version Control – Backtrace is integrated there, too.It didn’t take long to set it up, and it gave us access to some top-class tools, dashboards, and workflows. We were able to get a lot of the things we had in place at previous companies up and running pretty easily. After being operational for around six months, we already had visibility on all the crashes in the game, the Editor, and our tools. It wasn’t something I expected to get so early when starting a new studio, to be honest.Patrice Beauvais: It’s a super good tool. At Ubisoft, I worked on a proprietary solution like Backtrace for two or three years. Backtrace is really feature-forward – it’s even faster than what I was working on, and was easy to implement. Again, we did add our own customizations for custom data, and worked to integrate it with our server, which is on Linux.Thomas Félix: We were quite impressed by the time it took to set up Backtrace. Two or three days and we were already receiving crashes, so we decided to move forward.What did you do to ensure the process of implementing Unity Version Control went smoothly?We’ve shipped a lot of big games, and we try to use that experience to think about how we can apply it in new contexts. That’s why we ended up going with Unity Version Control, and with Backtrace as well. The tricky part is making sure we don’t invent problems we don’t have – we’re not a 1,000-person studio anymore!We’re always trying to find a balance between how we leverage our experience while reminding ourselves that we’re not trying to build the next big AAA game. We still want to make something great, and to do that, we need the best workflows – and Unity Version Control fits perfectly.What was your process for testing this version control system?Thomas Félix: The tricky part was making sure we could put it in the hands of artists, both in terms of the UX and data integrity. We worked with several artists on the team to make sure they understood how to use it. It was really important to us to nail data management for our project. The more people we added to the team, the better the feedback we got – people were happy, and we knew we were onto something.How are you using Unity Version Control’s Gluon workflow for artists?Thomas Félix: We do use Gluon, but for something else, what we call the raw data – data that’s not tied to the engine. Let’s say you’re an artist and you’re modeling a mesh: You’re using the raw data, the source file, in something like Blender. This doesn’t have to reach the engine; only the data you export from it does. This data is managed in a task branch, but we manage the source files in Gluon.These files can be really heavy – character artists using tools like Zbrush can generate files that are 2, 3, 4 GB per asset, if not more. You don’t want programmers having to sync 1 TB worth of original character meshes, so we manage those in Gluon using partial workspaces. Character artists only synchronize character files, modelers will only synchronize model files, and it’s the same for audio, textures, and so on. It’s all stored in a separate repository, away from the task branch workflow.So, to recap, you’re using Gluon for scenarios where you’re working with huge files so someone doesn’t have to download the whole repo – they can just use a partial workspace.Thomas Félix: Exactly. It’s an archived version of the original data, so we don’t use task branches for that. We don’t need to have a task branch for those materials, as long as creators submit their latest work every once in a while.What advice do you have for smaller studios looking to scale up and tackle ambitious projects, like you’re doing?Thomas Félix: That’s a good question. From day one, you need to know where you want to go. For us, we started with a small team, and we knew we wanted to grow, but we didn’t want to scale to 1,000 employees – even 200 isn’t our goal. We made many decisions – decisions that we’re really happy with! – that we might not have made if we had different ambitions.Building your infra in the cloud does make it easy to scale – just be careful, because it can cost you an arm and a leg. Always try to be in control of your workflow. If something doesn’t work, do the work to understand why. Make sure you have strong foundations, basically.Looking to optimize your game development pipeline? Get started with Unity DevOps, built to work with any engine.

DamageEX2 Member May 20, 2024 1,226 After seeing the recent trailer for Expedition 33, i have been noticing a decent amount of hype and antecipation, but im noticing how the game avoid the FF artsyle or style of the characters, to show something more realistic, just like the recent Resident Evil games. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Cast Reveal Trailer | PS5 Games https://store.playstation.com/concept/10008503/Once a year, the Paintress awakens to inscribe her cursed number on the monolith.And everyone of that age vani... m.youtube.com All this make me think, should Square change the artsyle for the mainline FF games to something like this? Would this help reach more people that are not fans of the look of the characters in Final Fantasy? I notice a lot of people and content creators fans of WRPGs,that dont care at all about FF, but when a new From Software game or Dragons Dogma 2 releases, they are there day 1. I dont know if making all this, will make these people care or buy the game, but maybe if it works out, it can make the series reach a new audience.  KamenSenshi Member Nov 27, 2017 2,135 No. Other things exist.   nsilvias Member Oct 25, 2017 29,994 i mean ffs realism is already putting of some jrpg fans. ff realism is appealing to mainstream audiences already just not the games themselves. crpg fans not like ff is just crpg wrpgs fans not liking how little player choice jrpgs have plus the animeisms   Theswweet RPG Site Verified Oct 25, 2017 7,271 California If anything, they should double down. Anime and Japanese media is mainstream worldwide these days.   AuthenticM Son Altesse Sérénissime The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 35,104 no.   FrostweaveBandage Unshakable Resolve Member Sep 27, 2019 9,818 No   Desma "This guy are sick" Member Oct 27, 2017 6,732 Isn't that what FF XVI was?   Keym The Fallen Oct 26, 2017 9,678 Atlus jrpgs sell a lot and they don't have a "western" artstyle. So no.   Linus815 Member Oct 29, 2017 24,014 ff16 already basically did that   The Quentulated Mox Corrupted by Vengeance Member Jun 10, 2022 6,550 The thing keeping buyers away is not the art style And, frankly, I would be much less interested in FF17 if they go the cel-shaded anime designs like every other jrpg  ReyVGM Author - NES Endings Compendium Verified Oct 26, 2017 5,803 Isn't that what FF has been doing for a while already?   Aaronrules380 Avenger Oct 25, 2017 24,353 If anything making it more anime would probably help more. The mainstream taste nowadays tend to lean towards more stylized games. Like stuff like Fortnite or Minecraft don't have realistic art styles   mute ▲ Legend ▲ Member Oct 25, 2017 29,310 They could be attracting larger audiences by making something that runs on a Nintendo handheld, the art style is irrelevant.   404LinkNotFound Member Oct 27, 2017 10,602 Isnt that FF16 did tho? Also japanese art styles are mainstream these days  Lobster Roll signature-less, now and forever™ Member Sep 24, 2019 40,372 In my opinion, they need to go with something far more distinct and varied for their artstyle and cast. The less realistic and more stylized their games, the better. They need to go even further in on making things feel like a fantasy. Give me bright colors, unique outfits, very obvious job/classes, and have characters stand out in a way that you want to know more:   strangelove777 Alt account Banned Nov 23, 2023 1,570 They should make it more anime.   Sander VF Banned Oct 28, 2017 26,876 Tbilisi, Georgia FFXVI was already going for that aesthetic, no?   Cheesecake Banned Oct 12, 2024 126 Outside of FF7 modern Final Fantasy has been pretty realistic in character design. Personally I'd rather they go back to the art direction of FFX. Have the characters look truly fantastical.   Bishop89 What Are Ya' Selling? Member Oct 25, 2017 42,675 Melbourne, Australia No. DamageEX2 said: Would this help reach more people that are not fans of the look of the characters in Final Fantasy? Click to expand... Click to shrink... And the millions of fans that love the existing looks of the series?  Elyian Member Feb 7, 2018 3,494 Theswweet said: If anything, they should double down. Anime and Japanese media is mainstream worldwide these days. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Been saying this for a minute now.   Kutaragi Member Sep 3, 2020 800 ITALY Aaronrules380 said: If anything making it more anime would probably help more. Click to expand... Click to shrink... This.  sir_crocodile Member Oct 25, 2017 24,587 they already did that and it appealed to less people not more lol   Brodo Baggins Member Oct 27, 2017 5,598 Expedition 33 will probably sell like a million copies, 2 million max. The art style is probably FF's biggest strength tbh. If anything they should go further with Japanese stylization. Anime is far more mainstream than ever these days. I think the biggest thing for FF as a franchise is they need to COMMIT. Every mainline game since the start of the PS3 era has felt severely compromised in some way. FFXVI is the closest it's felt to a "complete" game and it feels aggressively scoped and does not commit to the storytelling style and tone it sets out in the prologue throughout. FFVII Remake and FFVII Rebirth feel like complete games, but the whole chunking up of FFVII into 3 games still gives that feeling of compromise.  Cheesecake Banned Oct 12, 2024 126 The Quentulated Mox said: The thing keeping buyers away is not the art style And, frankly, I would be much less interested in FF17 if they go the cel-shaded anime designs like every other jrpg Click to expand... Click to shrink... What if it was Amano style? There's more than one anime art style.  The Unsent Member Oct 25, 2017 22,398 I think they should go for a more fairytale-esque aesthetic. I think there is potential for a renaissance there after how dark the last two mainline Final Fantasy games were.   Renteka-Bond Chicken Chaser Member Dec 28, 2017 6,016 Clearwater, Florida God no, them going so hard into Western medieval blandness in 16 was one of the worst parts of the game for me. Stuff like 8, 13 and, if you squint, 15 with their sort of future fantasy (or in 8's case, contemporary) works, but 16 completely missed the mark and the big appeal of Clair is all the wacky timeywimey otherworld vibes of the environment, not the realistic people.  Aaronrules380 Avenger Oct 25, 2017 24,353 Realistically, what helps something like the from soft games get so big is that the structure and gameplay loop was very streamer friendly and that's huge among younger players nowadays. Story heavy games are always going to be at some disadvantage in that regard, even if there's a niche even within streaming for those types of games Dragon's dogma isn't really that big. II did similar numbers to the larger JRPG franchises that aren't DQ, FF, or pokemon, it's not some massive mainstream hit  Deleted member 125476 Sep 8, 2022 2,818 making FF even more drab would just hurt it even more if anything it needs to get more stylized and interesting cos it's been one of the blandest JRPG franchises aesthetically for a while now  Quinton Verified Oct 25, 2017 23,072 Midgar, With Love I don't think that would work.   Hikari One Winged Slayer Member Oct 25, 2017 25,196 Elysium I mean, we just got that with FFXVI and clearly it didn't work so no? I would much prefer if they go back to a more colourful artstyle.   Majunior Member Jun 20, 2019 2,118 Aaronrules380 said: If anything making it more anime would probably help more. The mainstream taste nowadays tend to lean towards more stylized games. Like stuff like Fortnite or Minecraft don't have realistic art styles Click to expand... Click to shrink... This is true. I'm noticing a lot of big GAAS like Genshin, Valorant, and Overwatch take this approach.   MoonCrow Member May 27, 2024 146 They've changed art styles like thirty times now so this reads as more like "should they make it look less Japanese"   Xwing This guy are sick of the unshakeable slayer Member Nov 11, 2017 11,594 WE'RE SO BACK   OP OP DamageEX2 Member May 20, 2024 1,226 Sander VF said: FFXVI was already going for that aesthetic, no? Click to expand... Click to shrink... Not realistic enough, still stylized. Something like God of War its an easier sell for the casual audiences because of the aesthetic and visual that FFXVI with the game look.   PlanetSmasher The Abominable Showman Member Oct 25, 2017 132,624 Clair Obscur's art style is already pretty close to FFXVI's and it didn't help. I don't think going more anime would help either, though. The series is just old.  DoradoWinston Member Apr 9, 2019 8,362 i genuinely love the look of 7R would love it if they kept it that way for the main series but for any side games they should go crazy with different styles   Desma "This guy are sick" Member Oct 27, 2017 6,732 Majunior said: This is true. I'm noticing a lot of big GAAS like Genshin, Valorant, and Overwatch take this approach. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I think that's because they need to run on weaker hardware like phones   Aaronrules380 Avenger Oct 25, 2017 24,353 Majunior said: This is true. I'm noticing a lot of big GAAS like Genshin, Valorant, and Overwatch take this approach. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I feel like there's a lot of people stuck in the past in this regard. Trends have changed. When we were young hyper realistic styles were the vogue because they were great at showcasing growing tech, but as tech has hit the point of diminishing returns, realistic games already look really good, and the indie scene has grown we've reached a point where art style has become king because it's much easier (and frankly cheaper) to stand out with that then by trying to pump up the graphics for marginal improvements   brinstar Member Oct 25, 2017 12,088 If anything I wish it was more anime/cartoony. FF7R has this realistic look to it but the characters animate like cartoon dolls and it makes the whole thing look so uncanny outside the higher budget cutscenes. The Moogles look disgusting lmao.   Squarealex Member Nov 11, 2017 1,809 I like FF16 art-style. Much more than the anime style Division 1 doing since FF13.   Koklusz Member Oct 27, 2017 3,915 I really don't think art style is an issue here.   Graven Member Oct 30, 2018 4,545 I'm under the impression that this is what they were attempting since FFXV.   NinjaScooter Member Oct 25, 2017 60,644 FF doesn't really have an "art style" they constantly change that shit and the most recent one was very western fantasy aesthetic. This thread feels like someone who stopped playing FF games after the original 7.   Necron ▲ Legend ▲ Member Oct 25, 2017 9,810 Switzerland Nope   Sander VF Banned Oct 28, 2017 26,876 Tbilisi, Georgia DamageEX2 said: Not realistic enough, still stylized. Something like God of War its an easier sell for the casual audiences because of the aesthetic and visual that FFXVI with the game look. Click to expand... Click to shrink... You cite games like Elden Ring which are similarly stylized.   Universal Acclaim Member Oct 5, 2024 2,251 I think the male characters in 16 looks pretty good and modern, but the facial animation and whatnot can always be improved   Dark Knight One Winged Slayer Member Oct 25, 2017 21,295 Lobster Roll said: In my opinion, they need to go with something far more distinct and varied for their artstyle and cast. The less realistic and more stylized their games, the better. They need to go even further in on making things feel like a fantasy. Give me bright colors, unique outfits, very obvious job/classes, and have characters stand out in a way that you want to know more: Click to expand... Click to shrink... THIS THIS THIS I've been saying this for the past couple years. This shit right here is peak Final Fantasy, and is exponentially more appealing than the same derivative style they've been employing for the past two decades to some degree, in the mainline series anyways. You want to hook in younger players? Speak to them through color and form! Experiment with art style with the same cavalier attitude you experiment with gameplay mechanics.  GalaxyDive Member Oct 25, 2017 5,233 Yeah dunno why this is being framed as a "should?" when the franchise literally just did this with XVI to no particular success. Chasing the western medieval dragon is not something FF should continue doing.  NinjaScooter Member Oct 25, 2017 60,644 DamageEX2 said: Not realistic enough, still stylized. Something like God of War its an easier sell for the casual audiences because of the aesthetic and visual that FFXVI with the game look. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Clair Obscur is also A) not realistic and B) very stylized.  YohraUtopia Member Apr 1, 2021 1,396 isn't FFXVI kinda this already? I guess I don't fully understand what's in question. Art style does not seem to me the principal problem with FF Brodo Baggins said: I think the biggest thing for FF as a franchise is they need to COMMIT Click to expand... Click to shrink... I think this is right. Like FFXVI should have just gone straight full action game and stuck to its political intrigue stuff instead of defaulting back to bog standard cosmic battle. FFXV was totally ok but also didn't fully commit to either its open world or the 'darker'' DNA of its XII vs roots. On the flip side, the VII remakes so far are doing great at committing and playing with an interestingly blended art style but honestly people may call it bloated but Rebirth totally leans into just how both wacky and serious a FF can be at the same time as the OG did too. It, well, commits. 

vicegold Member Oct 27, 2017 464 PlayStation Executive Jade Raymond Leaves Studio She Founded on Bloomberg.com PlayStation leadership didn't give Haven staff a reason for her departure, but it came several weeks after an external test of Haven's first game, the online shooter Fairgames, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Some developers at Haven were concerned about how the game was received and its progress, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they aren't authorized to speak publicly. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Marie-Eve Danis and Pierre-François Sapinski are now co-heading the studio  Last edited: Yesterday at 5:27 PM Max|Payne Member Oct 27, 2017 9,836 Portugal Oh christ, I almost read something else. My heart jumped a bit. Edit: OP changed the title. The original could almost be misread for something far more tragic.  CloseTalker Sister in the Craft Member Oct 25, 2017 38,101 Does not inspire confidence in the one game they have announced   NinjaScooter Member Oct 25, 2017 60,644 article is paywalled.   Mesoian ▲ Legend ▲ Member Oct 28, 2017 31,672 OH FUCK, I didn't realize she was doing FairGame$. Welp...  SirKai Member Dec 28, 2017 10,146 Washington Now, will Fair Game Dollar Sign actually release?   Yeeboh Member Jul 3, 2024 1,756 Not again   Ant_17 Member Oct 28, 2017 2,903 Greece Fair games, unfair jobs   Uncle at Nintendo 2nd Generation Uncle at Nintendo Member Jan 3, 2018 9,819 Her company, Haven Studios, is developing an online shooter title called Fairgames Click to expand... Click to shrink... Ruh ruh Raggy  Zaheer Member Oct 27, 2017 2,392 raspberrymousse Member Mar 19, 2021 5,299 Sony really miscalculated hard with its live-service push   wagon Member Jan 6, 2025 413 Now I'm extra curious what the game is gonna look like lol   Mocha Joe Member Jun 2, 2021 13,385 Holy fuck   Shard Shinjuku Member Oct 25, 2017 31,560 Tampa Jade just can not catch a break.   PlanetSmasher The Abominable Showman Member Oct 25, 2017 132,614 Considering we've seen literally nothing of the game since it was originally revealed, I can't really bring myself to have much of a reaction to this. Gotta wonder if Jade's just gonna pop up with another new startup studio, join an existing studio or just peace out of the industry entirely at this rate. The chances seem roughly equal for all three options.  Pai Pai Master Member Oct 25, 2017 37,139 Atlanta GA Well then.   GDGF Member Oct 26, 2017 9,130 It's happening again.   krazen Member Oct 27, 2017 15,550 Gentrified Brooklyn The GaaS goldrush is feeling more like a mudslide.   Strike Member Oct 25, 2017 30,510 Uh-oh.   Genesius Member Nov 2, 2018 20,500 They're about to announce it's canned and she's getting out now.   th1nk Member Nov 6, 2017 9,445 I am shocked… well not that shocked   Dust C H A O S Member Oct 25, 2017 40,938 FairGame$ is gonna get shitcanned, I can feel it.   OhhEldenRing Member Aug 14, 2024 2,774 Suspect there's something wrong with the direction of Fairgame$ and although I have nothing to base this on why else would she leave   Nameless Hero Member Oct 25, 2017 23,332 Jason, you keep misspelling Fairgame$ as Fairgames for some reason   CupOfDoom Member Dec 17, 2017 5,150 it came several weeks after an external test of Haven's first game Click to expand... Click to shrink... that seems auspicious.   Wallace Member Oct 25, 2017 27,949 Midwest Concord V3   Lashley <<Tag Here>> Member Oct 25, 2017 65,317 Jesus wept   poklane Member Oct 25, 2017 32,002 the Netherlands Yeah, nobody should be surprised if Fairgames gets canceled and Haven gets shut down. Reveal trailer was only good for putting people to sleep, and the 2 years of silence since then is telling.   DrScruffleton Member Oct 26, 2017 14,833 I'll be shocked if fairgame comes out some day   Lukar Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth Member Oct 27, 2017 28,123 The year is 2014. Jade Raymond has left her studio. The year is 2018. Jade Raymond has left her studio. The year is 2021. Jade Raymond has left her studio. The year is 2025. Jade Raymond has left her studio. (yes I know these circumstances were all different, no I am not trying to suggest anything with this post)  dex3108 Member Oct 26, 2017 24,707 She really can't release game anymore. She didn't released game basically since she left Ubisoft.   Mivey Member Oct 25, 2017 20,602 Someone clearly put a gaming vodoo curse on that poor woman. Any project she touches just withers and dies.   SirKai Member Dec 28, 2017 10,146 Washington Isn't this the like, third or so new studio / project she was involved with in the past decade that didn't launch? Though this might still end up releasing I guess.   maze001 Member Sep 18, 2024 596 Oh man It's been like a slow motion car crash ever since Concord  Fisty Member Oct 25, 2017 22,537 Well there goes any hope i had for Fair Game$   Lepi Member Mar 24, 2020 886 Another disastrously managed project from the looks of it.   Xando Member Oct 28, 2017 37,394 but it came several weeks after an external test of Haven's first game, the online shooter Fairgames, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Some developers at Haven were concerned about how the game was received and its progress Click to expand... Click to shrink... Uh oh   dom ▲ Legend ▲ Avenger Oct 25, 2017 12,366 The falloff of Jade Raymond is crazy   egg The Fallen Oct 26, 2017 7,642 maze001 said: Oh man It's been like a slow motion car crash ever since Concord Click to expand... Click to shrink... How so? Lol.  Threadmarks No more $ for Fairgames New Index jschreier Press Sneak Fuck Verified Oct 25, 2017 1,272 Nameless Hero said: Jason, you keep misspelling Fairgame$ as Fairgames for some reason Click to expand... Click to shrink... I guess I buried the real scoop here, but they dropped the $. Also, here is a gift link so people can actually read this: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...9.qOIF32mVNJUCz17mJYYZM-YWpEEYhCcjFt6lm8BeeFo  New Index GTAce Member Oct 27, 2017 4,579 Bonn, Germany Fairgame$ and Marathon will complete the Concord trilogy.   Tsunami561 Member Mar 7, 2023 5,327 Okay who's next in line to give her 300m dollars   Stibbs Member Feb 8, 2023 4,229 The 518 holy shit the L's for Sony's GAAS games keep coming, I genuinely think Fairgames might get Hyenas'd   pswii60 Member Oct 27, 2017 28,776 The Milky Way I hope the rest of the team can survive this. They already had to go through the Google Stadia shit. Lukar said: The year is 2014. Jade Raymond has left her studio. The year is 2018. Jade Raymond has left her studio. The year is 2021. Jade Raymond has left her studio. The year is 2025. Jade Raymond has left her studio. (yes I know these circumstances were all different, no I am not trying to suggest anything with this post) Click to expand... Click to shrink... You are though aren't you   EVA UNIT 01 Member Oct 27, 2017 7,198 CA Its not releasing   wagon Member Jan 6, 2025 413 jschreier said: I guess I buried the real scoop here, but they dropped the $. Also, here is a gift link so people can actually read this: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...9.qOIF32mVNJUCz17mJYYZM-YWpEEYhCcjFt6lm8BeeFo Click to expand... Click to shrink... NOOOOOOOOO THE ONLY THING ABOUT THE GAME THAT ACTUALLY STOOD OUT TO ME ON FIRST IMPRESSIONS   DrScruffleton Member Oct 26, 2017 14,833 jschreier said: I guess I buried the real scoop here, but they dropped the $. Also, here is a gift link so people can actually read this: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...9.qOIF32mVNJUCz17mJYYZM-YWpEEYhCcjFt6lm8BeeFo Click to expand... Click to shrink... Not playing it without the dollar sign   Jawmuncher Crisis Dino Moderator Oct 25, 2017 44,760 Ibis Island Jade showing up and leaving is just too iconic at this point.   Lukar Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth Member Oct 27, 2017 28,123 pswii60 said: I hope the rest of the team can survive this. They already had to go through the Google shit. You are though aren't you Click to expand... Click to shrink... No, not really. I love the games she's been involved with in the past and wish she could catch a break.   KZXcellent One Winged Slayer Member Oct 25, 2017 4,172 The game already wasn't inspiring confidence between it being a Sony Service Game and also being the GenAI game.  

Ubisoft's FY24-25 financials report "solid balance sheet" despite hefty drops in revenue and back-catalog sales CEO says Ubisoft will "provide additional development time to some of our biggest productions in order to create the best conditions for success" Image credit: Ubisoft News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on May 14, 2025 Ubisoft has released its financial results for the full 2024-25 fiscal year, reporting a "solid balance sheet" and "very strong praise" for Assassin's Creed Shadows - which delivered the second-highest Day One sales in franchise history after Valhalla - despite hefty drops in revenue, net bookings, digital net bookings, and back-catalog net bookings across the year. CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed Ubisoft would "provide additional development time to some of our biggest productions in order to create the best conditions for success" and notably missed FY2025-26 from his announcement that "FY2026-27 and FY2027-28 will see significant content coming from our largest brands." In FY2025-26, the firm "expects to maintain a consolidated net debt position of around zero." Ubisoft's headcount dropped by 1230 over the last 12 months. Here's what you need to know: The numbers: For the full 2024-25 financial year ending March 31, 2025 Revenue: €1899.2 million (down 17.5% year-on-year) Net bookings: €1846.4 million (down 20.5%) Digital net bookings: €1585.4 million (down 20.2%) Back-catalogue net bookings: €1296.3 million (down 13.5%) The highlights: Ubisoft said its brands have "continued to perform strongly this quarter," with the Top 10 brands posting year-over-year net bookings growth, leading to a record fourth quarter at €902m. Console and PC "activity metrics" are reported as "broadly stable" year-on-year. Despite an overall year-on-year drop, back-catalog net bookings for Q4 were "up double-digit," with noted performance from Ubisoft's other tentpole franchise, Rainbow Six Siege, with The Crew Motorfest also posting a strong performance. The company said it was continuing its strategic focus on open world adventures and native GaaS "experiences," resulting in "reshaping its operating model with the objective to better meet player needs, deliver superior game quality, and drive discipline capital allocation." This will see a new organization structure announced by the end of the year (it's not clear if Ubisoft is referring to calendar or financial year here). It also reaffirmed its commitment to its three "iconic IPs," Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry, hinting at a "very powerful five-year line-up to come" in partnership with Tencent. Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six brands’ unique active players both stood at around 30 million for the 4th consecutive year, with Far Cry at around 20 million per year over the same period. Other brands continued to "drive strong community appeal, with more than 100 million unique active players in FY2024-25." "The transaction with Tencent crystalizes the true economic value of three of Ubisoft’s leading franchises. The minority nature of the transaction enables Ubisoft to maintain control of these IP, retain financial consolidation as well as safeguard strategic alignment with the Group and maintain upside on these franchises while immediately strengthening its balance sheet," the company said. "It will be steered by a dedicated leadership, with a team that will include external hires, and that will be advised by industry veterans. With this transaction, Tencent will invest €1.16bn in a primary issuance by the New Subsidiary, acquiring an approximate 25% economic interest. At closing, at least €500m will be upstreamed to Ubisoft, ensuring sufficient working capital needs of the New Subsidiary at start." "This year has been a challenging one for Ubisoft, with mixed dynamics across our portfolio, amid intense industry competition. Despite these headwinds, Ubisoft managed to deliver positive free cash flow generation over the fiscal year, reflecting the discipline applied across the Group," said CEO Guillemot. "Aware of the challenges ahead, we took decisive steps to continue strengthening the company’s future [... and] we also completed our initial cost savings program ahead of schedule. We are committed to going further, with additional savings of at least €100m over the next two years to drive structural efficiencies and reinforce the foundations of our organization. "This continued focus on discipline will support our growth ambitions and the profound transformation of Ubisoft. We are currently working on reshaping the Group’s operating model and plan to announce a new organization by the end of the year," he added. "A major step in this transformation was the announcement in March of the creation of a new subsidiary, backed by Tencent as a core strategic partner. "Additionally, after a review of our pipeline, we have decided to provide additional development time to some of our biggest productions in order to create the best conditions for success. As a consequence, FY2026-27 and FY2027-28 will see significant content coming from our largest brands," Guillemot concluded. "Ubisoft is entering a new chapter, and I am confident in our ability to build a stronger, more resilient company for the benefit of all our stakeholders.”

Persona! Atlus teases something Persona 5-related with a cryptic social media post, though what it actually is remains a mystery The most likely outcome is a Western release of Persona 5: The Phantom X, which would certainly be nice! News by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on May 13, 2025 Atlus has teased something Persona 5-related on social media, which as you've probably assumed has sent the fans' hearts aflutter. While it's not explicitly stated what this is teasing (that being the standard tease protocol), there's a solid chance it's a hint towards a Western port of Persona 5: The Phantom X The post itself, a simple image with the words "retake your desire" plastered across it beneath a top hat and distinct pair of shades, appears to keep things vague enough. But those with their finger on the Persona pulse may recognise those glasses as being very similar to the glasses worn by the protagonist of PSX. This, for many, is all the confirmation needed. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Though this is more evidence to support that theory. In the Sega 2024 financial report, the company expressed a desire to expand its IP on mobile platforms as well as its presence in the Games as a Service (GaaS) space. PSX, a free-to-play mobile game, fits this description perfectly, and an expansion to the West would certainly do wonders in expanding the SEGA's mobile output to more users. Oh, and there's a big Persona 5: The Phantom X livestream taking place on the 15th (which you can watch here) that will likely reveal its version 1.0 release date, so when you step back and look at all the clues, it's fairly clear what this announcement will be. Unless it's somehow Persona 5 Arena, in which case I'll scream. For those who aren't aware, Persona 5: The Phantom X is a spinoff game created by Perfect World, released back in April 2024 in early access for players in China, South Korea, and Hong Kong. There's been no word of a Western release since last year, but given the popularity of Persona 5 over here, it makes sense to bring that game over. It's also worth noting that the game has been recieved positively! It managed to bring various Persona staples over to the mobile platform, including dungeon delving and social mechanics. If this is Persona 5: The Phantom X, would you give it a try once it releases in the West? Let us know below!