Studio Announcement

[DreamApart]

Just now, Smife said:

Not because China. It just shows how Klei appear to be suckers for that sweet shiny dough, starting with Griftlands on Epic. It was a matter of time.

Sorry, seems I misread your reply.

[minespatch]

Just now, Smife said:

Not because China. It just shows how Klei appear to be suckers for that sweet shiny dough, starting with Griftlands on Epic. It was a matter of time.

It started with the DST back in 2016 in November, when Roseate skins were only for Tencent users.

[pyroisshy]

10 minutes ago, minespatch said:

Do you think Disney is this transparent though?

The difference is that Disney is an American company. Tencent is a company in China that works with the ccp. The CCP is so blatantly and obviously evil, that all it took was Adrian Zenz, who doesn't even speak or read Chinese, to expose china's wrongdoings and become an expert on China.

[minespatch]

I don't see Klei removing posts in this thread though.

[Smife]

5 minutes ago, minespatch said:

It started with the DST back in 2016 in November, when Roseate skins were only for Tencent users.

It did actually, forgot about that, good correction.

[Mike23Ua]

14 minutes ago, Bluckles said:

... You are clueless about what atrocities the Chinese Government has committed. I encourage you to do some research. Tencent is paid for and supported by the current ruling party of China, the CCP.

Even if this were true.. it’s not going to suddenly get me stop playing Gears of War or Dont Starve. 
 

But if it somehow does you well.. you must not have very much left to play after that link I posted of what all Tencent actually has shares into.

[johnruby]

17 hours ago, BezKa said:

The funny thing is, have they introduced more ways to pay them before, I would happily give them more money. But now that tencent owns them, any changes as such will be disgusting.

This is exactly my thought. I have been trying very hard not to give money to any tencent related sevice (which is fairly difficult nowadays).

I'll surely keep financially supporting Klei though. But it feels awful when you think of your payment contributing to grow the despicable giant.

[Notecja]

17 minutes ago, minespatch said:

I don't see Klei removing posts in this thread though.

Some my post were moved "back", so I guess some post were removed, but the reason may be independent... So far some posts were extra naughty and one for sure was automoderated because of language.

[Mike23Ua]

You guys are looking at this announcement in all the wrong ways.. instead of worrying about what Tencent can & might do in the future... think about the here & the Now-

What this move means for Klei & their games, and what having from what I gather is a company as big as (if not bigger than) Microsoft or Sony backing them with funds.

Basically where Klei was once limited and their resources were spread very thin because they were an Indie Company.. they now have access to the funds of the major corporation: This can mean widespread game sweeping changes to all of Klei’s games..

It doesn’t mean that All Klei’s games are going to be ruined, so long as Klei still has control over development, and its IP’s all this simply means is they now have so much funds that they can basically do whatever they’ve always wanted to do with their games.

If Klei wants to recall DST and DS completely and then Rerelease the game as something brand new that merges both all of DS and DSTs content into a Brand new game engine: And call that Don’t Starve: the Definitive Edition & GIVE that product away for 100% completely FREE to everyone who already owned DS/DST then they now have the FUNDS and won’t occurs any major LOSSES in the Process.

At first: I was genuinely worried about this studio announcement because I didnt know who or what Tencent was, but after looking them up & discovering that roughly 60% of my 400+ Xbox games library they have shares into.... I’m not so worried anymore.

And instead of looking at the BAD Things this partnership could cause, I instead opted to remain positive & think about the GOOD things this partnership could potential cause.

Earlier I provided an example of how State of Decay (a franchise also from an Indie Development Team) was able to completely recall and upgrade their game to a new graphics & physics engine & give that upgrade out FOR FREE to everyone who had owned the previous (indie) version.. that is just ONE EXAMPLE of the positive outcomes that this may potentially bring for Klei and the Dont Starve Franchise.

[Echo_Hotel]

23 hours ago, BezKa said:

I read the post again and I just can't understand why. Aren't there better ways to get money than basically selling an entire company to someone?

Yes, selling it to the Chinese Communist Party because don't worry Mr. Xi "Uyghur 'fun' camp" Jinping will totally not demand the removal of all text entry  fields in the game so you can't write "Whinny The Pooh" Much less remove the companies agency much like the government is removing the testicles of minorities.

[SkylordElberich]

Oh, I boo this decision, Klei! I boo it, yes sir, I boo it very much!

[minespatch]

1 minute ago, SkylordElberich said:

Oh, I boo this decision, Klei! I boo it, yes sir, I boo it very much!

 

[Echo_Hotel]

I just want to be perfectly clear here, I own and enjoed both Don't Starve and Oxygen Not Included, I bought the DLC, eventually I  MIGHT even be able to get over the initial shock and GO BACK to enjoying them but I will ACTIVELY dissuade new people from buying these products solely because of Tencent and I know I am not alone in this.

We were your Grass Roots and we can and will burn this field to the and salt the earth.

[viberr]

2 minutes ago, SkylordElberich said:

Oh, I boo this decision, Klei! I boo it, yes sir, I boo it very much!

YES SIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(who says that anyways? the only guy who i know who says that is mexiacan dream quackity)

1 minute ago, Echo_Hotel said:

We were your Grass Roots and we can and will burn this field to the and salt the earth.

if only you finished the sentence but you didn't 

[Smife]

21 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

You guys are looking at this announcement in all the wrong ways.. instead of worrying about what Tencent can & might do in the future... think about the here & the Now-

What this move means for Klei & their games, and what having from what I gather is a company as big as (if not bigger than) Microsoft or Sony backing them with funds.

Basically where Klei was once limited and their resources were spread very thin because they were an Indie Company.. they now have access to the funds of the major corporation: This can mean widespread game sweeping changes to all of Klei’s games..

It doesn’t mean that All Klei’s games are going to be ruined, so long as Klei still has control over development, and its IP’s all this simply means is they now have so much funds that they can basically do whatever they’ve always wanted to do with their games.

If Klei wants to recall DST and DS completely and then Rerelease the game as something brand new that merges both all of DS and DSTs content into a Brand new game engine: And call that Don’t Starve: the Definitive Edition & GIVE that product away for 100% completely FREE to everyone who already owned DS/DST then they now have the FUNDS and won’t occurs any major LOSSES in the Process.

At first: I was genuinely worried about this studio announcement because I didnt know who or what Tencent was, but after looking them up & discovering that roughly 60% of my 400+ Xbox games library they have shares into.... I’m not so worried anymore.

And instead of looking at the BAD Things this partnership could cause, I instead opted to remain positive & think about the GOOD things this partnership could potential cause.

Earlier I provided an example of how State of Decay (a franchise also from an Indie Development Team) was able to completely recall and upgrade their game to a new graphics & physics engine & give that upgrade out FOR FREE to everyone who had owned the previous (indie) version.. that is just ONE EXAMPLE of the positive outcomes that this may potentially bring for Klei and the Dont Starve Franchise.

Because Tencent's possibly hundreds of millions are just that - charity, nothing more.

"Just helping out indie devs here, move along".

[Brian33a]

9 hours ago, Captain_Rage said:

Any indie studio could use more financial security, that's for sure.

Sure, but Klei got financial servitude.

How to take over a business:

Step 1: Wait for them to have a cash crisis and offer money to cover the crisis for a small amount of stock. Assure them that nothing will change, because they still have a majority stake. Be very nice, don't try to take any control, and mostly stay out of the way. Act as their best friend and say you only want what's best for their dream.

Step 2: Wait for another cash crisis. It'll come, don't worry. Offer to cover that one too, in exchange for more stock with the same conditions as before. Since it worked out so well for them the first time, they're much more likely to go for the deal again. In this stage, you're training them to trust you.

Step 3: Repeat Step 2 until the deal comes up where you would end up with a majority share. Assure them that nothing is going to change, because you've never asked to change anything in the past, and they trust you, right? Say you'll probably need to take over some of the boring accounting and paperwork stuff, but only because legal or accounting demands it. They sign the deal and you've now taken over the business. Now you can drop the act and do whatever you want with it.

[minespatch]

10 minutes ago, Brian33a said:

Now you can drop the act and do whatever you want with it.

Man... Klei is really Wilson in this position.

[Doug Peener]

I stopped playing warframe after they sold out to tencent, and even after decade of being a fan, I am absolutely going to turn my back on you guys as well. I gave you all too much credit. 

[Smife]

After reading the announcement I suddenly remembered what one youtuber said about Cyberpunk: "Gaming is actually dead". This industry stopped being about games and entertainment many years ago.

[SkylordElberich]

Well, if they are getting some extra dosh, they'd at least better spend some of it on DS singleplayer.

IRON OUT THE BUGS, DAMMIT!

[Smife]

3 minutes ago, SkylordElberich said:

Well, if they are getting some extra dosh, they'd at least better spend some of it on DS singleplayer.

IRON OUT THE BUGS, DAMMIT!

*cough*...Hamlet

[SkylordElberich]

1 minute ago, Smife said:

*cough*...Hamlet

This guy gets it!

[ArubaroBeefalo]

serious question. If you are a company and a fascist goverment with 0 ethics comes to you and say "do this of get vanished" they will have any choice but obey? just see how many people disappear in china for not obey winnie the pooh

and about klei selling their souls, how many of the users here will not accept a sustancious treat? i dont think any will not take it when there is always comments asking for free stuff because they bough a 5€/$ game

 

13 minutes ago, Smife said:

After reading the announcement I suddenly remembered what one youtuber said about Cyberpunk: "Gaming is actually dead". This industry stopped being about games and entertainment many years ago.

it always was about making money

 

edit: also, if all chinese companies work with the goverment how will klei sell stuff on china without deals with a company that works with the goverment lel

[Toros]

It’s really obvious some of you are very young and haven’t seen what happens when a small company sells out before.

1) There is absolutely no reason to believe Klei retains creative control.

A company saying they retain creative control is the standard line given when a company is bought out and no longer retains creative control.  Klei knew this decision would be massively unpopular and is currently looking to contain the outrage and reassure naïve customers that it will be business as usual.

2) Small companies being acquired by large companies generally ends poorly.

It’s happened time and time again that a small company who takes risks and innovates gets bought out and suddenly makes decisions that are aligned with maximizing profit, not treating customers well or continuing to innovate.

3) Tencent is especially bad even compared to other large publishers

A history of installing spyware to farm data for a government currently engaged in genocide and harvesting organs from prisoners is a whole lot of bad all at once, and as terrible as EA is with killing franchises they aren’t on the same level

4) Klei has never been particularly business-savvy to begin with.  Assuming they “know what they are doing” is foolish.

Some easy examples off the top of my head:

a) Klei did not recognize the immense potential of a multiplayer version of their game, and were vocally against adding multiplayer until years and years of pressure.

b) Klei handed off development of Shipwrecked to Capy Games, who provided beautiful art and music but had a ton of issues with their game design.  Klei eventually went back and made some great QoL changes.

c) Klei intended to have Shipwrecked as a standalone game and only integrated it as a DLC after enormous community pressure.  This decision created a huge number of bugs because it was not designed as a dlc from the start.

d) DST should’ve been developed as 64-bit from the start.  While I can understand not wanting people with potato computers to be unable to play, not switching over to 64 bit causes huge losses in performance and limitations on what can be done with the engine.  It was not a forward-thinking choice at all.

e) Klei spent a lot of development time and money on events (forge and gorge) and servers which while they were popular with the community, didn’t make much money and almost all the art and code was scrapped after the events ended.

f) Klei had revealed a very ambitious roadmap in 2019 for updates and refreshes which anyone familiar with the company knew was completely unrealistic.  Unsurprisingly they fell way behind schedule.  For those who don’t remember, they said they would release one refresh per month, and a new character every two months.  2019 brought 4 character refreshes, and 2020 only had 2.  At the current pace it’ll take them a total of 4 years, not 11 months, to refresh all the intended characters.

g) Don’t Starve: Newhome is a mobile game Klei is not developing loosely set in the DST world.  The beta test was delayed and then made only for Canada, in a time period where mobile gaming is not popular.

Those of you who are feeling hopeful about this announcement are operating from a position of irrational faith.  A firm understanding of how buyouts work and Klei’s history as a business do not suggest optimism for them moving forward.

Future games will almost certainly be Epic store exclusives and we’re likely to see much more aggressive monetizing of products currently being worked on.

[minespatch]

4 minutes ago, Toros said:

uture games will almost certainly be Epic store exclusives and we’re likely to see much more aggressive monetizing of products currently being worked on.

I am not hopeful, I am merely watching everything continue. I am neutral on my end. I will never install epic. I'll stick with Steam. I'll still stay on the Klei forums out of interest to see where it all continues.