MID Discussion, Release Date, Unity Etc

[DPL_93]

so if I knew somebody who was claiming to be telling me inside information, I would be very worried about the legality (and the ethics) of talking to them, and especially of spreading around what they've said. On HeR's own message boards, no less.

Assume this is about what I have been posting about a 2017 release? I don't think HeR has a problem with it I mean this is the "Game Rumors" section after all.

Speculating on a release date from things I heard from sources who haven't been named is a bit different to making defamatory accusations against somebody else and I think some of the comments against the CEO in particular are borderline that.

[paperstreet]

To start, I'm not sure where you got information that they fired all the staff but marketing. In most companies, marketing is the first to go in a downturn. You have anecdotal stories from a handful of people who left or were let go. We have no idea how many people HeR employs as they are, as you mentioned, a privately owned company.

PC games are still incredibly popular, so saying there's no value to investors in them is incorrect.
The C&C are mostly a wholesale business, which is on the decline nationally. An investor would likely not act at this time.
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This is like the 12th time I have said this, the layoffs of everyone but the marketing staff were written about in the trade press, on a journalistic website, not wikipedia or comments. Also Katie talked about it on her twitter. Also the marketing staff is usually the last to go in layoffs, because they deal with sales and are not easily offshored.

PC games are popular, but point and click adventure games are old fashioned. Go to steam forum to see how non-fans talk about the ND games and how they make fun of them.

C&C is B2B, and since when is B2B "on the decline"? Thats like saying B2C is on the decline. B2B is infinitely more easy to monetize than B2C. Apple, Google, etc, are all publicly traded companies and their boards serve the interests of the shareholders, and are replaced. Privately held boards are a bit different. Maybe the boardmembers simply do not want to retire and give their seat, but prefer to get some money for retirement, that makes more sense to me. Maybe their kids do not want to join the company. It is not a stretch to think they either want to sell, or seek investors in a bid to go public and gain some income in stock options.

I dont feel it is fair to call people a "pitchfork mob" and unrational, just because they are trying to figure out what is going on and have a different viewpoint. I am far from being angry with A COMPANY, lol. It is not a human or my best friend, and I have zero emotional involvement with it. There is nothing wrong with getting an MBA CEO, especially if they are looking for investors or an out-an-out sale. There is nothing wrong with seeking financial backing, either. Why be angry with this idea?

How do you know my post is "entirely" off base, when no one knows what is going on, due to the company's lack of transparency? This is a board for rumor and speculation. People are free to give their opinions, and there is no need to attack those who are merely offering scenarios for what could be going on.

Again this board is for rumors and discussion, if people rather not discuss ideas and rumors but prefer to wait and see, than make a "while we wait for MID" post.

[tsukiakari]

This is like the 12th time I have said this, the layoffs of everyone but the marketing staff were written about in the trade press, on a journalistic website, not wikipedia or comments. Also Katie talked about it on her twitter.

The question that still remains for me, despite this info, is how do we know that other staff weren't hired? Sure, they haven't said so, but I don't see that as automatic proof that there's nobody around except for Little Jackalope, Tess, Jared, Cathy, and maybe some customer service people (unfortunately I don't know who they would be, since I think the last person in charge of that left recently). Katie's tweets can just be taken to mean that the people she befriended were all gone; plus it seems logical that companies don't hire new staff immediately, so they wouldn't have filled up the office again when she was leaving her job. The Meet the Team page was taken down due to "privacy concerns" or some such - if there were only 3-4 people left, why not just leave 'em there? (Plus they'd outsourced things like character animation for years and years - around ten years, from SCK to CRY, which is actually longer than the eight years they've been doing it in-house - so I don't think that pointedly leaving animators/etc off the Meet the Team page would cause as much controversy as the total silence and secrecy has.)

My point is, until there's some official proof that the production of the main series has been outsourced, I personally don't want to fully buy into the idea. I understand the logic, and it's certainly a natural conclusion going by what's been happening; I've just been trying to stay open-minded about why Her is doing what they're doing. They surprised me before by just releasing the character art and nothing else (since I'd thought it was the beginning of their marketing cycle), so now more than ever I wanna make sure I don't get shocked by new info.

[emikat80]

Again this board is for rumors and discussion, if people rather not discuss ideas and rumors but prefer to wait and see, than make a "while we wait for MID" post.

True, the board is for (Game) "rumors", but this particular thread is for MID, it's release date, and Unity, not the overall direction of the company, their staff, or the ages of their board members. I realize that everything can be connected in one way or another, but when multiple people are typing whole posts without mentioning MID, I think it's safe to say that we're off-topic. As such, it seems to me personally, that one should make sure they are following the rules before sticking said rules in other people's faces, and if anybody wishes to discuss the latter set of topics, a new thread might then be appropriate.
Also, i'm pretty sure that if engaging a poster with alternate points of view was "attacking", then a whole lot of threads on these boards would be much shorter than they are. In reality, I think that is what is known as "discussion", which, as you, paperstreet, have pointed out quite often in the past, is exactly what these boards are for.

DPL, yeah, I guess I did have a post of yours in mind when I said what you quoted, i'm sorry, I didn't know how to say what I meant without sounding rude. I completely understand about speculating (especially when it's actually on topic). What stood out to me was just that, in at least one post, the way you worded it was as if you were stating fact (rather than speculation), and some posters after you responded as if it was indeed confirmed fact. Just my honest feedback here, as an observor, not trying to correct you on anything.
Oh, and I completely agree that some of the talk about the CEO has been, or is close to, pretty libel-ish.

[paperstreet]

True, the board is for (GAME) "rumors", but this particular thread is for MID, it's release date, and Unity, not the overall direction of the company, their staff, or the ages of their board members. I realize that everything can be connected in one way or another, but when multiple people are typing whole posts without mentioning MID, I think it's safe to say that we're off-topic. As such, it seems to me that one should make sure they are following the rules before sticking said rules in other people's faces.
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If we are discussing about why MID is delayed by speculating about the company direction that is MID related. No one would be talking about the company at all if MID was scheduled for a release date. All the speculation ultimately stems from "why is MID delayed." In my post, I did mention MID, btw.

Maybe there should be two posts: one for why is MID delayed, and one for MID characters and story. I have a feeling only one of these posts would actually have any activity.

[getaclue912]

This is like the 12th time I have said this, the layoffs of everyone but the marketing staff were written about in the trade press, on a journalistic website, not wikipedia or comments. Also Katie talked about it on her twitter. Also the marketing staff is usually the last to go in layoffs, because they deal with sales and are not easily offshored.

PC games are popular, but point and click adventure games are old fashioned. Go to steam forum to see how non-fans talk about the ND games and how they make fun of them.

C&C is B2B, and since when is B2B "on the decline"? Thats like saying B2C is on the decline. B2B is infinitely more easy to monetize than B2C. Apple, Google, etc, are all publicly traded companies and their boards serve the interests of the shareholders, and are replaced. Privately held boards are a bit different. Maybe the boardmembers simply do not want to retire and give their seat, but prefer to get some money for retirement, that makes more sense to me. Maybe their kids do not want to join the company. It is not a stretch to think they either want to sell, or seek investors in a bid to go public and gain some income in stock options.

I dont feel it is fair to call people a "pitchfork mob" and unrational, just because they are trying to figure out what is going on and have a different viewpoint. I am far from being angry with A COMPANY, lol. It is not a human or my best friend, and I have zero emotional involvement with it. There is nothing wrong with getting an MBA CEO, especially if they are looking for investors or an out-an-out sale. There is nothing wrong with seeking financial backing, either. Why be angry with this idea?

How do you know my post is "entirely" off base, when no one knows what is going on, due to the company's lack of transparency? This is a board for rumor and speculation. People are free to give their opinions, and there is no need to attack those who are merely offering scenarios for what could be going on.

Again this board is for rumors and discussion, if people rather not discuss ideas and rumors but prefer to wait and see, than make a "while we wait for MID" post.

I apologize if it seemed I was attacking you, as that was genuinely not my intention. All I've seen on this thread is "doom and gloom" speculation about the health of the company based on very little actual information.

Just because you're seeing layoffs doesn't mean there weren't new hires to replace them. It's disingenuous to assume there's 5 marketing people left on staff to run the company. You won't hear about hiring in trade press, particularly if those hires are not upper management or well-known in the industry. You would hear about an ill-timed layoff, however.

A privately-owned Board operates in very much the same way as a publicly owned Board, the only different being a lack of shareholders to report back to. Very, very simple. So yes, it is just as easy to appoint new Board members, if that need arises.

HeR is revamping the games on a new engine specifically to modernize the games. Yes, it will still be point and click, but it will be a breath of fresh air, a hybrid of sorts. They are still selling games and will continue to do so, based on the amount of people commenting here.

As I've worked in the B2B/Wholesale side, I can tell you that side is on the decline nationally. It's not a sudden drop, obviously there are still companies and organizations in the market for B2B products, but B2C is still the revenue generator.

An MBA CEO doesn't only mean that a company is seeking financial backing or investors, with which there is absolutely no issue. An MBA CEO means they have the toolkit in place to make the right business decisions as the right time. It's not any different than a CEO with another degree.

My bigger point is why are we spreading information and causing panic that the company is selling off and delaying MID strategically when we have absolutely no insight into a company? I understand people want to speculate, but it's incredibly discouraging to come on this board and see people constantly discuss HeR going out of business with very little basis for it. I'm coming at it from the standpoint of someone with Business experience, trying to at least provide an alternate point of view to the ones many have expressed here.

Personally, I enjoy talking about MID, as that is the topic of the thread. If we want to make speculations about the company, I think that calls for a different thread entirely. Again, please don't think I'm attacking you, as that's not my intention. I just want to get this thread back on topic and hopefully alleviate some panicking from other fans. The sky is not falling down.

Speaking of MID, I do believe the game will be released in 2017 due to communications we've seen thus far. It's been a week and a half after the last character release with no updates, and it's already mid-September. Unfortunately, an October release is unlikely, and with the Christmas season upcoming (and the requisite vacations associated with it), I don't anticipate seeing a game until February at the very earliest. That being said, if they aim to release in February, they will probably release in May to allow for further game testing and UA, keeping with an already-known release schedule and allowing plenty of marketing to announce the "re-launch" in the meantime. I think it's safe to assume the game will be released in April/May 2017.

[secretsleuth89]

It doesn't make sense that Her could end the series right after they hired a new VA for MID...

The way I see it, MID is the beginning of a new chapter for Her. Not only is it being released on a new game engine (which I'm looking forward to seeing more of) it also has a new person in the role of Nancy. I am grateful for the contribution Lani Minella has made to bring Nancy to life on the screen, all 32 games of it! I'm sure there's more success to come for her.

Now, I'm keen to see what the new VA can do with Nancy. I'll keep playing Nancy Drew games as long as Her keep making them, whether they get to 50 or 100 games.

[Punchy]

It doesn't make sense that Her could end the series right after they hired a new VA for MID...

The way I see it, MID is the beginning of a new chapter for Her. Not only is it being released on a new game engine (which I'm looking forward to seeing more of) it also has a new person in the role of Nancy. I am grateful for the contribution Lani Minella has made to bring Nancy to life on the screen, all 32 games of it! I'm sure there's more success to come for her.

Now, I'm keen to see what the new VA can do with Nancy. I'll keep playing Nancy Drew games as long as Her keep making them, whether they get to 50 or 100 games.

100 games! That would be something wouldn't it, lol. :)

I don't know anything about how businesses run and whatnot, so bear with me hear for a minute. It's been theorized that MID is the last game . . . but that seems like a lot of extra effort of switching to unity just for a single game/ just for the sake of using it as an excuse. I'll admit, it is a bit concerning that there are no plans for 34 yet, especially since they're so good at "multitasking," and some people have mentioned that it shouldn't take THIS long with making the transfer to unity. But, I mean . . . people aren't that crafty, right? I don't like to think that HeR or any company for that matter would be so calculating and deceptive, but maybe that's being naive or overly optimistic. Anyway, if there's one thing we can all seem to agree on, it's that we've been loyal customers for a long time and this silence from HeR is making us feel like we don't matter anymore. :(

[paperstreet]

About the Voice actress, someone asked if the voice actress from the MID promo is the voice of the new Nancy. they answered "yes, and no" If they arent making a game after MID, this response now makes sense.

Getaclue912, it's all good :) I am just trying to figure things out! I dont mean to sound all doom and gloom! As far b2b or b2c I guess it also depends on the product, I have a friend who works in B2B , and their sales clients are so much easier to target and manage, they don't even have social media, for example. For HeR, I can see how hard-selling a bunch of schools is easier than trying to reach consumers who have so much free stuff. All of your insights (and positivity :) are very nice for a discussion!

If HeR said MID would be the last game, I know I would look forward to it, and enjoy it, and then have a little bit of space in my life to fill and find something equally enjoyable and inspiring. I am not enjoying the "teasing" and waiting game HeR is doing, for ex. with the pumpkins in the sketches. I feel strung along. But, I am curious!!! I am just brainstorming with my theories : )

Lots of good MID stuff on the blog comments of the last few days, kind of conflicting, but kind of positive.

[phoenix star]

If they don't want us speculating, they could say anything. At all.

[veja]

This thread has gone way off track again, is getting argumentative and accusatory and so is now closed. If you post on other threads stay in the topic of the thread or they will be closed also.