Big Ant is ok

[mattk]

Shocking news. Big Ant has placed itself into liquidation with debts exceeding $6.7 million. I'm not sure how this effects the 2 cricket games but in the short term it isn't looking good.

Melbourne-Based Developer Big Ant Studios Goes Into Liquidation With Debts Of $6.7 Million | Kotaku Australia

 

[barmyarmy]

Definitely bad news. I hope Ross is able to work something out.

 

[Dutch]

Before we all get into the: "what about my cricket game!" mode of thought, lets remember we are talking about at least thirty people worried about their jobs just before Christmas.....

 

[barmyarmy]

Indeed. Panic over however:

Big Ant Studios CEO: ‘All Staff Are Securely Employed And We Continue To Make Games’ | Kotaku Australia

 

[79cricket]

I'm glad things are not as bad as i first read.
It's not great to make video games in aus these days.
I hope Bigant will be fine and have some great releases in the near
future not just cricket.

 

[BigAntStudios]

Nothing to fear, we're on track with both games.

Indeed we have a new release on the Playstation3/PS Vita store this week (not cricket related).

 

[barmyarmy]

That's good to hear. Thanks for the update.

 

[naveenncc]

annouced the with indian team

if u want success add ipl fully license and also iclude license from all asian cricketing nation ur game will be huge success

 

[Gone4aDuck]

if u want success add ipl fully license and also iclude license from all asian cricketing nation ur game will be huge success

Sounds like a great business plan! Double your debts just to license a t20 tournament. I bet I speak for a hell of a lot of people that plan on getting this game when i say.............."I couldn't care less if its IPL licensed or not"

 

[79cricket]

Yes i agree too.

IPL is like a soup opera show, ok at the start then gets boring.
My hope would be to get something cheaper if bigant get any
licences for t20 i would hope for say big bash, it's like IPL but cheaper
to get i bet.

 

[MattW]

I would assume that the Big Bash League is part of the Cricket Australia rights that Trickstar/505 Games have. I also believe that licensing is done by the publisher not the developer, so unless they are self publishing the Cricket game, it's not (fully) their risk.

I think if anyone is going to licence the IPL for a game it will be either the local Indian developers like Trine, or someone like the company no one had heard of who bought the licence for the World Cup to make Cricket Power with Mindstorm Studios, a huge case of just using a licence to try and sell a game.

Companies like Big Ant, chasing after strong niche markets, are likely to be the few Australian developers that will be able to survive the high dollar and the ability to outsource. You literally don't have a choice if you want an AFL game on a console - which I think is a good position to be in.

I'd say though that the Governments really need to take video games as seriously as they take the movie studios - millions are spent on just getting a film to be shot here, even when they go to huge lengths to make it look like somewhere else. The Canadians certainly know how viable a game development industry can be.

 

[Params7]

In time the governments should realize that. Video game industry is too cut throat and result oriented, but its also massively profitable when done right. CoD Blops 2 currently holds the record for the biggest Entertainment related opening (movies, books, games, music). Its been beating its own record year after year, while the biggest Hollywood blockbusters (DKR, Harry Potter, Hobbit etc) can't come close to beating it.

Currently the video game industry is too deeprooted in the US and Japan, it'll be really good to see UK (and Euro) and Australian governments funding more to develop their video game industries.

 

[savvart]

Yep, if the government did want to learn about supporting business then start by giving all business a tax break, particularly small businesses...

 

[Sman-21]

if u want success add ipl fully license and also iclude license from all asian cricketing nation ur game will be huge success

Practicly noone in India buys ORIGINAL versions of games.
Why would anyone spend all that money on licensing when noone from asian nations buy it legally.

Stop buying pirated copies from markets and stores over there.
Pay the extra money for real versions and then maybe game devs will start looking at getting licenses for those teams and comps.