Tencent & Charan

What happened? Where is your elitist dogmatism? Last I saw you, you were on "perma probation".


There is no need to damage control, if you can just make the topics go away and put posters on probation. *g*

Member what happened to the chinese dataminer? He vented on reddit for being on probation for 2 months for "leaking upcoming content"


Don't worry my presence isn't needed here my fans already learned to post like me and since the devs have fully abandoned(oh sorry they are "still working" on stuff they promised since 2012) certain gamemodes.


The only time you will see me posting again is to tell quote myself saying "Told you so" and once certain devs are forced to resign by tencent. Of course it will read "new challenge blabla" not "X got fired by tencent because expectations are too high"

But I will might read the forums if you convince Bambi to create another shitposter account named TenCent and do what he did with his MVP persona.

"

鬼殺し wrote:

But let me iterate: if they are looking to use this injection to fund new games and would like people like me to support said new games, it cannot be under the GGG name. As of today, that name is tainted.

Yep. I will never again buy a supporter pack from this company. Too bad. :-(

"

鬼殺し wrote:

"

ChanBalam wrote:

"

鬼殺し wrote:

Golden handcuffs. It's the most likely and easiest way of looking at it. And in hindsight, nowhere near as sudden or shocking as it seems to be.

Golden handcuffs are oh so common. And we can still be sad.

I'm mostly worried they're not going to be anywhere near as secure or comfortable as the GGG founders currently think. As I said elsewhere, if they can retain their original company's integrity, vision and drive under the yoke of a company like Tencent, then they'll have beaten some very long odds and a lot of precedents involving takeovers and...managerial shake-ups.

I STILL want to believe this is a cash-out so Chris can take his wonderful wife and go on all those trips he's missed this past decade and catch up on so many tv shows and basically reap the rewards but you're right that the remaining shares represent a desire for the founders to stick around for the 'long haul' as Chris put it. If he and his aren't just cashing out, then they're trying to have their cake and eat it too. Which is nothing new with GGG but this is a very new cake and a very new appetite, at least to us.

I don't think we see much change in 2018 unless it is mtx and pricing. Current staff is likely to stay as long as Chris is around and content. Everyone will keep working on what's in the queue. 2019 will probably be different. I guess we'll see one less update/league as a cost savings matter. I also see investment in servers and back of the house infrastructure. Those tend to be money issues rather than complex programming or game design issues. Getting them in place this year would be a big bonus.

"

I don't trust the founders' faith that this isn't a move that should result in the scuttling of PoE. I should contextualise that: GGG have been adamant that they'd rather scuttle PoE than let it become something that runs contrary to their vision. That was the word. But I suppose that's already been compromised, given we know the Garena version had pay to win and accounts from that were folded into the GGG servers. After that, I figure all bets were off, although we didn't really talk about it. Standard was probably compromised long before that...

By all means, sell out and euthanise the game now. While we still remember it fondly. Start new projects. Move on.

It certainly is not in Tencent's interest to kill POE. They just paid a lot of money for it. And by staying on, Chris has acted as if he doesn't want to scuttle it. Ending the game is just a lose, lose, lose situation for Tencnet, Chris and all the employees. Nobody wants that.

"

Them clinging to PoE even now, even under these new conditions...I can't get my head around it. There's just too much to fix. A tabula rasa would be smarter, but until this takeover they couldn't have afforded it.

So I'm holding out hope GGG isn't done with the surprises and will announce a new game before long. I'm not saying that'd get them out of the shit (a devil's bargain is a devil's bargain, and there's always a reckoning), but at least it'd show they're thinking longer term with this...compromise.

Here is my guess: Chris et al have decided to stick around at least until 4.0. that is the first real opportunity for Tencent to create "their own version" of POE with Chris and his team. If that goes well, Chris can leave at a new high point. If it doesn't he can exit and blame it all on Tencent. In the meanwhile he has the resources to fix things that he hasn't been able to in the past.

The next 18 months gives both Tencent and Chris to see how well they work together and if new projects might be in the offing. 4.0 comes out and Chris announces that he is now going to work with his overlords on something entirely new!!!

"

鬼殺し wrote:

I genuinely believe this will all be good for the game, at least for a while.

While there is a lot of discussion on how this could potentially impact the creative/design/game balance, the more important aspect in the short term is finances. Every investor has a certain return they expect and a given time frame in which they anticipate it will happen. So long as Path of Exile produces such returns in a timely fashion, I believe Tencent will remain hands off for the international version. At least for several years.

Chris' statement on a modest GGG team expansion doesn't look like the game will be requiring a substantial influx of Tencent funds, which makes me doubt there is any short term risk where something drastic would have to be done with the PoE model to recoup the finances.

What sort of changes GGG and Tencent work on to improve the player funding of the game should be interesting to see. If done well, there could be a vast expansion of desirable MTX and other non pay to win opportunities. There could be some things GGG has always wanted to do to improve both the game and finances, but didn't have the long term security to risk. If so, this deal could allow them.

The only real problem I see is if the number of players increases substantially, without any additional influx of funding, and server costs require Tencent to make a change.

"

鬼殺し wrote:

But if you supported GGG on a principled basis of helping an indie company get and maintain its foothold in a very competitive industry, you must be fully aware that principle is now gone.

True. We won't be supporting a small company anymore. We will be paying for (voluntarily if the PoE model holds) a game designed and maintained by the GGG team, but owned by a large company. So long as GGG remains the driving force, the vast majority of the game should feel similar.

"

鬼殺し wrote:

. When you 'support' GGG now, what you'll be doing is ensuring it remains profitable enough for Tencent not to interfere. I find that unsettling.

I don't find it unsettling. If Tencent was threatening to interfere unless certain profit levels were made it would be something to be worried about. Like any business, the bills have to paid, or the company or product will fold. When it was just GGG, there was always the potential risk of GGG just shutting it all down, if players didn't support enough to meet the costs.

"

鬼殺し wrote:

So if you define yourself as a staunch 'supporter' of PoE/GGG, if that is why you're still here and not just because you enjoy the game from a personal perspective, you very likely had a difficult day yesterday.

Mixed emotions. I am happy for GGG, if this means they get a decent reward for all their hard work. I do hope there is something for all the members of the GGG team. While I would have loved for them to remain independent, the console launch always concerned me that server costs would grow faster than supporter revenue and potentially put the game at risk.

I think the biggest thing the GGG team can do to maintain their independence is to drive player commitment to the game by improving its design. Early on in the PoE history, there was talk about the differing play styles and trying to have the game appeal to all 3 (or 4) player types. I think GGG needs to continue to make sure the game has this broad appeal and doesn't become just a clear speed game.

The last league represented a good effort to expand the appeal, even though the implementation wasn't as popular or as smoothly integrated as it might have been. I think GGG can improve their player satisfaction by going back to many of the things that made the game appealing. Some, like racing may not have had the percentage appeal, but were looked forward to, and could be a bigger draw with an improved consistent format.

While I understand GGG was happy to eliminate the "difficulty" level aspect of the game, I think that finding a way to bring some option back (without forcing anyone to go through them to get to maps) would appeal to a lot of players. I understand that GGG likes the idea of players using up resources for the end game of maps, but PoE would have a larger appeal if there was an endgame option that involved regular game areas with no maps. The balance on this could be easily achieved by ensuring that maps remained the most efficient way to level and acquire loot. They needn't remain the only way.

IMO, GGG would do well to offer expansion content in the permanent leagues at the same time. The reward/drop ratio could be substantially reduced for balance, but I think GGG would generate a much stronger financial response from many players by doing this. The players who would contribute more are the ones who would stick around longer as well.

There's a lot GGG can do to make sure Path of Exile remains exciting to play, and have players excited to continue funding it to see what is next. Narrowing the game's focus is exactly the wrong thing to do. Allowing viable alternatives to the clear speed meta will be something that GGG either does, or ends up losing a substantial chunk of their paying player base.

Overall, I have a few concerns, but am not overly worried about this. Whether it works out as GGG anticipates and has announced depends on the game GGG continues to make. If the game appeals to just about ALL of their player base, GGG and PoE will be fine. If not, they are taking unnecessary financial risks.

Those risks are something larger companies never do intentionally. When you have tens of thousands of employees, you can't fly by the seat of your pants anymore. A slight percentage change in any one area can a major boon or a major problem. Increasing the paying player base and increasing long term player loyalty is everything in terms of future success. If GGG does this well (and they can) then Tencent will use their success to guide some of their other companies. If GGG does not, then Tencent will eventually have to take the reins away from GGG.

Well damn time to read this book. I so should have posted my other comment here.

Yeah I'm deleting the other one and putting it here, it seems far to many aren't looking at this from more than a how will my game change perspective and that bothers me.

EDIT: I don't assume you to know more or less than anyone else, but you have a way with words as do a lot of people who are vocal on this forum. If a discussion is being had this is indeed the place.

I doubt anyone wants to consider this but why would a social media, citizen scoring platform be interested in buying popular games profits aside?

At some level it has to be about presence and access to data and technology to build a clearer image on users over vastly different spaces. Why and to what end?

Most of, if not all games purchased by tencent have social aspects.

Do we really not care about this side of it?

Are you certain this isn't cambridge analytical on crack? Some of the goals seem similar.

Technology is wildly outpacing what most people think it's capable of.

Have you considered what funding a company with these morals might mean in the long run?

Are you comfortable funding a company based in a nation where civil and social rights are near non-existant? (Granted this could be fake news)

Really wish people would consider things from a few angles before pulling the trigger.

Already pulled the trigger though in this instance.

Sure hope it doesn't bite us in the ass.

Sincerely, a dude who thinks about shit.

-The rush to finish the rest of the Acts to make a complete product.
-The international vs chinese race to test the waters
It all makes sense now!

Well I have morals so my money has to. I've dropped league, this took an an odd turn. I simply cannot fund this shit (to be fair I've never spent like some of you). I don't honestly care if others continue to do so, I've no control over that. I do want people to consider past their faces and entertainment though.

Some fucked up science fiction dystopia shit they push with a lot of room for abuse and control.

Edit:

"

Well I have morals so my money has to.

(this statement is absurd on levels I cannot even begin to describe... at some point the shits all dirty)

Edit: Man this sucks. Can I get an offline version now please? Fuck.

I'll even make a trade, I won't shit talk shady ethics or ask anymore people to think about you as more than a faceless company. Hit me up.

"

鬼殺し wrote:

I did read this in the other thread and was duly glad to see another angle.

I look at it this way -- tencent is cthulhu. Many tentacles, many cultists around the world. One of those tentacles has reached GGG and taken hold. But the tentacle that has done this might not be all that related to the one that engages in social engineering/citizen scoring...and that will be fine, for a while. Maybe even for a long while.

But it's impossible to ignore that GGG is now part of that overall juggernaut and that the juggernaut is anything but squeaky-clean.

I can't support GGG now. Which sucks.

They don't need me to. Which is fine.

That's possible, it's also possible that the board has the motivation, money and power to negotiate with governments, expand it's reach exponentially and have a goal it's working toward.

I'd "Bye Felicia" my way out but...



It's been a fun grind and a wild ride my dudes.