

Gearbox acquires Homeworld - cocoflunchy
http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/community/articles/1029/homeworld-acquisition-and-plans/

======
potatolicious
Oh no.

Looking past the recent Gearbox disaster that was Aliens: Colonial Marines,
their last acquired IP was Duke Nukem Forever.

Before that they were dubiously known for creating the first Brothers in Arms
game (which was excellent), and subsequently flying that straight into the
ground with an endless series of ever-worsening sequels.

If you look at their previous games, they almost all fall somewhere between
"mediocre" and "just bad".

The only diamond in their track record is the Borderlands series. I'm not sure
how Gearbox lost its reputation for strict mediocrity via Borderlands alone,
I'm still very skeptical about their game development prowess - and certainly
_very_ skeptical about any claims Randy Pitchford makes about the quality of
their games, after his breathless demos of both Duke Forever and Aliens.

Honestly, I'm glad they're repackaging Homeworld/2 for Steam and such, but I'd
rather have no Homeworld 3 than let Gearbox helm it.

~~~
lotyrin
I honestly didn't enjoy Diablo II the FPS with lulz maymays very much. (I'm
exaggerating, but doing so to illustrate my beefs with the Borderlands
series.)

------
xsmasher
Interesting repercussions for the Teampixel Kickstarter / Indiegogo campaign
for "Homeworld Touch" and "Homeworld 3." They were successfully funded but
lost the rights auction, and are now legally prevented from delivering on
their Kickstarter promises.

[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/teampix/homeworld-
touch-...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/teampix/homeworld-touch-ios-
android-and-homeworld-3-pc-mac)

~~~
hipsters_unite
Yeah, I had thought that was a done deal... clearly not.

~~~
forrestthewoods
Who on earth thought the IP could be acquired for $50,000?

~~~
jamesaguilar
I don't know how much this sort of thing is worth, but there hasn't been a
homeworld game in almost a decade. Obviously THQ didn't think it was worth
much (or else not enough to start a game with it or be worth selling before
the bankruptcy made it necessary). I can see how someone might make the
mistake.

~~~
ericd
A AAA game is an enormous investment, to the point where they could value an
IP at millions of dollars and still not value it enough to make a game with
it.

------
venomsnake
Relic is owned by Sega, which is in crappy relationship with GB because of
colonial marines. So the Homeworld team cannot be brought even as consultants.
Zero experience in strategy games in GB. I think I will just play Hardware
when it comes out.

I love homeworld 1&2 but doubt they will get the XCOM treatment when Gearbox
decide to cash on their IP.

Also - expect Ultra Mega DLC season pass and premium DLCs not included in the
season pass. And 35 different preorder bonuses.

~~~
spartango
It seems that at least for the moment GB will be repackaging the existing
Homeworld games (2, maybe 1) so that they can be purchased over Steam/another
platform. There don't seem to be plans for another game yet.

[http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/community/articles/1029/homew...](http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/community/articles/1029/homeworld-
acquisition-and-plans)

------
cadetzero
After Aliens: Colonial Marines, I really hope they don't spread their teams
too thin across too many products...

Borderlands was great, but given they've done almost exclusively first person
shooters, I'm definitely concerned for the Homeworld IP.

Edit* Let me rephrase, I'm terrified for the Homeworld IP.

~~~
wmf
All genres are now sub-genres of FPS anyway...

------
iharris
Anyone looking for a modern Homeworld-esque experience might want to check out
StarDrive (currently in beta, available on Steam). It's a 4X RTS which shares
some design elements with HW and mixes in some of Civ's colony management and
sci-fi themes from EVE Online.

Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with the developers; I simply tried the beta
on Steam and found it pretty intriguing.

~~~
r00fus
Is it only for Win or is it avail on OSX? Website doesn't seem to indicate.

~~~
iharris
Win-only for now, as far as I know. I'm not sure if there are plans to make it
cross-platform, but the dev has been pretty receptive to feedback on the
forums.

------
DigitalSea
Homeworld still has a chance. Gearbox are a great developer, I'm glad it was
them who decided to purchase the IP not Electronic Arts who would have turned
it into a micro-transaction orgy. I have fond memories of the Homeworld
franchise, so I hope they don't taint those memories.

With a handful of great games under their belt, I reckon Gearbox can do it.
Aside: I am really looking forward to Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 coming out
sometime this year hopefully from the guys as well.

~~~
SG-
I'm not sure if they're that great, they seem contempt or OK is releasing
pretty poor games lately (Duke Nukem Forever and Colonial Marines).

~~~
DigitalSea
Borderlands 2 was pretty good. Duke Nukem Forever to be fair was in
development for 14 years prior to Gearboxes involvement, they finished the
game, they didn't develop it from the start they merely did what 3D Realms
failed to do. Colonial Marines was definitely a crappy game, horrible even.
The graphics quality not to mention the number of bugs, lack of Aliens
continuity and horrible AI that it had make it one of the worse games Gearbox
have ever released.

We'll see what they make of the franchise.

------
sciurus
Although I think the project that builds on it has been dormant for many
years, the original Homeworld's code was released as a part of the Relic
Developers Network. I wonder if that license grant is still valid now that
ownership has changed hands.

<http://www.homeworldsdl.org/>

[https://github.com/timdetering/HomeworldSDL/blob/master/LICE...](https://github.com/timdetering/HomeworldSDL/blob/master/LICENSE.txt)

EDIT: It looks like there were already serious problems with the license which
mean no one can distribute the code
[http://homesource.nekomimicon.net/sourceforum/viewtopic.php?...](http://homesource.nekomimicon.net/sourceforum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=377)

------
vingt-2
R.I.P Homeworld. We, as gamers, loved you.

------
girvo
YES!!!!

I've been a fan of Gearbox since Opposing Force was released. I'm damned
excited about this, I hope they handle it well.

Although what happened to Teampixel sucks, I wouldn't be surprised if you see
Gearbox have a chat to them to see if they want to come on board... We'll see,
anyway!

EDIT: Just as a random thought, imagine Homeworld with Occulus Rift. Floating
around the universe like a god...

------
DannoHung
Oh boy, I can't wait for the writing talents at Gearbox to get their hands on
the subtle, understated galactic drama of the Homeworld series.

------
RKoutnik
I have many fond memories as a kid playing through all three Homeworld games.
I'm glad Gearbox plans on revamping both one and two, so I can finally play
online [0]! I'll also be looking forward to what they can do with modern
graphics engines. HW was an incredibly beautiful game even back in 1999.

[0] We had dial up back then. Those were the days....

------
mmanfrin
I have respect for the developers at Gearbox -- I'm looking forward to see
what they can make of the venerated IP that is Homeworld.

------
gailees
Homeworld <3

