
The epic demise of Realtime Worlds, maker of Crackdown & APB - paylesworth
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_278/8273-The-Rise-and-Fall-of-Realtime-Worlds
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wccrawford
I think they're still confused. They think the 'smaller team' was what made
Crackdown better, and in reality was 'better team'. Size wasn't relevant, only
the people were. They admit later they had people who enjoyed making a great
game, and others who relished the politics. The latter is what destroyed them.

~~~
hga
" _Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic
organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the
actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization
itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to
teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher
including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the
second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will
always write the rules under which the organization functions._ "

([http://www.jerrypournelle.com/archives2/archives2mail/mail40...](http://www.jerrypournelle.com/archives2/archives2mail/mail408.html#Iron))

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paylesworth
The story will resonate with anyone who is familiar with "The Mythical Man-
Month", but what I particularly interesting about this story is the stark
contrast between the company's initial success with Crackdown and then how
quickly it screwed it all up with APB.

~~~
ryanc
Beware of the dreaded Second System Effect?

------
Luyt
Related: Luke Halliwell's Weblog, <http://lukehalliwell.wordpress.com/> (Found
via: Ex-Realtime Worlds Employee Examines APB Fiasco,
[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103563-Ex-
Realtime...](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103563-Ex-Realtime-
Worlds-Employee-Examines-APB-Fiasco) )

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all
Off-topic but important to note: Dundee is not a "small Scottish town" but is
a medium-sized city in the UK, the fourth-largest in Scotland:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dundee>

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Tycho
Moral of this story would be: do not rush to launch with a minimal viable
product if you're working on an MMO (or probably any console game).

~~~
rsuttongee
Or perhaps, don't launch with a minimal viable product with plans to improve
it later unless you have a financial structure that allows you to stay in
business for long enough to actually improve it.

~~~
Tycho
I can't help but feel the bad reviews caused irreparable damage. Even if
they'd had a few more months to tweak it, I doubt they would have attracted
many gamers. It's not the first rushed but promising game I've seen sink on
launch (see: True Crime NY). Big budget games are a somewhat different
category than (business) (web)apps.

~~~
jonnathanson
Bad reviews are often symptoms and not causes, but I agree with you here. When
you're selling a new MMO to consumers, you need to keep in mind that customer
trial costs are high, especially for hardcore early adopters. These are people
with lots of time and money sunk into their current "solutions," and they're
only going to try a new one if it seems like a sure thing. Reviews and pre-
release buzz are thus critical. Especially significant is that a good
aggregate review scorecard doesn't necessarily make your product, but a bad
one can certainly break it.

