Embracing 3D Realms' Acquisition

Taken from Embracer Group.

Acquisitions within gaming industry grew massively lately with one of the most popular examples being Bethesda joining Microsoft. From these massive deals to more humble agreemants with smaller companies, Embracer Group is one of the prominent players in this field. On August 5, 2021, they've announced a new wave of acquisitions, which included 3D Realms and its development studio Slipgate Ironworks through their subsidiary Saber Interactive.

It appears to be a very logical and solid move by Embracer, given their focus on classic franchises and AA projects in order to establish themselves as a strong party in niche spheres. At the same time, Slipgate had previously worked with Saber and THQ Nordic, so it really makes a lot of sense.

Since 3D Realms is one of the gaming companies I'm interested in at the moment and Realms Deep 2021 is right around the corner, I wanted to take this opportunity to just talk about it... Even though I'm sure I still lack some critical information needed for proper verdict instead of  gravitating towards mostly positive perspective.

Concerns & Annoyances.

The topic of acquisitions on itself is pretty controversial for some people. There're many reasons from that, including tragic fate of beloved studios that were bought by bigger party, for examples Raven Software and Westwood Studios. A lot of people are concerned regarding Tencent's expansion and Microsoft's strategy. I'll come back to this point later on, but right now let's stop on this: freedom is pretty valuable and people are naturally getting upset when their favorite company loses its independence in any share or form.

Embracer Group own 69 studios and 8 operative groups at this point in time, so you can say that's a pretty big apartment. Because of that, 3D Realms got relatively close to many developers, including Gearbox Software. These two had interesting and long relationship centered around Duke Nukem franchise. Both of them are getting reminded about this pretty much on daily basis and nowadays the influx of speculations and prayers will increase. Despite the fact that 3D Realms' members talked numerous times about moving on from this chapter in company's live and lack of interest in going back to Duke Nukem. Anything is possible, but I don't think their stance changed recently.

Lastly, there's Saber Interactive itself. More specifically, a certain high member of the company that has controversial reputation within gaming industry. I wouldn't call out any specific names in this post, but this person might potentially have a negative influence on Slipgate Ironworks. Probably not, but that's one of those things that's worth keeping in mind.

A Positive Look.

Back to the previous point regarding companies' freedom after being acquired by corporations and such. From what I understand, Embracer Group is actually pretty hands-off with their studios with good example being Gearbox Software. They work on Borderlands series with 2K Games as a publisher all this time and this didn't change after Embracer stepped in... or rather didn't, I suppose. that sounds pretty good. Although I do wonder what it means for 1C Entertainment that could be bought by Tencent...

One good thing that comes from being back of larger parent group is stability. You may be no stranger to the fact that 3D Realms was very "fortunate" to experience various obstacles: from game delays to a number of controversies. Being a part of Embracer Group might grant them something they truly needed all this time and will benefit current and future projects from 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks.

Taken from Embracer Group.

Speaking of which, they did talk a bit about upcoming projects during  Embracer's Press Conference. Besides AAA First-Person Shooter I most likely didn't guess right, 3D Realms are also working on Real-Time Strategy game (that was "subtely teased" by Frederic on Twitter via retweets like that) and porting project from THQ Nordic (who owns Rad Rodgers IP), among other things. Which does stay true to Schreiber's words regarding company's future in "How a remake of an obscure 1995 FPS led to a retro shooter revival" by PC Gamer:

Schreiber describes 3D Realms’ recent output as an alternate timeline, moving through the ’90s on fast forward—and it’s rapidly closing in that millennial boundary. "Where we are now with Graven is kind of the limit," he says. "In terms of visual fidelity, the problem with making an early 2000s game is that, for the majority of people, it will look like a very ugly modern game, rather than a really pretty old game. We can always go back in time, but that’s the limit."

The answer, it seems, is diversification. 3D Realms is also publishing Ghostrunner, which applies the speed of a retro shooter to create something entirely its own. "We’re going to do more AAA indie stuff like that," Schreiber says, although he acknowledges they’re much more expensive to make.

Although I'm mostly interested in Retro and Indie as opposed to AAA, I would like to see what future holds for 3D Realms and hope it goes well for them because it's about time. Overall, I am hopeful. Like, actually excited for Realms Deep 2021 because this Summer was mostly very rough for me and I need the opposite of that. This upcoming event should be as great as previous one or even better. Great enough to mark the beginning of new golden era for 3D Realms/Slipgate Ironworks.