Zen Studios acquired by Embracer Group

[joeblow]

Linky.

Along with other acquired companies, they will operate under Saber Interactive.

 

[KillRideMedley]

With them becoming part of Saber Interactive i hope microtransactions aren't coming to the console and pc versions since NBA Playgrounds 1-2 & WWE Battlegrounds had a bunch of them.

 

[curtis]

Oh no! Is this a good thing? I suppose it's good if this gives Zen more pull for licensing (in pinball games). However, will Embracer be in charge and make decisions for Zen?

 

[1adam12]

Nothing bad ever happens after a company is acquired, does it?

I suppose this speaks to the success of FX3, although I don't know what else Zen does. While I was very unhappy about Farsight losing the rights, I've been very happy with the Zen tables. The gameplay might be better, but the table lighting is damn near perfect!

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[joeblow]

With them becoming part of Saber Interactive i hope microtransactions aren't coming to the console and pc versions since NBA Playgrounds 1-2 & WWE Battlegrounds had a bunch of them.

I dropped Farsight's Pinball Arcade after all of their lying and deceptive antics. I'll drop PFX too if Zen Studios turns the franchise into a micro-transaction mill.

 

[1adam12]

I dropped Farsight's Pinball Arcade after all of their lying and deceptive antics. I'll drop PFX too if Zen Studios turns the franchise into a micro-transaction mill.

It says a lot about the state of the industry that this is one of the first concerns to come to mind.

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[Gusbomb]

Their acquisition of Dunder Mifflin went well.

 

[Naildriver74]

The only thing that matters now is the bottom line. What you will get is a bunch of unhappy employees doing a bad job because their employer doesn’t give a damn about them.

 

[Narc0lep5y]

Embracer has been buying up companies all year. Good or bad, This is part of an announcement of the acquisition of 13! companies and they bought another 7 companies in August and Saber Interactive which is the banner Zen will be under was just acquired at the beginning of the year.

 

[vfpcoder]

According to this (rather rambling) YouTube video, the company was bought out to focus on the development of ... RPG Games!(?). Furthermore, there seems to an incentive clause in the agreement for the development of those types of games over the next 5 years. So this slow trickle of Virtual Pinball tables we’ve experienced from Zen may continue for quite awhile!

If there is some modicum of truth in this YouTube Video (which is based on the verbiage in the buyout agreement) we may end up hoping that the Williams/Bally license ends up reverting back to FarSight Studios. How ironic!!

https://youtu.be/gZVvwNZ4UN0

 

[Scared Stiff]

I don’t think I would hope for that either as Farsight wasn’t doing a very good job in art OR physics and didn’t have the capital to really do things right.

This news does not surprise me at all because Zen has been acting odd all year. I figured they were either about to go out of business or be bought by someone. Looks like I was right.

My hope is that not much changes other than at least a little bump up in release schedules. I would like to see three table packs a year. I think that’s a realistic number.

 

[1adam12]

I don’t think I would hope for that either as Farsight wasn’t doing a very good job in art OR physics and didn’t have the capital to really do things right.

This news does not surprise me at all because Zen has been acting odd all year. I figured they were either about to go out of business or be bought by someone. Looks like I was right.

My hope is that not much changes other than at least a little bump up in release schedules. I would like to see three table packs a year. I think that’s a realistic number.

I feel like there was almost some sort of attitude that they felt whatever they were doing was right because it was them doing it. The horrible UI change and so on. It seems like they didn't want to admit their shortcomings. As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the most striking differences to me between the Zen and Farsight visuals is that Zen does proper lighting. Farsight had super bright surfaces that sometimes made the ball hard to spot.

In the end, I'd rather they had the license vs no one at all. Based on what I'm reading from folks here so far, pinball may not be as high on the Zen priority list moving forward.

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[timxtr]

Sounds like a recipe for weak sauce!!

 

[Curratum]

Best case scenario is Pinball FX4 is an Epic Exclusive and you don't get to migrate any of your Steam DLC because Uncle Timmy hates Steam.

Worst case scenario (or is that actually better, given the quality of recent FX3 tables?) - Zen never makes another pinball table again.

Well, at least now we know the real reason for the delays with Vol 6, its poor quality and Zen's not giving a flying f about it in general.

 

[yespage]

I don’t think I would hope for that either as Farsight wasn’t doing a very good job in art OR physics and didn’t have the capital to really do things right.

This news does not surprise me at all because Zen has been acting odd all year. I figured they were either about to go out of business or be bought by someone. Looks like I was right.

My hope is that not much changes other than at least a little bump up in release schedules. I would like to see three table packs a year. I think that’s a realistic number.

I wouldn't say Pinball Arcade wasn't very good. Zen made it notably better, but Pinball Arcade was awesome! The trouble is, Pinball Arcade would need to restart from scratch because Zen raised the bar pretty high, and that just isn't going to happen.

 

[trash80]

This deal is more than likely a good thing. Zen now has access to actual QA studios and additional resources all within the framework of this deal. Plus anything already scheduled for release over the next 12 months wouldn't really be impacted negatively by this anyway. Does anyone here really thing that Zen would sign a crap deal while they are working on tie-ins with original Disney+ properties?

 

[Ironmike]

This deal is more than likely a good thing. Zen now has access to actual QA studios and additional resources all within the framework of this deal. Plus anything already scheduled for release over the next 12 months wouldn't really be impacted negatively by this anyway. Does anyone here really thing that Zen would sign a crap deal while they are working on tie-ins with original Disney+ properties?

Based on what is going on with the iPad version, internal error messages, parts challenges gone, I think we have seen their best shot.

 

[timxtr]

....Well, at least now we know the real reason for the delays with Vol 6, its poor quality and Zen's not giving a flying f about it in general.

I play on XBone, and the Vol.6 quality doesn't seem to be lacking in the least. Yes, the delay sucked.

 

[Gorgias32]

I feel like Zen was doing fantastically well prior to this from a QC and throughput standpoint, they were a really well run software team. I'm sure Zen's owners/investors are happy with the acquisition, but it doesn't necessarily mean good things for the product. Especially if it's true that the new parent company wants them to focus on RPGs. The best I would hope for is that the pinball product/platform is profitable and stable enough that it will be left alone and allowed to continue.

 

[shogun00]

Based on what is going on with the iPad version, internal error messages, parts challenges gone, I think we have seen their best shot.

Blame Apple for that one. They forced all game companies recently to have their games compatible with Metal. Many iOS games were never designed with Metal in mind. Magic Pixel for one is having a time of their life trying to re-progam Zaccaria Pinball to work on it. It looks like Zen tried to do a quick fix, but as you can see doesn't work 100%.