Dovetail Games Bought By Focus Entertainment

Unless my recollection of release orders is wrong, I'd imagine that LGV was used as a gateway route to SEHS by introducing the TVM signalling.

 

DTG Matt question for you sir

you said that you thought we … the ones who play the game … should consider this the positive news that it is. That’s a paraphrase but that’s the gist.

I’m not trying to have a go at you here. your perspective is unique and is of value to us.

why would we … the players of this game … be excited about this? Why exactly is this a positive?

 

I mean a pregnant metal cased calculator is probably going to do more damage to the noggin than a beige plastic bread bin...but that's about the only thing in its favour

 

There does seem to be alot of anti-DTG sentiment on this forum, some of it of course is warrented, but alot, I feel, is just pot banging for the sake of it.

 

You should multiply the TSW figures by 3 to get an estimate over all platforms. If you remember at one point Kuju started with six persons developing TSC, it is a kind of amazing there are now such a large number of people working for DTG.

 

Oh boy not again... this numbers are not complete what's telling over and over again here on this forum! You nissing the Xbox and Playstation players!

 

I hope they do some stopping French routes as well, fast trains are not the be all of everything, can get a bit boring.

 

Just imagine just Imagine what this number could have been if DTG put a more effort into testing in order to stomp out as many bugs as possible before released,which could have lead to better reviews and possibly more full price sale.Instead of New threads about a laundry of technical issues to be delt with and deter many from buying until a sale or buying at all.

 

I'm new to commenting I never used to I just used to quickly view the forums

 

it's less "effort" than "time." As we have seen with MML, testers have in fact discovered a lot of bugs -- but there was no time to get them fixed.

What I would propose- since the Focus takeover has taken I think a bit of the strain off the revenue stream - is that DTG set a two-month shift. By that I mean that every DLC currently in development have its release date put back 8 weeks - and, yes, that means a whole 60-day window will pass without a DTG route release. But that adjustment would allow all DLC both now in dev and going forward to have an additional two months of time- whether for completing timetables, getting scenery right, or detecting and fixing bugs.

 

How about you actually read my post before complaining about it.

 

People read posts in a forum? What is the world coming to

 

With a company from paris france buying DTG might TSW see a few more french routes find there way onto DTG route development list sooner then later.The fact they only had done one and didn't even try to add something to it let alone do another french route seem like missed opportunity,Clearly it might have made DTG a more desirable purchase sooner perhaps.

 

I suspect we are still probably reading too much into a French owned corporate enterprise taking over Dovetail will automatically lead to a glut of French content, great though that may be as I noted earlier.

 

I think this would be fantastic, but i'm very doubtful it will happen.

 

If it leads to a route with a french freight train and perhaps a extra french loco add on that be a good start for the near future.

 

this would be limited by finite staff members and the unrealistic time frame. Not all pieces of dlc can be worked on at once due to there only being a finite number of staff members. There are around 70 pieces of dlc content dtg has to look at. Any issue that is reported needs to be reproduced first of all and with the list so big, this would probably take a majority of time. Timetables that are incomplete would take more than 2 months from borrowing an employee who knows how to build a timetable, actually adding services in, simulating it, fixing bugs with the timetable, repeat. It also has to pass QA and there are no major issues present. They could fix certain things, but not all within 2 months.

 

BTW where does the leave DTG 3rd party developers?Theres nothing in the story that says that this focus entertainment group now owns them as well.

 

Without access to confidential contracts hard to say. Probably business as usual though hopefully a kick up the posterior for the under performers, like Rivet.

Also did wonder how many people involved with creating content are employed/salaried by DTG as opposed to working on a self employed/royalty basis, as obviously they will have no protection under UK employment laws/TUPE etc. against simply being told to head off down the road...

 

For me thats the biggest question and unknown. Currently 3rd parties get a lot of support from DTG who are the publishers, Id imagine that will shift to Focus.

Will Focus see the benefit of supporting and onboarding 3rd parties? We also saw DTG employees being permitted to work for TSG in the making of Niddertalbahn, will Focus allow such things to happen in the future?

I really hope that the new owners see the value that 3rd parties bring to both titles.

 

Of course, that would take time. But there is a solution for this... you bring out the DLC only when they are ready. So you can save the anger of the customers and a lengthy post-processing of the DLC.
I can accept minor bugs if they are fixed immediately. But what DTG does in the meantime is to knowingly release grossly flawed or broken DLC and then make the customers wait forever until it might be fixed.
Or in the case of TSG, simply not releasing the patch for bugs that have long since been fixed.
All of this in total, allows me only one conclusion ... DTG doesn't care about its customers. You just throw anything on the market, no matter in what condition, and grab the money.
They have completely lost respect and appreciation for the customer. What also shows the statement about the sale of DTG. To call yourself a creator of high quality content is the extended middle finger and a slap in the face of every customer.

 

So did Sam get out because he knew what was coming or was he pushed?

 

One other item which just occurred to me (fairly mindlessly walking round Vault 88 scrapping everything in sight) what slant will Focus take on these very forums? For all we might moan and gristle about the games from time to time (as well as the odd bit of praise), it is good to have a discussion area actually operated by the developer and where we are permitted to be quite forthright at times on issues we care passionately about. Will Focus take such an open handed approach or will they view in house forums as unecessary and even possibly a hindrance to the business?

 

Interesting musing OldVern. Has anyone looked at forums connected to the games Focus currently owns to see how they are run?

 

Source: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/busin...t-acquires-train-simulator-dev-dovetail-games

"The management team are the experts in this space so it would be churlish to overly interfere in [DTG's] operations."

"We like their business model based on fully-owned IPs and creating recurrent revenues from regular content updates to a passionate and committed community of fans," [Focus CEO Sean Brennan] continued. "[Dovetail] will keep their distinct culture and way of managing the business for sure, a policy that we have followed with all our past studio acquisitions."

 

Didn't Focus and Frogwares have a big legal battle that left Focus looking like a bully company? It seems the battle was resolved by Frogwares now being the publisher of their own games.

 

I can't say I've seen Focus active on Saber's or even Microsoft on Bethesdas

 

Why does this acquisition always have to be related to people leaving? Does it really matter? He left dtg for whatever reason it is but that's it. We don't have to know the personal details as to why he left.

 

Well ECW isn’t exactly what I’d describe as long term gameplay & varied - a lot of what lifted ECW above other DLC was merely being the first proper modern UK route. It’s certainly not a bad route, but it doesn’t do anything better than other DLC’s (other than just not being bad, but are we really at that point?)

BML is solely in the place that it is because individuals took the time to make it so in their own time, if DTG had their time constraints locked into this one I shudder at the thought of what it would be today - but again this route still has many issues which are yet to be addressed, the massive timetable is carrying it.

SEHS seems to be one of the few routes that DTG are giving attention to, likely because it’s a popular base route and they have plenty of monetising to do with it.

Honestly if the only half decent content we’re ever going to get is some southern based electric lines, then they may aswell not do anything at all.

Ultimately though I do agree with you, they clearly have a preference for putting the work into those types of routes, but it perhaps isn’t as good a thing as you might think it is.

 

Focus was the publisher, and Frogwares was an independent developer (similar to but not quite the same as DTG's third-party devs). The problem occurred when the publishing-and-distribution agreement ended: Focus claimed it still owned the store listings for games it had published, and simply took them all down while refusing to transfer the seller ID keys to Frogwares. This looked, yes, spiteful and bullying.

 

You can never be sure but it was most likely the things happening his personal life that made him retire

 

Focus is Farming Simulator, right?

I own quite some incarnations of this franchise, but quitted supporting it after FS 2015, which I bought with a nice hardware bundle, wheel&pedals and a farming implements side panel.

FS 2017, FS 2019 are essentially more of the same, and the game is already showing its age for 5 years. And unlike any other driving game, there still is no force feedback. The wheel&pedals from the hardware bundle didn't prove to be very sturdy, so I replaced them with my ATS/ETS very solid Thrustmaster racing wheel&pedals. Driving a tractor or harvester over a field without FFB feels so poor compared to the feeling of driving a heavy truck in ATS/ETS or a rally or race car in Dirt etc.

There is a lively FS modding scene, producing 'farms', tractors, machinery and implements with the help of some good tutorials and tools from the publisher.
This is the way to go to keep the franchise going, fresh, challenging and interesting, which I find sorely missing in TSW where apart from some simple painting tools, everything is locked down and you are stuck to the provided schedules and paths.

So perhaps a change of management, culture and business model will give TSW a new life? We'll probably have to wait for half a year or so to be able to find out in which direction Focus will take TSW (and TSC obviously) and whether any imminent DLC releases will get real quality improvements.

 

Farming Simulator is by Giants Software, an indie. Focus was just the publisher, and now FS is self-published

 

Thanks for clearing that up, Solicitr.

Another thing that struck me with FS is the generous and ample licensing of branded vehicles and machinery, and the great quality in some of the virtual renditions.

 

As far as whether there will be more French routes, or why there's been only one even though it's popular, everything starts with licenses. Until and unless DTG can get the licenses it needs, nothing can happen anywhere.

 

If they want to expand the North American market, I hope that doesn't mean less British And German Routes

 

True enough; but DTG HAS the SNCF license.

 

The Région licence is needed as well if DTG is willing to do any TER/Transilien lines ( some TER got the neutral livery but that’s not very common )

 

I think you're thinking too much into it. Why would they abandon the uk and the us when there is great demand for them.

 

But a licence isn't just issued without limitations. They might have held a time- and route-limited licence. I don't know if that's the case with this licence, but it's a possibility.

 

I hope it means restoring the balance for both sides of the pond, an approximate release rotation between the UK, the European continent and North America which seemed to exist up until Rush Hour.

As I've said elsewhere, North America has drawn the short straw recently and not just in terms of quantity.

 

I think LGV Mediterranee on TSW is a great route. I occasionally get in the mood to run high speed rail and it's great to have on the list. The TGV Duplex is really well done. Looks good, sounds good. The in motion power system change is cool.
I believe it's also the fastest you can run in TSW. 320 kph, or 200 mph.

I'd recommend it to anyone who likes high speed rail systems

 

A quick check shows SNCF does indeed have and operate goods trains,so a french freight train or or route with one should be possible.

 

I almost bought it at the last discounted price. I'm glad I held off, now.

 

Thank you as its going to be free in May I will give it a go

 

I personally just hope that we do not see a downturn in UK content as these are the only items of interest to me and make up 100% of my collection.

 

People who are complaining about there being too many UK routes recently seem to be forgetting that most of these releases are by third parties

 

I do recall something to that effect, although I can't remember the details. Might be interesting to look into.

 

It good to hear that there will be a free route, but it should be something loyal supporters and followers of DTG products haven’t added to their collection. Rather than a free LGV, perhaps a more suitable solution is to design a new french route and offer it with a 50% pre-order discount, in that way it’s a gift for loyal and future supporters. That way it’s not a kick in the teeth for those who have the French route in their collection.

Another solution would be to have a sale of all products in every platform including xbox.