Can this franchise be saved?

[Miniwolfen]

Alot of people talk about Frontier and how they and other developers such as Texel Raptor have saved the theme park genre. We've heard alot of talk about how atari have brutally killed the rct franchise with scams, broken gameplay, poor graphics and terrible optimization along with garbage microtransactions and match 3 trash. However i think we need to ask if RCT can be saved? How can Atari turn this around if they can?

Maybe they could sell the IP or just leave it alone. Face it Frontier and many other theme park games have outclassed the past decade of RCT garbage! I still cant believe we are talking about it but clearly RCT ment alot to us. Wonder what it ment to atari. A quick buck?

[Harbinger]

It's beyond saving now. The franchise has been completely devalued by Atari's stewardship this last few years.

Atari have the license until 2022 and I can't see anyone else wanting it at that time. Frontier may have had an interest before Planet Coaster, not so much anymore. They can make more income on a self-owned IP and will probably equal RCT3's 10m+ lifetime sales within the next few years given their upcoming console launch.

Chris Sawyer will probably just sign another extension to Atari in a year or so and accept whatever morsels come his way by way of Mobile microtransactions. Last I heard he still held 1m shares in Frontier, currently worth around £14m. He'll get by.

A new PC RCT game would be nothing but an asset flip from RCTW as Atari don't have the money to finance a quality version.

[Hointar]

I must agree the RCT franchise has been totally killed by Atari's terrible abuse of the RCT name!
Their cheap, low budget handling and money grabbing scam of our beloved franchise can never be saved! Some idiots out there may buy some RCT BS from Atari but never enough people to carry on this franchise as long as Atari has name rights! More than likely no company will ever be able to pull this dead franchise back to its glory days and probably no company will ever try!

[10to21]

Its possible, all it takes is the right person with persistence. But as long as it's under Atari the fat lady has sung for this franchise.

[AwesomeAgent404]

Hey everyone is forgetting about rct classic witch is published by Atari you all must hate atari even if they do publish good stuff. also there are people that like this game https://steamcommunity.com/app/282560/positivereviews/?p=1&browsefilter=mostrecent

[Harbinger]

Chris Sawyer paid for RCT: Classic out of his own pocket.

Atari don't deserve any credit for adding it to a few digital storefronts because their license grants them exclusive distribution rights.

That game was basically gift wrapped free money for Atari as they'll be leeching a distribution cut without any financial risk on their end.

[AwesomeAgent404]

Originally posted by Harbinger:

Chris Sawyer paid for RCT: Classic out of his own pocket.

Atari don't deserve any credit for adding it to a few digital storefronts because their license grants them exclusive distribution rights.

That game was basically gift wrapped free money for Atari as they'll be leeching a distribution cut without any financial risk on their end.

but Chris can't publish a game without Atari so Atari could have said no and be on with there day but take it how you want.

[Harbinger]

I know it's Easter but I think you mean Chris rather than Christ.

Chris Sawyer lost interest in developing games many years ago. That's why he handed over the reigns to Frontier after the initial release of RCT 2. Chris had a preexisting relationship with David Braben having ported some of his games to PC. That's why he still has shares. He was pretty fundamental in Frontier's early years and that's probably why Frontier got the gig in the first place.

He paid a developer called Origin8 to modernise some of his older games, he's not hands on anymore so don't expect him to save Atari's ass with a completely new game. At best he'll probably fund Origin8 porting RCT: Classic to other platforms.

[Hointar]

Originally posted by bossdude:

Hey everyone is forgetting about rct classic witch is published by Atari you all must hate atari even if they do publish good stuff. also there are people that like this game https://steamcommunity.com/app/282560/positivereviews/?p=1&browsefilter=mostrecent

Back to your old ticks again (lmao) just posting the likes most of which were a very long time ago! Post the negative reviews as well and then see the massive difference! Pages and pages of negative post with very few positive post mixed in! What's your point bozodude kicking this dead horse over and over again, you're a total joke!
If you use his link make sure you click on all reviews for the truth!

[Hointar]

Originally posted by bossdude:

Originally posted by Harbinger:

Chris Sawyer paid for RCT: Classic out of his own pocket.

Atari don't deserve any credit for adding it to a few digital storefronts because their license grants them exclusive distribution rights.

That game was basically gift wrapped free money for Atari as they'll be leeching a distribution cut without any financial risk on their end.

but Chris can't publish a game without Atari so Atari could have said no and be on with there day but take it how you want.

You are also forgetting this is not the same Atari bozodude, Infogrames bought out that Atari many years ago! The old Atari did just what Harbinger stated distrbution at no real cost to them and a lot of income! Get off your high horse bozodude it's a dead horse now!

[jrnkl8]

Originally posted by bossdude:

Hey everyone is forgetting about rct classic witch is published by Atari you all must hate atari even if they do publish good stuff. also there are people that like this game https://steamcommunity.com/app/282560/positivereviews/?p=1&browsefilter=mostrecent

That is essentially RCT 1 and 2, which were published by Microprose, before Atari took them over! Atari is doing little more than reselling them! Microprose's original franchise, Railroad Tycoon has been left to gather dust since Sid Meir's Railroads! but after seeing what Atari's done with RCT, maybe that's for the better...

[Harbinger]

Well Atari don't own rights to any of the other franchises that originated from MicroProse anymore as they sold them on in 2007 so they can't do any damage to Railroad Tycoon.

After the 2013 bankruptcy firesale and selling Alone in the Dark and Act of War to THQ Nordic a couple of years back Atari are essentially down to their 70s/80s Atari 2600/7200 back catalogue (plus any games based on them) and RCT. That's why they are so dependant on RCT as it's the only modern franchise they have left.

Fun fact: MicroProse seem to be attempting a comeback. Their rights were acquired in 2018 by David Lagettie and one of the original co-founders (Bill Stealey) is on board. They've been pretty active on social media recently. I know Transport Tycoon is Sid Meier's baby but there's more of a chance of a reunion or even remasters of the original games now those franchises are not sandbagged.

[Hointar]

More bozodude BS facts squashed by the the truth and real facts!
Lol bozodude give it up rctw is dead and Atari is on their last leg!

[AwesomeAgent404]

Ok, first for the history of rollercoaster tycoon rights. Rct1 was created by Chris Sawyer and Hasbro Interactive and was published by Microprose. Now for a game that happened in the middle that no one talks about was Monopoly Tycoon. Made by Hasbro Interactive and Deep Red Games and published by Infogrames. Now after this would come rct2 but now since Infogrames would now be publishing Hasbro's stuff they would publish rct2. But then a large change in Infogrames happened they would enquire atari a falling company after the video game crash but still a recognizable name and would then publish. rct3 but with Chris Sayer having a part and would be developed by Frontier Development and then in 2008 Infogrames would completely be turned into Atari. Witch is now why any Wikipedia link for Infogrames will lead you to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_SA. and now they completely own the rights to rct and that brings us to rctw published by Atari and developed by Nvizzio Creations. Now that is a very brief history but good enough. Now for where the series is going, I have my estimates I expect the next rct game for pc to come in 2024-2025 and as for the publisher it all depends on where the rights for rct will go now the slightest possibility is that it could go to Frontier Development but they already have a theme park sim.but the other two are more likely 1 being EA, why EA you may ask well EA is the kind of developer that could do it because they did some interesting stuff with Simcity witch I think they might be a contender plus rct and Simcity were both in a similar time and have a similar fan base and are similar in a lot of ways. But number two is more likely. 2 Atari, if Chris Sawyer extends the rights Atari will have them again now as for the developer It could be 1 Nvizzio Creations. But if you paid attention rct story was made by 2 Graphite Lab, now although Graphite Lab did make rct story they most likely won't make the next rct pc game because they're more of a mobile developer but some developers that Atari could hire are. 1 Alpha Dog Games but once again more of a mobile developer 2 Tommo, Inc. But they haven't made much sense 2006, But it will most likely be nvizzio or some other developer you can also look at other IPs that atari may use the dev from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GTt13SyHyYCSOTUAyKCdHS0TOOthVzGT/view
now as for the game it could be a brand new rct game or it could be a remastered version of a game which would get them more money with less effort. Such as completely overhauling rctw and advertizing it and get people to maybe like, and play this game and sell it to more people but it will probably be a new game. But I think it could be pretty good

[Hointar]

Atari would be wasting time and money to remake rctw or any pc park sim using the rct name again! They botched rctw so badly that nobody will buy anything they put out!
Atari is a nothing company now with a horrible reputation!

[AwesomeAgent404]

Originally posted by Hointar:

Atari would be wasting time and money to remake rctw or any pc park sim using the rct name again! They botched rctw so badly that nobody will buy anything they put out!
Atari is a nothing company now with a horrible reputation!

I'm guessing you read 1/10 of what Ii said. Edit: also If a developer can prove that they've turned around I think fans will give them a second chance and If rct can get a good new game out I think it would change everyone's perspectives.