Learn the true story behind this game (Long read)

[Sendrien]

When this all started, We Happy Few got $335K from Kickstarter, but was given a whopping $1.2M by Canada Media Fund (CMF). Every year, CMF chooses a few lucky and promising Canadian companies and give them enough money to get started on the project of their dreams.

In the case of Compulsion, CMF gave them the maximum amount allowable for a single company ($1.2M), signalling a tremendous amount of trust and faith in their team. Very few companies have ever received the maximum.

The funding is 100% interest-free, and if the venture fails, Compulsion and their team have zero obligation to pay anything back. If the project succeeds, then CMF only asks for a small percentage of revenue so that the dreams of other Canadian artists can be fulfilled in a similar manner.

In return for this tremendous benefit, CMF asks only that the company spend the majority of the money it is given within Canada to work on a project that promotes Canada as a place where high quality and innovative digital media can be developed.

A few years later, having benefitted so substantially from the contributions of the Canadian government, the Canadian taxpayer, and the Canadian media industry, Compulsion decides to partner with Gearbox, an American publisher, which will drain a vast proportion of the economic and societal benefit away from Canada, to feed an American company which, to say the least, has a reputation that precedes it.

Conspicuously missing from the new promotional videos for We Happy Few is the Canada Media Fund logo, a badge of Canadian pride and an acknowledgement that the project is made possible by CMF's incredibly generous funding program. Every other game funded by CMF proudly displays the CMF logo. Compulsion used to display it too (along with the Kickstarter logo) -- now they are both replaced by the Gearbox logo.

As a form of comparison, The Long Dark is a recently released Canadian game with AAA production value, also funded by CMF. Their team was only given $700K by CMF, and raised another $250K on Kickstarter. They took longer than expected to release the game, but in doing so, they included an entire Sandbox mode and Challenge mode for free, on top of the initially promised 5 episodes worth of Story Mode.

To achieve this, their team never had to partner with any American publishers, never entertained the idea of Season Passes or DLCs, only raised the price of their game once -- upon release, and still proudly displays the CMF and Kickstarter logo on their videos and when the game loads up.

Author's note: The purpose of this post is only to demonstrate that there is more than one path to achieve a goal or to reach a destination. Often, the choosing of that path says very much about the traveler.

--

Sources

http://www.cmf-fmc.ca/funded-projects/previously-funded?searchtext=we+happy+few&displayTotals=false&pageSize=10&searchmode=allwords#resultSet

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/112359230/we-happy-few-welcome-to-wellington-wells-you-saucy

http://www.cmf-fmc.ca/getattachment/6f543af0-769e-46ca-a9a9-9722658125e9/Performance-Envelope-Program-Guidelines.aspx

http://www.cmf-fmc.ca/funded-projects/previously-funded?searchtext=long+dark&displayTotals=false&pageSize=10&searchmode=allwords#resultSet

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hinterlandgames/the-long-dark-a-first-person-post-disaster-surviva

--

Disclaimer

Author has no relationship with Compulsion, Canada Media Fund, Gearbox or The Long Dark (Hinterland Studios) and is not a member of the video game or media industry.




edit: typographical errors, thread title for accuracy, sources added, disclaimer, formatting

[Sendrien]

Originally posted by Troll:

Originally posted by Mr Daylight:

Plus: the person was spreading false information.

Please take some time to check the linked sources.

[Scrubwave]

Canadians, not even once.

[Wheat Snuffles]

Originally posted by Sendrien:

Please take some time to check the linked sources.

I did. And as I posted in a pretty long reply before, I didn't found any problems. The actual guideline clearly says:
Under CMF program guidline:
Canadian Content
A Digital Media Component must meet the following criteria:
a) Its underlying rights are owned, and significantly and meaningfully developed, by Canadians.
b) It is produced in Canada, with at least 75% of its Eligible Costs being Canadian costs
Digital media coproductions are eligible if they comply with the Framework for international digital media coproductions.

Meanwhile, your claim that "Compulsion decides to partner with Gearbox, an American publisher, which will drain a vast proportion of the economic and societal benefit away from Canada, to feed an American company", is not remotely true. The only money Gearbox Publishing is getting from Compulsion, are fees for the publishing service. Compulsion owns the IP and the game 100%, which are fully produced in Canada. This is very different than the traditional publishing model, where the publisher funds all development, in turn owns the IP and the game.

We get it that most people hate Gearbox, I'm not a fan of them either, and in my personaly opinion Compulsion should have picked a publisher with better reputation, but how wrong your claim of "Compulsion drains a vast proportion of the economic and societal benefit away from Canada, to feed an American company" is just next level. It's a common practice for Canadian developers to work with foreign publishers. Spearhead Games, who had $4 million funding from CMF for 4 games, used 505 Games (an Italian publisher) for Tiny Brains. Behaviour Interactive, who got $1 million for Dead by Daylight (also received $1.8 million+ for two other games, making the total funding they received from CMF $2.8 million+), used Starbreeze Studios(Swedish publisher).

There are plenty of entities and individuals that abuse government programs in Canada, but I really haven't found any evidence of Compulsion doing so.

On the other hand, the latest version game launches with the following 6 logo screens, Compulsion Games, Gearbox Publishing, Canada Media Fund, Kickstartersm Unreal engine, Wwise. With CMF being prominently mentioned, do you feel that you shuold at least modify your original post where you insuniated that Compulsion is delibrilately hiding they had support from CMF?

[Borobby]

Originally posted by Wheat Snuffles:

Originally posted by Sendrien:

Please take some time to check the linked sources.

I did. And as I posted in a pretty long reply before, I didn't found any problems. The actual guideline clearly says:
Under CMF program guidline:
Canadian Content
A Digital Media Component must meet the following criteria:
a) Its underlying rights are owned, and significantly and meaningfully developed, by Canadians.
b) It is produced in Canada, with at least 75% of its Eligible Costs being Canadian costs
Digital media coproductions are eligible if they comply with the Framework for international digital media coproductions.

Meanwhile, your claim that "Compulsion decides to partner with Gearbox, an American publisher, which will drain a vast proportion of the economic and societal benefit away from Canada, to feed an American company", is not remotely true. The only money Gearbox Publishing is getting from Compulsion, are fees for the publishing service. Compulsion owns the IP and the game 100%, which are fully produced in Canada. This is very different than the traditional publishing model, where the publisher funds all development, in turn owns the IP and the game.

We get it that most people hate Gearbox, I'm not a fan of them either, and in my personaly opinion Compulsion should have picked a publisher with better reputation, but how wrong your claim of "Compulsion drains a vast proportion of the economic and societal benefit away from Canada, to feed an American company" is just next level. It's a common practice for Canadian developers to work with foreign publishers. Spearhead Games, who had $4 million funding from CMF for 4 games, used 505 Games (an Italian publisher) for Tiny Brains. Behaviour Interactive, who got $1 million for Dead by Daylight (also received $1.8 million+ for two other games, making the total funding they received from CMF $2.8 million+), used Starbreeze Studios(Swedish publisher).

There are plenty of entities and individuals that abuse government programs in Canada, but I really haven't found any evidence of Compulsion doing so.

On the other hand, the latest version game launches with the following 6 logo screens, Compulsion Games, Gearbox Publishing, Canada Media Fund, Kickstartersm Unreal engine, Wwise. With CMF being prominently mentioned, do you feel that you shuold at least modify your original post where you insuniated that Compulsion is delibrilately hiding they had support from CMF?

Very informative.

Also, I'd like to add that the practice that Compulsion is doing with Gearbox is the same what the producer did with Focus Entertainment for Contrast in 2013: got the funds from CMF, developed the game, made partnership with FE for the release of the game on all the platforms. And the CMF logo is also present in that game.
Took a shot for evidence: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1119171283
Compulsion hadn't hidden the support received from CMF in that case, too.

[Soundwave287]

"Dear Level 0 Steam troll."
Wow, what a petty retort

[tactic]

Originally posted by Soundwave287:

"Dear Level 0 Steam troll."
Wow, what a petty retort

they already apologised for it as well as explaining that they appeared level 0 because their profile was private at the time.

[thandemineralisewhen]

Originally posted by OpCode90:

Dear Level 0 Steam troll.

Our CMF logo is displayed quite proeminently in the loading video of the game, much like... hey! The Long Dark! Raf is a great friend, and I'd say he would be really quite upset that you used his game to troll us today. Especially since I've reached out to him to help champion the Canadian Media Fund across Canada last year.

The CMF Logo also takes the entire screen when it's displayed, it's pretty glorious. If you had bought the game, or any game, or deigned come here with an actual account that had bought anything on steam worth more than 5$, you'd be super credible!

Also; since the subject of Canadian Tax dollars seems so pertinent to you; I'm happy to inform you that so far we've repaid most of the Canadian Media Fund production grant! That's right! All that hard-earned tax payer money went right back into the coffers of our government. Must be a pretty terrible thing. Perhaps we should troll the government instead.

Cheers,
Guillaume.

This is the only good business strategy to ever do lol

[Sendrien]

Originally posted by Wheat Snuffles:

Originally posted by Sendrien:

Please take some time to check the linked sources.

I did. And as I posted in a pretty long reply before, I didn't found any problems. The actual guideline clearly says:
Under CMF program guidline:
Canadian Content
A Digital Media Component must meet the following criteria:
a) Its underlying rights are owned, and significantly and meaningfully developed, by Canadians.
b) It is produced in Canada, with at least 75% of its Eligible Costs being Canadian costs
Digital media coproductions are eligible if they comply with the Framework for international digital media coproductions.

Meanwhile, your claim that "Compulsion decides to partner with Gearbox, an American publisher, which will drain a vast proportion of the economic and societal benefit away from Canada, to feed an American company", is not remotely true. The only money Gearbox Publishing is getting from Compulsion, are fees for the publishing service. Compulsion owns the IP and the game 100%, which are fully produced in Canada. This is very different than the traditional publishing model, where the publisher funds all development, in turn owns the IP and the game.

Please include the source for this assertion.

We get it that most people hate Gearbox, I'm not a fan of them either, and in my personaly opinion Compulsion should have picked a publisher with better reputation, but how wrong your claim of "Compulsion drains a vast proportion of the economic and societal benefit away from Canada, to feed an American company" is just next level. It's a common practice for Canadian developers to work with foreign publishers. Spearhead Games, who had $4 million funding from CMF for 4 games, used 505 Games (an Italian publisher) for Tiny Brains. Behaviour Interactive, who got $1 million for Dead by Daylight (also received $1.8 million+ for two other games, making the total funding they received from CMF $2.8 million+), used Starbreeze Studios(Swedish publisher).

There are plenty of entities and individuals that abuse government programs in Canada, but I really haven't found any evidence of Compulsion doing so.

On the other hand, the latest version game launches with the following 6 logo screens, Compulsion Games, Gearbox Publishing, Canada Media Fund, Kickstartersm Unreal engine, Wwise. With CMF being prominently mentioned, do you feel that you shuold at least modify your original post where you insuniated that Compulsion is delibrilately hiding they had support from CMF?

I said specifically that there was no CMF or Kickstarter logo on the new promotional videos. As I do not own the game, I cannot factually make any claims about what is or is not on the loading screen of said game. If the developer wishes to refute my claim by posting footage of the new promotional video featuring the CMF logo, I will gladly retract my statement.

[Ickthedeadlyfish]

Originally posted by Sendrien:

When this all started, We Happy Few got $335K from Kickstarter, but was given a whopping $1.2M by Canada Media Fund (CMF). Every year, CMF chooses a few lucky and promising Canadian companies and give them enough money to get started on the project of their dreams.

In the case of Compulsion, CMF gave them the maximum amount allowable for a single company ($1.2M), signalling a tremendous amount of trust and faith in their team. Very few companies have ever received the maximum.

The funding is 100% interest-free, and if the venture fails, Compulsion and their team have zero obligation to pay anything back. If the project succeeds, then CMF only asks for a small percentage of revenue so that the dreams of other Canadian artists can be fulfilled in a similar manner.

In return for this tremendous benefit, CMF asks only that the company spend the majority of the money it is given within Canada to work on a project that promotes Canada as a place where high quality and innovative digital media can be developed.

A few years later, having benefitted so substantially from the contributions of the Canadian government, the Canadian taxpayer, and the Canadian media industry, Compulsion decides to partner with Gearbox, an American publisher, which will drain a vast proportion of the economic and societal benefit away from Canada, to feed an American company which, to say the least, has a reputation that precedes it.

Conspicuously missing from the new promotional videos for We Happy Few is the Canada Media Fund logo, a badge of Canadian pride and an acknowledgement that the project is made possible by CMF's incredibly generous funding program. Every other game funded by CMF proudly displays the CMF logo. Compulsion used to display it too (along with the Kickstarter logo) -- now they are both replaced by the Gearbox logo.

As a form of comparison, The Long Dark is a recently released Canadian game with AAA production value, also funded by CMF. Their team was only given $700K by CMF, and raised another $250K on Kickstarter. They took longer than expected to release the game, but in doing so, they included an entire Sandbox mode and Challenge mode for free, on top of the initially promised 5 episodes worth of Story Mode.

To achieve this, their team never had to partner with any American publishers, never entertained the idea of Season Passes or DLCs, only raised the price of their game once -- upon release, and still proudly displays the CMF and Kickstarter logo on their videos and when the game loads up.

Author's note: The purpose of this post is only to demonstrate that there is more than one path to achieve a goal or to reach a destination. Often, the choosing of that path says very much about the traveler.

--

Sources

http://www.cmf-fmc.ca/funded-projects/previously-funded?searchtext=we+happy+few&displayTotals=false&pageSize=10&searchmode=allwords#resultSet

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/112359230/we-happy-few-welcome-to-wellington-wells-you-saucy

http://www.cmf-fmc.ca/getattachment/6f543af0-769e-46ca-a9a9-9722658125e9/Performance-Envelope-Program-Guidelines.aspx

http://www.cmf-fmc.ca/funded-projects/previously-funded?searchtext=long+dark&displayTotals=false&pageSize=10&searchmode=allwords#resultSet

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hinterlandgames/the-long-dark-a-first-person-post-disaster-surviva

--

Disclaimer

Author has no relationship with Compulsion, Canada Media Fund, Gearbox or The Long Dark (Hinterland Studios) and is not a member of the video game or media industry.




edit: typographical errors, thread title for accuracy, sources added, disclaimer, formatting

The CMF logo is still there. Also, the CMF isn't a gift from the government, it is a loan that is something you pay back, plus they get a cut of profit proportional to their investment. It's meant to promote business growth in Canada. Also, Gearbox doesn't receive any of this. That likely went into the early development of the game. By early I mean it would have been spent long ago.

[Ickthedeadlyfish]

You aren't obligated to put those logos into promotional videos. Pretty sure you do in the game though. At least the CMF logo needs to be there. Not sure about the KS one.

[Borobby]

Originally posted by Ickthedeadlyfish:

You aren't obligated to put those logos into promotional videos. Pretty sure you do in the game though. At least the CMF logo needs to be there. Not sure about the KS one.

Without Kickstarter, the game wouldn't have never seen an Early Access, so I would have personally added the KS logo, too.

[Ickthedeadlyfish]

Pretty sure it's in the intro of the game before the main menu. Also, I think there are 7000 or so backer names in the credits as well as the KS stuff. Adding the KS logo to the trailers and stuff isn't commong and I don't think it is needed there.

[Sendrien]

Originally posted by OpCode90:

To clarify, I am not simply a developer, I am the owner and head of the studio, and yes, it is 3:33 AM and I snapped. I'm sorry, and I'll own up to it.

Your profile showed you as a Level 0 steam user. Ivan is probably right in that it may be a consequence of putting your profile as private. Now that it is clearly not private, I'll offer some well deserved apologies.

I've spent years and countless hours supporting the CMF in the press and amongst my peers so claims that we don't recognize them properly ran pretty personal; but it is not something I should fault you for not knowing. I will do the right thing, and instead explain calmly and reasonably, as I should have from the beginning. I would encourage you to google my name next to the Canadian Media Fund and read what you find as a result.

First - we have no requirement to display CMF logos on trailers. We also have no requirements to proeminently feature them on the loading movie of our game, but we do so out of good faith. We do not put the CMF logo in promotional trailers because; even though they are an important financial contributor to the game, they are not involved in making, distributing, or marketing the game. Perhaps that's not enough of a reason for you, and you're right, we could have requested to put the Canadian Media Fund in the latest trailer, but - technically - it is not the norm. We also thank our Kickstarter in our opening video, in very much the same way; and you generally don't see kickstarter credits in trailers or promo videos.

Secondly - the idea that Gearbox is going to siphon all the money made by the game is a bit wild to me. We didn't sell the game to Gearbox; they're helping us with marketing and distribution so that we can have an effective path to retail. That's not the kind of transaction that sees all the money being funnelled to a publisher.

The reaction we're getting from some of you for this is completely surreal to me. It's still the same game, we're still the one making it, and we're still the ones funding its development. Our existing community is happy; we've updated them every single week with both videos and blogs for the last two years ( (Link) [compulsiongames.com]) and will keep doing so all the way towards the final release of the game. So why on earth is the internet suddenly so angry?

If it's about DLC / Season pass, we explained why we took those decisions in great detail here:
Link. [compulsiongames.com]

If it's about the price increase, we took care to announce this in two successive updates leading up to the increase in price (see the first link). We also explain the reasons behind it in our blog post. We aren't likely to make more money by increasing the price during the last phase of early access. If anything, it will reduce the number of sales. That's okay with us; we'd rather that people who are price sensitive wait at this stage until the final game is ready.

Guillaume.

I think you have misunderstood my motivations in bringing this information to light. So please allow me to clarify.

1. I have no ill-will towards Compulsion, nor its dev team. We Happy Few remains on my wishlist, despite recent events which may have dissuaded many people from considering to purchase this game. If anything would dissuade me, it would be the way in which I was personally attacked by the owner and founder of Compulsion after posting a thread which was factual and properly sourced.

2. I am not averse to Compulsion's pursuit of profitability. In fact, if Compulsion were to become a world-renown AAA studio based in Montreal, that can only be good news for the Canadian media scene.

3. I am not opposed to price increases, as it is reasonable that when a game becomes more full-featured, the economic cost of buying said game increases proportionally.

4. On a personal level, I have never had any negative experiences with Gearbox, and therefore am only peripherally aware of the negative reputation they hold within the gamer community.

5. I have supported games with DLC and/or Season passes in the past, and am likely to do so in the future. They seem to be an indelible part of the gaming industry for now, whether they are beneficial to the end-consumer or not.

6. I am not condemning Compulsion as a company or a team of developers.

To better explain my motivations for my post, let me quote to you the only part of my post containing any editorial content:

Author's note: The purpose of this post is only to demonstrate that there is more than one path to achieve a goal or to reach a destination. Often, the choosing of that path says very much about the traveler.

You're right that you have no obligation to feature CMF logos on your promotional material. You're right that you have no obligation to promote Canada or the CMF as a company or in your game. You're right that you are not forbidden from partnering with an American publisher. After all, these are norms we have come to expect within the industry.

But you did have a choice. To break those norms because you want to show your appreciation. To break those norms because you want to promote Canada and CMF. To break those norms because you want this game to be developed AND produced by Canadians. Because you want to pave the way to success for yourselves and for others from within the Canadian ecosystem.

I bring up The Long Dark (Hinterland) as a comparison only because they had less funding, but persevered and went all the way, and broke all the norms. For that, I believe they gained much respect and goodwill from the community. Compulsion was perhaps in an even stronger position to defy the norms, and was/(is?) more of a darling story for the Canadian media/indie game community. Perhaps it should not be so mystifying then, why so many people feel let down when their darling chooses "more of the same" instead of "the road less travelled".

You should be no stranger to breaking norms. Isn't that what your whole game is about? ;)

In the end, it is a choice, as I stated. It was your choice to make, and in making it, you tell the world more about you, the chooser. This statement is a fact. It's not judgemental, but if you feel offended by it, perhaps you should reflect on why.


edit: for clarity

[Ickthedeadlyfish]

Originally posted by Wheat Snuffles:

Originally posted by Sendrien:

Please take some time to check the linked sources.

I did. And as I posted in a pretty long reply before, I didn't found any problems. The actual guideline clearly says:
Under CMF program guidline:
Canadian Content
A Digital Media Component must meet the following criteria:
a) Its underlying rights are owned, and significantly and meaningfully developed, by Canadians.
b) It is produced in Canada, with at least 75% of its Eligible Costs being Canadian costs
Digital media coproductions are eligible if they comply with the Framework for international digital media coproductions.

Meanwhile, your claim that "Compulsion decides to partner with Gearbox, an American publisher, which will drain a vast proportion of the economic and societal benefit away from Canada, to feed an American company", is not remotely true. The only money Gearbox Publishing is getting from Compulsion, are fees for the publishing service. Compulsion owns the IP and the game 100%, which are fully produced in Canada. This is very different than the traditional publishing model, where the publisher funds all development, in turn owns the IP and the game.

We get it that most people hate Gearbox, I'm not a fan of them either, and in my personaly opinion Compulsion should have picked a publisher with better reputation, but how wrong your claim of "Compulsion drains a vast proportion of the economic and societal benefit away from Canada, to feed an American company" is just next level. It's a common practice for Canadian developers to work with foreign publishers. Spearhead Games, who had $4 million funding from CMF for 4 games, used 505 Games (an Italian publisher) for Tiny Brains. Behaviour Interactive, who got $1 million for Dead by Daylight (also received $1.8 million+ for two other games, making the total funding they received from CMF $2.8 million+), used Starbreeze Studios(Swedish publisher).

There are plenty of entities and individuals that abuse government programs in Canada, but I really haven't found any evidence of Compulsion doing so.

On the other hand, the latest version game launches with the following 6 logo screens, Compulsion Games, Gearbox Publishing, Canada Media Fund, Kickstartersm Unreal engine, Wwise. With CMF being prominently mentioned, do you feel that you shuold at least modify your original post where you insuniated that Compulsion is delibrilately hiding they had support from CMF?

Gearbox isn't draining anything.

[Wheat Snuffles]

Originally posted by Sendrien:

Please include the source for this assertion.

The CMF program guidline is on page 20 of http://www.cmf-fmc.ca/getattachment/6f543af0-769e-46ca-a9a9-9722658125e9/Performance-Envelope-Program-Guidelines.aspx

As of Gearbox of role, who owns the IP, they are mentioned numerous times by guys from compulsion:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/320240/discussions/0/1471968797465104789/?ctp=4#c1471968797465974350
https://www.reddit.com/r/JimSterling/comments/6v2xf7/the_joykilling_culture_of_aaa_games_the/dlxg5n1/
https://www.reddit.com/r/JimSterling/comments/6v2xf7/the_joykilling_culture_of_aaa_games_the/dlxsl0u/
https://www.reddit.com/r/JimSterling/comments/6v2xf7/the_joykilling_culture_of_aaa_games_the/dm0nybx/

1. Compulsion owns the IP
2. Compulsion isn't owned by Gearbox
3. Gearbox is NOT funding development
4. Gearbox is helping compulsion to bring the game to retail, as well as with QA and play testing

Do you notice how different the picture looks comparing to traditional AAA publishing model as detailed by Ninja Theory here[www.hellblade.com]?

As of how much money exactly Gearbox will make off this game, we will never find out due to confidentiality agreement. But it doesn't take a genuis to guess that Compulsion will get to keep the lion's share of the revenue.

Now about sources, can you detail what evidence/inisght you have to claim that "Compulsion drains a vast proportion of the economic and societal benefit away from Canada, to feed an American company" It sounds like pure speculation to me, and a very bad one after Compulsion founder Guillaume Provost discloses the CMF funding has been paid back in full.