Assetto Corsa | News and General Discussion

[Terronium-12]

What is trend-online, an Italian news website?

 

[mister dog]

It even made Reuters now:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSFWN1FA0IA

edit: in the morning already.

 

[lancia delta hf]

Going by Marco''s fb posts I'm gonna say there's nothing to worry about.

I hope the acquisition means that Kunos eventually outgrows its status as an indie developer while staying true to itself. I've never heard of Digital Bros but the name sounds more cheesy than gorgonzola.

I see people worrying about AC being watered down but that makes no sense.

 

[GregTheStig]

Well... this will be interesting. I hope it just means they'll be able to secure more resources and make the game better, but the cynic in me is still worried that they'll lose their indie spirit. I'm glad Stefano and Marco will still be in charge at least, but I wonder how long that's going to last.

What is trend-online, an Italian news website?

To be honest I can't tell what they're supposed to be. I guess they're a news site? Their home page doesn't exude confidence though

 

[artem9000]

It was predictable, pretty hard to compete with PD, SMS and Codemasters from a small studio with 30 employees. They need more people and money.

 

[BrainsBush]

I predict a split is on its way: 1.) the game Assetto Corsa and 2.) the professional sim "department".

 

[RaceFuchs]

Well... for that price... if i was Sony or Microsoft... i would have bought the team for the physics engine alone. But this way... sounds to me that 505 Games is happy with Assetto Corsa and wants to invest in it in a longer term.

I dont think this will change much... but if anything... it could mean that Assetto Corsa 2 is more likely now... and that it will be a multiplattform title from the get go.

 

[artem9000]

I predict a split is on its way: 1.) the game Assetto Corsa and 2.) the professional sim "department".

Why? They need to scale their own structure, which is already great, but don't fit in console gaming standards. Kunos need more people to work with tracks: weather conditions, time change, tracks modeling and other. Console players ask for deeper career mode and more cars which is also a much time of work. There is no controversy to make a great game with professional sim-level of physics.

 

[Orayani]

I predict a split is on its way: 1.) the game Assetto Corsa and 2.) the professional sim "department".

rFactor and rFactor Pro.

 

[mister dog]

Znam posted this on the official forum and it does make sense now (and if related makes me a lot more positive):

I had to re read the year end blog and two things stick out.


"I would like to take this opportunity to thank 505 Games, our publisher for the console version of Assetto Corsa. They have supported us at their best and have never asked or proposed us to change the DNA of our simulation “just” to please a wider audience. "

"Assetto Corsa is so much more we ever imagined, and our company has grown so much since we founded it. In the last period we worked to grow, evolve and improve our teamwork and logistics. Taking advantage of the maintenance operations that will involve the Vallelunga circuit for all of 2017, we are now putting the final touches together to open a new studio, still close to the Autodromo di Vallelunga, but with dedicated areas for VR, testing, multiplayer and R&D, that will allow us to work better! We will also be able to invite our guests, customers and gamers to an environment specifically designed for the production of racing games and simulations. This means there might be the possibility to invite our fans and supporters to our studio to discover what is in progress, and for massive testing, without the limitations imposed in a locations designed mainly for track activities."

 

[Pellegrino1]

Is everything okay at Kunos? Last news update was in December...

I TOLD YOU AHAHAHAAHA

 

[ALB123]

I TOLD YOU AHAHAHAAHA

?? I don't think you really understand the business world.

My biggest hope would be for whatever future projects they may do geared toward auto racing or whatever, they separate the console & PC versions into two separate titles. Use the same physics engine, game engine, etc... I'm sure it won't happen that way, but a little boy can dream!

 

[ALB123]

http://www.teamvvv.com/en/news/comm...-Kunos-Simulazioni-bought-out-by-Digital-Bros

Snippet from the article:

Kunos Simulations srl It is an Italian company based in Formello (RM), which has all the latest years of experience in the construction of simulators for the main Italian automotive companies. Following this experience has developed and launched during 2014 Assetto Corsa, a video game that was a great success with critics and audiences in the Steam PC versions, Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One, with over 1.4 million copies sold worldwide to date.

Does that imply 1 million console units sold?

It's a good article. They talk a bit more in depth about the financials of the deal....how much in cash...how much in stock, etc..

 

[Johnnypenso]

Znam posted this on the official forum and it does make sense now (and if related makes me a lot more positive):

That sounds very positive with concrete changes being made in the studio already. They definitely aren't sailing off into the sunset just yet!

http://www.teamvvv.com/en/news/comm...-Kunos-Simulazioni-bought-out-by-Digital-Bros

Snippet from the article:


Does that imply 1 million console units sold?

It's a good article. They talk a bit more in depth about the financials of the deal....how much in cash...how much in stock, etc..

It does indeed imply a million units sold since the pc sales were less than 400k last time I checked. Shocking, I wouldn't have guessed even a third of that.

 

[ALB123]

That sounds very positive with concrete changes being made in the studio already. They definitely aren't sailing off into the sunset just yet!

Oh, not at all... They aren't even getting paid the full amount until 6 months later. And a lot of "money" is actually in stock that probably can't be sold for a period of time. The last thing this purchasing company wants is for anyone from Kunos Simulazioni cutting and running right now. It would mean that the company they just purchased -- more importantly the rights to the product, source code, etc.. would be worthless. Things will be exactly the same as far as you or I are concerned........................................for now.

 

[35mm]

It can't be a million, can it...?

I mean, I hope it is, but we were talking about 50k copies for the consoles just months ago!

Of course, in the meantime, there was Christmas and Porsches and lots of sales, but still...

 

[Johnnypenso]

Oh, not at all... They aren't even getting paid the full amount until 6 months later. And a lot of "money" is actually in stock that probably can't be sold for a period of time. The last thing this purchasing company wants is for anyone from Kunos Simulazioni cutting and running right now. It would mean that the company they just purchased -- more importantly the rights to the product, source code, etc.. would be worthless. Things will be exactly the same as far as you or I are concerned........................................for now.

I wonder what the transition is going to be like from owner to employee or if maybe they'll be mostly left alone to do what they do. As someone who has been self employed most of my life I think it would be a very difficult transition for me personally, although a couple mill might help ease the pain

 

[35mm]

This is from Massarutto's FB, just half an hour ago:

Ok, let's clarify this before it becomes the bigger flame of the year.

By today, Kunos Simulazioni is part of Digital Bros Family, and me and Stefano by today are shareholders of Digital Bros. That's it. We are still the founders of Kunos, we are still IN, also keeping our respective positions and responsabilities, with just few exceptions: the budget we'll manage by now doesn't come anymore from our personal profits, but from Digital Bros, our bigger AC fan. Keeping the same policy, strategies, DNA, development team, goals. So, if this news would not been made public, you couldn't realize that something is changed, because - by a gamer/simracer point of view - nothing is going to change.

The reason why this news comes like a bombshell is because Digital Bros is a listed company, therefore this kind of operation must a) kept confidential until the negotiation is over, b) go public when is done. That's it.

For whom are afraid that today a piece of their simracing world has gone, let me remind them that Digital Bros has published - under its label 505Games - the console version of Assetto Corsa, and it doesn't seem to me that AC on PS4/XB1 is an arcade game: definetely it isn't. Therefore, before to scream in any direction that "Kunos has been bought, The World is Over", please sit down, breath and think. Because the only news you should be interested is that by today, we have more resources, time and power to do our job, even better than before.

So: think easier, live better, stay strong. The Future is Bright.

Have a nice weekend

 

[kembro]

May not be as bad as first appeared. May give them more resources to produce an even better product.

 

[ALB123]

It can't be a million, can it...?

I mean, I hope it is, but we were talking about 50k copies for the consoles just months ago!

Of course, in the meantime, there was Christmas and Porsches and lots of sales, but still...

Well, the only reason I posed the question is...we've been throwing the 300,000+ copies sold thru Steam for quite a while now. Let's say it's gotten up to 400,000 units. If they're claiming 1.4 million units total...the math is easy. I have a very hard time believing it as well, but there are a crap load of console players out there and 99% of them aren't interested in hanging out on GTP the way that we are.

I wonder what the transition is going to be like from owner to employee or if maybe they'll be mostly left alone to do what they do. As someone who has been self employed most of my life I think it would be a very difficult transition for me personally, although a couple mill might help ease the pain

THIS.

Marco is going to have to change all of Stefano's social network passwords and disconnect Stefano's CAT-5. What might happen the next time Stefano goes nuclear on someone for saying "Why does this car say 488 horsepower? It has 489!! Geez!!" You can do that stuff when you are your own boss.

But who knows? Digital Bros. very well may be the type of company to say "If the quarterly's from Kunos look good you won't ever hear a peep from us..." I've seen that happen in other industries. You are right though. It is way different becoming an employee if you've been your own boss for a long time. It happened to me and I almost lost my mind.

 

[Andrescalvo]

So: think easier, live better, stay strong. The Future is Bright.

Have a nice weekend

 

[ProjectWHaT]

That's literally posted 3 posts above. 👍

 

[Johnnypenso]

Well, the only reason I posed the question is...we've been throwing the 300,000+ copies sold thru Steam for quite a while now. Let's say it's gotten up to 400,000 units. If they're claiming 1.4 million units total...the math is easy. I have a very hard time believing it as well, but there are a crap load of console players out there and 99% of them aren't interested in hanging out on GTP the way that we are.


THIS.

Marco is going to have to change all of Stefano's social network passwords and disconnect Stefano's CAT-5. What might happen the next time Stefano goes nuclear on someone for saying "Why does this car say 488 horsepower? It has 489!! Geez!!" You can do that stuff when you are your own boss.

But who knows? Digital Bros. very well may be the type of company to say "If the quarterly's from Kunos look good you won't ever hear a peep from us..." I've seen that happen in other industries. You are right though. It is way different becoming an employee if you've been your own boss for a long time. It happened to me and I almost lost my mind.

I've always found it quite overblown how much emphasis is put on the back and forth in the forums. Outside of a few dozen diehards, no one really knows or cares what Marco or anyone else says in there and it all amounts to a hill of beans in the bigger picture. With 1.4 million units sold, I'd guess than less than 0.01% of all buyers are even aware of the outbursts, and, of those, most either fluff it off as nonsense or side with the Kunos boys anyway.

 

[ALB123]

I've always found it quite overblown how much emphasis is put on the back and forth in the forums. Outside of a few dozen diehards, no one really knows or cares what Marco or anyone else says in there and it all amounts to a hill of beans in the bigger picture. With 1.4 million units sold, I'd guess than less than 0.01% of all buyers are even aware of the outbursts, and, of those, most either fluff it off as nonsense or side with the Kunos boys anyway.

I agree. I love how some people act like it's some meltdown from the US Secretary of State upon a foreign dignitary.

 

[Orayani]

So: think easier, live better, stay strong. The Future is Bright.

Have a nice weekend

 

[lancia delta hf]

It was predictable, pretty hard to compete with PD, SMS and Codemasters from a small studio with 30 employees. They need more people and money.

But they aren't trying to compete with anyone, they have their own market. At most they would be competing with SMS wether they liked it or not.

Well... for that price... if i was Sony or Microsoft... i would have bought the team for the physics engine alone. But this way... sounds to me that 505 Games is happy with Assetto Corsa and wants to invest in it in a longer term.

I dont think this will change much... but if anything... it could mean that Assetto Corsa 2 is more likely now... and that it will be a multiplattform title from the get go.

I doubt MS and Sony want Kunos physics, the Majority of their custom base would struggle and put it down after and hour imo. Surely.



P.S Marco said this now now means they dont have to budget from their own profits, that shows you their passion for their product and why i will support their DLC.

 

[Pillo-san]

So in other words Bye bye Assetto Corsa. If a company have bought them because of the splash Kunos has made with AC it will probably mean that they will milk this "franchise" for all what it is worth.
AC seems still very "bare" even with all those DLC car packs so I thought they would build up on it like Iracing has done.
I mean what is stopping them release a track every month, we would buy everything they would spit out but now it feels like this is a sign that AC1 is done for.

I have had fun with AC but I guess it is kinda over now, I just cant see this in a positive light.

 

[GregTheStig]

I mean what is stopping them release a track every month, we would buy everything they would spit out but now it feels like this is a sign that AC1 is done for.

I'd imagine that has something to do with them being a ~30 person team. They're pumping out some good content at a good pace for a company their size I think. Theoretically, this deal could give them more resources.

 

[Pillo-san]

I'd imagine that has something to do with them being a ~30 person team. They're pumping out some good content at a good pace for a company their size I think. Theoretically, this deal could give them more resources.

I knew somebody would say that. Naturally more content would mean they would be forced to hire more staff, Releasing more stuff especially like a track every one or two month would mean more profit for them as the sales would clearly outweigh the cost of a couple of employees/month.

Kunos being bought means they have lost interests or have difficulties.

 

[sirgaric]

I knew somebody would say that. Naturally more content would mean they would be forced to hire more staff, Releasing more stuff especially like a track every one or two month would mean more profit for them as the sales would clearly outweigh the cost of a couple of employees/month.

Kunos being bought means they have lost interests or have difficulties.

Man, have you even bothered reading all the previous posts?