Getting tired of this silence!

[GODSPEED]

Guys, I'm pretty certain many of you are pretty tired of the dead silence. How many of us have joined this forum day one, or within a few weeks?

...and there has litteraly not even been a SINGLE communication from the devs, publishers or anything.


This is THEIR community website THEY opened. We joined it... and well, they decide to go dead quiet!? It isn't like we're not trying to keep it alive!

So far, every one here has been super cool. I've met fans and ppl I can somehow feel like I have become acquainted with. This is a super friendly place, all of us have been extremely mature in our conversations. No flaming, no wars, no insulting. We haven't even needed moderators or anything.


It's really awesome to chat with fellow fans from around the world.. but I feel this community is seriously lacking one MAJOR thing;


INPUT FROM WHOEVER IS WORKING ON JAGGED ALLIANCE 3!

 

 

Anyways, I went to Haemimont Games facebook and posted a comment about this on their last post. And I am not here to want to start a "revolution", but I feel like just keeping quiet won't change anything.. so if anyone else is also inclined, it might be time to voice our concerns on their DEAD SILENCE any way we can.

I'd rather hear they dropped the game than hear nothing.

[Hendrix]

@GODSPEED I wholeheartedly agree with your post.

There is such a lack of information about the game that there is just nothing for us to talk about (regarding the game).

All we can do is express our hopes/fears and expectations.

It would be interesting to know whom is responsible for communication, is it THQ or Haemimont? It is not handled very well to put it in a polite way.

[LXant]

@GODSPEED

I completely agree with everything you've said. Many factors put me at ease regarding the quality of the upcoming game. But the ongoing silence makes be increasingly nervous.

Why is there absolutely nothing from the devs, no sign that the project is still alive? Is it because the game doesn't come together as Haemimont envisioned it and they need more time? Is it because they have nothing good to say about it? Is it because of internal cuts and problems? Is the development even failing as a whole? Or is it just bad marketing from the publisher? Maybe THQ doesn't care at all?

We don't know, but the silence doesn't instill any confidence. It's the opposite, it makes us think that there's something they want to hide.

If they didn't plan to communicate anything with us, they wouldn't have opened this forum in the first place. But they did, and only after the fact did they decide not to talk about their product. Brad Logston was last active mid October 2021, that's almost half a year back. Doesn't bode well.

 

56 minutes ago, Hendrix said:

It would be interesting to know whom is responsible for communication, is it THQ or Haemimont?

It's THQ as the publisher. They decide if and what and when things go out. The devs aren't at liberty to disclose anything without the publisher's approval.

The process is much easier if the developer is their own publisher at the same time, like with Paradox or many indie studios.

So, if there's someone we have to press about the lack of communication, it would definitely be THQ.

[Wigen]

2 hours ago, Hendrix said:

It would be interesting to know whom is responsible for communication, is it THQ or Haemimont?

I was in touch with these and those. And they always told me that they would reveal more details soon.

Anyway, I sent a link to this topic to Haemimont Games asking you to get in touch with us.

[LXant]

As a side note, for anyone who's interested in the larger picture, I looked into it (a little bit at least) and it seems like the whole parent company is suffering from a lack of cohesion, as they're in the process of growing very fast and re-organizing themselves.

I'm talking about the Embracer Group, the parent company holding THQ Nordic, Koch Media and others. Currently they're bigger than even Activision-Blizzard or EA. They have close to 200 games in development (most aren't announced yet) with close to 90 internal game studios and they've casually bought 37 studios in 2021 alone, with 37 more planned for 2022.

I also looked at the other 5 games that were announced together with Jagged Alliance 3. The situation is very similar to JA3, with little more, if any, information following the initial September 2021 articles that came right after the games were announced. Not much more of substance to this day, so we're not alone with our problem.

All those games, and JA3 is among them, are still listed as "Announced Releases as of February 17, 2022" in the Interim Report 3 21/22 for October - December 2021 of the Embracer Group. So it's being worked on and scheduled for a medium term release date, probably later this year.

If I had to guess why there's this huge lack of communication, I'd go with it being a consequence of their rapid growth and the resulting lack of established cohesion between all parts. It's not unlikely that no one feels responsible for small things like community management for games that aren't close to their release date. Let there be some employees leaving the company, let new hires come in, and you can expect some things falling off to the side without anyone noticing.

What could that mean for JA3 as a game? Well, in my experience it's almost never a good thing if a developer lacks any direction from their publisher, if there's no one with a clear strategy who can and will guide the studio through the process of making a successful game. But on the bright side: the devs are most likely undisturbed and can work without pressure, as they don't need to do anything else.

What can we do about it? For now, most likely nothing. Since we aren't shareholders, our opinion won't matter much. But we can certainly look up some guys from THQ Nordic marketing and tell them how the lack of community management has the potential to damage the image of their product. Send it to more people at the same time and it's hard to ignore.

And if we decide to be brave, like our beloved mercs in their fight against a whole country, we could even write to some people in the parent company Embracer Group. Escalate enough and something ought to change.

[Hendrix]

Having worked within large companies/groups, although in a entierly different field of work. I learned that being a "good employe" will not get you anywere, much less any respect from the people above you in the company hierarchy.

If I were Haemimont (and were ready for more reveals) I would frequently voice my concerns and say: We want to communicate with our potential customers!

Does this forum only exist becauses they started to take preorders for the game?

[Wigen]

As far as I know, Jagged Alliance 3 is the only main game currently being developed by Haemimont Games. And for the last 20 years he has always finished the games he was working on. I am sure it will be similar in this case.

In my opinon the real marketing will begin as the game gets closer to launch. Which probably won't happen anytime soon. Six months is nothing for game development.

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by Wigen

[LXant]

1 minute ago, Hendrix said:

If I were Haemimont (and were ready for more reveals) I would frequently voice my concerns and say: We want to communicate with our potential customers!

Does this forum only exist becauses they started to take preorders for the game?

Haemimont isn't part of THQ Nordic, nor of any other entity within the Embracer Group. They're just a Bulgarian studio contracted by the Austrian THQ Nordic, a subsidy of the Swedish Embracer Group, to develop a game. They get money from THQ for their work, but everything else lies within THQ's responsibility.

Maybe they voice their concerns, maybe they don't. We have no way of knowing. All we know is that the publisher, who is responsible for community management, is rapidly growing and probably a bit overwhelmed with establishing a new modus operandi. They have to bring dozens of new studios in line, so I imagine expecting them to communicate with an external studio would be of an even lower priority. Right now their main concern is a good financial report.

And if I may say so, I've once worked for a company that was held by a Swedish parent company. If that experience is anything to go by, chaotic would be a good way to describe it. Scandinavian workplace culture (at least in big corporations) is vastly different from Central Europe (where THQ Nordic is) and both are vastly different from Eastern Europe (where Haemimont is). Miscommunication is common here.

It was a better fit when Paradox contracted Haemimont to make Surviving Mars. With both of them being two small-ish partners they had announced the game end-August, released the first DevDiaries in October and released the game in March of the following year. Haemimont is capable and willing, if the publisher is behind it.

When I look at the whole Embracer/THQ thing, I smell a lot of corporate bullsh*t getting in the way of things. This forum here is also registered and owned by THQ Nordic, not Haemimont. The devs have nothing to do with it.

[Hendrix]

24 minutes ago, LXant said:

And if I may say so, I've once worked for a company that was held by a Swedish parent company. If that experience is anything to go by, chaotic would be a good way to describe it. Scandinavian workplace culture (at least in big corporations) is vastly different from Central Europe (where THQ Nordic is) and both are vastly different from Eastern Europe (where Haemimont is). Miscommunication is common here.

Yupp, Swedish myself so I do know what you are talking about. 😂

[MEXAHUK]

Upd. Sorry, found another topic, that it is fake. Thanks God)

Seems like, the project is frozen.

Or is it fake or 1st April joke?

https://community.jaggedalliance.com/forums/forum/69-bad-news-everyone/

Edited April 2, 2022 by MEXAHUK

[Wigen]

4 minutes ago, MEXAHUK said:

Seems like, the project is frozen.

Or is it fake or 1st April joke?

https://community.jaggedalliance.com/forums/forum/69-bad-news-everyone/

It was an April Fool's joke.

Edited April 2, 2022 by Wigen

[Hendrix]

Not a very good joke. IVAN IS NOT AMUSED!

[GODSPEED]

Thanks guys!

Maybe, as you guys point it out, this isn't Haemimont Games' fault. Maybe they are under strict orders to keep it 'zipped'. In any case, this silence, just doesn't feel right at all.

I'm glad you guys could share some of your input here, it helps me see some ways of seeing the situation I haven't really thought of.

I mean, I don't have the same background and 'culture' as some of you here, in terms of big corporations and such. But having such a strong disconnect is odd. I mean, I would figure if you have a "big" project you were working on, you would have some updates to provide to the world even if not much, just at least to keep hopes, hype and interest.

To this effect, I appreciate that a game takes years to develop. But this is one of the things I really appreciate Bethesda for. I also have to make it clear, I realize we cannot 'compare' studios, as they have different methods. Bethesda are in no way a perfect studio, but if I take for example Starfield; it's already been announced quite some time ago!! But they have released little bit of info here and there. They make some community videos where they simply talk about some of the features they like working on. They tease us with tiny clips.

While I'm not one who likes "overhype", I do appreciate getting some information every now and then. Keeps my interest, keeps my expectations in check, gives me little bits of info, etc..

Haemimont Games do videos and other events, so they must have a team that takes input who can push for whoever is in charge. So I'm going to try and post comments concerning the situation whenever I see a YouTube or Facebook post from them. Maybe at some point a message will get through.

[Inveris]

You are all so naive! Everyone here is trying to make excuses by force for them and their silence, still blindly hoping, that there will be something tomorrow - NO, THERE WON'T BE. There has been 7 months and there was literally not even one sentence from them, NOT EVEN ONE WORD ANYWHERE! There is absolutely no f*cking excuse for such behavior.

We gave them our precious time and money by huge involving here and everywhere else, sometimes even begging for any news or updates and they just don't give a sh*t about this. And even after this, you are still trying to waste your time for them, by finding another way to contact them. They only want our money and I won't do such mistake for them. This whole campaign for JA3 is one big mistake. I regret so terribly that I let myself be persuaded to follow this campaign. Never again games from THQ.

[Wigen]

The whole situation is definitely very disappointing for everyone. However, I think that it would not be difficult on the part of the creators to write. For example:

"Hello everyone!

We are currently working on an early alpha, so for next year do not expect any new information and updates, because it's too early.

Regards,

HG team".

Then everyone would know to be patient and wait. This is exactly what I would expect from producers or publishers.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Wigen

[GODSPEED]

21 hours ago, Inveris said:

We gave them our precious time and money by huge involving here and everywhere else, sometimes even begging for any news or updates and they just don't give a sh*t about this. And even after this, you are still trying to waste your time for them, by finding another way to contact them. They only want our money and I won't do such mistake for them. This whole campaign for JA3 is one big mistake. I regret so terribly that I let myself be persuaded to follow this campaign. Never again games from THQ.

I wouldn't take things THAT far really.

I didn't give them a penny yet and my time here is time I actually enjoy sharing with other fellow Jagged Alliance enthusiasts. The people here we constantly share with are awesome people with a passion for the same game, I do not see it as a waste of time. I come to this site a few times a week simply to see what others are talking about and sharing. I would expect any official information to come by the means of a video (YouTube) or social website update (Facebook, Twitter, etc..).

I have not fallen into that camp of completely thinking the game is dead, because a company would not waste money keeping a community site up and running for a dead game that was cancelled.

I simply believe there was miscommunication between the different branches and this section was "forgotten".


Honestly, 7 months of silence after a game is announced isn't that "rare". I keep refering to Bethesda games, because I've been following some of their releases pretty closely, but Starfield was announced years ago and we didn't hear a word for over a year after it was teased. Same for Elder Scrolls VI.

Why I think it is frustrating in this case, is because when they announced the game, they seemed to already have some gameplay footage and cutscene CGI pretty well done. It gives the impression of being in mid or final stage of development.


If you've followed many of our posts and banter here, you'll also realize most of us have our own thoughts about the footage they showed, from feeling like this will maybe fail like every attempt before.. so I do not think it is false hope keeping us here. Simply an interest, an enthusiasm to see somethign succeed, or at least see where it goes.


If the project was put on hold, or cancelled, well... so be it! For the moment, we wait and see.

In any case, I keep coming back here mainly because I enjoy this community!

Edited April 3, 2022 by GODSPEED

[Grim]

Hi guys, I just want to say that I'm here in the shadows, too, waiting for this game and for the devs to actually share anything about it. I come here and on discord daily, and appreciate the passion and dedication of all of you. Thanks for keeping it alive.

Of course, I'm tired of the silence too. I don't have a grasp on the dev team or the publisher to make them say anything. If any of you have, thanks for trying.

From what we've seen, I guess the game is mid-way in development, the core is there, and it has to be filled with content.
It's not un common at this stage to keep silent and focused on the work ahead. It may mean that they are late on schedule and don't even have time to communicate. I've seen this on Necromunda : UW or darktide lately, and many other games over the years.
The irritating thing here is ththe creation of this forum and discord channel and no intervention on it afterhead. But as others said, those may be a creation of THQ and not Haemimont. I guess we suffer from the layers of corporation doing their thing at their own pace with low communication and coordination with the others.

Sadly, we may wait a long time before we have any more news. I'll still belurking around this forum and read your input with pleasure in the meantime.

Chill and have fun!
 

[GODSPEED]

12 hours ago, Grim said:

It's not un common at this stage to keep silent and focused on the work ahead. It may mean that they are late on schedule and don't even have time to communicate. I've seen this on Necromunda : UW or darktide lately, and many other games over the years.

The irritating thing here is the creation of this forum and discord channel and no intervention on it afterhead. But as others said, those may be a creation of THQ and not Haemimont. I guess we suffer from the layers of corporation doing their thing at their own pace with low communication and coordination with the others.

 

Yeah, that's kind of the way I should have worded it initially. This isn't so much about not getting updates on the game itself, and more about this place being pretty much empty of those who created it.. and what they said this place would be like.

As much as I really like everyone else here, the initial reason I joined was so that I could interact with the devs and share my thoughts.

This is THEIR invitation and original post:

On 9/17/2021 at 12:17 PM, Brad Logston said:

Welcome to the new home for the Jagged Alliance Community!

With the recent announcement of Jagged Alliance 3, we're also excited to launch our brand new community site.

Here you'll be able to interact with fans from all the Jagged Alliance games, read the latest developer posts about Jagged Alliance, and engage with each other and the developers. Many of the developers will be active on the site, reading your posts.

This is YOUR community, so we hope you enjoy making new friends and discussing games. Please feel free to post any suggestions or recommendations you may have, and we look forward to getting to know everyone. Be good to one another, enjoy some fun, enlightening conversation, and help us create the best community we can!

 

View full article

 

[Wigen]

Sometimes I wonder what the collaboration between Haemimont Games and Paradox Interactive would look like in terms of providing information about the game.

Would Jagged Alliance 3 itself look the same as it does now or would it be completely different?

Edited April 4, 2022 by Wigen

[GODSPEED]

7 minutes ago, Wigen said:

Sometimes I wonder what the collaboration between Haemimont Games and Paradox Interactive would look like in terms of providing information about the game.

Would Jagged Alliance 3 itself look the same as it does now or would it be completely different?

That's an interesting idea.

I wonder how the development of Surviving Mars went (HG+Paradox). Anyone followed that one?

To be honest, I never really join a community for a game; I usually only follow normal updates through e-mail subscription and on Youtube or basic Facebook posts.

This is probably the first I've been active on a "forum" since early days of the Bears Pit for JA2 modding guides and information.

[LXant]

8 hours ago, Wigen said:

Sometimes I wonder what the collaboration between Haemimont Games and Paradox Interactive would look like in terms of providing information about the game.

8 hours ago, GODSPEED said:

I wonder how the development of Surviving Mars went (HG+Paradox). Anyone followed that one?

I didn't follow it back then, but everything is still available. Here's how it went: It was announced end-August, first DevDiaries came out in October and the game released in March, a bit over 7 months after the initial announcement.

All in all, a much smoother experience for the players. That's why I don't blame Haemimont for the lack of communication, since I know they're more than willing and able to do it.

JA3 isn't the only game THQ announced, and all of them suffer from the same absence of news.

[Wigen]

I like this fragment from the home page the most. He's been getting very devastated lately. 😎

Quote

"Come join our community of turn-based RPG and hardcore JA fans from all over the world! Get plugged in with others who are curious about JA3 and those who love JA from the “good old days.” In the future, we’ll be posting regular DevDiaires to give a unique behind-the-scenes perspective of how we’re building this game to be a true successor for a beloved franchise.

We also love interacting with our fans and are quite active on the forums. Our goal is to create an environment for all types of gamers to find friends, talk about the game, and much, much more."

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Wigen

[Grim]

@GODSPEED @Wigen
Outch, this quote hurts, I admit 😞

[Wigen]

There is some good news from Discord:

 

- the game is still under development

- there will be a lot of new stuff coming

- unfortunately there is no time frame when it would start

Edited April 5, 2022 by Wigen

[Wigen]

Unfortunately, there was not enough time to edit the post.

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Wigen