Panther Games to Change Publishers

[RyanE]

I hope the DRM stays similar to Matrix's.  It has always been simple and painless.

[Grim.Reaper]

Saw this posted at Matrix from Panther Games....

"I have agreed with Slitherine not to make an announcement about this matter on their forum. I am flying to North America tomorrow morning. So I will be out of touch for a day or so till I arrive in San Francisco. If you need to contact us after that check out our website for contact details."

Very strange this would have not been handled in a more coordinated fashion and at the official site....must have been something that came up suddenly or not under the best of circumstances.

[bayonetbrant]

word's already out on the Matrix forums.

[JasonPratt]

I dont understand why make an announcement now without providing all the details?

It just leads to confusion and speculation

Con

October 2014 is coming up fast; don't want to just spring the forthcoming lack of Matrix support out of nowhere.

[JasonPratt]

By streamlining maybe they mean releasing on Steam and reaching a bigger audience.

And finally getting out the 2nd half of their Conquest of the Aegean conversion.  :))

[RyanE]

I am kind of glad something is changing there.  Panther/Matrix seemed a little discombobulated over the last six months.  Like the left and didn't know what the right was doing.  There seemed to be a lot of confusion around the patching process.  I wonder if throwing SLitherine into the mix forced something to happen.

[Cyrano]

Panther on Steam?  Doesn't strike me as likely.

They're an established concern serving a VERY niche market making them a bit too big for Greenlight but not quite big enough for a major release.  Besides, something I got taught at Gen Con about the Apple Store strikes me as applicable here:  in Steam you're fighting for eyeball time in front of the customers and, for all their wonderfulness, Panther Games don't have either the visual sexy or the disposable affordability that seems to drive the Steam Marketplace.

I'll throw in my guess and say self-publish.

I certainly look forward to whatever it is they do.

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[MikeGER]

self publish would be good ...they don't have to share the income from the limited niche market sales and only the player s and fans are left to constantly 'nagging' about keeping inside given project deadlines. 

 

[Capn Darwin]

Board games are the wrench in self-publishing. Unless you have the equipment to print and punch, you are stuck working with someone.

[Bison]

Interesting indeed.  If nothing else the lack of details stirs up conversation.  L&L would be my guess too, but since L&L just published a game through the Slitherine/Matrix/Ageod conglomerate it would make me wonder about L&L's decision to publish there previously.  I suppose there were contracts in place and new management hadn't taken over for L&L yet.

I genuinely like the games produced and developed by Slitherine, but sometimes the older games just get lost in mix.  They are front page news and focus for awhile but are quickly forgotten with every new release, update, or seemingly more favored games.  Maybe this is what a small developer needs is a break from all of the competing interests to help keep focus on their game designs and development.

[Bison]

Just to throw a real wild card out there would be GMT.  Not sure they have the experience or distribution method to do digital game distribution, but that would be a very interesting and good development for the world of gaming imho.

[Grim.Reaper]

Dave said he was coming to San Francisco so which publishers are located in or around that city....although he certainly could be coming just for vacation or other personal business:)

[RyanE]

SF is a hub into the US from most pacific locations.  Not sure you can read into it too much.

[bayonetbrant]

Dave said he was coming to San Francisco so which publishers are located in or around that city....although he certainly could be coming just for vacation or other personal business:)

Or b/c SF is the cheapest landing spot he could get out of Oz and then traveling on from there

[Grim.Reaper]

Dave said he was coming to San Francisco so which publishers are located in or around that city....although he certainly could be coming just for vacation or other personal business:)

Or b/c SF is the cheapest landing spot he could get out of Oz and then traveling on from there

That's not fun if we don't get to speculate:)  I am not much of a traveler myself, so have no idea about that stuff....