Development For Maximum Football Canceled, Canuck Play Studio Ceases Operations

[Dead2009]

Quote:

other larger studios invading our space

What space would that be exactly? Marketing a college football game WITHOUT the NCAA license? Any game like that is doomed to fail regardless of who's doing it. I mean, whatever happened to that college game that was being promised by a small studio a couple years ago? NOTHING came of it.

[Jackrabbit JB]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dead2009

What space would that be exactly? Marketing a college football game WITHOUT the NCAA license? Any game like that is doomed to fail regardless of who's doing it. I mean, whatever happened to that college game that was being promised by a small studio a couple years ago? NOTHING came of it.

You mean the "studio" that claimed they blew all their money giving it away to a "marketing" firm that was clearly a scam?

The concept of an unlicensed college football game isn't inherently doomed, it's just that it's difficult to pull off so it has only been attempted by people that clearly didn't have a realistic vision of how to execute the project.

On one end of the spectrum you have people who have said "that sounds awesome; let's do it!" with no consideration of the risks and resources involved. On the other end, you have EA, who actually spent time developing the concept, but shut it down because their market research told them it wouldn't be a money-maker or it wasn't in line with brand values or some corporate wisdom like that.

Super Mega Baseball is proof that unlicensed sports games with robust feature sets can sell if they're executed well. It just takes the right management team to pull it off.

[michdb8]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dead2009

What space would that be exactly? Marketing a college football game WITHOUT the NCAA license? Any game like that is doomed to fail regardless of who's doing it. I mean, whatever happened to that college game that was being promised by a small studio a couple years ago? NOTHING came of it.

who care about NCAA license when you can mod on pc and add whatever players, logos etc the license is worst because put limitations on custom edits the problem of this projects was team dev size and budget

[VCdolphin]

Dave, the owner and programmer for MF posted on Twitter about a possible sale of the code:

"The process of clearing out the office after so much effort to get this far is extremely depressing.

Still, there should be good news regarding the sale of the #MaximumFootball I.P. & source in a couple of weeks. I won’t be involved, but there are great things in the works."

So, the game may still end up in the hands of someone who wants to continue working on it. Even if they want to take the game in another direction, they could have a really good headstart building off of what Dave has done.

[capa]

Quote: Originally Posted by VCdolphin

Dave, the owner and programmer for MF posted on Twitter about a possible sale of the code: "The process of clearing out the office after so much effort to get this far is extremely depressing. Still, there should be good news regarding the sale of the #MaximumFootball I.P. & source in a couple of weeks. I won’t be involved, but there are great things in the works." So, the game may still end up in the hands of someone who wants to continue working on it. Even if they want to take the game in another direction, they could have a really good headstart building off of what Dave has done.

Hope to see the dev continue. But whoever picks it up has a 2-3 year effort in front of them. Have to move to a better engine and physics based movement, better player models, AI logic, etc. Good start but this game was going nowhere in the hands of 1-2 people who had great intentions, but not the manpower or money to get where they needed to go. Like it or not, Madden is the competition and people love how that game looks.

C

[TheBleedingRed21]

At this point, any indie game is just going to be wasting their efforts. Hate to say that, but 3D football is not for the indie scene (simulation anyways).

A company like 2K would be the only real competition. Axis football is much bigger development team than Maximum and it is so far behind its not even close.

Football is probably the hardest simulation sport to do and an indie company will never get there.

[illwill10]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheBleedingRed21

At this point, any indie game is just going to be wasting their efforts. Hate to say that, but 3D football is not for the indie scene (simulation anyways). A company like 2K would be the only real competition. Axis football is much bigger development team than Maximum and it is so far behind its not even close. Football is probably the hardest simulation sport to do and an indie company will never get there.

I agree. At most, almost have to go Arcade, so that the bar isn't set so high. It's such an uphill battle to climb if you don't have resources and talent available. You don't see other North American AAA jumping into the non-licensed Football and Basketball market and they have the resources. As much flack as Madden gets, other games would be so behind. Unless 2k did a great job of preserving the legacy code, even they would have to start from scratch.


I think what helps Super Mega Baseball is that it isn't really a contact sport and with it being arcade, you don't need realistic visuals. I know it was mentioned about other sports games. But I wonder how Metalhead's engine would translate to other sports that are contact and constant movement and interactions.

I just wish other AAA companies would jump into the sports market. I do wonder if Midway didn't go bankrupt in 2009, if they would have continued on with the Blitz series. I know WB bought up the IPs. They moved Mortal Kombat to Netherrealm Studios. I wonder if any company would be interested in buying the Blitz IP

[DeadlyImpulseGame]

This game was a valiant effort ill say that although all i use it for is the recruiting. It has some great stories for some of them! Maximum football at its best would be like if they ever made a highschool football game.