Matrix Games....my opinion.

[LoneWulf63]

Hello all.

I just wanted to say this about Matrix Games. If it had not been for this company, many of us die-hard war gamers would have lost many grand old computer war-game titles. I take my hat off to all of the Matrix Game staff for your dedication and your hard work to make sure that all of us, your customers, can continue playing these great games for many years to come. I do have one gripe though, and that is those individuals that constantly complain, in the forums, that a title isn't being updated (patched in most cases) or the patch is taking too long to be released? The complainers know who they are, as do those of us that have to put up with their comments. To those complainers I say, either be more patient with the guys and gals that are working on these patches or new titles or just quit playing Matrix Games or even better, volunteer to help out in some way. I myself, would enjoy seeing more titles done for the Panzer Command series but I know that Matrix Games has priorities, as do other companies, gaming or otherwise. Again, thanks to all of the Matrix Game staff.

Chris.

[rwenstrup]

Have to agree...Matrix made Steel Panthers World at War possible...and so many others that I love...

Thanks!

[jday305]

"I just wanted to say this about Matrix Games. If it had not been for this company, many of us die-hard war gamers would have lost many grand old computer war-game titles. I take my hat off to all of the Matrix Game staff for your dedication and your hard work to make sure that all of us, your customers, can continue playing these great games for many years to come."

Agreed 100%[&o]

[Alan Sharif]

Have to agree with the two previous posts. Thanks for all your hard work.

[Hertston]

I've no idea who's responsible for what these days. Following David Heath's departure the Slitherine deal now looks even more like a takeover than a merger than it did in the first place and Matrix now seems little more than a US branch of Slitherine. In any event Matrix were always primarily publishers not developers, although they certainly worked with some of the development teams to bring games up to retail quality.

[Rtwfreak]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

I've no idea who's responsible for what these days. Following David Heath's departure the Slitherine deal now looks even more like a takeover than a merger than it did in the first place and Matrix now seems little more than a US branch of Slitherine. In any event Matrix were always primarily publishers not developers, although they certainly worked with some of the development teams to bring games up to retail quality.

I thought that and felt that from the inception of a merger. I felt Matrixgames was in trouble financially a long time ago. They can't churn out games fast enough and games they promise still remain om the back burner. Some games didn't even make it out the chute. Combat Leader, Battles of Napoleon remake sorta and maybe finally Heroes of Stalingrand and World in Flames. Then developers jumping ship for faster delivery of their products AGEOD comes to mind and that Time of Fury bunch then Koios leaves the development team that made one of the best ancients games and then WWII tactical games I ever played.

How can you last when you're losing so much? Remakes of old games just isn't going to do it for us old grogs. Why should I buy Close Combat or Panzer General or John Tiller game remakes? I want something NEW! Plus keeping prices high on old games I don't think is going to keep them in the money for long either. Need more sales like we are finally seeing on some stuff. But, it took Slitherine and Iain for that to happen.

Of course it wasn't all bad Distant Worlds, Command Ops I liked and Battlefield Academy was a success but the other stuff WITE was not my cup of tea (don't like long drawn out games). I want the 2-4 hours games again like the Call of Heroes game but I don't care for the eastern front unless it's Squad Leader. Maybe when they do a Western Front or Africa Corps and most especially the Pacific Theater land operations with it.

Slitherine might save it, but, I wish they would make an empire builder using the Field of Glory battle engine. I don't like just playing a recreated battle. I want some whatif's while I'm building my empire.

[rodney727]

I wouldn't say panzer corps is a exact remake of panzer general. Same flavor yes. There is a reason why panzer general has lasted as long as it has and why panzer corps is doing as well as it is now. Many of these so called "old grogs" refuse to admit its even a wargame at all. But I venture to say it pays the bills for other wargames so let's be thankful for that.

ORIGINAL: Rtwfreak

ORIGINAL: Hertston

I've no idea who's responsible for what these days. Following David Heath's departure the Slitherine deal now looks even more like a takeover than a merger than it did in the first place and Matrix now seems little more than a US branch of Slitherine. In any event Matrix were always primarily publishers not developers, although they certainly worked with some of the development teams to bring games up to retail quality.

I thought that and felt that from the inception of a merger. I felt Matrixgames was in trouble financially a long time ago. They can't churn out games fast enough and games they promise still remain om the back burner. Some games didn't even make it out the chute. Combat Leader, Battles of Napoleon remake sorta and maybe finally Heroes of Stalingrand and World in Flames. Then developers jumping ship for faster delivery of their products AGEOD comes to mind and that Time of Fury bunch then Koios leaves the development team that made one of the best ancients games and then WWII tactical games I ever played.

How can you last when you're losing so much? Remakes of old games just isn't going to do it for us old grogs. Why should I buy Close Combat or Panzer General or John Tiller game remakes? I want something NEW! Plus keeping prices high on old games I don't think is going to keep them in the money for long either. Need more sales like we are finally seeing on some stuff. But, it took Slitherine and Iain for that to happen.

Of course it wasn't all bad Distant Worlds, Command Ops I liked and Battlefield Academy was a success but the other stuff WITE was not my cup of tea (don't like long drawn out games). I want the 2-4 hours games again like the Call of Heroes game but I don't care for the eastern front unless it's Squad Leader. Maybe when they do a Western Front or Africa Corps and most especially the Pacific Theater land operations with it.

Slitherine might save it, but, I wish they would make an empire builder using the Field of Glory battle engine. I don't like just playing a recreated battle. I want some whatif's while I'm building my empire.

[IainMcNeil]

Thanks to the initial posters and their positive comments. It's great to hear that all the hard work the developers and the team here do is appreciated.

On to the latter posts. RTWFreak, there are so many inaccuracies in the post above that it needs some correction. I'd be interested to know how you formed these opinions as they are so far removed from reality, it's hard to understand how they came about.

* Yes in the old days some games were announced before they should have been. This resulted in experiments that didn't work out get cancelled and others slipping. This is just how game development goes. The mistake that was made was announcing some games way before anything should have been said. Matrix learned and now there are a host of games in development that you have no idea about
* Erik is and always has been the main force behind Matrix. He may not have been as visible to you as customers, but he's the guy who makes stuff happen. Just ask any of the developers.
* The Time of Fury team (Wastelands) didn't leave. We told them we were no longer able to do distribution deals as we have too many games in production. Rather than go it alone they are now publishing exclusively with us.
* Koios went bankrupt. They didn't leave.
* I think you're suggesting Ageod left matrix? Ageod previously only distributed games via Matrix and when Paradox bought them they prevented Ageod from selling via Matrix even though every know it was the best place to sell these games. As a result the Paradox experiment failed and we acquired Ageod and now exclusively publish all their titles.

I cant think of a single developer that has "jumped ship" but I can't claim to have a perfect memory so it is possible I missed someone

We have so many developers bringing us so many games we have to turn many of them away. We get roughly one new game submission a day or every 2 days. The idea that Matrix is struggling is very odd and completely unfounded. We have over 50 games in development in various stages and we're signing up new exclusive developers at a rate of ~1 a month, and a single developer can bring multiple games.

The thread starter was trying to start a positive conversation, and understood how development worked and that just because we were not working on his favourite game right now, didn't mean we'd abandoned him! There is a vocal minority who think they speak for the masses, but believe it or not resinslinger speaks for the silent majority. Sales continue to grow, month by month, despite what a vocal minority might think. Matrix is on course for it's best year ever.

[jday305]

Iain,
Unfortunately it is impossible to please everyone. For every positive comment I read on these forums there are unually at least one negative leaning comment. I guess everyone is intitled to their opinions even if I don't always agree or understand them.[&:]

[IainMcNeil]

That's true - I just don't understand where the the incorrect information posted above comes from.

[shunwick]

Matrix rescued TOAW from the twilight, limbo world it found itself in and breathed new life into it via TOAW III.

For that act alone (nevermind all the other wonderful games I have bought from Slitherine/Matrix) they have my undying support.

Best wishes,
Steve

[Anguille]

I am also very happy with Matrix and Slitherine even if there are a few minor things i don't agree with (like stopping work on Legion II!). Matrix/Ageod/Slitherine/Ntronium/Wastelands etc provide me with all the games i need to fulfill my needs in gaming (except maybe city-builders and rts games).

One of my regrets is the bankrupcy of Koios as i think the Tin Soldiers engine is just brilliant and would have loved to see more coming (maybe a revival like the Commander games? What happened with Firepower anyway?).

Looking forward to all these unanounced games....[:)]

PS: the empire building game with field of glory engine for the battels would be indeed awesome.

[LoneWulf63]

I am definitely a member of the silent majority but I will speak up quickly and directly if I feel the need to do so. I have been enjoying the hobby of war games for 40+ years and I have played all manner of war-games from board to computer of pretty much ever period in warfare history. I even ventured into the medieval re-enactment venue in the 70s and 80s (Society for Creative Anachronism). I have also been a play tester for Avalon Hill and did some beta-testing for a couple computer game companies. So, I guess you can call me an old time grognard. I want to thank Iain for what he said about why I started this thread. I will be a long time supporter, fan, customer of Matrix Games for many years to come. Again, thank you Matrix Games for keeping this old geezer a happy war-gamer. Chris.

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: Anguille

One of my regrets is the bankrupcy of Koios as i think the Tin Soldiers engine is just brilliant and would have loved to see more coming (maybe a revival like the Commander games?

+1. I still play Tin Soldiers from time to time; great stuff, with terrific AI. Even at the time,though, Koios had to move onto WW2 because the ancients stuff wasn't selling, so we were never going to see any more of it.

BTW, on the subject of jumping ship, did anyone ever find out what happened to the 'Starshatter' guy? As I recall he just disappeared completely.

[t001001001]

here are so many inaccuracies in the post above that it needs some correction.

Reminds me of Vincent Vega and Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction when Vince tells her he heard that Marsalis fro'd a guy out a window for massaging her feet.

"He never touched my feet. When you idiots sit around the campfire running your gossip, none of you has the slightest clue what you're even talking about do you?

THEY DO TEND TO TALK A LOT

yes they certainly do."

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Rtwfreak

ORIGINAL: Hertston

I've no idea who's responsible for what these days. Following David Heath's departure the Slitherine deal now looks even more like a takeover than a merger than it did in the first place and Matrix now seems little more than a US branch of Slitherine. In any event Matrix were always primarily publishers not developers, although they certainly worked with some of the development teams to bring games up to retail quality.

I thought that and felt that from the inception of a merger. I felt Matrixgames was in trouble financially a long time ago. They can't churn out games fast enough and games they promise still remain om the back burner. Some games didn't even make it out the chute. Combat Leader, Battles of Napoleon remake sorta and maybe finally Heroes of Stalingrand and World in Flames. Then developers jumping ship for faster delivery of their products AGEOD comes to mind and that Time of Fury bunch then Koios leaves the development team that made one of the best ancients games and then WWII tactical games I ever played.

How can you last when you're losing so much? Remakes of old games just isn't going to do it for us old grogs. Why should I buy Close Combat or Panzer General or John Tiller game remakes? I want something NEW! Plus keeping prices high on old games I don't think is going to keep them in the money for long either. Need more sales like we are finally seeing on some stuff. But, it took Slitherine and Iain for that to happen.

Of course it wasn't all bad Distant Worlds, Command Ops I liked and Battlefield Academy was a success but the other stuff WITE was not my cup of tea (don't like long drawn out games). I want the 2-4 hours games again like the Call of Heroes game but I don't care for the eastern front unless it's Squad Leader. Maybe when they do a Western Front or Africa Corps and most especially the Pacific Theater land operations with it.

Slitherine might save it, but, I wish they would make an empire builder using the Field of Glory battle engine. I don't like just playing a recreated battle. I want some whatif's while I'm building my empire.

This just tells me we need to communicate a bit better. As Iain noted, the above is pretty far from reality, but I understand how, absent other information or context you could come to these conclusions. I'll just note that for each game you list as delayed or cancelled, there were 20-30 others that released. We definitely started out in our history announcing things too early. The reality of working with small developers is that it's too easy for a project to go off course and not get to completion. After our first few years, we learned how to judge things much better. It's also worth noting that Lock 'n Load and World in Flames are both finally releasing this year.

We actually started out as a developer, then became a publisher within a year, but we started out with an internal development team. We continued to put together development teams for internal projects as well as work with external developers. Our model is a much more traditional publishing model, not a distribution model. While this varies by developer, with some wanting/needing more support than others, by default when we work with a developer on a game, we really work on it as part of the team. We don't just accept the final product and put it up in our store. Most of the games we've published, especially the exclusive ones, were very much a combined product of our and the developer's work.

In any case, all things considered we are doing well and in the process of adding staff to the US office. We and Slitherine are one company now, but we are still focused on the same kinds of games and the same kind of customer service and support that we've always provided.

Regards,

- Erik

[Kuokkanen]

My appreciation and gratitute to Matrix Games. You guys rock harder than EA! [&o]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

BTW, on the subject of jumping ship, did anyone ever find out what happened to the 'Starshatter' guy? As I recall he just disappeared completely.

John DiCamillo. I'd like to hear about him as well. As I understood him (I was into Starshatter serie ever since version 3.7.x, which predates dealings with Matrix), Starshatter was just part-time work/hobby for him. Still very impressive piece of work: starfighter & starship simulation, space combat wargame, dynamic campaigns, all rolled into one great package with great modding possibilities [&o]

[Titanwarrior89]

Matrix!  I thought this place was SPI, yea I think some info should be released[:o][:D]  Where did SPI go?[X(](Just Kidding)-You guys are Great.[&o]

[t001001001]

If you guys put Combat Leader back in development all will be forgiven [8D]

[SLAAKMAN]

FRIEDCHICKEN,

If you guys put Combat Leader back in development all will be forgiven

IF YOU WOULD PULL THOSE MITE-INFESTED FEATHERS OUT OF THAT SQUAWKING BEAK EGGLAYER THEN MAYBE SOMEONE WOULD ACTUALLY PLAY YOU!