We learned late last year that MMO developer Gazillion Entertainment had shut down after the studio’s relationship with Disney ended abruptly and Marvel Heroes was shut down. Today, over half a year later, Defiance 2050 developer Trion Worlds revealed to VentureBeat that they have acquired Gazillion Entertainment’s assets and plan on expanding their MMO publishing platform.
This mean that Trion Worlds now owns all of trademarks, licenses, patents, domains, a games that previously owned by Gazillion Entertainment, according to CEO Scot Hartsman. The company plans on using Gazillion’s tool to improve the infrastructure of its Trion Glyph platform, and consequently will then us it to support other developers that are crafting online game worlds.
One specific example Trion Worlds gave was a game engine from Gazillion that works quite well for isometric MMOs. Trion is apparently already in talks with several developers who plan on using these tools to create MMOs that are sustainable on a global scale.
Below, you can check out Scot Hartsman’s full comments on this acquisition and plans to work with other developers:
“We want ourselves and other developers be able to make games and succeed and have sustainable life cycles. Crunch and burn and lay off is unhealthy. We have tried to do things about it and we want to be a good member of the gaming ecology. We keep trying to do things to help other developers…
We‘ve built an amazing ecosystem in support of our games and those we’ve published. We’re excited to add more tools to our library in order to embolden our teams and partners to create truly fantastic games. Our suite of vital technology and experience in publishing and operation at a global scale allows us to provide essential ‘ecosystem as a service’ support, empowering developers from all over the world to create all new AAA online experiences, sustain their studios in very crowded markets, and take more creative risks…
We talked to lot of work for hire shops, and they have a passion for games. They aren’t mercenary. They have their own dreams of being in charge of their own destinies. One bad thing that happens is when a publisher keeps devs working hand to mouth. I heard that 10 years ago, and it stuck in my craw. A certain dignity is lost when developers find themselves in subsistence relationships. That bothers me…
What if you want to publish a game on the PC as well as the PlayStation 4? There is store, security, customer service, server hosting, distributing processing, and other kinds of work to do. We believe developers can use us to get to a global scale.”
It will certainly be interesting to see what new popular MMO games will be spawned from this Gazillion asset acquisition and Trion Worlds’ future partnerships. In the short term, Trion Worlds will soon be releasing Defiance 2050 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One on July 10.