As a long-time follower and fan of the Ultimate General series, I must admit that the recent developments have left me feeling like I’m standing at the bow of a sinking ship. The departure of Nick “DarthMod” Thomadis and Aleksandr Petrov from Game-Labs is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the community, especially after the underwhelming release of Ultimate General: American Revolution.
The Christmas season has been anything but merry for us fans, with the disappointing launch of UG:AR followed by the news about the departures. It’s like receiving a lump of coal instead of a shiny new game in my stocking.
The rumors about the transfer of Naval Action to another developer and the potential sale of Game-Labs only add fuel to the fire. If these speculations are true, it seems that we might be witnessing yet another casualty of the current video game industry landscape. It’s a tough pill to swallow for us fans who have been on this journey for years.
In the grand scheme of things, I guess it’s only fitting that the year that gave us a global pandemic would also take away our beloved Ultimate General series. At least we can still find solace in the fact that the game’s developers are probably enjoying their newfound freedom from bureaucracy, much like a sailor who has finally jumped ship and is swimming towards calmer waters.
On a lighter note, perhaps this is all just a cosmic joke, and the Ultimate General series will return to us stronger than ever in 2023, like a phoenix rising from the ashes. Only time will tell, but for now, I’ll be here, waiting with bated breath. And maybe a life vest, just in case.
The fate of the Ultimate General series remains unclear, as at least two crucial developers behind the latest groundbreaking installment have parted ways with the Ukrainian studio Game-Labs following its exit from Early Access.
Key devs are leaving Game-Labs
Initially, we have Nick “DarthMod” Thomadis, the mastermind behind the entire series, who is widely recognized for creating mods within the Total War series. In a post made on Steam and the official Discord channel of the series, he expressed his gratitude to those who have stood by him throughout the years and announced his resignation from the company effective December 31st.
Recently, the Admiral overseeing operations (recently) saw his latest dreadnoughts updated with the announced patch – version 1.7. This update, which has been in beta testing for a week, is now accessible to users.
On December 31, Aleksandr Petrov, who was part of our Game-Labs team, is moving on. Our technical director is also set to leave the company by the same date, but he wants to reassure fans of Ultimate General that they will continue to be taken care of competently.
New-old Naval Action team
The news that two vital developers are leaving is an extremely unwelcome present for the series’ fans, especially after the underwhelming launch of UG: American Revolution on December 20th from Early Access. A quick look at the quantity and tone of Steam user reviews makes it clear that the latest installment’s debut was far from successful.
Not only did this game get released, but shortly after, news surfaced that Naval Action was being handed over to a different developer. This might be due to hints that the game had been purchased by Maksym Zasov, founder and CEO of Game-Labs, who apparently left the company to form a new team consisting of former employees. He also took charge of the up-and-coming project called Sea Legends.
As a passionate admirer of Naval Action, I share the mixed emotions swirling around this impending change. For quite some time now, the game’s popularity and public opinion have dipped, a trend often linked to Stillfront’s acquisition of GL. However, it’s not universally accepted that the game’s struggles are solely due to the pressures from such a large corporation. Some critics point fingers at Zasow himself, which makes the prospect of Naval Action remaining under his control less than ideal in their eyes, despite the promise of significant changes ahead.
A sinking general’s ship?
Ignoring online theories regarding the causes of NA‘s issues, the departure of multiple crucial developers seems to indicate a challenging scenario at Game-Labs. Some enthusiasts link this to Stillfront’s announcement in September about focusing their game portfolio on priority brands, which they referred to as “optimization.
This was intended to address, among other concerns, the problem of less popular or poorly-performing games from the publisher’s library. For instance, The Ultimate General series might fall into this category given the feedback on its latest release. Similarly, Naval Action can be included in this discussion, as evidenced by recent Reddit discussions about revisiting the game and comments under the Christmas event announcement.
The financial summary for October stated that the company’s optimization process would be expedited, beginning on January 1st, following the announcements of Thomadis and Peitrow’s departures. Fans believe this isn’t just happenstance.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-51033
It’s possible that Game-Labs studio has been impacted by these reductions, which could imply that the creators behind the game “Ultimate General” have now found themselves among many other developers who have felt the effects of the current challenges within the video game sector. As speculated by several sources, including the host of the YouTube channel Historical Gamer, it seems that Stillfront may have significantly decreased their team size, potentially leaving only a small remnant group behind.
It’s important to clarify that these are merely conjectures, albeit not entirely baseless given the official data. However, as of now, Maxim Zasov has yet to fulfill his promise made on December 21st to release a statement about Naval Action, which was supposedly due “next week.
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2024-12-30 18:03