Generic Kunos being bought by Digital Bros

Taken from the Chit Chat room, in case someone has missed it.

The credit for the translation goes to @grat. Sounds like good news!

Massarutto: Assetto Corsa has gone way beyond the goals we set for ourselves in 2011, when Stefano Casillo and I have started the project with four collaborators and a total budget of 70.000 Euros. With various affiliations, more than 30 people have worked on Assetto Corsa, with a total cost of almost 3 million Euros. Nonetheless, we remain the smallest firm in the sector to have produced a sim like Assetto Corsa for both PC and console, based on official licences of the highest level, and so appreciated and kept in such high consideration. It is a small Italian miracle of which we couldn't be more proud. During 2016 we have carried deep evaluations regarding our future projects, and precisely because we desire to confirm our DNA with realistic simulations, we have chosen a direction that could guarantee the maximum stability possible. We work with Digital Bros/505Games since 2014, and since then the publisher has kept all its promises, giving us the opportunity to take a high-level simulation on console, even in the knowledge that it would not be a racing game "for everybody." Digital Bros has placed its bet on us, and with this acquisition, has raised its stakes, showing once more that it believes in the business model ideated by KUNOS: this will bring stability and indispensable resources, in an extremely competitive sector as our one is, to keep doing what we have shown we know how to do: driving simulations that please the simracers and that also are capable of involving the new generations, with the objective of making Assetto Corsa an even more important brand. Stefano Casillo and I have ceded KUNOS ownership, but we keep our respective roles, as it is also for the whole development team, with the advantage that we can now be more focused on the products we developed, instead of the management of the firm and the collection of resources necessary for complex projects such as Assetto Corsa and those that will follow. With the objective and the promise to keep astonishing and pleasing the "AC" fans.

 

"And those that will follow"

Hmmm...."those"...plural...interesting.

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Interesting read.

Couple of points: the console version has sold 900k-1million according to the digital bros press release (1,4 million in all the platforms, 400k in PC according to Steam Spy) and when you say "I think the great physics will stay, that is the USP, but there will almost certainly be more emphasis on presentation and playability. Read into that what you will." I dont see nothing wrong at all. If the physics stay, the only thing that could change in the playability could be the pad control, which is good.

 

I dont think they need to dumb down the driving in AC2, the game already have alot of assist options for players that want that. I havent tried all these on while driving with a gamepad myself but I guess that makes it "more for everyone".

 

Thank you and yes I'd also seen those Steam/Console numbers split. In Digital Bros monthly reports on their website they say over 500,000 Steam copies, but you are right I said 700k console copies and it should have been 900k/1m as you suggest. Returns and preowned games market will further complicate the picture. The Dec 2016 accounts should also be a worth a read when they are published.

 

Stability/traction controls and a "very easy" AI setting makes the driving accessible for beginners. Maybe Kunos could work a little bit to implement some kind of filter to make the analog stick's inputs on the virtual wheel smoother (visually speaking), because It's still twitchy even with a reduced visual range. About the rest, as Stefano said, they need to get better at "making games", starting from implementing all the "nice" things that are already available on PC (showroom, photomode), while also working on "presentation" as @MBK72 said above. It's kinda underwhelming to see low-res pictures in the career mode or the lack of a "victory" screen at the end of the race, just to make a couple of examples. Sure, the game doesn't need confetti and cash prizes, because that kind of experience is already offered by other games on the market and AC doesn't necessarily need to follow their paths from this POV.

We'll see how the future will look for AC and how people will react to potential changes.

 

Every going on about A/C 2 what about A/C 1 it's far from finished on Xbox. Game save/setups issues still ongoing, frame rate not great, lots of bits missing which the pc has, These need addressing the games been out 6 months it's still the same combo 505/kunos running it. I hope this doesn't turn into another SMS p cars Abandoned situation to go chasing the dollar in the next game before the one they sold us is working to a satisfactory level.

 

Honestly I also can't understand why the concern about a possible dumbing down of physics to make the game less hardcore. Forza 6, with no assists and racing line off is much, MUCH harder than Assetto Corsa.

Why is that? Because you just can't feel what the car is doing (poor FFB) and because its physics is so unrealistic that you can't predict what's going to happen with your inputs, ending in countless and incomprehensible spins until you get used to how it 'works'. Project Cars is much better than Forza in terms of 'making sense', but still more difficult than Assetto Corsa for its inferior physics and FFB.

Then why should they want to make AC easier if it's already the easiest driving for its being the closest to the real life experience we're used to? That's AC's biggest asset and I just can't understand why they would wish to change its greatest source of admiration: the Physics/FFB combo that provides realism and intuitive driving, precisely what makes it easier to use.

 

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You played Forza with a steering wheel, right? If so, the difference between my experience (pad) and yours surprises me a lot. I never had such problems, probably because It was meant to be played with a pad since the beginning. The main difference, in my opinion, is that in AC everything feels so alive, while in FM cars are a bit dull some times. You also get lots of feedback from the road and you can really feel the weight of the car, noticed that immediately when I tried the 458, the first car I drove in AC. Same for the tracks. Nordschleife is flat in F5/6, when in AC It's pretty bumpy.
PCARS, on the other hand, was just a big mess with a pad.

On topic: I don't think that AC will ever lose its physics. Even from a business point of view, It wouldn't make sense. As others have said, It's not super hard and everything feels natural. Assists can take care of the rest.

 

I seem to remember SMS providing lot's of support to their game post launch? Was it roughly 10 or 11 enhancement and bug patches in it's first year (Certainly couldn't be far off that)?

I can't think of any game I've had which offered this amount of post game support and during which provided many features and improvements along the way.

Have you ever played the F1 games from Codies? Bugged from start, 2 patches if you're lucky and a new game every year. Surely they're a much better comparison to make your point instead of SMS (Seems to fit your argument quite nicely)?

Personally, I think SMS have provided the right balance between post game patches and the launch of a new iteration, remember it will be at the very least two years between the launch of pcars1 and 2 and I don't find the original game unplayable in the slightest. If AC followed this model I would be happy.

 

Yeah, you've raised an interesting point. With a pad, Forza is another thing entirely, really easy. It seems clear they had a pad in mind for their handling, as AC seems to have been the other way round. With a steering wheel AC is incredible in every aspect, but I confess I didn't like it much with a pad (wrong settings, probably) - that was hard indeed! Project Cars was also an impossible experience when I tried it with a pad, and far less intuitive than AC with a wheel.

 

I think it was about 11 patches in about a year of support before they stopped. It's still got day 1 bugs in it. Including loss of game. I stopped playing career after losing it once and having to delete it myself twice to get all the tracks back available online, because I'd saved 2 many tunes and crashed the save system. That game was a disaster at launch, much better know but nowhere near perfect.

 

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I've never really had a problem with Pcars (Not that I'm disputing your experiences with the game), for me the major gripe was the AI tire performance (on differing compounds) but they tweaked that several times during the patches and I was really pleased with how they handled it rather than just leaving it. I still play career to this day with my initial save, however I certainly don't have as many save/changed tunes although I was under the impression that the game only ever at one time has two tunes per car/track (The default being stored, and the current which starts as default and is either overwritten or restored from default)? I think one of the requested features was giving a tune a name for multiple saves?

Of course, no game is perfect. I just think SMS gave a lot of support to their and gets a dogs life where as Codemasters to use your phrase 'chase the dollar' by releasing a game every year which is rushed out with bugs to hit a certain release window and they offer little in the way of patches before working on next years iteration. As mentioned earlier, I believe Codemasters are a more appropriate comparison for your argument rather than SMS.

 

I bought f1 2016 this time around, haven't bought one for years, this one actually ran pretty good and had 5 patches for it in first 2 months. Got bored of it really quickly though, I seem to only like the hot lap mode on it. F1 just to fast to enjoy online, it's manic. The other game to spring to mind was race pro on 360. So many bugs, hardly any mended.

 

From experience, every damn racing game released on 360 or XB1 (with the exception of anything to come out of Turn 10) has been shipped with game-breaking bugs and hasn't been properly playable for the first three months of release. Apart from Grid Autosport which took considerably longer and was the grandmother of all incompetent disasters.

 

FULL CONTROL over intellectual property. That sounds like the guys at KS are going to lose all control over the current AC game as well as what comes in the future. Looking at possibilities I think it would be very good for AC's money making potential to keep the physics and FFB that brought them success in the first place and incorporate better graphics, more detailed environments, and a more immersive race experience with pit crews actually changing your tires etc and maybe even the ability to gasp... modify street cars like in forza and gt. Maybe even a livery editor so you can "simulate" having your own race car with your name on it, maybe even setup a livery design for you and your friends to use as a team look. If AC had these things, it would bring more fun, creativity, and realism into the game. Not sure if it will ever happen though, maybe it will stay a bare bones sim that doesn't integrate any of the successful elements of other monolithic franchises.

 

New property's benefits

 

I thought it would be wine?