BREAKING NEWS: RIP, Digital Anvil 1996-2005 (December 2, 2005)

Bandit LOAF

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
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Gamespot has announced that Microsoft will close their Austin Digital Anvil studios in the next month.

The professional news sites will probably eulogize Digital Anvil as the proverbial little engine that couldn't, an attempt by Wing Commander's Chris Roberts' to fight the power and set up a small studio in an era when good development meant big money.

That's a disservice: Digital Anvil was never small. They launched with three announced titles in the works and a fourth under wraps... and at the same time developed some of the highest quality film work in the world, basically in their spare time. Others may complain that Digital Anvil shipped only four games - but well note that all four were truly amazing, fun experiences that harkened back to the glory days of computer gaming.

I had the opportunity to visit both Digital Anvil studios several times. Their original base, at Third and Congress in downtown Austin, was a beautiful homage to all things Wing Commander -- game posters on all the wall, movie props on every flat surface. Digital Anvil was a classy operation. The new offices, also downtown and soon to be empty, were clean and professional... and they reminded me more of Origin's old offices than anywhere else in the world.

What's more, their employees were consummate professionals. Many have moved on since, but men like Adam Foshko, Martin Galway, John Guentzel, Jorg Neumann, Eric Peterson, Chris and Erin Roberts and Phil Wattenberger are the best in the business; friendly to an old Wing Commander fan such as myself and at the same time responsible for world class game development.


The Wing Commander community owes Digital Anvil several times over:

Many know that the studio assisted in the production of the Wing Commander movie; in fact, Digital Anvil was chiefly responsible for the two aspects of the movie that were universally lauded - the beautiful introductory sequence and the amazing 3D effects.

Further, Digital Anvil employees have continued to support our community for many years with no benefit for themselves; much of the fascinating development material currently found in our Archives was provided by Digital Anvil employees. During the release of the movie they were always happy to listen to us. During the development of the Wing Commander movie they would occasionally contact us to ask about tiny little pointless facts -- the mechanics of jump points, the proper names for types of laser rifles and such. I especially remember finding a typo in their Wing Commander Movie website (it was dated '2564' instead of '2654')... I called them up, asked to speak to the webmaster and they had it fixed within minutes. That's true dedication to our strange cause.


First and foremost, however, Digital Anvil continued the Wing Commander series' legacy and spirit with StarLancer and FreeLancer, a pair of first class space combat games developed in an era when making such games was not necessarily commercially viable.

They not only believed that the genre could be re-ignited when no one else thought it was worth the risk, they convinced the largest corporation in the world to back their attempt. The company should never be forgotten by Wing Commander fans for this alone.

Our hearts go out to everyone who has to relocate and everyone who cannot. Digital Anvil deserves better. It is a cold comfort at this moment, but our community happily recognizes the 'Lancer games as being the equal of any title that legally bore the Wing Commander name.


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Original update published on December 2, 2005
 
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Wow. I actually didn't know they were still in existance. Okay, stupid question, but what were their four releases (Starlancer, Freelancer, Conquest......)?
 
... and Brute Force, for the X-Box.

The third of their 'launch' games was Loose Cannon, which never shipped.
 
DA made Brute Force? I didn't know that. Its a real shame Loose Cannon died, I really wanted to play that game.
 
There's actually a pretty neat electric hammer and anvil video that plays for DA when Brute Force first loads up. When it was released a few years back, it set a first-week sales record for fastest selling game. I bought four copies to system-link and Hades, Rance and I did the cooperative mode a couple years ago. If it were on XBox Live, it'd continue to be one of the more popular games on the system, but otherwise it's gotten a bit dated.

This news comes at an odd time, because just this past Tuesday night, LOAF and I had a very long discussion about what Digital Anvil had been up to lately and what their prospects for the future were. It'll be interesting to see how the Freelancer fan sites take the news when they eventually get around to reporting on it. Their fans could get demoralized and find other communities, or this event could be something of a rallying point as the closure of Origin-Austin was for us. It really could go either way, and there can easily be more Freelancer games someday for the community if it stays together.

One of the first things that really impressived me about their games was Starlancer's multiplayer modes. Not only was the main campaign playable cooperatively with a squadron of your friends, it was compatible in this manner with a mixture of PCs and Dreamcasts. You could have the Dreamcast Starlancer and hook up with friends on other Dreamcasts or the PC and play through the missions as a team. Some of them, especially the torpedo defense missions, very much benefitted from that. Multiplayer implementation was something that DA generally did very well. None of the multiplayer modes in their games were without flaws, but there were definitely very ambitious goals that were achieved in each one.

DA soaked up *a lot* of former Origin employees, and they projected a really fun atmosphere. One of my favorite memories was while sitting in the Digital Anvil lobby with LOAF. We were surrounded by life size Kilrathi, the original sector map from the movie intro was hanging on the wall, rare movie posters were all around, and the navcom AI was in the next room over. Then the receptionist's phone rang, and it was a third CIC staff member on the line. While LOAF and I were pounding the pavement trying to get the inside Digital Anvil scoop physically in Austin, the virtual CIC team online had arranged for an interview with Chris Roberts via telephone. It was, as it still is, a very proud and exciting time to be associated with the Wing Commander CIC and our community.
 
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It's not a real surprise to our staff really, as we already got a weird 'sense' from our contacts within Digital Anvil lately and already saw the end nearing unfortunately. Nevertheless, we never spoke about our concerns to the community though, simply because we had no real proof to back up our concerns and also to not destroy their hope on a possible sequel to Freelancer. But to see it officially announced now is still very sad to see and the fact we have have to bring the sad news to our community.

We've already had several emails about this today, but we haven't decided on how to bring it to the community (www.lancersreactor.com) yet on the frontpage. Though I have to say a poster already created a thread about it in our Freelancer Discussion and our Off Topic forum, so I guess we can't postpone it any longer. Either my good friend and co-owner bp or myself will have to make the sad post asap :( I'm not sure what the impact will be on our community, but as long as we still have discussions and mods coming in on a daily basis, we'll be fine I hope. But, only time can really tell naturally. Hopefully we can continue to be a gathering place for Starlancer and Freelancer fans around the world in years to come, just as you guys have wonderfully proven with your excellent website for Wing Commander and Privateer fans. Kudos to you for keeping this site so alive and exciting even after the last WC game was released years ago. I can only hope we can achieve something similar with our community. It's websites like yours and ours among others and naturally the most important part: our visitors, who keep the space sim genre alive. Only the space sim fans can make sure space sims will continue to be made, just as long as we make enough noise and earn the creators and publishers at least enough profits for them to see it's worth to keep investing their time and money into these games.

I mean, the Space-Sim genre still isn't dead fortunately (as evident from games like X3 etc. still coming out), regardless of leading space sim companies such as Origin and now DA closing, and I, just as most of us I think, will always keep hope that it will come in a lift again. It's good to see that a company such as the well respected Bioware Corp. is creating a new original title (for the Xbox 360) which is space based. From what I've seen and heard about their upcoming space action/rpg Mass Effect, it'll be very good. Many RPG elements and also the possibility to explore the galaxy and uncharted worlds! Sure, it's not a space sim such as the Wing Commander Series, but it's space based nonetheless. And if anyone can create a title that'll be widely recognised and bought, it's Bioware and if this game will generate at least reasonable profits, then maybe more developers might pick up the space genre again.

Who knows, I'm still hoping every single day to see EA announce a new Wing Commander game, however unlikely it might be :) Nothing wrong with dreams and hopes!
 
Well this is indeed a sad bit of news. DA made some great titles, I remember waiting anxiously for each one to arrive. First I got to play Starlancer which although it did have some flaws was an incredibly awesome game to play. I still remember my dad was in my room one time when I was playing it and he asked me what game it was. I told him and he replied, "Wow, it's like you're really there." It was a great game.

Brute Force also was a great game for the xbox, I recently went back and played it again and I was impressed that although it was one of the first games launched for the console, it's graphics were still almost just as impressive as the latest releases. It had incredible 4 player co-op experience and some awesome CGI scenes interwoven into the game. Freelancer was of course the most anticipated title from DA. For something like 5 years I, among thousands of other fans, waited hungering for the briefest tid bits of information from magazines, web sites and chat rooms. Freelancer was a great game. Unfortunately for me I allowed myself to become disinterested in it due to online play. After people showed me where and how to get the best of everything, it lost its allure. Still a great game and one that sold well for a space sim...unfortunately it had cost so much and taken so much time to produce.

I will miss DA and the high quality games it produced. I wish every employee the very best and hope that you will all be able to find successful and enjoyable careers in other studios. Thank you for all that you gave us.
 
It's not a real surprise to our staff really, as we already got a weird 'sense' from our contacts within Digital Anvil lately and already saw the end nearing unfortunately. Nevertheless, we never spoke about our concerns to the community though, simply because we had no real proof to back up our concerns and also to not destroy their hope on a possible sequel to Freelancer. But to see it officially announced now is still very sad to see and the fact we have have to bring the sad news to our community.
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I hope you're able to find hosting.

In 5 years, there will only be Microsoft, EA and Ubisoft in North America.
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Heh, sure, Ubisoft.

(Seriously, though, Digital Anvil was a wholly owned Microsoft studio.)
 
The hosting isn't a problem for us really LOAF. That will probably continue for as long as needed, at least I hope ;)

Thanks for your concern though :)

I just posted the news on the TLR frontpage as well now btw.
 
The hosting isn't a problem for us really LOAF. That will probably continue for as long as needed, at least I hope
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Hehe, I wasn't being sarcastic, we ran into the same problem with EA hosting us years back. It's a good idea to be prepared -- look what just happened to HLP.
 
A hail to the good Ol' times of gaming past.

I also had assumed that they were already vanished, therefore this sad fact didn't shock me as it should be for being an old gaming enthusiast, though.

Speaking of megacorporations, history has proven that there had been existed also independent developers without the help and restriction (read: more marketing/hyping, therefore less individual creativity allowed, which seems not so accessible to a great audience, or am I'm wrong?) of those megacorporations. But yes, there have been (and perhaps still) good exceptions within such compromise, being bought by a big company like it was the case of Origin Systems or Digital Anvil...
 
#$%^@*

Origin gone,
Derek Smart getting the freespace license
and now DA is gone...
My fav. genre is dead isn't it?
Did everybody get a copy of X3 Reunion? I think we need to support egosoft in keeping our genre intact. The game runs fine with the last two patches installed and is a real beauty. Perhaps good sales of X can shake EA awake :).

F*ck this is bad news.. I loved the wc arcade style of starlancer sooow much :confused:
 
I have to ask, though... does this closure actually change anything? I mean, DA released their last game in 2003. There had been no news whatsoever about any projects that they might be working on. It all felt a lot like Origin's situation right before its closure.

I mean, certainly, the closure ends a certain chapter, and it's a sad event in that regard, especially for the people who work there... but given that the main people behind Freelancer were no longer at DA (and the people behind Starlancer had never been there in the first place), it doesn't seem to change all that much.
 
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