CA and BI Decision Making

**Divinus Arma** · 06-08-2005, 05:58

The purpose of this thread is to alleviate some of the clutter and consolidate some discussion on BI, CA, business decision making, etc. I hope that CA will grace us with a post or two here should they have the time.

If you will so join me in this adventure...

In recent threads (for example- https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=48503), there has been much talk on who will buy, who will wait, etc, etc.

This whole site is dedicated to the TW series, as are numerous other sites, and that alone stands as a testament to what CA has accomplished. I think we all agree that the TW concept is revolutionary and extraordinarily unique.

So, here is the object of my constipation, err...consternation:

As a fan of shogun, you purchased MI for love of the original.

When MTW came out, did you wait for word from the world or dive right in, trusting in the history of the series?

Same with RTW, what fan of MTW and STW not drool at least a little?

AND THE POINT OF THIS:

Overall, CA has done a tremendous job of producing a series of extraordinary titles. Sure, they have their quirks and hiccups. But overall, CA has accomplished an incredible feat with a successful series of astonishing games. And for what errors there might be, there is something to make up for it for most everyone: Unhappy with historical accuracy or the single player campaign? Mod the game. Unhappy with AI battles? Online multiplayer. Etc, Etc, Etc.

I think that we can give a little credit and faith to CA that they will produce a solid expansion. And following that, should BI be a decent compliment to RTW, I believe that we can count on CA to produce another excellent TW game after that. There is still plenty of material in history to work with and the opportunities are growing with the march of technology.

The MAIN CONCERN that ALL OF SHOULD HAVE in the community is ONE thing:

DOES THE CORPORATE CULTURE OF CREATIVE ASSEMBLY MATCH THE CORPORATE CULTURE OF SEGA?

This is the leading cause of failure in mergers and acquisitions, period. I will be happy to support this with documentation if anyone asks. So, CA: please give an indication on your progress in this area, either officially or incognito.

CA will continue to make great games if the two Corp Cults match. We are all screwed if they don't play nice.

Alot of stuff herre, I know. But what say you?

DA

**Quietus** · 06-08-2005, 06:18

ALEX, a rep from SEGA at the .COM forum has already said pretty much a hands-off policy when it comes to the TW Games. Meaning, they leave it up to CA do they what they do.

Unfortunately, the sticky is now gone over there.

**Divinus Arma** · 06-08-2005, 06:55

Originally Posted by Quietus

ALEX, a rep from SEGA at the .COM forum has already said pretty much a hands-off policy when it comes to the TW Games. Meaning, they leave it up to CA do they what they do.

Unfortunately, the sticky is now gone over there.

Hmmm. Interesting. But is hands off enough? I wonder if CA generates enough internal capital to finance its own projects? Otherwise, the reliance on parent company financing may limit access to capital needs.

For example, when CA produces and markets a project, does the capital gained from sales go back into CA? And does CA have the capital for them selves? Otherwise, a reliance on financing from Sega will mean that a large portion of recievables go back to Sega, rather then back into CA.

A hands off policy is good news from a project development standpoint. I would love to know the financing relationship, as this can hinder or aid the ambitions of future projects. If CA is beholden to Sega, is CA able to justify the Net Present Value (Net Present Value being the cash value of projected future cash inflows from an investment in today's dollars, thus accounting for the time value of money) of capital investments in its products with ease or difficulty? I would imagine that the annuities generated from the TW series thus far would be justification for pro forma cash flow estimations on future TW projects.

In other words: The financing relationship affects the operations decision making which subsequently affects project development. So Sega could have a "no project micromanagment" policy with TW, but the financing arrangements would indirectly and seriously impact project decision making.

And this is where corporate culture comes into play. CA may be willing to take risks with capital that Sega may not be. CA will have to justify increases in capital expeditures to Sega. If the risk is perceived to be too great, Sega will not allow the extra financing.

An example of this is in the patches following a game release. Patches use resources in capital and assets that could otherwise be used on other projects. If the Net Present Value of the patch is less than the Net Present Value of a competing project, than the patch will not be undertaken.

Damn, I would love to hear a CA or Sega Rep comment on this. But this is probably top secret internal executive intelligence that stays away from the public.

Yarrgh.

Divinus Arma

**amazon77** · 06-09-2005, 00:28

Very well said DA.

I will not cover the Sega+CA part, but just state my opinion for RTW with a few words.

Although it is better in some aspects than STW and MTW, it made me feel it was poorly made (overall estimation). In MTW we had 3 periods and that wasn't just a theoretical part of the game, as the available units were divided in these periods while there were significant changes in the lands each realm had, thus altering your strategy in every era.

In STW, not only we had the throne room with the ambassadors/portugese/dutch etc. but also the cool little videos with the assasins, geishas and others. Of course, lets not forget that the game was a challenge to the end, since if you played in the east, by the time you had reached the west (Oda) you found there was someone who had prevailed against the others at that part, so you still had to fight challenging battles.

However, RTW has some overpowered factions, like the 3 romans+egyptians, some rather underpowered like the Numidians(and the spanish to a lesser extent). I never understood why we had to unlock half of the factions in the gaem, manually

.

There are a lot other stuff, but all these have been pointed out in other threads. I'll close this, by saying that after STW, ppl have been waiting for MTW and when it came out it made a far bigger impression than RTW. There were also far less complaints. Wehn VI was about to come out, there were far less ppl saying they would wait to see what others think of it, to decide if it would be worth buying. And when RTW was about to hit the stores, i can't remember any1 (maybe i have a weak memory?

) who said i'll wait to see what it'll be like.

However, now that we've seen RTW, there are a lot of ppl, at least saying they'll wait for others opinions for BI, before they buy it. I think this alone is a mark that CA (and the TW series) start to loose the faith of their fans. Sth like what happened to the CM series: when cm4 came out, most of the community were dissapointed, now cm5 and fm5 are almost identical, while the TCM series is gaining fans, because they listened to what the ppl had been asking. The latter may not be exactly on a par with cm/fm, but a couple of years given, i suppose it will catch up to them and surpass them.

I am pretty certain ppl will buy BI, but if it turns to be sth like RTW, we may begin to see a change in their attitude, especially if someother tittle like TW comes out.

**kinein** · 06-10-2005, 16:29

I'd love to see Shogun : Total War Part 2 !

**Divinus Arma** · 06-11-2005, 05:03

Originally Posted by amazon77

There are a lot other stuff, but all these have been pointed out in other threads. I'll close this, by saying that after STW, ppl have been waiting for MTW and when it came out it made a far bigger impression than RTW. There were also far less complaints. Wehn VI was about to come out, there were far less ppl saying they would wait to see what others think of it, to decide if it would be worth buying. And when RTW was about to hit the stores, i can't remember any1 (maybe i have a weak memory?

) who said i'll wait to see what it'll be like.

So in general, you are of the opinion that the series is degenerating? And that RTW is the beginning of the decline?

Your point may be valid from your perspective, but I have to agree on only some perspectives. I was more addicted to MTW than I was to RTW. I got burnt out on RTW far faster, but this may be in part due the fact I had been playing MTW for so long prior. I think the replayability of RTW is solid, and we must give credit to CA for making so much of RTW softcoded for modding.

DA

**Mongoose** · 06-11-2005, 05:07

actually, the game is full of hard coded limits that are making the mod teams work around them...like using the same unitmodel for 3-4 units...

M**el is censored?!

**Quietus** · 06-12-2005, 23:06

Originally Posted by Divinus Arma

Damn, I would love to hear a CA or Sega Rep comment on this. But this is probably top secret internal executive intelligence that stays away from the public.

Yarrgh.

Divinus Arma

I've invited ALEXSEGA (I think was the screenname), in that thread, to register here and maybe answer some TW fan questions. So I guess not.

**Divinus Arma** · 06-13-2005, 05:43

Thanks Q. I would love to get some answers. Of course, I am sure everyone does.

I really expected this thread to stimulate a little more business debate...

What, no MBAs in our ranks?

**amazon77** · 06-13-2005, 09:46

Sorry, no economics degree here, but i am an environmental engineer with a M.Sc. and currently doing a Ph.D, so if you have any question on environmental issues...