I doubt the Hydra changes were for this, but I think the whole Odin dungeon energy prices was likely to try and boost profit to increase the percieved value of the company.
@@samuellee1515 considering they're wanting this to be a long term investment, they'd most likely be aware of public sentiment about the product they've acquired
This is great news! 🥳 We can also speculate that this is a major part/reason why the management don't care what they do to the player base with the squeeze they have put on us all and the idiotic decisions that have been made for the last 6 months and many over the past 18 months. Make the sale and leave it in a bad way for the new company to try to fix. It seems counter intuitive but Paylarium/Aristocrat read it's player base well and just knew that people will spend whatever they do. The figures don't lie!
uhhh Bloons Tower Defence has not been good for awhile and the balance in bt6 is terrible I'd not trust them with Raid at all. They added tons of extra monetised stuff to btd6 as even the research upgrades never used to cost monkey cash.
That is you choice of course, but a publisher(or equivalent) has a huge effect on how a company is run. Look at how many great companies EA or Activision has bought over the years and turned to utter crap. I'm not saying this move is a positive one just that it could make a difference. I'm not going to change my mind about Raid right now, but I am going to watch to see if things change. Investment groups can be just as dicey for predatory tactics. It is really hit or miss.
We will know who was running it soon enough. Plarium are owned they have to do what their employers tell them which was a casino company. If we get great changed in the next 6-8 months then we now know it was Aristocrat. If it stays the same BS then it was Plarium. But my guess is they had to do what Aristocrat was telling them. Why fix anything that’s making upwards of 20 million dollars a month, you don’t. They have had a casino mentality.
I doubt much will change, except for some pack prices. Plarium likely has pretty good control of new small features, qol and balance changes under aristocrat as long as it makes money. Things could totally change, it's just unlikely.
One good thing when companies get bought is that you can put the guys blocking Innovation into a new position where they can just sit around and don't hurt the company anymore.
As an American, what are you saying? You quit your last job just to play Raid? You are now going to work for raid? You need a second Job to afford your raid spending habbits? Raid being sold inspired you to get the job you want at the pay you deserve?
@@georgesmith2431 you’re making us look bad bro, but I gotcha 😂 They meant, I assumed jokingly, that they’re applying to work at Plarium now that they (Plarium) would be “moving” to Sweden. (I dunno if they’re literally moving HQ and all that, but y’know)
After maxing out profit mode they finally had the balls to make changes towards the balance of the game. I say this because they knew revenue would take a hit after pissing people off, so they made sure they got their cash first before executing the hydra nerfs/buffs. They knew what the effect would be... so now that shits hit the wall, they sell it for someone else to clean. The most.. Aristrocatic move ever.
They would never purchase a game that is dying and pay more than it was purchased for. The predatory aspect should cease or slow just so they don't lose playerbase.
@sgttoxiiczz what are you talking about my dude plarium owns raid plarium sold raid sold even if plarium still run by raid the new owners might not take so lightly to angering player bases like aristocrat.
@@ravageddreams7799 pixel United sold plarium, plarium havent sold raid; plarium still owns raid... I think its gonna be pretty naive to think plarium are gonna change much of their strategy when it comes to development and monetisation.
@@sgttoxiiczzyes plarium owns raid but wasnt plarium being pushed to get money for aristocrat? So if the mtg doesnt push them to get more money then its better
Just because the parent company is going to be actually mobile game focused is not a guarantee that there will be a better future for Raid. There are many of these "gaming companies" whose sole intent is to buy popular well-developed games just to put them on rails and squeeze as much profit out of them without spending on much further development. I think the Raid player base may have been a bit spoiled by the constant addition and expansion of content, and if it's the case that the new owners are going to maximize profits in the short term at the detriment of long-term health of the game players may come to regret it.
What always amazes me is exactly how much corpospeak and puffy words these articles have that say precisely nothing. While the other half just says: we milked our worth, now ditch... companies... F-me.
Played FoE for several years and it was one of the most F2P friendly games I've ever seen. Bloons is also pretty F2P friendly so I have high hopes for raid. I think this is good news.
yeah, this could be a way to buy assets and it does appear that MTG wants to use some of RAIDs assets in their other games. Even to use in a new potential IP.
This is actually really smart on Plariums part. From a financial standpoint, Raid is in a great spot and is still growing. The purchasing company even calls Raid an "ever green" game. Meaning it's always in the green. Always making money. The game is six years old and has struggled recently to develop new meaningful content. Plarium has dug holes that are now too deep to climb out of. The player-base is getting fed up. And soon (hopefully sometime in the next year) the biggest competition they've ever faced in the gotcha gaming realm will rear it's head... Godforge. Not only will Godforge be in direct competition with Raid but it's creator being one of the most influential Raid content creators only means that more players will be converting to Godforge and dropping Raid. I myself, am in this same boat. I am ready for something new. Even though I have invested 5 years playing this game and for the most part I love the game, I am ready to move on. Godforge will be my opportunity to do that. And it's different than other gotcha games that have come up. Supposed Raid killers that fall short. And it's because it's being created by gamers for gamers. It's not a quick cash grab, it's done in the correct way with the correct things in mind by people who know this type of game and it's player base better than maybe anyone in the world. We tried calling out Raid killers in the past but it never came to be, but Godforge, I think, will truly be the Raid killer... I think Aristocrat saw the writing on the wall and they know that profits are about to fall. So their selling on a high note. Very smart move
A pessimistic view from me. I was intrigued by the news until you mentioned that they owned Top Drives. Now I used to play top drives until a couple of years ago. Imagine in raid that you had events where if you won you got access to an exclusive legendary champion that was basically the best in it's role and was unavailable through normal summoning or otherwise unobtainable in any other way, so only the Krakens would have good enough champions to win the tournaments and get the exclusive champions. Now replace champions with cars and you've got Top Drives. It's probably the most extreme pay to win experience I've ever seen.
My first thought seeing mention of Plarium being sold was concerning because that so often means something not so good but seeing that it's MTG doing the buying suggests a good shift in direction for Raid. I've seen some of what they've done to smaller games before and they're probably gonna make the game better than it is. The recent months of every event having been harder for no logical reason, the faster rate of fusion type events being done, it was probably just Aristocrat's decision to fatten up the value while looking for a buyer. MTG owning the company just sounds like the game sometime next year will increase player-friendliness and probably look at ways to add new modes or features that everyone might benefit from instead of the pattern of newer releases favoring the players who have already advanced more. The exact way MTG likes doing stuff also seems like they prefer high replay value in something which means stuff like the doom tower is far more likely to be done with the cycling levels.
I've been expecting this news for some time. For players, I think our game experience will depend on whether the new ownership wants to build the player base, and is happy with a constant stream of small transactions--or if they figure, "It was making a fortune for Aristocrat, we should double down." As HH says, we probably won't see many in-game changes until the second half of 2025, at the very earliest. I'm not going to speculate on whether this will be good or bad for players (although it's guaranteed to be bad for current Plarium employees). There are just too many unknowns. But I consider it optimistic to say that "It can't get any worse for players." I would say, in the short run (through the end of this year and into the second quarter of next year), game development will likely slow to a crawl. I expect Plarium to put even more energy into the money grab that has been going on all year.
Your comments about companies trying to sell themselves is spot on. Of course these actions make them look financially good in the short term, but are terrible for the long term health of the company. But they don't care. They are selling the company.
_"The total consideration for the sale comprises:"_ This section of the article shown from 1:48 to 4:54 says it all... "Contingent consideration of up to" and "subject to" usually means in order to get the full amount, they have to meet certain income levels from the purchased company. And since that would have to come from Plarium's games, of which Raid is the superstar, and that amount has to be far more than the contingent consideration amount (up to $200 Million) before they would pay that amount, I would say there is little to no chance that raid will go away any time soon. Don't forget, it's a Free to Play game, but it's also a _Cash Cow..._
yesterday's video made me feel like "the light at the end of the tunnel has been permanently extinguished" and today's video makes me feel like "don't count us out just yet...the light is still flickering" Really great news!!!!
I think this is good news. MTG owns snowprint studio and they are known for their game warhammer 40k: tacticus i have played that game for a few years and that game is great.
Wow, this really crazy! I just hope nothing inane happens with Plarium. As of lately there's been quite a lot of unnecessary chances to the game, a lot of which I do not like.
@@garethunsworth4623it can do, but it doesn't seem to be for Plarium, it just depends on the nature of the bills, reputation doesn't pay a 1 time bill of 1M, but, it might pay 100k a year for 10 years, it just depends on if MTG see this is a cash in or a long time game, but buying it in this situation suggests to me, that they want a long term game, because they aren't going to be able to meaningfully cash in before raid dies if they continue the trend here
I don’t see corporations as benevolent entities. I see them as vacuums looking to suck up any money they can find. This new group wasn’t probably thinking of buying Raid and doing anything that would make it less profitable. A company isn’t human and they don’t put players’ feelings over profits. Now, can they earn more money by making the game less of a gamble? Would more people spending but at lower levels increase profits? I’m pretty sure the krakens are all a game needs. F2P could all quit…we don’t compete against Krakens/whales in arena or CvC, for the most part…so the spenders wouldn’t even know we were gone. Content creators wouldn’t like it though.
If they implement custom pvp matches the new company can blow up in the competitive market. Of course ive been saying this before live arena was released
The thing about Raid is that gambling is at the core of it. Literally every action you take is a gamble, and money increases your odds of getting something good. I don't see the new company changing the gambling aspect of the game, unless they plan on remaking it from the ground up.
Gambling is part of the appeal and success, but it should be balanced and plarium definitely seems to have pushed across the boundaries the last few months.
To be totally honest, youtubers should all collab together and make a shout to everyone to not spend money till the new year. Which is around 2 months, so they see the dip in revenue and have to listen. People did this in fifa last year and forced fifa to change stuff
You should do a video on the highest popularity the game has ever had and what you would do to get the game back to that point. How would you change the game to make it go above and beyond that.
You can be absolutely certain the price of every item and pack for sale in the game will go up. The first thing every company that buy another company do is cut expenses and raise price. Expect staff to start dropping and that $19.99 pack will go up to $23.99
Other thought other than the bad decisions being due to Palarium milking things before the sale, is that the best way to be seen in a good light is to fix a bunch of problems. And how better to do that than create a problem so it can be fixed. So just putting it out there, get the current owners to mess it up and then the new owners come in and save the day (not by doing anything new, just by reversing some bad choices)
I think this could end up being a positive move for us players. They sold Plarium to a company that actually makes games exclusively and not slot machines lol
Maybe they'll flesh out the story and lore. I've thought for years that there's huge potential for it. Something like a game of thrones or Witcher style series. Or lord of the rings style movie. Even a game on consoles like dragon age or Skyrim. We saw what happened with fallout 4 when the fallout series came out. Tie in mobile rewards with a bigger more in depth game on consoles and pc. Both could get more traffic. There's massive potential for someone that has the money and willing to risk it
Hopefully they'll analyze the shittiness of the fusion schedule this last couple of times. Having a dungeon diver event with only one dungeon that syncs with it, but requiring more than two full dungeon tournaments worth of points and energy is incredibly bad. And then having THREE of them plus three artifact enhancement events. Two of the costliest things in terms of time and resources in a fusion schedule. Freaking insane. At least bring back the double dungeon tournaments with each dungeon diver event, so we aren't forced to waste gems on energy for no real benefit. I'm so close to quitting this game after 5 years and the new ownership could be a good thing if they make some good changes in a few key areas. Not just fusions.
Makes sense, the higher ups want to abandon ship before anyone realizes there is a leak in the Titanic. Hopefully the next group can fix and right the ship.
I have been an end-game player in FOE for Innogames (MTG). They have a much better understanding of the value of in-game community engagement then Plarium. So this might be a good move for Raid..
I would imagine this new company wont be in profit mode. Raid monthly income was about 10-20m a month which annually is 240m tops and was bought for 1.2b. This is a good evaluation. All industries have different ways of getting the worth of a company. Simply put it typically takes net/gross income and adds a multiplier to it as low as 1x and i have seen some companies sell as high as 10x again depending on industry. With that said this seems from a financial standpoint that they paid top dollar meaning that they think future is bright. It will take them 2-3years to break even
Bloons is Bloons tower defense, but I believe theyve somewhat expanded that franchise to include other types of gameplay other than just tower defense. I'm cautiously optimistic. MTG seem like an amazing fit for raid, but with any purchase of a live service game, theres always a concern that they further put their foot on the gas for monotization
I am so glad they are Swedish. If it was China, I would have quit then and there. That being said, I really hope they have some sense and do some things that will get some positivity back in the community.
left raid when they introduced the blessing system, but still check on HH's channel every so often because I enjoy him and also checking if its worth to come back or not we shall see if selling plarium will push the game to a good direction
Okay, but nobody buys anything like this without expecting to make money from it somehow. So sure, they bought Plarium, but does that specifically mean they're interested in keeping Raid as a game with the idea it'll still be profitable, or are they just looking at looting the talent of Plarium for other projects?? I know I've dreamed of a better company being at the helm of this game - I'm just really hoping this is actually that.
I agree and disagree. I think it could but really don't know without seeing all the info. To see a percentage of players who contribute Vs those who do not or very little. Granted there are some krakens in the ocean. Also i very much doubt krakens would spend any less. Its more so an addiction for them they will spend it any way. Plus with so many champs still wouldn't be as easy to get the champs they don't have
I used to play Forge Of Empires. Since the new company owns that game, I am not filled with a ton of hope because they made stupid decisions with that game which led to all my clan quitting. Unless Plarium keeps full control of the game but is less pressured to maximise profits like from the last company, maybe they will do better.
I think from business perspective the game part of raid is a tool of generating revenue. As such, for me it's more logical that we see more raid like monitization in other games than lowering the heat or investing more in the if that doesn't come with monitization increase
This was fire sale. 4.5x EBITDA multiple is very low compared to other gaming companies sales (over 15x, usually). Effectively, they think they will be able to milk Raid for a bit and then have some synergies with rest of the group. Even with the earn-out (=MTG does not believe Plarium's business plan) the multiple would be only 5.9x.
a lot of people talk about how no one will buy a dying game , of course the raid is not dying, but if it continues like it did in the previous 2 months, it will surely fail as they say, it can't get worse than this or all the players will leave if this continues,I don't understand how they don't understand that they need to lower the prices so that more people can buy and therefore everyone would be more satisfied, no one took care of making skins and selling them like Riot does so many possibilities to make money on this game with low prices to make it accessible to everyone but the most important thing is to listen the players. and one important thing, as Bllizzard did, is to determine a group of people who will test each Patch and each change so that we don't have things happen to us like with the Hydra changes and many previous changes that were very bad like for example when they make a new champion they put it on progressive chance a lot of people spend money to get it and later nerf it I hope that the new company will listen to their players
Used to play top drives.. and it was worse than raid for being a money sink. You couldn't play half the game if you didn't buy a tonne of packs constantly.
Beyond upset. I was at 201 for ancients. Pulled 30. I've saved them for awhile. No legend, no under priest. Used my 12 sacreds I saved. Pulled wyrmeater. Garbage game with garbage odds
@sterlingkayon84 I think that's what it has to be. But I swear there is a hidden algorithm. If you didn't spend money, it pulls from a different set of champs
If Raid was a cash cow to build Aristocrats mobile brand it will be used the same way with the new owner. That influx of cash going forward will help fuel their growth too but i just hope they look to the long term viability of the game.
largely depends on how independent plarium was under the old guys when it came to making changes/monetization, and how independent they will be under the new people. If it's been Plarium more than the parent company calling the shots mostly and that remains the same then we may not see much of a difference, but only time will tell
Not related to the topic - I got in the game with a referral code that gave me Rector Drath. And in the last couple of days I got two more copies of her with note that it's from a referral program. That looks like a bug of sorts. Would I lose them? Can I progress them?
Super happy to see plarium in new hands, especially in the hands of a gaming company not gambling company, the bloons TD games are great with perfectly balanced monetized gameplay. Cant wait to see what happens
@ I doubt they’d buy a company for 800 million dollars to use it as a learning opportunity, my guess is they want the game to stay alive and kicking as long as possible and them being a gaming company most likely mean they know how to listen to their players more than a gambling company.
They are a gaming company, but not known for a "good games and approach towards the player". They build addictive games that requires $ in order to do anything further the initial hook (first few days of fun) :)
@ I wouldn’t agree with that at all lol, the bloons games are great even for someone who spends nothing in the game :) no super familiar with their other games but I doubt they are greedier than a gambling company.
I dont think there will be a big change, I mean it is still Plarium. I worked as an artist for Innogames working on Forge of empires for over 5 years. Never heard of MTG
OMG! This explains it alll! Let’s milk them then sell….
@@samuellee1515Good point. We have to wait and see.
@@samuellee1515the milking will get worse- look at the loans they are taking to acquire the game.
I doubt the Hydra changes were for this, but I think the whole Odin dungeon energy prices was likely to try and boost profit to increase the percieved value of the company.
@@samuellee1515 considering they're wanting this to be a long term investment, they'd most likely be aware of public sentiment about the product they've acquired
the playerbase are still cows getting milked even after this deal
moooooo
Modern TIme Games owns Ninja Kiwi and the BTD games, I think we're in good hands for the time being. BTD seems to be run quite well and is thriving.
wow! Cool!
BTD is awesome. I dont have a single complaint about the BTD6, we get new content, we have community levels and coop.
I think Raid has a good future
This is great news! 🥳 We can also speculate that this is a major part/reason why the management don't care what they do to the player base with the squeeze they have put on us all and the idiotic decisions that have been made for the last 6 months and many over the past 18 months. Make the sale and leave it in a bad way for the new company to try to fix. It seems counter intuitive but Paylarium/Aristocrat read it's player base well and just knew that people will spend whatever they do. The figures don't lie!
i agree / if it were a china company I would of Quit today
@@priestguardian2587 Me too :)
Man put whoever is in charge of balance of BTD6 in charge of Raid, I love that game!!
maybe they will finally nerf trunda like they initially nerfed comanche commander
@@MutantDestroyer I just wish they would stop nerfing spike factory :(
uhhh Bloons Tower Defence has not been good for awhile and the balance in bt6 is terrible
I'd not trust them with Raid at all. They added tons of extra monetised stuff to btd6 as even the research upgrades never used to cost monkey cash.
Imagine the CEO of the new owner is a Raid kraken himself and was so pissed about the hydra changes that he decided to fix it by buying it...
An Elon move
😂😂😂 Komidus( a comedian in greek language)
copium
😂😂😂
LOL
Snowprint is best known for Warhammer 40k : Tacticus, an EXCELLENT game! The fact that MTG brings Plarium in is good news for us!
Plarium can keep making games , but I'll NEVER play another one of their games, period.
That is you choice of course, but a publisher(or equivalent) has a huge effect on how a company is run. Look at how many great companies EA or Activision has bought over the years and turned to utter crap. I'm not saying this move is a positive one just that it could make a difference.
I'm not going to change my mind about Raid right now, but I am going to watch to see if things change. Investment groups can be just as dicey for predatory tactics. It is really hit or miss.
I'm not touching raid until all plarium employees go away.
We will know who was running it soon enough. Plarium are owned they have to do what their employers tell them which was a casino company. If we get great changed in the next 6-8 months then we now know it was Aristocrat. If it stays the same BS then it was Plarium. But my guess is they had to do what Aristocrat was telling them. Why fix anything that’s making upwards of 20 million dollars a month, you don’t. They have had a casino mentality.
Što bre Božo?
Nobody cares
Congratulations Plarium, you beat the hardest raid and milked many whales and hooked a few krakens.
Can we get another Ultimate Death Knight code?
I doubt much will change, except for some pack prices. Plarium likely has pretty good control of new small features, qol and balance changes under aristocrat as long as it makes money. Things could totally change, it's just unlikely.
One good thing when companies get bought is that you can put the guys blocking Innovation into a new position where they can just sit around and don't hurt the company anymore.
As a Swede, who loves the depth this game can offer. I've just applied for a new job. :)
As an American, what are you saying? You quit your last job just to play Raid? You are now going to work for raid? You need a second Job to afford your raid spending habbits? Raid being sold inspired you to get the job you want at the pay you deserve?
@@georgesmith2431 you’re making us look bad bro, but I gotcha 😂
They meant, I assumed jokingly, that they’re applying to work at Plarium now that they (Plarium) would be “moving” to Sweden.
(I dunno if they’re literally moving HQ and all that, but y’know)
The new owner is a swedish company 😉
it really cannot get worse....
this new game focused company news is actually great compared to being owned by a casino
Maybe play Forge of Empires ;-) yes it can get worse.
Really? I think it can. Activision comes to my mind as one. Tbh, modern gaming, regardless of platform, is designed to milk players...
how naive
@@hakimESCha Raid rules. Try playing Game of War: Fire Age!
It can always get worse.
Yep that explains literally everything that happend the last months
After maxing out profit mode they finally had the balls to make changes towards the balance of the game. I say this because they knew revenue would take a hit after pissing people off, so they made sure they got their cash first before executing the hydra nerfs/buffs. They knew what the effect would be... so now that shits hit the wall, they sell it for someone else to clean.
The most.. Aristrocatic move ever.
They would never purchase a game that is dying and pay more than it was purchased for. The predatory aspect should cease or slow just so they don't lose playerbase.
I hope so🙏🏼
Lets not forget, plarium stills owns raid, its still gonna be the same trashy company running the game. Raid has not passed ownership, plarium has.
@sgttoxiiczz what are you talking about my dude plarium owns raid plarium sold raid sold even if plarium still run by raid the new owners might not take so lightly to angering player bases like aristocrat.
@@ravageddreams7799 pixel United sold plarium, plarium havent sold raid; plarium still owns raid...
I think its gonna be pretty naive to think plarium are gonna change much of their strategy when it comes to development and monetisation.
@@sgttoxiiczzyes plarium owns raid but wasnt plarium being pushed to get money for aristocrat? So if the mtg doesnt push them to get more money then its better
Explains maybe the recent Scandinavian mythology hero's brought into the game
That was more like a cheap move against godforge. And the IP doesn't cost anything.
Just because the parent company is going to be actually mobile game focused is not a guarantee that there will be a better future for Raid. There are many of these "gaming companies" whose sole intent is to buy popular well-developed games just to put them on rails and squeeze as much profit out of them without spending on much further development. I think the Raid player base may have been a bit spoiled by the constant addition and expansion of content, and if it's the case that the new owners are going to maximize profits in the short term at the detriment of long-term health of the game players may come to regret it.
"It can't get worse!"
Plarium: Hold my beer
Plarium: Hold my champagne
@@ICLight412Plarium: hold my Diamonds.
@@lesleyducoing6762*blood* diamonds
ROFLMFAO
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
It can go either way really. It can either be a very good thing, or a very bad thing.
Note that Sweden is part of the EU and will therefore have to comply to all EU regulations regarding microtransactions, transparancy and loot boxes.
@@vohbovohborian28it still does have to follow them in order to operate in the EU
Nice analysis HH. Keeping players well informed and helping us to better understand machinations of Raid is a forte of yours.
What always amazes me is exactly how much corpospeak and puffy words these articles have that say precisely nothing. While the other half just says: we milked our worth, now ditch... companies... F-me.
Played FoE for several years and it was one of the most F2P friendly games I've ever seen.
Bloons is also pretty F2P friendly so I have high hopes for raid. I think this is good news.
Foe is more p2w today, not terrible , but worse than before
Aristocrat is the EA of mobile. Im so happy they sold their best game to a company that may actually funking care about the players.😊
Plarium didn't sell RAID. Aristocrat sold Plarium.
@@darkbeach72 fixed it 😂
yeah, this could be a way to buy assets and it does appear that MTG wants to use some of RAIDs assets in their other games. Even to use in a new potential IP.
This is actually really smart on Plariums part. From a financial standpoint, Raid is in a great spot and is still growing. The purchasing company even calls Raid an "ever green" game. Meaning it's always in the green. Always making money. The game is six years old and has struggled recently to develop new meaningful content. Plarium has dug holes that are now too deep to climb out of. The player-base is getting fed up. And soon (hopefully sometime in the next year) the biggest competition they've ever faced in the gotcha gaming realm will rear it's head... Godforge. Not only will Godforge be in direct competition with Raid but it's creator being one of the most influential Raid content creators only means that more players will be converting to Godforge and dropping Raid. I myself, am in this same boat. I am ready for something new. Even though I have invested 5 years playing this game and for the most part I love the game, I am ready to move on. Godforge will be my opportunity to do that. And it's different than other gotcha games that have come up. Supposed Raid killers that fall short. And it's because it's being created by gamers for gamers. It's not a quick cash grab, it's done in the correct way with the correct things in mind by people who know this type of game and it's player base better than maybe anyone in the world. We tried calling out Raid killers in the past but it never came to be, but Godforge, I think, will truly be the Raid killer... I think Aristocrat saw the writing on the wall and they know that profits are about to fall. So their selling on a high note. Very smart move
A pessimistic view from me. I was intrigued by the news until you mentioned that they owned Top Drives. Now I used to play top drives until a couple of years ago. Imagine in raid that you had events where if you won you got access to an exclusive legendary champion that was basically the best in it's role and was unavailable through normal summoning or otherwise unobtainable in any other way, so only the Krakens would have good enough champions to win the tournaments and get the exclusive champions. Now replace champions with cars and you've got Top Drives. It's probably the most extreme pay to win experience I've ever seen.
I thought this was going to be another classic HH meme video but Im genuinely excited to see what happens next
My first thought seeing mention of Plarium being sold was concerning because that so often means something not so good but seeing that it's MTG doing the buying suggests a good shift in direction for Raid. I've seen some of what they've done to smaller games before and they're probably gonna make the game better than it is. The recent months of every event having been harder for no logical reason, the faster rate of fusion type events being done, it was probably just Aristocrat's decision to fatten up the value while looking for a buyer.
MTG owning the company just sounds like the game sometime next year will increase player-friendliness and probably look at ways to add new modes or features that everyone might benefit from instead of the pattern of newer releases favoring the players who have already advanced more. The exact way MTG likes doing stuff also seems like they prefer high replay value in something which means stuff like the doom tower is far more likely to be done with the cycling levels.
I've been expecting this news for some time. For players, I think our game experience will depend on whether the new ownership wants to build the player base, and is happy with a constant stream of small transactions--or if they figure, "It was making a fortune for Aristocrat, we should double down." As HH says, we probably won't see many in-game changes until the second half of 2025, at the very earliest.
I'm not going to speculate on whether this will be good or bad for players (although it's guaranteed to be bad for current Plarium employees). There are just too many unknowns. But I consider it optimistic to say that "It can't get any worse for players."
I would say, in the short run (through the end of this year and into the second quarter of next year), game development will likely slow to a crawl. I expect Plarium to put even more energy into the money grab that has been going on all year.
Thank you for sharing your perspective from a game dev side! Appreciate the insight.
Yep. Boozor talked about it some hours ago
Your comments about companies trying to sell themselves is spot on. Of course these actions make them look financially good in the short term, but are terrible for the long term health of the company. But they don't care. They are selling the company.
_"The total consideration for the sale comprises:"_
This section of the article shown from 1:48 to 4:54 says it all... "Contingent consideration of up to" and "subject to" usually means in order to get the full amount, they have to meet certain income levels from the purchased company. And since that would have to come from Plarium's games, of which Raid is the superstar, and that amount has to be far more than the contingent consideration amount (up to $200 Million) before they would pay that amount, I would say there is little to no chance that raid will go away any time soon. Don't forget, it's a Free to Play game, but it's also a _Cash Cow..._
You should never say, "Things can't get worse."
I'm hoping that one of the first things the new owners do, is reach out to the players and CCs and ask what can truly improve the game!
Lol I just commented on your "it's dead" video and now here I am getting all hopeful again! Seriously, thanks for all you do! =)
I'm glad they sold it this game has so much potential and deserves better people at the helm 🎉🎉🎉let's go
yesterday's video made me feel like "the light at the end of the tunnel has been permanently extinguished" and today's video makes me feel like "don't count us out just yet...the light is still flickering" Really great news!!!!
I think this is good news. MTG owns snowprint studio and they are known for their game warhammer 40k: tacticus i have played that game for a few years and that game is great.
Wow, this really crazy! I just hope nothing inane happens with Plarium. As of lately there's been quite a lot of unnecessary chances to the game, a lot of which I do not like.
Im a firm believer that reputation is everything in a business
Reputation doesn't pay the bills
@@garethunsworth4623it can do, but it doesn't seem to be for Plarium, it just depends on the nature of the bills, reputation doesn't pay a 1 time bill of 1M, but, it might pay 100k a year for 10 years, it just depends on if MTG see this is a cash in or a long time game, but buying it in this situation suggests to me, that they want a long term game, because they aren't going to be able to meaningfully cash in before raid dies if they continue the trend here
@@garethunsworth4623 L
I don’t see corporations as benevolent entities. I see them as vacuums looking to suck up any money they can find. This new group wasn’t probably thinking of buying Raid and doing anything that would make it less profitable. A company isn’t human and they don’t put players’ feelings over profits. Now, can they earn more money by making the game less of a gamble? Would more people spending but at lower levels increase profits? I’m pretty sure the krakens are all a game needs. F2P could all quit…we don’t compete against Krakens/whales in arena or CvC, for the most part…so the spenders wouldn’t even know we were gone. Content creators wouldn’t like it though.
If they implement custom pvp matches the new company can blow up in the competitive market. Of course ive been saying this before live arena was released
The thing about Raid is that gambling is at the core of it. Literally every action you take is a gamble, and money increases your odds of getting something good. I don't see the new company changing the gambling aspect of the game, unless they plan on remaking it from the ground up.
Shard pulls % increase takes about 5 secs and is already better for us without changing anything major
Gambling is part of the appeal and success, but it should be balanced and plarium definitely seems to have pushed across the boundaries the last few months.
Unless Plarium were the true evil masterminds all along there's no way things can get worse for Raid.
To be totally honest, youtubers should all collab together and make a shout to everyone to not spend money till the new year. Which is around 2 months, so they see the dip in revenue and have to listen.
People did this in fifa last year and forced fifa to change stuff
You should do a video on the highest popularity the game has ever had and what you would do to get the game back to that point. How would you change the game to make it go above and beyond that.
I was waiting for your take on this, especially after your recent video.
You can be absolutely certain the price of every item and pack for sale in the game will go up. The first thing every company that buy another company do is cut expenses and raise price. Expect staff to start dropping and that $19.99 pack will go up to $23.99
Other thought other than the bad decisions being due to Palarium milking things before the sale, is that the best way to be seen in a good light is to fix a bunch of problems. And how better to do that than create a problem so it can be fixed. So just putting it out there, get the current owners to mess it up and then the new owners come in and save the day (not by doing anything new, just by reversing some bad choices)
Hopefully this will be a good thing and things get better especially hydra
Only time will tell If it is a completely new beginning or the end of an era.
Hopefully they work with the community to help create a more positive vibe after their recent shenanigans.
I have played MTG since Revised addition, but dropped out briefly due to personal issues. They have always put out a good product
Let's hope for best.
I think this could end up being a positive move for us players. They sold Plarium to a company that actually makes games exclusively and not slot machines lol
Maybe they'll flesh out the story and lore. I've thought for years that there's huge potential for it. Something like a game of thrones or Witcher style series. Or lord of the rings style movie. Even a game on consoles like dragon age or Skyrim. We saw what happened with fallout 4 when the fallout series came out. Tie in mobile rewards with a bigger more in depth game on consoles and pc. Both could get more traffic. There's massive potential for someone that has the money and willing to risk it
Personally I'd love to see it get turned into a dynasty warriors type of game
One of the biggest changes will be whether the new owners are so sanguine about having a major CC who is building a rival game.
Hopefully they'll analyze the shittiness of the fusion schedule this last couple of times. Having a dungeon diver event with only one dungeon that syncs with it, but requiring more than two full dungeon tournaments worth of points and energy is incredibly bad. And then having THREE of them plus three artifact enhancement events. Two of the costliest things in terms of time and resources in a fusion schedule. Freaking insane. At least bring back the double dungeon tournaments with each dungeon diver event, so we aren't forced to waste gems on energy for no real benefit. I'm so close to quitting this game after 5 years and the new ownership could be a good thing if they make some good changes in a few key areas. Not just fusions.
Makes sense, the higher ups want to abandon ship before anyone realizes there is a leak in the Titanic. Hopefully the next group can fix and right the ship.
I play Warhammer tacticus & it’s a really good game. Snowprint under these new guys runs this game … maybe a this is a good thing thing then.
it is not a good game, warhammer 4k was the best, the strategy one on pc
Warhammer tacticus is legit a game you play for 5min a day before you run out of things to do.
I have been an end-game player in FOE for Innogames (MTG). They have a much better understanding of the value of in-game community engagement then Plarium. So this might be a good move for Raid..
I would imagine this new company wont be in profit mode.
Raid monthly income was about 10-20m a month which annually is 240m tops and was bought for 1.2b.
This is a good evaluation. All industries have different ways of getting the worth of a company. Simply put it typically takes net/gross income and adds a multiplier to it as low as 1x and i have seen some companies sell as high as 10x again depending on industry.
With that said this seems from a financial standpoint that they paid top dollar meaning that they think future is bright. It will take them 2-3years to break even
Bloons is Bloons tower defense, but I believe theyve somewhat expanded that franchise to include other types of gameplay other than just tower defense. I'm cautiously optimistic. MTG seem like an amazing fit for raid, but with any purchase of a live service game, theres always a concern that they further put their foot on the gas for monotization
This actually gives me some hope. Makes a lot of sense with their recent behavior.
I am so glad they are Swedish. If it was China, I would have quit then and there. That being said, I really hope they have some sense and do some things that will get some positivity back in the community.
left raid when they introduced the blessing system, but still check on HH's channel every so often because I enjoy him and also checking if its worth to come back or not we shall see if selling plarium will push the game to a good direction
Okay, but nobody buys anything like this without expecting to make money from it somehow.
So sure, they bought Plarium, but does that specifically mean they're interested in keeping Raid as a game with the idea it'll still be profitable, or are they just looking at looting the talent of Plarium for other projects??
I know I've dreamed of a better company being at the helm of this game - I'm just really hoping this is actually that.
I hope packs are cheaper and odds are better. I used to spend alot until its just gross to spend $50 on one pack of shards to maybeee get a leggo
I agree and disagree. I think it could but really don't know without seeing all the info. To see a percentage of players who contribute Vs those who do not or very little. Granted there are some krakens in the ocean. Also i very much doubt krakens would spend any less. Its more so an addiction for them they will spend it any way. Plus with so many champs still wouldn't be as easy to get the champs they don't have
Interesting that this follows your state of the game video yesterday..
I used to play Forge Of Empires. Since the new company owns that game, I am not filled with a ton of hope because they made stupid decisions with that game which led to all my clan quitting. Unless Plarium keeps full control of the game but is less pressured to maximise profits like from the last company, maybe they will do better.
I hope the new company understands how absurd the prices in this game are. I'd spend a lot more money on this game if I felt the price was worth it
I think from business perspective the game part of raid is a tool of generating revenue. As such, for me it's more logical that we see more raid like monitization in other games than lowering the heat or investing more in the if that doesn't come with monitization increase
Thank god. Let's hope for change, because i almost gave up on Raid entirely.
I think this will be a very good thing for RSL players going forward.
Hopefully new owners will reverse the nerfs 🙏🙏🙏♥️♥️
They need to bring Raid to consoles now.
Bloons and ninjakiwi do a great job with community, imo. Sounds good to me
This was fire sale. 4.5x EBITDA multiple is very low compared to other gaming companies sales (over 15x, usually). Effectively, they think they will be able to milk Raid for a bit and then have some synergies with rest of the group. Even with the earn-out (=MTG does not believe Plarium's business plan) the multiple would be only 5.9x.
I hope this results in a better gaming expereince. Get rid of some of the Plarium chuff that hinder progress.
a lot of people talk about how no one will buy a dying game , of course the raid is not dying, but if it continues like it did in the previous 2 months, it will surely fail
as they say, it can't get worse than this or all the players will leave if this continues,I don't understand how they don't understand that they need to lower the prices so that more people can buy and therefore everyone would be more satisfied, no one took care of making skins and selling them like Riot does
so many possibilities to make money on this game with low prices to make it accessible to everyone
but the most important thing is to listen the players. and one important thing, as Bllizzard did, is to determine a group of people who will test each Patch and each change so that we don't have things happen to us like with the Hydra changes and many previous changes that were very bad like for example when they make a new champion they put it on progressive chance a lot of people spend money to get it and later nerf it
I hope that the new company will listen to their players
I played Top Drives before coming to Raid. It was a good game till they sold out. This should be interesting to see what happens with Raid now.
This is good news. I have hope for this game now. Make this a game, not a casino game.
If it's the same company as forge of empires then they will be turning the pay tape on to the max ...
Ninja Kiwi has an AMAZING model in Bloons. lets hope they rework raid to be more like Bloons
I'm actually glad. I was starting to worry that Plarium where pushing the game I to the ground.
Used to play top drives.. and it was worse than raid for being a money sink. You couldn't play half the game if you didn't buy a tonne of packs constantly.
MTG is swedish company, nordics have bit better morale than southern countries, there is slight chance that things are getting better.
Beyond upset. I was at 201 for ancients. Pulled 30. I've saved them for awhile. No legend, no under priest.
Used my 12 sacreds I saved. Pulled wyrmeater.
Garbage game with garbage odds
sorry you lost all them Sacreds mate,. for real. i told myself ima save my 10 and stack up to at least 50 before being tempted to pull anymore.
@sterlingkayon84 I think that's what it has to be. But I swear there is a hidden algorithm. If you didn't spend money, it pulls from a different set of champs
I see they've used a picture of a Trunda Hydra team to announce their purchase :)
If Raid was a cash cow to build Aristocrats mobile brand it will be used the same way with the new owner. That influx of cash going forward will help fuel their growth too but i just hope they look to the long term viability of the game.
Wonder if this was why my daily cb reset countdown was 1hr behind today. Then straight into maintenance lol
I played bloons ( ninja kiwi). i see there's some monitized but not as
Bad as plarium . Maybe its a good thing.
largely depends on how independent plarium was under the old guys when it came to making changes/monetization, and how independent they will be under the new people. If it's been Plarium more than the parent company calling the shots mostly and that remains the same then we may not see much of a difference, but only time will tell
Not related to the topic - I got in the game with a referral code that gave me Rector Drath. And in the last couple of days I got two more copies of her with note that it's from a referral program. That looks like a bug of sorts. Would I lose them? Can I progress them?
Things actually have a chance to get better now, so regardless of who bought them, there is now a chance atleast.
Hope the new owners listen to us
Super happy to see plarium in new hands, especially in the hands of a gaming company not gambling company, the bloons TD games are great with perfectly balanced monetized gameplay. Cant wait to see what happens
Same. Not heard of MTG before, or their other games but be very interesting to see what happens as well.
There's a possibility that they won't change a whole lot. And use raid as a learning tool to better monetize their current games?
@ I doubt they’d buy a company for 800 million dollars to use it as a learning opportunity, my guess is they want the game to stay alive and kicking as long as possible and them being a gaming company most likely mean they know how to listen to their players more than a gambling company.
They are a gaming company, but not known for a "good games and approach towards the player". They build addictive games that requires $ in order to do anything further the initial hook (first few days of fun) :)
@ I wouldn’t agree with that at all lol, the bloons games are great even for someone who spends nothing in the game :) no super familiar with their other games but I doubt they are greedier than a gambling company.
I dont think there will be a big change, I mean it is still Plarium. I worked as an artist for Innogames working on Forge of empires for over 5 years. Never heard of MTG
So the question becomes is it worth coming back?
Hope things go well for the game moving forward. I’m still leaving the game when my clan and I move to Godforge.