Too Human Developer Given $4 Million Grant

Greg Tito

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Sep 29, 2005
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Too Human Developer Given $4 Million Grant



Silicon Knights, Canadian developer of Too Human [http://www.amazon.com/Too-Human-Xbox-360/dp/B000R0SS3Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278536053&sr=1-1], was given a $4 million federal grant to help make a AAA game.

While we keep hearing about governments giving tax credits to game development companies, the Canadian government has taken a different tack by offering cash to help create game design jobs and foster a vibrant game community north of the border. Silicon Knights is located in St. Catharine's, Ontario, which is just across the border from Buffalo, NY and Niagara Falls. Silicon Knights released Too Human on the Xbox 360 in 2008, as well as Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes [http://www.amazon.com/Metal-Gear-Solid-Snakes-game-cube/dp/B0000A09EN/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278536018&sr=1-1] for the Nintendo Gamecube. The company currently employs 100 people, but, with this grant, they plan to add over 65 more jobs. Company president Denis Dyack said that he couldn't divulge what game Silicon Knights is currently working on, and that the grant will do much to secure the area as a high-tech hub.

"This is going to benefit Silicon Knights in ways that are profound and long-lasting," Dyack said. "We are blown away and we're happy with the support we're getting. It is something that couldn't have come at a better time." He went on:

"In our industry, you have to be very careful never to announce anything until the right time. We can only say it's a next generation title and a high production value game," Dyack said. "That's all we can say."

The local federal representative for the area, called an MP or Member of Parliament in Canada, Rick Dykstra [http://www.rickdykstra.ca/] acknowledged that it might seem strange for taxpayer money to benefit a private company, but that it is legal if there are no competing local companies. Silicon Knights is the only AAA game developer in the region of Niagara, and the entire province of Ontario for that matter.

"Their growth and their success is very important to our community," Dykstra said. "Not only in terms of job creation but also in terms of attracting and retaining the types of highly skilled workers Niagara needs to prosper. This isn't going to have a negative impact on any other companies in Ontario. What it's going to do is build this company up to the point where it's going to create 65 jobs and longer-term jobs down the road."

The grant is part of several federal investments in the high-tech field in the area, with funding going to Brock University and Niagara College as well as a recent $3 million grant to nGen [http://ngen-niagara.com/en/content/home/about/], the Niagara Interactive Media Generator.

As Walter Sendzik from the St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce put it, "We are going to be known as the gaming capital of Canada."

Source: Welland Tribune [http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2529331]

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Brad Shepard

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Sep 9, 2009
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There going to need a hell of a lot more then 4 million to make a AAA game if its part 2 of Too human...
 

reg42

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Mar 18, 2009
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Hopefully an Eternal Darkness remake or sequel? You know, so I can actually play it.
 

Deofuta

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Nov 10, 2009
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I assume they will be pooling this money into development of a longer, more elaborate death scene.
 

cuddly_tomato

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I already posted about this in another thread, but I want to get this off my chest here.

Firstly, there are shit loads of game developers in Ontario.

http://mikecorey.gamegoose.ca/canadianProvinceOntarioCompanies.php

Which makes all this...

, but that it is legal if there are no competing local companies. Silicon Knights is the only AAA game developer in the region of Niagara, and the entire province of Ontario for that matter.

"Their growth and their success is very important to our community," Dykstra said. "Not only in terms of job creation but also in terms of attracting and retaining the types of highly skilled workers Niagara needs to prosper. This isn't going to have a negative impact on any other companies in Ontario."
Crap.

Secondly, this is pure bullcrap. They are giving money to a badly managed game company (Too Human, like or not, was a commercial disaster), who have been backed by both Microsoft and Nintendo (and they still are part owned by Nintendo) ostensibly to help them be a success. They have been there already and they blew it. Why will this time be any different? Also, how many of those 65 new jobs are going to be given to the 30 people they fired last year?

Thirdly, Silicon Knights have never been able to develop a game on time and on budget for their entire history. Even their better games over-ran both. It would be in the best interests of gaming to let them go belly-up and the more talented developers move on to other companies.

Fourthly, they are embroiled in a messy legal action with Epic, who are in a much more comfortable position. If the courts find in favour of Epic, are the Canadian Taxpayers going to be bailing out Silicon Knights for infringement of copyright of the Unreal engine?
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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Too Human 2 could be good. Don't discount it yet...

I mean, Red Steel was shit. Red Steel 2 is...great.
 

D_987

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I really hope it's the promised sequel to Too Human - that game got a lot of undeserved hate. The story was poor and not very well explained - but the combat was fast, exciting and addictive - add in a competent loot system with large amounts of custermization and co-op play and you have a game with a lot of replayability. The graphics weren't the best, but the large, epic environments and terrific soundtrack made up for that - the fact the art design was excellent doesn't hurt either.

Hype really hurt this game, but I have to wonder how many of those haters have actually given the game a fair chance...
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Well that's alot of cash. Let's hope there own Capital will be Enoch to make that title.

They have the potntial, I'll give them that, but I'd they can actually pull it off...something else
 

Aptspire

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Mar 13, 2008
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Greg Tito said:
Too Human Developer Given $4 Million Grant

As Walter Sendzik from the St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce put it, "We are going to be known as the gaming capital of Canada."

Source: Welland Tribune [http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2529331]

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The gaming capital of Canada? As someone living in the province of Quebec, with Ubisoft Montreal, namely (Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell) I have to say:
Oh, Really?
 

NickCaligo42

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Oct 7, 2007
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Brad Shepard said:
There going to need a hell of a lot more then 4 million to make a AAA game if its part 2 of Too human...
Given that the average AAA game costs more than twelve or fifteen times that much, yeah, I'd certainly say so.
 

H0ncho

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Feb 4, 2008
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Hah! Proof subsidies doesn't work. The next time a politician talks about how you need to "invest in America/Canada/Europe" or "support our companies" or shit like that, remember this incident. And keep in mind that politicians are no better at picking the bests car/bank/manufacturing-company than they are at picking the best gaming company.

/politics
 

SavingPrincess

Bringin' Text-y Back
Feb 17, 2010
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Greg Tito said:
Too Human Developer Given $4 Million Grant
Bad headline. Yes, Too Human was awful, but this is also the same developer that brought us Eternal Darkness and the original Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Silicon Knights has the writing staff to deliver an incredible narrative, so hopefully those extra 65 jobs will be in the game mechanic design department. I applaud this and hope that something wonderful can come from it.
 

Matt_LRR

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Nov 30, 2009
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Just to add some context, the federal government providing arts funding to canadian companies and artists is pretty common. The Government has a mandate to support the creation of artistic and cultural works produced by canadians - our media and culture is so innundated by art and media from the states that this sort of thing is essentially neccessary to keep our own cultural works from drowning under all the american media being imported. It's very hard to make a go of things as a canadian artist, because it's virtually impossible to export to the states, and you're competing against everything that's being imported.

So insofar as the government provinding a sizable grant to a game development studio is concerned, I see little issue (in fact, I'd go so far as to call it progressive, considering that an arts grant signifies recognintion of games as an artistic medium.)

whether or not I think Sk was really the company to give it to though is another question entirely, but arts grant allocation is rarely handled by the government in a partcularly well considered fashion. They frequently provide grants to already self-sustaining artists, rather than to emerging artists to give them a leg up.

As far as C_T's question about bailing them out - no, they're a private company, it's their responsibility to keep themselves afloat and deal with legal issues. The money given is strictly to support the creation of work, and the size and scope of such grants is typically pretty limited.

-m