The Rise and Fall of Homefront

gamers at the height of their popularity throughout the 2000s military shooters typically emphasized the plight of enlisted soldiers most were shooting galleries wherein players gunned down faceless foes with abandon across many historical or fictional battlefields little attention was paid to the human cost of war including the destruction of civilian life and the emotional turmoil that comes with being on the receiving end of a foreign enemy's hostility there were occasional outliers like the controversial no russian mission in 2009's call of duty modern warfare 2. yet a mainstream first-person military shooter wouldn't centralize the human cost of war on the civilian level until chaos studios and publisher thq unleashed homefront in the spring of 2011. carefully nestled within the core of the original home front was a hard-hitting shooter that immersed players in action and occasionally elicited emotional investment arguably for the first time players felt unbridled hate for their virtual enemies on the battlefield a field of war that to a lot of gamers specifically those in the united states looked a little too much like home while chaos succeeded on this front and in spades some would argue a sequel from dambuster studios failed to similarly hit the mark in many respects 2016's homefront the revolution neglected to adhere to the framework that outlined its predecessors various victories as a result this once promising series about a troubling though implausible near future conflict fell flat before it could truly leave a lasting impact on the genre it was designed to reinvigorate this is the rise and fall of homefront [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] established in 2005 as an internally owned thq developer the new york city-based chaos studios was co-founded by frank delis a 3d artist who spearheaded the desert combat mod for battlefield 1942. the mod converted battlefield 1942's world war ii assets into contemporary tanks and planes as well as tweaked gameplay for a fast-paced experience in a 2013 interview with cg press delese noted that desert combat began as a fantasy project with a group of 10 people an impressive feat for a mod that went under garner 3 million downloads delisa's team then known as trauma studios quickly caught the attention of battlefield developer dice resulting in trauma being asked to aid in the design of battlefield 2 and prototype future gameplay mechanics for the franchise in the midst of it all dice acquired trauma outright the union wasn't long lived though primarily due to publisher electronic arts purchase of dice several months thereafter former trauma producer joe halper told shaq news in 2007 the crew would have been required to relocate to dice's stockholm headquarters the lease instead began pitching what would eventually become frontline's fuel of war to other publishers of them all thq seemed the best publisher out there for fostering new ideas the least divulged to gamespot in 2006. upon establishing chaos studios under the thq umbrella the co-founder brought in core members from trauma development on front fuel of war began in 2005. with this ambitious first-person shooter chaos sought to combine battlefield's non-linear action with a concentrated gameplay of call of duty despite the robust multiplayer suite that would enrich the experience chaos and thq most notably touted the game's single-player campaign an intriguing tale heavily inspired by the real world geopolitical relations between china and russia these bold ideas ultimately culminated in an imperfect execution of the creative team's dream project in spite of chaos best efforts front lines didn't light the world on fire neither its sales nor the critical reception were anything to write home about but these shortcomings never dissuaded the studio from pursuing another ambitious military shooter although things would be different the second go-round chaos kick-started early work on homefront in 2008 not too long after shipping its debut project three key goals were targeted each meant to set it apart from competitors like call of duty a distinctive setting that prioritized civilian life cinematic action coupled with impactful in-game storytelling and unique military technology above all else homefront's premise and emphasis on narrative sat at the epicenter of its appeal according to lead level designer rex dixon the objective was to avoid regurgitating a cloned project of other popular shooters since countless developers had been gunning for call of duty's and halo's market share chaos believed audiences were desperate for someone to inject a new bit of creativity into the fps formula the studio's multiplayer expertise meant it had to look elsewhere for storytelling inspiration considering the standards set by valve's half-life 2 the crew at chaos thought it the best model for what they aimed to achieve half-life 2's influences are evident in homefront's core themes the oppressed citizenry voiceless protagonist and general camera work constitute a few examples similar to valve's opus before it chaos wanted homefront to weave an engaging tale with a deeper world compared to that of other contemporary fps games an occupied united states in the near future became the means to accomplish such a feat this proved a simple enough premise but trouble lied in identifying which nation should serve as the occupying foreign power china and russia seem the most realistic options and at first the company set its site on assigning china the role of antagonistic superpower however ghq executives swiftly dismissed the idea speaking with kotaku ahead of homefront's release thq's executive vice president of core games danny bilson suggested china was too scary yet simultaneously not scary enough players needed to believe the invading country would have reason to launch an attack on american soil in the next decade china bilson reasoned is america's factory given that much of the nation's products are made in the east asian country the executive admitted there did exist a secondary motive behind placing another nation at the center of homefront's conflict personnel within the publishers chinese office allegedly warned that chaos's original vision could lead to thq's western leaders being banned from ever entering china ex-chaos staff members later shared with gama sutra that bilson forced a unified korea into the role of homefront's antagonist according to the sources thq especially feared jeopardizing future business endeavors in china since it had just begun extending greater opportunities to western-based developers thinking north korea unlikely to obtain such a foothold even in a fictional world chaos creatives pitched the concept of an alliance of asian nations overtaking america again bilson refused to change his stance effectively guaranteeing an air of skepticism around home fronts already complicated in-game politics fm kpar 88.3 it's another beautiful day in the colorado territory with the basic concept nailed down the creative team needed someone to assist in ironing out all the overarching narrative and finer details one instrumental piece of the puzzle was the hiring of apocalypse now and red dawn scribe john milius thq announced milius as writer of the game's script upon unveiling homefront in may of 2009 however this detail wasn't entirely based in fact during e3 2009 lead designer aaron daly clarified that milius's role could be better defined as that of a story consultant who visited chaos once a month to provide feedback on narrative structure characters and pacing milius's most transformative contribution resided in his discouraging developers from positioning players as a traditional soldier who participates in the reclamation of the u.s the famed writer and director instead encouraged chaos to craft an intimate adventure thus homefront followed a resistance group comprised of everyday civilians as they navigated a harrowing journey delivering jet fuel from colorado to u.s forces stationed in san francisco as a military historian milius's insight also proved invaluable with regards to resistance operations for instance he detailed how resistance fighters would devise certain schemes an effort to establish a semblance of authenticity this realism additionally transferred to the behaviors of individual characters regular people thrust into a violent conflict that inevitably saw moral conundrums bubble to the surface homefront's resistance fighters consequently argued about tactics and questioned whether their actions were noble or ruthless still chaos showed restraint and its unwillingness to cross certain lines though one mission features a mother and her baby hunkered behind cover during a shootout between warring factions the developers couldn't kill the defenseless bystanders in a 2010 interview with kotaku dixon justified their survival by noting that enemy soldiers were more focused on dispatching the resistance not every npc had as much built-in luck chaos crafted homefront's unsettling sequences to evoke emotion in players which perhaps explains the horrific opening segment it showed the protagonists thrown on a bus by korean soldiers along with a handful of other captives including a woman and her crying child throughout the bus ride's duration the group passes scenes of senseless brutality featuring the victimization of american citizens by enemy forces one man is gunned down near the bus while bloody remnants of his execution stain the window the mother in the back painfully instructs her child not to look seconds later players see a parent executed on a street corner their little boy screeching in agony feet away sequences of this nature are tough to watch especially with a controller in hand when there's no course of action to take by establishing an uncomfortable tone early on chaos hinted to players that they were in for something other than the shooting galleries they'd become accustomed to and still call of duty cast a long shadow that homefront had difficulty escaping modern warfare 2 hit store shelves several months after homefront's unveiling at e3 showcase infinity ward's opus raised a fair number of moral questions in its own right with players battling through a war-torn version of america's capital city to wrest control from invading russian forces chaos studios continue to tout the uniqueness of its tale however in an interview with psm3 magazine general manager dave otipka invoked half-life 2's influence while further discussing fundamental differences between homefront and modern warfare 2. votipka referred to the american infinity ward sequel as empty completely void of humanity it was just a bunch of soldiers fighting with a backdrop of america he argued ultimately gamers would decide who came out on top in the war of thought-provoking military shooters chaos hoped to produce a distinctive online experience as well but details concerning homefront's multiplayer remained sparse for a considerable period of time in fact talk of online features from the studio remained under wraps until the year after the title's original announcement when chaos finally opened up its ambitions were clear dedicated servers on console and pc were integral to the online offerings the same held true for large-scale warfare influenced by front lines according to frank delis many tools used in frontline's multiplayer made their way into homefront chaos developers still managed to up the ante though ground control mode for example boasted the ability to host 32 players at once battle points the in-game economy embedded within homefront's multiplayer ensured it stood out further players earned battle points by completing objectives and defeating enemies purchasable weapons and items were by no means a novel idea having been prominent in games like counter-strike what chaos added to the formula was each player's ability to purchase and unlock items during a match in turn waiting for a loading string was no longer necessary players could simply buy items on the fly with battle points although chaos did limit their relatively inventive addition to weapons and drones meaning players needed to wait for spawn screens to purchase vehicles all in all chaos's efforts in developing the single player and multiplayer campaigns culminated in an appreciable amount of success for its second outing as a th-owned developer homefront landed on the pc ps3 and xbox 360 to middling review scores in march 2011 but moved an impressive 1 million copies in its first week on the market gamers and critics alike agree that while the premise of a war-torn america warranted praise the story and accompanying guerrilla mechanics failed to stick the landing many took issue with the concept of a greater korean republic this particular topic plagued the discourse surrounding homefront in the months leading up to launch gaming press questioned the plausibility of kim jong-un uniting north and south korea annexing other asian territories and further debilitating and already economically weakened america some also felt at odds with the manner in which chaos delivered the narrative with the single-player campaign clocking in at four to six hours gamers by and large considered homefront too short it didn't help that the generally atmospheric storytelling and gameplay devolved into a typical fps shooting gallery as the game clock wound down yet there were those who disagreed believing the characters and bold narrative choices worth the cost of entry there was hardly no discontent when it came to the game's online suite of features many a reviewer and player felt chaos's multiplayer expertise truly shined evolving what worked in front lines to present an experience that overshadowed the heavily marketed offline adventure overall the project held great potential the promise of something special to come unfortunately chaos would never return to its depiction of a korean occupied [Music] america [Music] in june 2011 chaos designer and writer zack wilson announced news of the developers closure on social media team members were hearing grumblings of a shutdown and had long suspected such an outcome was inevitable the publisher soon confirmed the decision itself telling press that future work on the nasa and homefront series would shift to a newly founded thq montreal studio these details hardly caught anyone on staff by surprise earlier in the year chaos employees had expressed concerns over a potential studio closure one widespread fear was that if homefront failed to meet expectations thq would either lay off chaos staff or transfer them to the montreal-based facility general manager dave otipka did little to allay their worries in a statement to the uk magazine then known as develop votipa divulged the plan had always been to use the montreal office for prospective chaos endeavors montreal was a lower cost center compared to the exorbitant expenses involved in maintaining a studio in new york city therefore thq's decision to shutter chaos in the months following this revelation seemed exclusively based on cost-cutting measures according to several employees there was more to the story than what thq and chaos executives let on former chaos developers spoke with gamasutra in 2012 under the condition of anonymity claiming that chaos's troubles began when the studio staffed up to prepare for full production on homefront allegedly what followed were a series of major resignations poor management practices and an unhealthy studio culture competing with call of duty was risky business by 2008 in terms of expenses involved thq took the challenge in stride establishing a pillar strategy governed by a division devoted to developing core games hollywood writer and director danny bilson joined as executive bp of the core games arm then became increasingly involved with homefront some ex-staffers argued he was too hands-on apparently the title served as bilson's pet project and a good representation of thq's core ambitions needless to say the pressure for ks to deliver was high to achieve thq's lofty goals chaos expanded considerably one shrewd recruiter filled the crew with seasoned industry veterans a number of whom were more qualified than the senior staff but bringing in talent of this caliber didn't ease the burden it raised costs and left studio leaders floundering as they failed to properly adapt to growth and the studio's need to develop higher end products continued mismanagement resulted in stress leading to high staff turnover homefront suffered mightily with one x employee alleging that production on the main game wrapped within one year two years of the three-year development cycle were squandered on ideas that never worked out including a single-player prototype that chaos scrapped after nine months the departure of co-founder frank delis landed the heaviest blow as the heart of chaos is accept caused a dip in morale exacerbated by a revolving door of managers and senior staff chaos finally stabilized with the hiring of dave vettipka as general manager though he got along well with employees gama sutras sources believed votipka was in over his head due to the incompetence of previous gm's he seemed overwhelmed from the start amid all of the behind-the-scenes drama thq still expected chaos to deliver an experience rivaling activision's flagship franchise other factors made the herculean task harder to balance thq's danny bilson for instance adopted a creative role in homefront's development while his input elevated the marketing campaign and various directorial elements the team noted a few shortcomings in addition to his insistence on north korea as the occupying force bilson who had no experience in game development regularly gave unproductive feedback about gameplay mechanics former staffers also referred to as public comments as upsetting which came to a head following leaks about crunch practices reportedly minimal expectations for all employees equaled six months of 12-hour shifts six to seven days each week most worked more and many staffers followed the schedule for 14 months an unhealthy work culture fueled by an inhumane and combative leadership made matters worse in publicly addressing the crunch claims bilson insisted these practices were ingrained in studio culture his statement didn't go over well other ex-staffers rose to his defense though feeling he was being unfairly vilified bilson cared deeply for chaos they insisted and vouched for the team when thq first questioned its viability there was nothing bilson could do to save the studio however ghq investors had reportedly grown impatient with the publisher's financial struggles chaos ultimately took the first hit another source claimed the team's fate was truly sealed once word got out about votipa seeking job opportunities elsewhere regardless of the finer details chaos didn't stand a chance yet at that point at least there was still hope for homefront back in here this is actually uh one of the sound rooms uh right now our audio guy works upon shuttering chaos studios in the summer of 2011 thq charged the montreal office with overseeing subsequent plans for homefront the publisher dissolved this arrangement within months handing over care of a homefront follow-up to crytek uk the crytek own studio that went by free radical design in its time splinters days unable to offer concrete details at the time the company shared their intentions of releasing a new homefront by the end of march 2014 for consoles and pc in addition crytek's former ceo chavat yearly made promises of an innovative interpretation of the series's captivating world the partnership between crytek and thq took an interesting turn once the latter filed for bankruptcy in december of 2012. in an apparent attempt to forestall the inevitable thq secured investment funds from private equity firm clear lake capital group the firm consequently acquired all of the publishers assets meanwhile its myriad projects including the homefront sequel were still in various stages of development court documents concerning the agreement revealed thq had rather high hopes for crytek uk's homefront project the sequel was notably slated to release in 2013 with thq projecting sales of 4 million not too lofty considering the original sold through 2.6 million units before the closing of chaos studios yet another major shift occurred the following january clear lake capital group agreed to auction off thq assets on a title-by-title basis crytek bid approximately 544 thousand dollars on the homefront ip acquiring the property outright while production on the follow-up hadn't skipped a beat a new wrinkle entered the mix early in june of 2014. days ahead of that year's e3 crytek formally announced homefront the revolution a title it intended to launch on the pc playstation 4 and xbox one in 2015. dead island publisher deeb silver came on board as co-publisher according to clemens kundertits ceo of deep silver's parent company koch media such an alliance would take home front to new heights that much appeared to hold true based on homefront the revolution's announcement trailer which teased a free-roaming adventure and open-ended gameplay options long gone were the days of the inaugural entry's linear scripted and cinematic levels designer fasahad saleem admitted to polygon during e3 2014 that had the project remained under thq supervision crytek uk would have stayed true to the series's linear routes acquiring the ip gave the team complete creative freedom motivating them to reconsider the best course of action an open world homefront set in philadelphia four years after korea invaded the united states is the idea that one out as evidenced by its title the new installment carved out a revolutionary tale one starring a man named ethan brady who players were to follow in his journey from average civilian to radical patriot symbolically representing the birthplace of american independence made philadelphia the perfect setting the korean people's army or kpa adopted it as their capital a conspicuous statement of intent that countless u.s citizens refused to ignore crytek uk employed this premise to then inform much of homefront the revolution's core gameplay systems brady's trek to becoming a radical member of the resistance more or less involved emboldening other residents of philadelphia to join the fight as well throughout the campaign players were supposed to accrue uprising points for provoking the occupied city's mob such tasks could be accomplished by dispatching guards destroying security cameras and similarly destructive behaviors riling up the mob would lead to the harassment of guards creating an opportunity for players to take advantage of the distraction and complete objectives these types of gorilla tactics served as crytek uk's way of encouraging a limited reliance on gunplay approaching combat encounters by charging in guns blazing while doable was not the ideal strategy developers claimed the kpa armed with superior weapons drones and technology easily overpowered the comparatively rudimentary equipment used by the resistance and as demonstrated in the e3 2014 demo players would take part in constructing the resistance as weaponry by finding salvage in the open world in short crytek uk designed mechanics around the notion that every player should get brady in and out of missions without alerting his foes the uk team built homefront the revolution's expansive open world by pushing the ever-impressive cryengine to its limits in doing so three different zones were created to fill out the in-game map of philadelphia the yellow zone represented somewhat of a ghetto meanwhile the red zone assumed the form of an off-limits larger district bombed out and long been abandoned finally the green zone was designed to look recognizable a relatively stable area replete with well-known landmarks narratively the kpa divided the city for purposes of population control but players would still have been able to wreak a considerable amount of havoc across the solo campaign and co-op missions the studio designed four-player co-op to take place in the same world for all players where the actions of one could affect the whole squad though teammates would have had the option of roaming around separately or together crytek uk had something intriguing in the works and the chunks of gameplay shown during e3 2014 indicated homefront the revolution boasted the dna of a crisis game embedded within its open-ended gameplay easily customizable gun attachments and stunning graphics sadly gamers never got the chance to truly explore the studio's original vision in the months leading up to e3 2014 crytek as a whole reportedly began losing staff in droves a number of employees informed kotaku the company wasn't paying workers on time developers from crytek's germany and uk divisions also described unstable work environments beset by poor communication and a litany of senior staff departures though representatives denied as much crytek was buckling under the way to financial woes spurred on in part by a dispute with microsoft concerning the rights to rise said disagreement allegedly resulted in microsoft pulling funding for a rise sequel which subsequently landed on the cutting room floor unexpectedly losing a multi-million dollar deal put crytek in a bind given its reliance on contract work from big publishers as an independent business as opposed to laying off staff amid its various financial struggles crytek chose to delay paychecks but late payments continued to mount leaving employees exceedingly worried thus several of them spoke out anonymously in hopes the published stories would incite change within the studios though the reports went public in the weeks following e3 nothing changed by the time july rolled around according to sources via another kataku report an estimated 100 employees left the studios crytek finally addressed the rumors at the end of july 2014 to share details regarding a new transitional phase deep silvers and koch media's acquisition of the homefront ip arguably constituted the biggest news of note to complete production on homefront the revolution deep silver established dam buster studios in nottingham england because crytek shuttered its uk development house previous staff were transferred to the dambuster team in accordance with the country's employment regulations fans eager to see more of the new homefront title in action for a knowingly and for a relatively long now wait welcome a shining example of the new america on the horizon who'd like to say a few words of gratitude koch media ceo clements kundertits issued an update on homefront the revolution's progress in the spring of 2015. despite his assurance that the iep acquisition allowed production to proceed at full speed with minimal disruption kendrick hitz revealed plans to push the game out of its nebulous 2015 release window an equally vague 2016 launch window became the stated goal providing dam buster extra time to finish building what kandra tits assumed would be a best-selling title he wasn't alone in his assumption either dan buster's team of 126 employees most of whom were former crytek uk staff also believed they were developing a truly special game according to studio head and game director hazet salah homefront the revolution skipped e3 2015 then re-emerged later in the year at gamescom alongside a cgi trailer that unveiled a spring 2016 release dambuster showcased an all-new gameplay demo during the event too unsurprisingly hardly any of it could be differentiated from footage shown more than a year prior therefore much of the new insight offered revolved around how homefront the revolution fit into the franchise's mythos senior narrative designer cj kirschner credited as writer of the original title explained that dan buster's project marked a new chapter in the homefront universe with almost no connection to its predecessor the creative team even reconceived the overarching backstory but no significant changes were made to the revolution theme story arc initially drawn up at crytek uk considering the drastic shift away from the framework set by chaos studios many wondered why deep silver and dambuster elected to maintain the homefront name after all kirchner had even advised fans to forget everything they remembered from the inaugural adventure speaking with gamespot late in 2015 kirschner said the name held within it the power of homefront's core premise which centered around assuming the role of a gorilla fighter battling a superior force in their own backyard of course there is also no understating the importance of brand recognition nor the cost paid for ip writes this particular project then arguably couldn't have been titled anything else throughout the preview period in the months leading to launch the full picture slowly came into view dambuster's homefront the revolution seemed a mixture of its former developers greatest hits far cry in crisis set in a dystopian urban environment and again half-life 2's influence ran deep evident in dan buster's design of the philadelphia cityscape and the use of a motorcycle whose mechanics were further inspired by the trials series critics and fans alike were cautiously optimistic however hopes of a solid follow-up to chaos's 2011 hit came crashing down early in 2016. upon the launch of a co-op multiplayer beta on xbox one beta users reported numerous technical hiccups plagued by screen tearing awkward animations and gameplay that felt pre-alpha developers confirmed the beta's graphics and animations weren't representative of homefront the revolution's final build yet for many fans the wave of disappointment never ceased we're [ __ ] down here debut project released a predominantly unfavorable reviews in may of 2016. gameplay variety in terms of available tasks were lauded by some critics though panned by others due to repetitiveness that players could approach most situations by employing a playstyle of their choosing kept things fresh unfortunately technical shortcomings and odd design choices too often hindered any attempted guerrilla tactics usually culminating in a reliance on crude run and gun mechanics the threadbare story with its uninventive twists formulaic characters and clumsily explored political themes boasted a fair share of applause worthy moments but even the narrative's impressive peaks were burdened by valleys of unfilled potential in the months following launch damn buster steadily unleashed a series of dlc offerings the extra content added free co-op missions and three paid single-player expansions each introducing hours of fresh content across brand new districts still neither these efforts nor the patches that fix some of the more egregious technical issues could return the franchise to its former glory that much is reflected in homefront the revolution's middling performance on the market koch media's last sales update in early 2018 had the shooter sitting at roughly 1.2 million copies sold a far cry from the two plus million units moved by its predecessor in a matter of months all has been quiet on this front for a few years raising the question of whether deep silver and koch media ever plan on resurrecting the once ambitious ip for now it appears the first person shooter revolution that chaos intended to incite with its original title will march on sands any new tales about an america occupied by korean forces thank you for watching we'd like to take this time to think by name the generous patrons who have pledged to our hall of fame rewards year alex moretti caleb shishkivich fernando lopez ojeda maktoum saeed al-maktoum and those currently subscribed to our producer 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Channel: GVMERS

Views: 347,588

Keywords: Homefront, Homefront The Revolution, Homefront 2, Homefront 3, Dambuster Studios, Kaos Studios, Frontlines Fuel of War, Frontlines 2, Kaos, Deep Silver, Crytek, Gameplay, Documentary

Id: 8cSxSxEwKMs

Length: 35min 4sec (2104 seconds)

Published: Sat May 08 2021