ManyCookies wrote on Feb 2
nd, 2022 at 11:43pm:
How did they get to this point? They started off as Turbine right? Was it just a bunch of indie developers who lucked out and got the license?
So anyone else can feel free to correct me on this, I am typing from memory here, but this is my understanding of the course of events:
Back in the late 90s Turbine started off as some coders and artists. I believe Sev was involved at this point but don't know for sure. The coders in particular were extremely talented - they managed to write a graphics engine and underlying game engine that allowed them to create a 500 square mile fully 3 dimensional virtual world in about 1996(this is an impressive feat today let alone when their first prototype was ready).
Now this is before the concept of "indie" studios was a thing. They were a startup. Their technology was impressive enough to attract the attention of Microsoft, who provided funding and publishing to create the game Asheron's Call. AC was then and still is revolutionary on many levels -and what they were able to create
with fucking dial up is still better than most MMOs releasing today.
In the AC era Turbine certainly had executives, HR, etc. Eventually they were bought by Warner Bros. I don't know the exact timeline. Turbine then used much of the underlying code structure to create DDO(which is weird because DDO is very closed/instanced while AC was open - go figure but thats why you can see across the Shroud on a clear day).
Then came the great schism and the shift from Turbine to SSG - this is when they dispensed with the executives and any concept of management, started all this "like an indie studio" crap. Since most of us were around for that we know the story - WB sold SSG to Daybreak who took DDO and LOTRO and said "YOLO shut that shit down!" to Asheron's Call(which honestly could have had years more life with a little effort).