Why Don't the Axis and Maximum Football studios merge?

[Kanobi]

As I poured over the countless reviews and impressions of both games, I came to wonder why the two studios don't just merge and work on one project? Clearly both teams are extremely talented and driven but separately lack the manpower and resources to put out a viable competitor to Madden.

I know there are obstacles - namely philosophical differences on the direction of the game given Max is college while Axis is pro football - but I don't know.....given the reportedly small size of both studios and the talent, I think there's potential here for something pretty incredible were they ever to consolidate into one and find some common ground.

I'm sorry, you guys will have to forgive me ...I don't know how these things work from a business standpoint. I'm sure it's a LOT easier said than done but man...I think it'd be pretty cool!

[kehlis]

I don't know either and won't pretend to know.

I do think the philosophical differences could probably be figured out.

If I had to guess, the biggest issue may be as simple as logistics.


Even in the virtual world that we are in, I would assume it's much easier to work on a project like this in one place rather than multiple locations. It's one thing to ask people to relocate with a game that has solid promise but with a start up, I don't think it's an easy ask to have one of the two move in order to be able to collaborate.

[KDayisBack]

This is like asking why don't McDonalds and Burger King team up to make super burgers

They are both separate business entities, who have their own vision. They've put their own thoughts and ideas in motion and want to stand on their own.



While they are competing in the same arena, and them joining forces would be a dream idea...there are alot of aspects that you have to take into consideration. When you factor in things such as finances, trademark/copyright ownership, location, etc....you realize that it's not that simple

[Kanobi]

Quote: Originally Posted by KDayisBack

This is like asking why don't McDonalds and Burger King team up to make super burgers

Sort of but not really. If I had posed the same question using Tiburon and Visual Concepts then your analogy would be more on point. This is more like asking why don't two food truck crews come together to open a restaurant, possibly starting a chain that could actually compete with McDonald's/Burger King.

[Capric0rn]

Probably because of ego which is laughable in these games current state. Anyways, a merge like that would just create a golem.

[kehlis]

Quote: Originally Posted by KDayisBack

This is like asking why don't McDonalds and Burger King team up to make super burgers

Nah, it's not like asking that at all.

If he had asked for EA and 2k to merge, I would agree.

Asking two well established entities such as McDonald's and Burger King to team is an awful comparison to hypothetical he's asking.

[Spear]

Two of the biggest reasons:

1.) Merging two businesses is rather difficult - they probably have multiple shareholders, so do we (one being Doug Flutie). It's like a forced arranged marriage if there are no prior synergies, it's risky. How do you set the value on IP? Business valuation is very subjective as it is. Creatively you could have too many cooks in the kitchen and we want to limit the number of remote workers we have.

2.) The codebase/database structures will be different. Our focus has been on the console market and they have been spread out to PC/Mobile/Consoles. Simple things like our "roster" database will be a lot different than theirs. Importing our "College Roster" into their "Pro Franchise Mode" would likely result in a lot of conversions. We're probably better off doing the same thing but from scratch. That's one simple example but there are thousands of lines of code with our game. Merging the two code bases would likely be more disruptive and detrimental to the overall development.

To be honest - we're happy with the path that we are on. We have a clear direction and we aren't in a position to muddy the waters by trying to merge with another studio. I've only been personally working with Dave for a year now and Rome wasn't built in a day. Our goal is to be a big studio and we'll be adding to our development team in the coming months. We're only getting started.

[Kanobi]

Thanks Spear! Appreciate the response man!