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SCORN delayed to 2022 according to Kepler Interactive press release

Bartski

Gold Member
While not officially confirmed by Microsoft, SCORN is a game to come out as part of the Kepler Interactive "major global publisher co‑owned and run by developers" 2022 slate.

Ebb Software, the developer of SCORN is part of this group and in Kepler interactive funding round press release SCORN is listed as part of their 2022 lineup.

Kepler Interactive, New "Super‑Developer" Group, Announces $120M Funding Round

[London, September 28, 2021]
Today, Kepler Interactive raises the curtain on its ground-breaking model for the future of interactive entertainment: a major global publisher co‑owned and run by developers. Backed by a first financing round of $120M, the group is proud to introduce its seven founding members: A44, Alpha Channel, Awaceb, Ebb Software, Shapefarm, Sloclap, and Timberline.

Kepler Interactive offers a unique model whereby game studio founders become co‑owners, empowering them to make key strategic decisions, including the introduction of new members to the collective, whilst being directly rewarded for the financial success of the group. This creates the perfect environment for game developers to thrive, combining the benefits of full creative independence with resources and operational support that would otherwise only be accessible through full acquisitions.

With an executive team led by the founders of Kowloon Nights – an award-winning fund that redefined videogame financing, deploying over $100M to support independent developers on fair and sustainable terms – Kepler Interactive unifies the strength of multiple independent studios with a world-class operation, finance, and publishing arm, providing a range of services from marketing to commercial partnerships, and shared technology, all designed to support the studios’ visions.

"When we founded Kowloon Nights, our goal was to support the next generation of independent developers," said Alexis Garavaryan, CEO of Kepler Interactive. "The evolution of that work is now Kepler, which takes the developer‑first approach a major leap forward in terms of scale and empowerment."

With operational hubs in London and Singapore, the Kepler group now represents an international team of over 250 talents spanning 10 countries, working exclusively on original IP. The 2022 slate includes hotly anticipated titles such as Sloclap’s Sifu, Ebb Software’s Scorn, Awaceb’s Tchia, Alpha Channel’s Tankhead and an unannounced title by A44.

Beyond 2022 Kepler Interactive has ambitious plans for the future, and will continue its growth by welcoming more partner studios, and expanding into cross‑platform content production including film and other media.

"Kepler provides an environment where the teams feel safe, supported, and free to create amazing gaming experiences ‑ and that's the best way to make a hit game." said Pierre de Margerie, CEO of Sloclap.

"It’s an incredibly exciting time for developers right now," adds Lindsey Rostal, CEO of Timberline. "Not only are we building some of the most meaningful stories and IP in the world, but we also have united to push our own creative boundaries while having the stability we need. We have an exceptional group of founding studios, and we can’t wait to welcome more studios that share our values and vision."

For more information about Kepler, please contact: pr@kepler‑interactive.com
 
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Derktron

Banned
OF COURSE, MORE GAMES ARE BEING DELAYED TILL 2022 THAN 2023 THAN 2024 THEN 2025.....GAMING IS SUCH A JOKE NOWADAYS ALL YOU DO IS PLAY THE WAITING GAMES WITH THESE DEVELOPERS

Meme Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Gonna be an awesome 2022....until everything that's scheduled for late 2022 is delayed to 2023....and the beat goes on.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
Disappointing, but at least they finally said something new about Scorn and its release. It's been a while.
Yeah that's the way I feel about it. Just like every time, the silence is deafening. Haven't heard anything about a project in awhile? Most likely delayed. I'm just glad there's an update!
 
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Derktron

Banned
"2022 WILL BE THE BEST YEAR IN GAMING" .... until the games get delayed until 2023
I’m certainly hoping that it is, I don’t have that much time so I just want to be able to play these awesome games. But I guess I’ll play the waiting game.
 
It's ok, this was never going to release any time soon. You can apply this news to the following games as well:


Enjoy 2022+ or never.
 
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Reactions: Fuz

nikolino840

Member


Hello everyone,

In this update, we will highlight the most common issues people have regarding this project and the reasoning behind some of our decisions. We have addressed some of these issues before but we will repeat them once more. Because, if you want to create something ambitious and consciously (or not so much) bite on something that you can barely chew (scope and production-wise), especially the first time around, you have to set up priorities and keep less important things to a minimum.


What were we doing since the latest trailer was released in October last year?

There is no big revelation here. We were just developing a game and that is nothing more to it than that. A year is not such a big period when it comes to game development. Some people really, really dislike us staying silent for such long periods. It's that way by design for a few reasons. The only thing that will get the game out of the door faster is concentrating all the effort on development. That is our main priority.


There is a reason why big companies show CG trailers done by some other studio. They don't want to interrupt the development team in the middle of production. CD Projekt RED had great PR for Cyberpunk 2077 but that didn't help when the final game. Cyberpunk 2077 should've been delayed for a year, but the hype and the pressure from shareholders were more important. Maybe if they didn't push their developers to create marketing content they could've put more time into fixing the game.


No amount of updates are going to make the game better, or make it come out sooner, quite the opposite. It's just more tasks on the already enormous list of tasks to finish. It's time-consuming to make your game look presentable to the public. That is done at the very end of the development process.


The problem of "Hype"

"Hype" can be a big problem if you need it at the beginning, but still need to work on a project for a considerable amount of time afterward. We didn't do the marketing for the market, but for the potential investors. We are going to do proper marketing close to release. Presenting the game constantly just creates a vicious cycle. Every update creates anticipation, that turns into disappointment for some because the game is not out yet. We realize the frustration, but at the end of the day, we think it's better to lay low and have most people put the game out of their minds than constantly bait them.


The reason we needed the hype, in the beginning, is rather simple. Let's imagine that we live in some magical world where out of nowhere you just receive all the resources for the game you want to make as a completely unproven, new studio. In this magical scenario, the public wouldn't know about our game because we wouldn't announce it until 6 months before the release (whenever that may be) and then just have a steady stream of marketing (hype) up until release.


But in the reality we inhabit, nobody will even acknowledge you if they don't see the "hype" upfront. This is why we showed the game (not some vain idea of showing off the work) and now we are stuck with the expectation to constantly feed the beast for years. We decided not to go that route, as we want to finish the game in the shortest time possible.


Yes, handling the time leading up to release is really bad on our end, but as much as our financial situation has improved we still have to dedicate resources to specific things, and we think that creating a good game should receive the overwhelming majority of our attention, rather than trying to constantly keep the marketing flames going. How we spent the time leading up to release should not be of consequence on the release date. Only the quality of the game will.


It's a strange thing, if some didn't know the game existed they would enjoy the 6 months of marketing and then the game, but now the very knowledge of its existence feels unbearable to them. Even if it turns out to be a great game they simply won't be able to enjoy it because my god they knew about it for so long. Some people just burn out on the hype. If we released it on time and it sucked they would forget about it in a day.


Development hell

Development hell is a term that is thrown around quite often. It should be used on projects that changed their core idea or scope mid-dev and can't adjust to. That doesn't apply to our products for the most part. In our case, a lot of mistakes were made and will make more in the future, but it's a normal process for a new, inexperienced team. Everything that was done up until the middle of 2018 has been reworked, 90% of it completely scrapped. It's about making it what we want it to be, not releasing it just because we gave some arbitrary release date. If it's not ready, it's not ready. Why would people want to play something that the developers think it's still not up to par?


Microsoft, Kowloon, Kepler deals

People are wary of big companies and for a good reason most of the time, but in our case, it was nothing but support from everyone involved. We are even surprised by how smooth everything has been. Some think that influx of resources would create more problems and that we should finish the game with as little resources.


Creating an interesting and engaging game requires time and resources. Period. Money is what allows us to create something of quality. Enthusiasm alone can only take you so far. We are obliged to periodically give them updates on the progress, but the builds that we are sending them are the builds we are making anyways. These builds don't have to be polished as industry people understand unfinished builds (games in development). For the general public things need to be polished. That is a major difference. Some people just want to see the progress and don't care that it's work in progress, but others will judge it as a finished product.


We hope to create a great game and our backers will receive that great game, that is the bottom line and our main goal. We will get there sooner with as few distractions as possible. If people want to stay with us till the end, great, if they don't want to, we still offer a way out.


Release plans

For the record, yes, the game has slipped into 2022 and we will have an official confirmation of the delay on the 10th of December. It was supposed to be announced in October, but circumstances out of our control postponed it. If it turns out not to be on the 10th by our or someone else's will, don't hold it too much against us.


And for the end, a bit of friendly advice: If lack of communication is so bothersome just ask for a refund and be done with it. It's just a game. You can play it when it's out if you are still interested.
 
Passive aggressive way to explain what's going on to backers. If they updated MS they should update backers. Hope the game is good.

Also they don't seem to understand how much they marketed the game early on lol. It was marketed so much on the EZA podcast that it was a meme.
 

VN1X

Banned
Man, I've been hearing about this game since the early days of Easy Allies, which is like 2015/2016 or something. That's kind of crazy lol.

"SCORN! An atmospheric horror adventure game developed by Ebb Software! Set in a nightmarish universe of odd forms and sombre tapestries!"
 
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azertydu91

Hard to Kill
Man, I've been hearing about this game since the early days of Easy Allies, which is like 2015/2016 or something. That's kind of crazy lol.

"SCORN! An atmospheric horror adventure game developed by Ebb Software! Set in a nightmarish universe of odd forms and sombre tapestries!"
Yeah I even remember pictures that leaked the psvr design long before it was revealed.
 
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SJRB

Gold Member


Hello everyone,

In this update, we will highlight the most common issues people have regarding this project and the reasoning behind some of our decisions. We have addressed some of these issues before but we will repeat them once more. Because, if you want to create something ambitious and consciously (or not so much) bite on something that you can barely chew (scope and production-wise), especially the first time around, you have to set up priorities and keep less important things to a minimum.


What were we doing since the latest trailer was released in October last year?

There is no big revelation here. We were just developing a game and that is nothing more to it than that. A year is not such a big period when it comes to game development. Some people really, really dislike us staying silent for such long periods. It's that way by design for a few reasons. The only thing that will get the game out of the door faster is concentrating all the effort on development. That is our main priority.


There is a reason why big companies show CG trailers done by some other studio. They don't want to interrupt the development team in the middle of production. CD Projekt RED had great PR for Cyberpunk 2077 but that didn't help when the final game. Cyberpunk 2077 should've been delayed for a year, but the hype and the pressure from shareholders were more important. Maybe if they didn't push their developers to create marketing content they could've put more time into fixing the game.


No amount of updates are going to make the game better, or make it come out sooner, quite the opposite. It's just more tasks on the already enormous list of tasks to finish. It's time-consuming to make your game look presentable to the public. That is done at the very end of the development process.


The problem of "Hype"

"Hype" can be a big problem if you need it at the beginning, but still need to work on a project for a considerable amount of time afterward. We didn't do the marketing for the market, but for the potential investors. We are going to do proper marketing close to release. Presenting the game constantly just creates a vicious cycle. Every update creates anticipation, that turns into disappointment for some because the game is not out yet. We realize the frustration, but at the end of the day, we think it's better to lay low and have most people put the game out of their minds than constantly bait them.


The reason we needed the hype, in the beginning, is rather simple. Let's imagine that we live in some magical world where out of nowhere you just receive all the resources for the game you want to make as a completely unproven, new studio. In this magical scenario, the public wouldn't know about our game because we wouldn't announce it until 6 months before the release (whenever that may be) and then just have a steady stream of marketing (hype) up until release.


But in the reality we inhabit, nobody will even acknowledge you if they don't see the "hype" upfront. This is why we showed the game (not some vain idea of showing off the work) and now we are stuck with the expectation to constantly feed the beast for years. We decided not to go that route, as we want to finish the game in the shortest time possible.


Yes, handling the time leading up to release is really bad on our end, but as much as our financial situation has improved we still have to dedicate resources to specific things, and we think that creating a good game should receive the overwhelming majority of our attention, rather than trying to constantly keep the marketing flames going. How we spent the time leading up to release should not be of consequence on the release date. Only the quality of the game will.


It's a strange thing, if some didn't know the game existed they would enjoy the 6 months of marketing and then the game, but now the very knowledge of its existence feels unbearable to them. Even if it turns out to be a great game they simply won't be able to enjoy it because my god they knew about it for so long. Some people just burn out on the hype. If we released it on time and it sucked they would forget about it in a day.


Development hell

Development hell is a term that is thrown around quite often. It should be used on projects that changed their core idea or scope mid-dev and can't adjust to. That doesn't apply to our products for the most part. In our case, a lot of mistakes were made and will make more in the future, but it's a normal process for a new, inexperienced team. Everything that was done up until the middle of 2018 has been reworked, 90% of it completely scrapped. It's about making it what we want it to be, not releasing it just because we gave some arbitrary release date. If it's not ready, it's not ready. Why would people want to play something that the developers think it's still not up to par?


Microsoft, Kowloon, Kepler deals

People are wary of big companies and for a good reason most of the time, but in our case, it was nothing but support from everyone involved. We are even surprised by how smooth everything has been. Some think that influx of resources would create more problems and that we should finish the game with as little resources.


Creating an interesting and engaging game requires time and resources. Period. Money is what allows us to create something of quality. Enthusiasm alone can only take you so far. We are obliged to periodically give them updates on the progress, but the builds that we are sending them are the builds we are making anyways. These builds don't have to be polished as industry people understand unfinished builds (games in development). For the general public things need to be polished. That is a major difference. Some people just want to see the progress and don't care that it's work in progress, but others will judge it as a finished product.


We hope to create a great game and our backers will receive that great game, that is the bottom line and our main goal. We will get there sooner with as few distractions as possible. If people want to stay with us till the end, great, if they don't want to, we still offer a way out.


Release plans

For the record, yes, the game has slipped into 2022 and we will have an official confirmation of the delay on the 10th of December. It was supposed to be announced in October, but circumstances out of our control postponed it. If it turns out not to be on the 10th by our or someone else's will, don't hold it too much against us.


And for the end, a bit of friendly advice: If lack of communication is so bothersome just ask for a refund and be done with it. It's just a game. You can play it when it's out if you are still interested.


Holy shit, casually throwing CDPR under the bus lol.

What a bizarre statement this is, makes these devs come off VERY unlikable.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Holy shit, casually throwing CDPR under the bus lol.

What a bizarre statement this is, makes these devs come off VERY unlikable.
Yeh, bizarre statement.

Come across as very arrogant and, as you say, unlikeable.

Are they wrong, though? Tons of other studios delayed games after the CP2077 disaster and we all knew why, at least these guys come out and say it.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Are they wrong, though? Tons of other studios delayed games after the CP2077 disaster and we all knew why, at least these guys come out and say it.

It's generally seen as impolite at best to talk shit about a colleague-developer. It's just common decency not to do that.

Also serves no purpose other than to make these devs look good, which paradoxically fails exactly because of this.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
It's generally seen as impolite at best to talk shit about a colleague-developer. It's just common decency not to do that.

Did you even read the whole statement? They specifically don't target the developers.

"... the hype and the pressure from shareholders were more important. Maybe if they didn't push their developers to create marketing content..."
 
They aint wrong but it's been what? 5 years now? I know they are indie but they got MS backing and they are not making a triple A game either so what the fuck are they even doing?
 

Barlow

Member
They aint wrong but it's been what? 5 years now? I know they are indie but they got MS backing and they are not making a triple A game either so what the fuck are they even doing?
Would be 3 1/2 years with MS backing if they made the deal after their promotion for a publisher in mid 2018.
 

plushyp

Member
As the post yesterday came off as quite tone-deaf the CEO had to issue a kind of apology today:



Hello everyone,

My name is Ljubomir Peklar and I'm the CEO of Ebb Software and also the creative director of the game. I take full responsibility for the last update that you received from our KS yesterday. I quickly and haphazardly read through the draft of the update and in all my wisdom approved it. Reading through again it was clear that the hostile tone it was written in should not be how we should express ideas or plans to people that help us out. We may be tired, confused and frustrated at our own ineptitude, but there is no reason to lash out at you. For that I personally apologise. I will do my best for this kind of outburst not to happen again.

We will do a proper update regarding all the raised concerns on Monday,

Thank you.
 
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Great Hair

Banned
Because, if you want to create something ambitious and consciously
bite on something that you can barely chew (scope and production-wise)
irony GIF

We didn't do the marketing for the market, but for the potential investors.
we think it's better to lay low, as we want to finish the game in the shortest time possible. It should be used on projects that changed their core idea or scope mid-dev and can't adjust to. That doesn't apply to our products for the most part. Everything that was done up until the middle of 2018 has been reworked, 90% of it completely scrapped.
What were we doing since the latest trailer was released in October last year? We were just developing a game. A year is not such a big period, ... staying silent for such long periods, concentrating all the effort on development. That is our main priority.
Production began 2016+. The idea, concept and working "build" at least ... your main priority, sure. 90% scrapped? The alpha from 2017 and the demo shown 2020 are 1:1 copies. What a load of rubbish. Why is there no entry over at Mobbygames since 2015+.

In other words, no one gave a fuck about our game back in 2015 ... so we had to email some.
It was supposed to be announced in October, but circumstances out of our control postponed it.

Visually intriguing, gameplaywise though it sucked balls. As much as the 2017 demo. They obviously ran out of money quickly, now we 3 "investors" they are still unable to fullfil "their dreams". How hard can it be?

a) create more of sick levels with those visuals
b) create monsters and weapons
c) ask a ghostwriter to write a generic story

Cyberpunk 2077 should've been delayed for a year, the hype and the pressure from shareholders were more important. Maybe if they didn't push their developers to create marketing content they could've put more time into fixing the game.
Shocked Oh Boy GIF by Election 2016
Happy Oh Boy GIF
 

Concern

Member
I really don't get the hype or interest for this. It looks painfully boring. Now devs want to come off like they're some top AAA devs, criticizing cdp. Bunch of fuckin weirdos lol
 
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