This following thread is long, so try to bear with me as you read along.
A new planned game has been announced by Frontier Developments through the London Stock Exchange on March 6, 2019. They said the new game is to be based on a major global IP license they had recently signed to allow them to not only develop and publish the game, but to also develop and publish subsequent associated paint dowloadable content (DLCs), together and worldwide on both PC and console platforms. Countless numbers of video game news articles started covering the news elsewhere right afterwards.
This is the link to that news articles from the stock exchange:
IP Licence Agreement - RNS - London Stock Exchange
IP Licence Agreement RNS - regulatory news service - news
www.londonstockexchange.com
But of course, nobody outside of the teams know exactly what kind of IP game it is yet. So, what could it be?
There have been several rumors and speculations of what the new 2021 major IP game would be. There are also some pretty good indicators of what it could be in one basic sense. But first, let's look at some history:
On February of 2017, it was announced by Frontier CEO, David Barben, that they had secured a license agreement with an existing Hollywood studio. Several video game news outlets soon spread the news. It was never specified what studio or kind of studio game it would be, leaving it open to speculation until then.
In the following months, Frontier Developments began releasing a series of three DLC packs on July 21 of that year, all of which are based on existing IPs owned by Universal Pictures. They are: Back to the Future, Knight Rider, and The Munsters. Frontier, or any other company not associated with licensing agreements with Universal Pictures or indeed with any other company, can't ever make and release DLCs with such assets from Universal themselves. They would have to had some kind of agreement beforehand, AND if they did have some kind of license agreement with them, they would've said so, something that which they have not ever done with Universal or any other subsidiary of the public American company, Comcast Corporation, before in the past.
If you look at it again, Universal Pictures is a Hollywood studio company, all the three subsequent DLCs released on July of that year contained assets affiliated with Universal, Frontier Developments announced their license signing agreement was with a Hollywood Studio, they had no affiliation with Universal in the past before all of that. These are indicators that the new Hollywood IP game they announced back in February is a Universal based game. Sure enough, on August of that year, they revealed Jurassic World Evolution to coincide the release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in the Summer of 2018.
So, what does all of this above mean about this new 2021 game you might ask?
By late May of 2019, almost two months after the announcement of the new "major global IP game", Frontier have announced another upcoming DLC for Planet Coaster which is based on a Sony Pictures IP: Ghostbusters. The Ghostbusters series is an IP owned by Sony Pictures of the Columbia Pictures division, founded and owned by the public and KK Japanese company, Sony Corporation.
You're probably thinking, "PlayStation, the company who's platforms are being utilized by Frontier, is owned by Sony Corporation as well, so could that mean they already have access to ALL of Sony's owned assets?" Well, to answer that question..... NNNoooo way.
When a company signs for licensing agreements to a subsidiary company only, they will ONLY have access to that subsidiary's assets. In this case, when Frontier signed for Universal Pictures, they ONLY had access to that subsidiary's assets for their games; assets that were based on Universal's owned franchises. They are involved with Comcast as a whole, as Comcast is the owner of Universal Pictures, but they do not have access to ALL of Comcast's owned assets. For the Ghostbusters DLC, though they are affiliated with Sony Corporation as a whole, they would've have to had a license securing agreement with their subsidiary first, Sony Pictures, before utilizing and making content based on their owned assets; a subsidiary company they were NEVER involved with in the past and, if they were, they would've said (or hinted) so by then.
In a predictive point of view, there's little or no doubt their new "major global IP game" will be based on a "global IP" owned by the Sony Pictures subsidiary.
However, since the next day AFTER the announcement of the new "major global IP game", countless rumors spurred out from primarily Jurassic World Evolution related topics of what the game could really be.
It all started on March 7, the day after the announcement through the London Stock Exchange, UK YouTube personality Conor Dalgarno, on one of his two owned channels, BestInSlot, uploaded a speculative video guessing that the new "major IP 2021 game" is another Jurassic World Evolution. A sequel game to coincide the release of the upcoming (currently named) Jurassic World 3, amovie that's coming out in 2021, the new game's targeted year of release.
This is the YouTube video uploaded by BestInSlot:
Subsequently in the following weeks, people from various places, besides YouTube, started spreading the speculation and rumors themselves, and I know it was him who started it because his videos, including that, are typically very relevant search options when it comes to information or gameplay videos on Jurassic World Evolution. And who whom ever knows JWE would ever resist the seeing titles or pictures of a "new JWE" game on the internet?
A little over a month afterwards, started an infamous subsequent series of four "leak" posts that occurred from the imageboard website, 4Chan.
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(Click on an image to expand them)
The "leaks" have been genuine since the first one was published, confirming pieces of information that held true: The Carnivore Dinosaur Pack, Planet Zoo, Planet Coaster's Ghostbusters DLC, *Claire's Sanctuary (regarding its details only), *Return to Jurassic Park (regarding its details only) and half of Planet Zoo's "Franchise Mode"; pretty much EVERYTHING that was said for this year. HOWEVER, there are some details about them that do raise suspicions from a scrutiny and speculative point of view.3.
(Click on an image to expand them)
First of all, the wording in all of the "leaks" is undeniably written in the tone of a typical person's/fan's personal point of view. Some of it is clearly speculative, even presented as fact (a classic case of presenting speculations or misinterpretations as fact). This is clear in some of the things that did come true but also false in some way particularly, for example, in the fourth leak's email of the claim of Planet Zoo's Franchise Mode being a form of "Multiplayer" when it isn't.
Before the reveal of Franchise mode and sometime after the email leak, I tried to contact Frontier through the Planet Zoo Twitter account to confirm that Planet Zoo will have any form of multiplayer, but they never responded like they sometimes do to specific kinds of questions at a specific time. I wanted to confirm this because, even before the email image leak, Planet Zoo was already confirmed to be singleplayer only (PZ's Franchise mode actually similar to another game that I have: Spore. In which you can log into an account to share your creations with others). Also, the month date of release for what would be revealed as Claire's Sanctuary for Jurassic World Evolution was said to be sometime in July, despite the fact Frontier actually hinted before the first leak that claims such that the next big update, which would also be the release of Claire's Sanctuary, would be in the early Summer. From a business point of view, how in the heck does July make sense to be "Early Summer"? Unless maybe there were some scheduling changing plans sometime after the hints, but something tells me that isn't the case because Frontier are generally confident in planning dates for releases, especially if it was something that would be out in two months post the first leak.
The leaks even include stuff for beyond this year that don't make any sense in a business perspective. If they had confirmed plans for games to utilize assets from the Lego and Star Wars franchises like the first leak post claims, they should've at least have confirmation that they are affiliated with their respective companies by now (or at least hint they are working with more than whom they are with already) which are Disney and Lucasfilm (the current public company and subsidiary owners of Star Wars), Electronic Arts (the that is company fully affiliated in creating any Star Wars game), and both KIRKBI A/S (the company owner of Lego), all with sub-license agreements. Especially as Frontier Developments themselves are a public type company. For Lucasfilm, their subsidiary is LucasArts, and Frontier were associated with them in the past, but that was over twelve years ago since their last involvement. Also, since the first leak claims that Frontier are currently in talks with Disney for a licensing for a claimed "Planet Coaster 2" for god knows what year, shouldn't they have confirmed (or at least hinted) this licensing securing agreement already by now, as the leak was posted in mid April?
To add to all of this, this isn't just one person involved with the leaks. As far as I can tell, there was an "information gatherer" and an "information poster" both in the works here, although there may have been more than just two.
But, how in the heck does all this about the "leaks" involve themselves with the new "major global IP 2021" game that we were talking about, you might ask?
Well, taking a look at the leaks again, they constantly bring up the subject of what the new 2021 major IP game is. That's right. They frequently talk about and mention what Conor Dalgarno (BestInSlot) brought up and suggested over a month before the first leak was made posted: Jurassic World Evolution 2, the sequel game to Jurassic World Evolution to coincide the release of the currently named "Jurassic World 3".
The first leak claims this to be the "new IP game", and that they can't "fix" the current JWE and decided to just make a new one. In the second series of leaks, two images were posted, showing some "prototype" images that were not Photoshoped and were made by fellows at Frontier fro Universal Studios, even bringing it up once more on the last leak's email, in that there isn't much to say for that time.
However, I do have several problems for this being relevant.
First of all, Frontier Developments have signed a license agreement with a major global IP owner. Universal Pictures seems likely, right? Well, probably, so yes. But, Universal is already fully affiliated with Frontier to publish content that is of their owned IPs, not limited to Jurassic Park, as any indication to the three DLCs that were released a year before JWE came out for Planet Coaster. Why would Frontier sign a license agreement with Universal "again" for more Jurassic World and any Jurassic Park franchise content for their games when it's evident they have full authorization and great affiliation to publish such content? Yes, rumors say their support for JWE will end sometime at 2021, but that doesn't always necessarily mean they truly won't have access to any of Universal's assets ever again, as in having the license agreement expire by then, and that’s something I haven’t seen them specify.
Further more, is simply by looking at the game itself, digging deep into its nature. I know some of you might bring up that it isn't done being supported for more exciting stuff, like they do with Elite: Dangerous, Planet Coaster, and Planet Zoo. But, looking at the game through another perspective, there are better reasons to think as to why a second JWE game is unlikely. In-game hints are Jurassic World Evolution's love for film series quotes said by its characters in both the loading screens and the achievements. Also, JWE has an emphasis on what one may call "fan service", which even includes (but not limited to) the quotes themselves.
If a second JWE game was to be made, surely Frontier would want to make it "different enough" through the right perspective as, fundamentally, making another game with the same elements as the former but with more additional and extended content, isn't going to be enough to be as successful than what JWE already has accomplished, and JWE has already taken up a lot of such possibilities, such as the high usage of film quotes and overall fan service for example, to make it not seem like "a copy but with more stuff", as the Jurassic World Evolution feels pretty specialized to make a "proper" Jurassic World authentic game, and that series is pretty specialized as well if you look at it in the right general perspectives.
Game lines under the construction, management, and business genre like Zoo Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon, for example, are more "adaptive" than any Jurassic Park game in the said genres and for the business and public perspectives because, to both of those views, they are "always so diverse and new" from each other. They don’t feel like replacements or anything like that (like what the indie game series, Primal Carnage, did, as it isn’t a mainstream game series, or at least an indie game series to have reached a mainstream level like the FNaF’s series); something what the supposed JWE2 people are generally talking about. I know some of you might reference the first and second RollerCoaster Tycoon games as a competitive example to what I'm trying to say here, but that was back then 'long ago' and things are a little more different nowadays then it was back then.
Even Ludia inc.'s park construction and managment games, Jurassic Park Builder and Jurassic World: The Game, are pretty specialized because they're basically the same thing but with (but not limited to) different era and competitive styles, as well as a few exclusive species. But in general, they're the same kind of games, but with "good enough" directions to make them feel more different and unique each, and not as superior competitors or anything like that for the businesses and the general public. And even though a sequel of the kind you're probably thinking of may seem like a good idea for a specific party of players, it’s quite small for a big targeted audience for a business like this go a big new game, and its general reputation from the whole public won’t be as great as JWE itself.
Jurassic World Evolution doesn’t seem to fit the category as what the other said above simulation genre games or and of the other JP franchise games of the same genres to warrant a “sequel” or any kind of second game because it’s so specialized to continue as a game line (a series of multiple games of the same type by name and genre) and has already taken up a lot of possibilities to make them like what Ludia’s games and the other mentioned game series did. Frontier's confirmed goal for Jurassic World Evolution is to provide the best "Jurassic World experience", and based on my viewing in depth, to provide the best film series style experience. I don't think they would go beyond that kind of authenticity, because it's just not their style. The current build of the franchise doesn't even feel fit for something like that when it comes to video games, because nowadays, its titles try to be different from each other in ways beyond just adding the same things but with extra content to feel like a replacement, instead of making them feel unique for anyone to check out.
Third, many of the stuff in the leaks that show and talk about "Jurassic World Evolution 2" is pretty suspicious themselves:
1. The first leak claims the second JWE game is the new IP game that was announced over s month earlier when, as I said further above, Frontier already have a full established connection with both Universal and their own assets that aren’t limited to Jurassic Park/World, and why would they need to say they signed a lisence with Universal to make another Universal based game when they have full permission and support from them already, especially if it’s for something that will release in two more years or so from now? It’s not like the deal is only for a short time from a company that has existed long before any of us were even born, right?
2. The first leak also says they (Frontier Developments) can’t “fix” Jurassic World Evolution and decide to just make another, just like that. The wording and tone of the statement is enough to scream “fan-ish” already. Because if you look and browse the Internet deep enough, when players or viewers for this game say “fix”, they generally mean adding new stuff to something that already exists via upgrades, patches, or stuff like that, rather than using the word in a more proper usage like bugs or similar stuff. There is absolutely no sensible logic for anyone at Frontier who works on the development and support of Jurassic World Evolution to say something like that. But then again, this was some group anonymous information gathers and posters in the works here, so they probably either didn't have the same heart as the other representatives (and may have either speculated too much or misheard something) at Frontier, or they're just outright trying to mess with people.
3. The two "prototype" images and the subsequent second 4Chan post of the series of "leaks" also raises a lot of suspicions to consider. Firstly, the wording is in a similar tone to a certain party and overall, again, "fan-ish" saying stuff a typical business for games like this wouldn't ever say out loud to anyone outside of it. Its wording is not something a buisness like Frontier Developments would ever say or reveal like this because it has a tone that doesn't match their style or the style of any video company (including Frontier Developments) of this type would say for a second game or any new game of a specific line of games, particularly games of this kind of genre. Some of its feature claims even contradict what Frontier generally goes for when making a game like this, such as tundra and desert biomes, which aren't the best environments to make the best authentic Jurassic Park/World film themed and styled experience. The feature of "destrucable vehicles" is something that has been added to the game (rumors say that they couldn't do this at launch because of an agreement with JEEP, the company that owns the jeep models used for the ranger vehicles in JWE). ALSO, the dating of these images, next to a "generic" style of company labeling (Frontier always label their images with style, not generically like in the two images) is the date of year. The images were "leaked" in 2019, this year, but why do they say 2018!? No way Frontier would've been planing such a game last year (especially when it's a year when no plans for a second big IP based game were likely made yet), and the way how the leaker(s) talk about it indicates they were made at least this year to show it off to Universal Pictures after the announcement on March to further support "Jurassic World Evolution 2", the new IP that they claim (or at least speculate, as what the second 4Chan post is trying to say, despite claiming that's what it is confidently on both the first and third 4Chan post).
4. You might say, because the photos were taken on the COBRA engine (the engine that nearly all of Frontier's games, including Jurassic World Evolution, utilizes), this should be enough to confirm its validity, because no one could ever fake something this easily and fast with COBRA like what you can see in them. Right? They do have the snowflake sprites from Planet Zoo and Planet Coaster, by the way.
Well, it has come to no surprise to me that anyone can make something very identical to what would a video game company or any company) product would look like. There have been images from multiple sources that showcased some really cleverly made fake photos of modified assets and carefully placed to look official (ex: the JP Content Pack DLC).
It has also been proven that the files of JWE can be extracted and edited, such as models, for instance. BestInSlot even confirmed someone he knows, when doing his model comparison video last week, provided animated versions of the models on the subreddit as well. If anyone can extract asset files such as those, they can extract almost anything like that, and I don't care if it's from JWE or any other game. You can even import such assets to different games with different engines as well Heck, I've seen mods in Moddb utilizing dinosaur models extracted from JWE before the leaks even came about. At one point in time last year or so, I found a old 'dead' mod from the Steam workshop of Ark: Survival Evolved that had both extracted not only the models, but also the animations from Primal Carnage (as I guess was easy to do because they both utilize the Unreal 4 engine). And since ALL/MOST the assets from the "prototype" images are likely from games from Frontier's games which utilize the COBRA engine, maybe even some of their own assets as well if I had to add to the possibility, you can kinda guess where I'm getting at right there.
Point is, you don't have to use Photoshop to fake anything. With the right tools on your computer to access video game asset files, you can fake anything the best you can.
Finally, the first leak of the supposed roadmap also says they have plans for another and third Jurassic World title: Jurassic World Survival. The third film is confirmed to be the last major film for this franchise's specific series. Why would Frontier want to plan this as well along with another supposed JWE game? Video game development is not simple as one may think. There just sin't much proper time to make two big JW games if that amount of short time. Yes, they've made different kinds of non-simulation games two decades ago, but that was a long time ago from now and their primary focus right now seems to be the simulation genre. This is even evident that on June of this year, Founder and CEO of Frontier Developments, David Barben, announced they have partnered with Haemimont Games, a Private type company that primarily focuses on simulation, management and strategy. The kind of genres that Frontier would more likely go for more often, and have confirmed they have confident plans for a future game together with their collaborations, something that is even carried over in subsequent news posts through the London Stock Exchange (Haemmiont doesn't even have any association with the owners for Lego or Star Wars either, a claimed game in the first leak that is part of a project that focuses on the strategy genre). I just don't feel like their ready to take on a big different leap towards that kind of direction yet for any such confident plans like a full on survival game. The claim doesn't even have a code/working project titles (as some of them have been inadvertently revealed from Planet Zoo developer showcasings before that game's release) like the three first mentioned in the roadmap segment, which also raises suspicious questions and wonders.
So, if this part of the series of leaks is truly false, then what is it? There are just too many plausible possibilities for me to solidly and confidently conclude on one.
If you look at the leaks again, there is a clear level of speculation in two of the three 4Chan posts, plus you have to keep in mind also that this is the work of multiple people, and not just one if you read more carefully. What you also must consider is that people anywhere in the media can also present speculation as facts, based on what they believe rather than from full confirmation. But what about the two "prototype" images. Based on my research, the 4Chan poster is the primary speculating one, the information gatherer(s) may have also been doing these specific possibilities: overhearing and mishearing something, looking or hearing something then jumped to conclusions based on what they perceive, or straight up lying with facts for believable tricks. In my opinion, if I really did have to make one, the "prototype" images seem to fall in the third category (half of me says they were made last year, but when hearing the opportunity, decided to show them off more), while the rest seems to be based on speculations and hopes, but presented them as facts. Probably using BestInSlot's initial video and speculation from the month before because it's so relevant to search and look up, an element that people can easily fail to consider the possibilities of them being false or speculative rather than 100% factual.
This subject reminds me of another leak I discovered earlier this year, after the leaks were posted, for the late 2019 fighting game that I know of and played with my little brothers last year, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Where a "leak" was posted somewhere where time has revealed that it was both relevant, genuine, and straight up false all together (all three in their respective degrees) at the same time that you can watch and learn some of it here:
Further personal research of mine has also found hints that date back all the way to Day 1 that the "major global IP game" for 2021 may be based on an IP that is from a "different" IP owner after all (eventually leading up to the high possibility of being Sony Pictures) and not Universal Pictures.
1. On March 06, the UK digital issue magazine, Shares, provided an article on the day Frontier announced their news about them securing a "major global IP" for a new game. In it, a well-informed representative of the UK capital market company, FinnCap, by the name of Lorne Daniel states in one paragraph of the article saying: "It is interesting that following on from its stunning accomplishment with JWE, another major rights owner has decided to trust Frontier Developments to make a gaming success of its precious IP. We suspect that other leading IP owners will have noted that, and there will be further licensed game franchises in future." For someone well-informed of a business like FinnCap to say "another major rights owner" was enough to raise suspicions that the major right owner may not be Universal Pictures, NBCUniversal, or indeed Comcast, because they were already affiliated big-time (particularly Universal Pictures and NBCUniversal) with Frontier in a fairly recent time. Plus, with all this support they're having to develop Jurassic World Evolution, how are any of them "another major rights owner"?
But does this really mean anything? No, not really. But it’s something to at least consider on a possible possibility of it hinting something besides Universal or its parent companies.
Has Frontier Developments got another monster hit on its hands?, 6 Mar 2019 10:08 | Shares Magazine
Shares provides unbiased commentary, ideas, views and news on stocks, funds, pensions and savings. Great investment tools with live data. Free registration.
www.sharesmagazine.co.uk
2. Looking back at the initial news report from the London Stock Exchange from March 06 that I posted farther above, it clearly states out "The licence agreement entitles Frontier to develop and publish the Game, together with subsequent associated paid downloadable content, worldwide on both PC and console." It is only for one mysterious property license agreement. As I stated farther above, Frontier have had zero past proper affiliation with Sony Pictures until now, with the indication of the reveal and release of the Ghostbusters DLC for Planet Coaster as evidence, sometime after the announcement. They could not do such a thing for that game unless they did have full affiliated confirmation with the Sony Pictures subsidiary and its division, Columbia Pictures, which they didn't confirm to public reach until that DLC was revealed and released. Enough evidence to support what the "major IP owner" may be. Again, it's just like what I stated farther above in the thread, if you remember.
If this were to be a Universal license, then why are they already able to properly develop and release associated DLCs before this agreement?
3. On September 04, another news report posted on the London Stock Exchange explicitly said they used "Sony Pictures IP" for the Ghostbusters DLC which, remember (and I'm gonna say again), they had no past proper affiliation with to make such a DLC. It's just like, again, when they had a mystery license agreement with a Hollywood IP back in 2017, hinting it was a Universal IP based on the DLC released that year, which they wouldn't have done if they had no explicit confirmation of an affiliation with Universal. Something that they kept fairly secretive until JWE was revealed and announced on August, that year.
(The new article report also states their team up with Haemimont Games as I explained above discussing the leaks.)
So, if this 2021 game really is a Sony Pictures type IP, like it is hinted to be, what kind of specific Sony Pictures IP could the game be based off of?
Well, I do have a couple of ideas of what IP the game would be based off of that's owned by Sony Pictures, the IP owner that Frontier have relatively confirmed to be affiliated with recently.
First option is it could be a Ghostbusters game. Ghostbusters is a "classic" and famously known big IP ever since its debut in 1984, and is still making big title films to this day. There are a number of opportunities here for this to be a strategy game of some sort, which is what Frontier would do. And since they've teamed up with Haemimont Games who are skilled in making strategy games, and the possibility of the trend for Ghostbusters stuff would be higher than it was in the past, thanks to these new series of films in the making, I can see this being a possible game they could hep collaborate with. A friend of mine, who is a volunteer community moderator here on the Frontier Forums, speculates it could be a simulation type game, kinda like the 8-bit 1984 game of the same name where you can run your own franchise.
There is also the possibility of a Hotel Transylvania type game. It may not be decades old yet, as it first came about in 2012, it's still a big known IP at its own right, with all current three films being successful box office performances, shorts, even a theme park ride. I see it being in the "simulation" genre of some kind, maybe where you can manage Hotel Transylvania yourself, and perhaps other notable places yourself for further expansion. Plus, may I say there is a fourth Hotel Transylvania film coming up in late 2021, one of the speculated time ranges that several video game news articles from all over the place have speculated for the date release range to be in (a date range that's much too late for another JW game to coincide with the release of the upcoming JW film in mid-2021).
Another possibility is a Jumanji game. It's a film series that started in 1995, based on a book of the same name from the early 1980s, where it became more famously well-known to the public thanks to a couple of modern sequels in recent years with high box office performances. I see a Jumaji game being like a strategy game or something for a genre that Frontier could do. I would focus on the modern films, with the classic some how being in a nostalgic DLC like the RtJP DLC for JWE.
There could be other good options I haven't thought of, but the above are what I consider to be more plausible, if this really is going to be a Sony Pictures IP based game, like I believe it is, based on what has been happening all year. Who knows until then?
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