What happened to The Adventure Company?
 

They used to publish 3 or 4 games a year and were the most prominent adventure game publishers. Apparently they're still active but haven't published anything since 2009. Anyone know what happened? Are they still alive?

The Adventure Company was part of DreamCatcher Interactive.
DreamCatcher was purchased by JoWood Entertainment in 2006.

JoWood recently declared bankruptcy.

Are u sure? I read about the chance of recapitalisation of the Company and not about definite bankruptcy.

isn't Jowood the one that has the Gothic series?

That apparently fell through.
http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13236

A couple of days after that announcement the Dreamcatcher site was no longer accessible.

Dammit, that is very sad, particularly because it didn't pass much time in between the acquisition and the declaration of bankruptcy, at least not under the point of view of business development. Have u read any reason in regards to how they arrived at this situation?

It is like it was mentioned above. Dreamcatcher and the Adventure Company were bought from the now obsolete Jowood. You can forget all three of them.

they might have closed but i imagine the human resources are gonna be absorbed to a point from the existing companies or they might even start anew.i doubt they are gonna be wasted like that.

The Adventure Company would buy good licenses and ruin them. I honestly think TAC being out of business does more good for the adventure genre than bad. For a struggling genre, you have to put out good games or else you give the genre a bad name. They would just put out massive amounts of games to turn a profit.

yeah but closing down in an already struggling industry is not a good sign either.

I think that has more to do with TAG's mismanagement than the adventure industry as a whole. They litteraly ran everything they touched into the ground. One poor decision follwed by another.

That is what I wondered. I've heard that the majority of game programmers are contracted by project and once finished they don't necessarily are asked to remain for a new one, even if it is a next installments of the game they've been working with originally. Is that true?

it might be........i've heard that this also stands for generic programmer's in software companies.
our future looks bleak:P

They are only publishers, not developers but I don't know how much of a role game publishers have in the content of a game. It's a shame because I think they made available games which wouldn't have had the funding or publicity otherwise to publish independently.

i thought they also had a studio.....apparently i'm wrong...........anyways.it is a shame.....just look at the games that got out because of TAC:
A Vampyre Story
Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None
Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express
Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun
Amerzone
Atlantis: The Lost Tales (Rerelease)
Atlantis II: Beyond Atlantis (Rerelease)
Atlantis III: The New World (Rerelease)
Atlantis IV: Evolution
Atlantis V: The Sacred Legacy
Aura: Fate of the Ages
The Black Mirror
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon
The Cameron Files: Secret at Loch Ness
The Cameron Files: The Pharaoh's Curse
The Crystal Key
Cypher / Traitors Gate 2
Dark Fall
Dark Fall: Lights Out
Dead Reefs
Dracula: Origin
ECHO: Secrets of the Lost Cavern
Evidence: The Last Ritual
The Experiment
The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft
Keepsake
Martin Mystère: Operation Dorian Gray (also known as Crime Stories)
The Messenger
Missing: Since January
Mysterious Journey II
The Moment of Silence
Next Life
Nibiru: Age of Secrets
Outcry
Post Mortem
Return to Mysterious Island
ROTS-1 Riddle of the Sphinx
ROTS-2 The Omega Stone
Sam & Max Season One
Safecracker: The Ultimate Puzzle Adventure
Schizm: Mysterious Journey
Sentinel: Descendants in Time (AKA Realms of Illusion)
Secret Files: Tunguska
Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis
Still Life
Syberia
Treasure Island
Voyage: Inspired by Jules Verne

some of 'em i haven't even heard of but the majority are good titles.

How much I loved George Stobbart American accent and sense of humor! I'd love to have another game with him and Nicolette! :9

Revolution are developing Broken Sword 5, though :) I won't say this is the end of the adventure as a genre, but maybe the old publishing methods will be more or less gone, as digital publishing is obviously the new way to go.

Just take a look at Telltale. They've done a great job without any publishers, except Ubisoft where they got hired to do a job.

Thanks for the news Jannar85! I will surely have a look at it! :)

I'm pretty sure I said it before in another thread of the same flavour, but while I feel bad for anyone still awaiting payment from TAC, or anyone awaiting the next installment of the Atlantis franchise, over all, I suspect TAC had outlived its usefulness. It really does come down to the fact that they clearly had no real interest in developing and solidifying the future of Adventure Games.

Most of the games they published were throwbacks to the kind of games we were playing in the early 90s. Some of them were games I enjoyed greatly; others were a distinct letdown, and meaning no insult to the fans of some of the games I'm thinking of, were also an embarrassment to the genre. Nothing breeds failure more than fostering mediocrity and rewarding failure with more of the same.

It also does no one any good sacking one amateur studio to put funding into another equally green studio for the next installment. they should have had the courage of their convictions to back a team until it had the product truly ready for the current market, or halted production before costs ran too high.

Either maintain a respectable level of commitment to quality game development, or start selling toiletries, because believe me, those will always be in high demand.