OhforfSake said:

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Perhaps we subconsciously realize that there have only ever been 3 games in the HoMM series.

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Moldran said:

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It makes sense to combine them, there isn't that much discussion about Heroes 1 & 2 anymore (even though they would deserve a lot more threads!).

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Moldran said:

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Also, Heroes 1-3 have all been created by the legendary Jon van Caneghem, wheras 5, 6, and 7 got a new team working on them.

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PlokiteWolf said:

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You call him legendary, I call him a trainwreck. He's allegedly the most responsible for New World Computing's demise (apparently, he was blamed by his former NWC coworkers for deciding to race during HoMM4's development process) and was part of the abysmal excuse of a project that was Command & Conquer (2013) (aka Generals 2).

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JVC said:

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I believed that MM RPGs and Heroes games could have gone on for a very long time if we had created something new and innovative every 2 to 3 years. But the need for "sales growth," mandated by 3DO, required us to make a new MM RPG and a new Heroes product every year – some in 10 months or less!

One of the main reasons I was excited to go with 3DO was the ability to create Might and Magic Online. 3DO had the entire infrastructure from their game Meridian 59. With all the ideas I had (most of which have still not appeared in current games), we could have created something really awesome. The future for me in 1996 was definitely online games. Alas, the decision was that for the same budget as MMO, 3DO could make three PS2 games."

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GameSpot said:

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GameSpot: You’ve been off a lot of people’s radar for a while. What the heck are you doing standing shoulder to shoulder with what was arguably your biggest competitor. What are you doing at NCsoft?

Jon Van Caneghem: The whole reason I came there was really to start from scratch. I didn’t want to have to do anything based on something that already existed--as with some of the baggage I had with all the Heroes games, where I had to always make a sequel.

GS: When did the games start to qualify as "baggage"?

JVC: I think toward the end with 3DO it started to feel that way. Like most publishers, they were very scared of doing something new. They always wanted to stick with building a sequel that they knew had a built-in sales number they could achieve... The execs look at the numbers and they go, “Hey, but we got such a fan base. Can you make another one?" Nine Might and Magics and four Heroes later, it gets to the point where I go, “Come on guys, let’s do something new!”

GS: How did that relationship start off?

JVC: A few months into it, six or seven months into it, Trip [Hawkins, 3DO's founder] decided that building three PS2 titles would be better use of his money. So, my vision there got canceled. Ever since, I’ve been wanting to do massively multiplayer products. I’ve been building ideas, and I play every [MMO game] out there. I just really think it’s the future of gaming. Then I read about Richard and Robert Garriott starting their group, and then merging with NCsoft. I got real intrigued.

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TimLang said:

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CH: A former NWC artist has blamed Jon Van Caneghem for not trusting his team with the design of Heroes IV. Jon had previously admitted not liking Heroes IV much during an interview with Celestial Heavens at the 2003 E3 exhibit. Was there some tension during the final days of H4 and MM9?

Tim: I hate to point a finger at one person, because if one person really deserves it, it might be Trip Hawkins for driving NWC into the ground. There's absolutely no question that Jon was in absentia during most of MM9 and H4, and when he finally started paying attention to them, a lot of things were already too far gone. He came in right near the end of H4 and as I understand it changed a whole lot of things. Mostly for the better, I think, but that sort of late night meddling is sure to cause some resentment. As far as his comments in the interview, I thought they were a little inappropriate. He basically blamed the teams for the failures of the games. These were people who worked their butts off, working unpaid late nights and weekends for 80-90+ hour weeks while Jon was off racing cars and not showing up to work. I won't say that we were totally faultless, but when you've got someone with 20+ years in the industry, not having his support and guidance really hurts the projects.

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'TimLang' said:

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There's absolutely no question that Jon was in absentia during most of MM9 and H4, and when he finally started paying attention to them, a lot of things were already too far gone.
(...)
while Jon was off racing cars and not showing up to work.

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PlokiteWolf said:

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Trip Hawkins may have been the badguy in that (EA before EA, lol), but it doesn't wash JVC's hands.

The third quote is the one I was referring to (though I'd like to have a link for future reference, forgot where I first found it).


Here's the problem:

'TimLang' said:

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There's absolutely no question that Jon was in absentia during most of MM9 and H4, and when he finally started paying attention to them, a lot of things were already too far gone.
(...)
while Jon was off racing cars and not showing up to work.

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He was the founder and owner of New World Computing, so how the hell could he have been absent for so long and not take part in crucial meetings and decisions of his own company? I'd understand that if he was ill or something, but that wasn't the case with him. It's perfectly fine if he was active in something else than the gaming industry, but choosing racing as a priority while his company is falling to pieces doesn't look good on his CV.

If he knew the team depended on him, he could've stayed OR trained someone to replace him while he's gone. Or, hell, separate from 3DO or disband and start over. Irresponsible to the bone.

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Aetherrevival said:

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Taking the first interview stated here, he clearly says that he hadn't an interest in making any new sequels, which would really be decent backup to the claim below that he was 'off racing cars'. However...... that's really only one man's statement, or as far as I've seen visible proof of.

The thing that really confuses me is that his interview starts off as if he is going to touch the subject of Mr. Hawkins a bit more, then he goes off on a tirade about Mr. van Caneghem. That could also mean that the latter was, indeed, guilty, but again, this is one man's word and feelings.

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