TSW is flopping - affects development of other games?

[Atypical]

Article 1:
http://translate.google.com/translat...-kutte&act=url

Article 2:
http://translate.google.com/translat...261865&act=url

Will this affect the development of Anarchy Online in any way at all?

[Pomidor]

Well, I dont understand whats-behind-those games that developers think they will attract humongous amount of playerbase.

I mailed FC two years ago about my project (I am creating games since 1998 just as a hobby) and - If i had money right now - I would start MMORPG that would change history in first day after release...


@ TSW - pity, that so much work went for nothing...

[Neosh1]

Well, I dont understand whats-behind-those games that developers think they will attract humongous amount of playerbase.

I mailed FC two years ago about my project (I am creating games since 1998 just as a hobby) and - If i had money right now - I would start MMORPG that would change history in first day after release...


@ TSW - pity, that so much work went for nothing...

They are making new game, maybe thats your project

[Gunfytr]

Will this affect the development of Anarchy Online in any way at all?

What development?

[doctorgore]

Its a decent game actually. A bit simplistic in combat design though. It will be F2P eventually like SWTOR.

[If6was9]

"But that's not all bad news the company can introduce the market Friday. Those who actually play The Secret World is according to the company very happy. They have a user score of 8.4 out of 10 on metacritic.com and other websites. "

So initial sales are lower but long term sales are higher. If the game costs 60 bucks and the first month is free (pretty standard for MMORPGs these days) but 1/2 your player base leaves after 1 month that's equivalent to a game that is given freely but people pay 15/month for 4 months. However, if people get into a game, especially a FC level, sandbox happy game, they're likely to play for years. That's the big money.

So it doesn't sound like TSW is flopping so much as getting off to a slow start. 8.4/10 sounds pretty good for return customers. If Funcom's finances were clearer I might look into buying some stock now.

[Hardcore]

I got sad, then I became happy again when I saw the above comment!

[Demoder]

Summary of Funcom stock the past three months:
Think of a eagle which is flying. It climbs to higher altitudes, and the world is awesome. Then someone shoots it. It's winged. It's losing altitude. But hey, it's not that bad. It was just a scratch, and he's recovering altitude again.
*smack* faceplant into a window.

[Raggy]

TSW would have been a 9.5+ game if it wasn't for the sluggish, slow paced combat.

The Storyline is fantastic.
The quest system is fantastic.
The atmosphere and graphics are fantastic.

The combat brings all these things down by a huge mile by not being engaging or fun. I honestly have no idea what would fix it, but it really is the sole reason I didn't buy TSW.

[Mastablasta]

Maybe if it had been an MMO instead of a weird singleplayer mashup of online and offline and whatever else they threw in there. Bleh.

[Lazy]

lawl called it!

[Tanisthonus]

Maybe if it had been an MMO instead of a weird singleplayer mashup of online and offline and whatever else they threw in there. Bleh.

My only real problem with TSW is the ridiculous amount of Solo Instances while questing.

Ridiculous amount is anything more than maybe one or two. This is an MMO, guys.

[drainbamage]

FC MMO doing poorly? Who would have thought

[Mastablasta]

It's not really doing poorly as much as it is not living up to inflated expectations

[Phixalicious]

What development?

Exactly.

"But that's not all bad news the company can introduce the market Friday. Those who actually play The Secret World is according to the company very happy. They have a user score of 8.4 out of 10 on metacritic.com and other websites. "

So initial sales are lower but long term sales are higher. If the game costs 60 bucks and the first month is free (pretty standard for MMORPGs these days) but 1/2 your player base leaves after 1 month that's equivalent to a game that is given freely but people pay 15/month for 4 months. However, if people get into a game, especially a FC level, sandbox happy game, they're likely to play for years. That's the big money.

So it doesn't sound like TSW is flopping so much as getting off to a slow start. 8.4/10 sounds pretty good for return customers. If Funcom's finances were clearer I might look into buying some stock now.

Switch "TSW" with "AOC" and you have the same argument the fans tried to use for it in the beginning.

Summary of Funcom stock the past three months:
Think of a eagle which is flying. It climbs to higher altitudes, and the world is awesome. Then someone shoots it. It's winged. It's losing altitude. But hey, it's not that bad. It was just a scratch, and he's recovering altitude again.
*smack* faceplant into a window.

Excellent analogy.

Maybe if it had been an MMO instead of a weird singleplayer mashup of online and offline and whatever else they threw in there. Bleh.

For the first time in history, Funcom can say they've released a Bioware-quality game. Too bad they chose to emulate post-EA Bioware to do so.

[trousers]

This made my day, thank you for pointing this out.

[Gargle]

I was in closed beta of TSW for some time, and I loved everything about it. Graphics, music, storyline, gamelore. Everything was amazing. I'm going to resubscribe one day I think. Although I'm not good at PvP, it was a lot of fun as a close to Necromancer deck leeching healer.

My sincerest hope is that Funcom will emulate the Sony Station pass, which basically means that you could subscribe to all Funcom online games with one monthly fee say a completely random sum $20, under the condition that you can only be logged into one game at the time.

This could be coupled with guild chat being connected in all games, e.g., if you were in guild chat in TSW you could see the AO guild chat, and depending on what was going on in one or the other game, you could just log in to the other game and have some fun with the guild.

Anyways, one can always daydream. :-)

Oh and, I think TSW will pick up as more content is added and the summer/holiday months have passed for US, EU, etc.

[Freor]

This made my day, thank you for pointing this out.

It's not that bad if you look a bit longer timeframe. I'd guess the huge expectations for TSW just caused a bubble before launch (along with general market rally at the start of the year) which you can see in 3 year graph for example.

Whats worrying is that after quick look, on last 3 full years, 2010 was pretty much break-even with 2009 and 2011 being heavy losses. They've got some new capital recently but one can only hope these cuts will be enough to turn the company into profit soonish.

As for AO... well, Q1/12 says "Launched, Cash flow positive" and as long as it stays that way, don't see why they'd shut it down. The company needs to return to profit as a whole though.

Funny thing, google search for "Funcom q1" mainly points to various game forums (AoC, TSW) instead of actual "investor pages"

[kabulla]

My only real problem with TSW is the ridiculous amount of Solo Instances while questing.

Ridiculous amount is anything more than maybe one or two. This is an MMO, guys.

Outside of the main story quest and faction quest I only remember 1 solo instance that involved fighting.

Maybe if it had been an MMO instead of a weird singleplayer mashup of online and offline and whatever else they threw in there. Bleh.

its as much a MMO AO has been over the last 6yrs or so... with a few differences.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/07...worlds-launch/ Is a large factor in the stock prices as no matter what the CEO says it hurts investor confidence.

As for TSW flopping I don't see it happening in the long term its not your typical MMO that is for sure but, I see retention being very good. If we are to go by Metacritic then TSW has a slightly brighter future than AO has had.

[Xyphos]

Reminder: AO flopped at launch, AOC flopped shortly after launch, TSW is no different.

give it some time, it'll take off like an overweight bomber plane.




btw, FC peaked in mid 2008.