Looking at this list you might be fooled into thinking that every F2P that launched was a success, but that’s hardly the case. We yet again only get articles on P2P folding.
To me what is more of a concern than the MMO’s themselves is what we lose in terms of the ideas and coding that went into them. So many good ideas exist in successful MMO’s that never get passed down the line to new MMO’s. Those that were formulated in MMO’s that don’t make it have the stigmata of ‘failed MMO’ attached to them.
The proprietary nature of coding means all that work is lost to the industry. Cancellations like these take the industry back a step.
I'm not so certain about that. Given the nature of the work, the people involved have likely learned to use the language and apps more effectively. That can be put to good use in their next employment. So while the code base itself may will be locked up in IP land, their experience and knowledge isn't. Its sad when a game like this fails(especially so soon after launch), but thats the nature of these complex activities. Not to mention that the MMO market is becoming more and more brutal.
Dude, its been less than 3 months. Why would you say Finally?
I played the game for a couple weeks on and off. And the rampant cheating made me quit. Never understood why people get joy out of cheating. What's the point in playing a game and not getting to the top on your own? Pathetic.
That's the main reason I just couldn't play the game anymore! The games enviroment I liked which they could have had more than just two action districts. If they would have focused on a way to ban the aimbotters/hackers I think everyone would have stuck around.
I don't mind waiting for a patch to fix certain guns damage, accuracy, recoil and such. But when you have aimbotters/hackers taking over the game almost completely, you know something is wrong when it isn't fixed quickly and accordingly!
Anyways funny thing is i've been in all those games except Seed. Always sucks when a game fails or just never makes it too the light of day.
there were just too many things about APB that ALL BY THEMSELVES would have caused a failure.
lets assume APB was perfect in every way EXCEPT for ONE of the following.
1) pervasive, uncontested hacking and cheating everywhere you go
2) severely broken matchmaking.....in a game that lives or dies based on PVP MATCHES entirely
3) burning up WAY too much money to develop, such that the game would have had to be one of the top money making MMOs of all time in order to break even on investments
4) subsciptions being necessary in order to ensure they have a chance at recouping investments, and yet a huge portion of the potential subscribers are able to play for free by converting progression earnings into RTW points and being able to pay subs with RTW points
5) the game being all about shooting, while the majority's perception is that the shooting is subpar
any one of those could kill the game, and yet it had ALL of those.
and those are just the major business breaking points off the top of my head. plenty of other lesser, but not necessarily game killing factors, such as the majority of people trying and reviewing the game expecting it to be an mmo+RPG (and expecting all the usual progression grind, PVE, quests, etc., etc.) and can't get over the fact that its a pretty straight up PVP shooter ONLY, and being severely disappointed by that.
or the people who couldn't grasp the payment options,
or the people that acted like the game wasn't any different from CODMW/FPS-games-in-general in any way, therefore they couldn't understand why it'd have a sub fee, etc., etc.
most people through simplistic thinking are taking away all the wrong lessons to be learned from this. its all very elementary when you break it down properly and don't make simple associations between different elements.
btw, its not my thinking that subscriptions were necesary, i think a proper, relatively unflawed game with a properly designed cash shop could make the same or MORE money, but any math you'd do to predict it is highly theoretical and has to be tried. needing the right mix of items with the right prices, etc.
what i mentioned above in the "4)" section was talking about the math that RTW used to figure out what was necessary to see a profit. not theoretical guesses, but the simple predictable math that their payment model went with where the only variables were whether they'd get x number of subscribers & x number of paid hours. along with x number of box purchases.
Fury was one my favourite games ever.. it actually took some skills to play, and the combat is one of the best ive ever seen in a multiplayer game. Its a shame that the game closed.
These are perfect examples of what happens when you try and release games that appeal only to the fewest and loudest.
Example: I wish there was a radical shooter game, with gangs and whores and dead cops and no story or environment to make anyone actualy want to subscribe to or care about.
Example2: I wish we had us a badass, Gran Turismo 15 style, console, mega race, crash em up, set in a post apocaliptic world. Then me and my 5 brohiems could play again, since our 360's came down with the red ring of death.
Example3: I'm sick of elfs, I want a first person shooter, set in some convoluted, alter dimensional future. Everyone hates WoW that's why it only has like 50 bazillion players, try my crazy PeeVeePee space shooter, I know you wont add perma death or t-baging but it will sell subs.
They all got what they deserved. Games need massive story content, the bulk of subs play solo most of the time logged on. Quests, exploration and an invested feeling in the world seems to be working as the baseline.
Everytime I hear these same halftards spouting off about upcoming titles like SWTOR, I know that will be the next one to make it big.
YES! I think Earth and Beyond should of been mentioned. That game had a huge followiing. When they pulled the plug, many people were really upset, me one of them. That game was fun and I never figured out why they closed it down.
I have been following the emulator, but it will never be the game it was.
Agreed E&B belongs on this list. I miss that game.
Tabula Rasa was a real let down because to me it felt like Starship Troopers the MMO! Broken game mechanics and grinding trash mobs for endgame loot (with random stats) was horrible. Oh and on a side note I remember being called "stupid" by a clan member for not jumping at the chance to buy a lifetime sub. I can still hear his voice "Dude, it's a Richard Garriot game, it'll always be around" lawl.
I played Fury for a bit too. Fair concept, god awful execution. Their staff used to post on this site to represent their product. I remember arguing with one because he was bragging about how many abilities a player could learn. They thought if you had a spell, (lets say "fireball) and increase the damage for it every few levels (giving it a different name each time but keeping the animation the same) and did this ten times you have ten different abilities. Pretty sad.
Get ready to add Vindictus to this list. Alls you do is run dungeons, kill a bunch of weak mobs then a boss. over and over and over. Completely lacking in content. Complete fail. Completely dissapointed. All the hype for crap games nowadays. The future of mmorpgs is looking grim unless they bring something new to the table that has content. Pretty graphics are nice but a game needs to have fun play and something origional. Sadly companys are failing at this left and right these days. Good news is Im saving alot of money not buying each game right when it comes out like the mistake i made with Aion. CRAP CRAP AND MORE CRAP. The future of mmorpgs. Coming from a guy who has been playing them for over 10 years im very saddened to see this shift.
Get ready to add Vindictus to this list. Alls you do is run dungeons, kill a bunch of weak mobs then a boss. over and over and over. Completely lacking in content. Complete fail. Completely dissapointed. All the hype for crap games nowadays. The future of mmorpgs is looking grim unless they bring something new to the table that has content. Pretty graphics are nice but a game needs to have fun play and something origional. Sadly companys are failing at this left and right these days. Good news is Im saving alot of money not buying each game right when it comes out like the mistake i made with Aion. CRAP CRAP AND MORE CRAP. The future of mmorpgs. Coming from a guy who has been playing them for over 10 years im very saddened to see this shift.
Agreed, Vindictus was boring after 3 days for me. Everything was overpriced. Same old dungeons yada yada yada.
I'm just hoping that Blade & Soul won't fall into this dungeon-based system. Unless it's VERY well executed, dungeons fail.
Last games I pre-purchased were Hellgate:London and Tabula Rasa. I really didn't care playing either past two months, laughed at the lifetime subscribers, and when I learned that they were closing a year later I wasn't surprised at all. Seems like every MMO after that has had mega hype with obligatory "It's beta" excuse for its shittiness, and upon release fails to retain people past the 30 days and drops to meager numbers. Remember CO release? How about Aion? Warhammer still kicking? Everyone get their fill of Age of Conan? I hear a lot of people are playing LotR now... that it's free. Most of all, if there is any amount of butthurt to be had I would guess it to be by anyone who pre-purchased APB. I dunno, I didn't play it... smelled like Crimecraft with a craptastic payment system. But my point is... PRE-PURCHASED.
When you pre-purchase something, you aren't really "reserving your copy" moreso than telling publishers and developers "I don't care what state you release the game in, I just want to own it." Until the consumers can get a grip on reality and break away from the mentality of "I GOTSTA PLAY IT ASAP" devs and pubs will release things half-assed with the assumption you will keep playing it regardless and will wait faithfully while they complete it. Consumers brought about this model of half-assed games on release. So in essence... THEY fail, because WE failed first.
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
I remember when A.P.B. was going to be be on the xbox 360, years back, sad to hear that didn't happen...I've been following this game for such a long time and Realtime just didn't get to really shine with there MMO.
I played A.P.B. during the beta run and I would have to say I did enjoy it, it just needed more tweaking on the controls, but I think it actually had promise to be something exciting in the MMO world. Only reason I did not buy it when it launched , because I was waiting on some patch fixes, other then that I would of been playing till the servers went down.
Rumors has it that Epic may be buying A.P.B from Realtime World. , but that's still a big ole rumor, that would be nice to see come to light.
Wildstar (2013) & Elder Scroll Online (2013)
Playing: Diablo 3, WOW, Far Cry 3 & X-Com.
Enjoyed: WOW 5 1/2 yrs, LOTRO 3yrs, GW 1/2yr, DFO 1yr, EVE Online 3yrs, and Huxley (Beta).
Failed to impress: GW2 3months, Tera Online 6 months (best combat system in any MMO I've played) STO 1/4yr, Aion 1/2yr, AoC 1yr, CO, Fallen Earth, DDO, EQ2 1/2yr, WAR 1/2yr, Lineage 2 and FF XI 1/2yr, FF XIV.
Still a great article, one minor correction: "...company behind Crackdown, not holds the dubious distinction of being the game with the shortest lifespan... "
Should be "...now holds..."
Originally posted by GTwander:
How are you an MMO? Or any of us for that matter?
I say we strike all users from the site for not being MMOs.
I'm saddened that my favorite columnist didn't update the list for the year 2009. Perhaps my idea of failure is beyond what you wanted to highlight. In my eyes, games like Conan and Darkfall are epic failures that are only kept alive artificially. The hype vs the product vs the current state are all below average. There is no way they will ever hit any population (subscriber) records.
Why is Vanguard still running?
Asheron's Call has a better chance of bouncing back than many other MMOs that are out today.
Anyhow, I still enjoy your articles, I just don't like one-sided news.
I'm saddened that my favorite columnist didn't update the list for the year 2009. Perhaps my idea of failure is beyond what you wanted to highlight. In my eyes, games like Conan and Darkfall are epic failures that are only kept alive artificially. The hype vs the product vs the current state are all below average. There is no way they will ever hit any population (subscriber) records.
Why is Vanguard still running?
Asheron's Call has a better chance of bouncing back than many other MMOs that are out today.
Anyhow, I still enjoy your articles, I just don't like one-sided news.
Ataaka
Did you not realize this article is about games that DIED?
It's not about games that are "failures" in your eyes but still alive.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
lol APB didn't even last three months. I hope the devs and marketing morons involved are forced to live under a bridge somewhere.
Talk about trying to hype a game purely by stealing a game concept from somewhere (GTA), hyping it up through meaningless, shallow marketing and then failing dismally on all other fronts. Good job. Next time maybe invest 1% of your budget in marketing and 99% in not releasing a total crap game instead of the other way around. Oh wait, there won't be a next time. Have fun under the bridge, hope the wife and kids will find room at her mothers house... it's getting cold outside. ;-P
I'm only sorry this abomination of a game didn't die sooner.
Now only STO needs to join the list (second or thrid place would be fitting) and my trust in the average MMO-customers will be half-way restored (well not really but at least I've got a realistic chance of seeing the STO-devs join the APB-devs under that bridge - perhaps their wives can even start a knitting circle).
Comments
I'm not so certain about that. Given the nature of the work, the people involved have likely learned to use the language and apps more effectively. That can be put to good use in their next employment. So while the code base itself may will be locked up in IP land, their experience and knowledge isn't. Its sad when a game like this fails(especially so soon after launch), but thats the nature of these complex activities. Not to mention that the MMO market is becoming more and more brutal.
Some typos in there and some interesting use of terminology - just sayin'....
Dude, its been less than 3 months. Why would you say Finally?
I played the game for a couple weeks on and off. And the rampant cheating made me quit. Never understood why people get joy out of cheating. What's the point in playing a game and not getting to the top on your own? Pathetic.
That's the main reason I just couldn't play the game anymore! The games enviroment I liked which they could have had more than just two action districts. If they would have focused on a way to ban the aimbotters/hackers I think everyone would have stuck around.
I don't mind waiting for a patch to fix certain guns damage, accuracy, recoil and such. But when you have aimbotters/hackers taking over the game almost completely, you know something is wrong when it isn't fixed quickly and accordingly!
Anyways funny thing is i've been in all those games except Seed. Always sucks when a game fails or just never makes it too the light of day.
Just my two cents on this topic/article.
They spent so much time on apb and that game couldnt have been worse. No idea why they would release it at all
F.A.T
there were just too many things about APB that ALL BY THEMSELVES would have caused a failure.
lets assume APB was perfect in every way EXCEPT for ONE of the following.
1) pervasive, uncontested hacking and cheating everywhere you go
2) severely broken matchmaking.....in a game that lives or dies based on PVP MATCHES entirely
3) burning up WAY too much money to develop, such that the game would have had to be one of the top money making MMOs of all time in order to break even on investments
4) subsciptions being necessary in order to ensure they have a chance at recouping investments, and yet a huge portion of the potential subscribers are able to play for free by converting progression earnings into RTW points and being able to pay subs with RTW points
5) the game being all about shooting, while the majority's perception is that the shooting is subpar
any one of those could kill the game, and yet it had ALL of those.
and those are just the major business breaking points off the top of my head. plenty of other lesser, but not necessarily game killing factors, such as the majority of people trying and reviewing the game expecting it to be an mmo+RPG (and expecting all the usual progression grind, PVE, quests, etc., etc.) and can't get over the fact that its a pretty straight up PVP shooter ONLY, and being severely disappointed by that.
or the people who couldn't grasp the payment options,
or the people that acted like the game wasn't any different from CODMW/FPS-games-in-general in any way, therefore they couldn't understand why it'd have a sub fee, etc., etc.
most people through simplistic thinking are taking away all the wrong lessons to be learned from this. its all very elementary when you break it down properly and don't make simple associations between different elements.
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Corpus Callosum
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btw, its not my thinking that subscriptions were necesary, i think a proper, relatively unflawed game with a properly designed cash shop could make the same or MORE money, but any math you'd do to predict it is highly theoretical and has to be tried. needing the right mix of items with the right prices, etc.
what i mentioned above in the "4)" section was talking about the math that RTW used to figure out what was necessary to see a profit. not theoretical guesses, but the simple predictable math that their payment model went with where the only variables were whether they'd get x number of subscribers & x number of paid hours. along with x number of box purchases.
---------------------------
Corpus Callosum
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APB was competely awful, so no surprise there.
The only thing it had going for it was customization of avatars
Fury was one my favourite games ever.. it actually took some skills to play, and the combat is one of the best ive ever seen in a multiplayer game. Its a shame that the game closed.
These are perfect examples of what happens when you try and release games that appeal only to the fewest and loudest.
Example: I wish there was a radical shooter game, with gangs and whores and dead cops and no story or environment to make anyone actualy want to subscribe to or care about.
Example2: I wish we had us a badass, Gran Turismo 15 style, console, mega race, crash em up, set in a post apocaliptic world. Then me and my 5 brohiems could play again, since our 360's came down with the red ring of death.
Example3: I'm sick of elfs, I want a first person shooter, set in some convoluted, alter dimensional future. Everyone hates WoW that's why it only has like 50 bazillion players, try my crazy PeeVeePee space shooter, I know you wont add perma death or t-baging but it will sell subs.
They all got what they deserved. Games need massive story content, the bulk of subs play solo most of the time logged on. Quests, exploration and an invested feeling in the world seems to be working as the baseline.
Everytime I hear these same halftards spouting off about upcoming titles like SWTOR, I know that will be the next one to make it big.
Agreed E&B belongs on this list. I miss that game.
Tabula Rasa was a real let down because to me it felt like Starship Troopers the MMO! Broken game mechanics and grinding trash mobs for endgame loot (with random stats) was horrible. Oh and on a side note I remember being called "stupid" by a clan member for not jumping at the chance to buy a lifetime sub. I can still hear his voice "Dude, it's a Richard Garriot game, it'll always be around" lawl.
I played Fury for a bit too. Fair concept, god awful execution. Their staff used to post on this site to represent their product. I remember arguing with one because he was bragging about how many abilities a player could learn. They thought if you had a spell, (lets say "fireball) and increase the damage for it every few levels (giving it a different name each time but keeping the animation the same) and did this ten times you have ten different abilities. Pretty sad.
Oh, and what did that piece of garbage Hellgate: London weigh in at? That one had a pretty short lifespan too.
Me too. I was real surprised to only see 1 other person bring up AC2.
AC2 should make these lists just cuz. damnit.
I never did try APB. It looked sort of fun from the outside. I just have too much on my MMO plate lately.
I do feel bad for the people that poured their heart and soul into games that die like this. It must be frustrating for them.
Acidon
Get ready to add Vindictus to this list. Alls you do is run dungeons, kill a bunch of weak mobs then a boss. over and over and over. Completely lacking in content. Complete fail. Completely dissapointed. All the hype for crap games nowadays. The future of mmorpgs is looking grim unless they bring something new to the table that has content. Pretty graphics are nice but a game needs to have fun play and something origional. Sadly companys are failing at this left and right these days. Good news is Im saving alot of money not buying each game right when it comes out like the mistake i made with Aion. CRAP CRAP AND MORE CRAP. The future of mmorpgs. Coming from a guy who has been playing them for over 10 years im very saddened to see this shift.
Just relized that ABP got cancelled. I didn't know it was gone.
RIP
Agreed, Vindictus was boring after 3 days for me. Everything was overpriced. Same old dungeons yada yada yada.
I'm just hoping that Blade & Soul won't fall into this dungeon-based system. Unless it's VERY well executed, dungeons fail.
Last games I pre-purchased were Hellgate:London and Tabula Rasa. I really didn't care playing either past two months, laughed at the lifetime subscribers, and when I learned that they were closing a year later I wasn't surprised at all. Seems like every MMO after that has had mega hype with obligatory "It's beta" excuse for its shittiness, and upon release fails to retain people past the 30 days and drops to meager numbers. Remember CO release? How about Aion? Warhammer still kicking? Everyone get their fill of Age of Conan? I hear a lot of people are playing LotR now... that it's free. Most of all, if there is any amount of butthurt to be had I would guess it to be by anyone who pre-purchased APB. I dunno, I didn't play it... smelled like Crimecraft with a craptastic payment system. But my point is... PRE-PURCHASED.
When you pre-purchase something, you aren't really "reserving your copy" moreso than telling publishers and developers "I don't care what state you release the game in, I just want to own it." Until the consumers can get a grip on reality and break away from the mentality of "I GOTSTA PLAY IT ASAP" devs and pubs will release things half-assed with the assumption you will keep playing it regardless and will wait faithfully while they complete it. Consumers brought about this model of half-assed games on release. So in essence... THEY fail, because WE failed first.
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
1: I hope Tabula Rasa's private servers get up soon
and
2: I hope APB gets bought and ressurected someday like Hellgate.
I remember when A.P.B. was going to be be on the xbox 360, years back, sad to hear that didn't happen...I've been following this game for such a long time and Realtime just didn't get to really shine with there MMO.
I played A.P.B. during the beta run and I would have to say I did enjoy it, it just needed more tweaking on the controls, but I think it actually had promise to be something exciting in the MMO world. Only reason I did not buy it when it launched , because I was waiting on some patch fixes, other then that I would of been playing till the servers went down.
Rumors has it that Epic may be buying A.P.B from Realtime World. , but that's still a big ole rumor, that would be nice to see come to light.
Wildstar (2013) & Elder Scroll Online (2013)
Playing: Diablo 3, WOW, Far Cry 3 & X-Com.
Enjoyed: WOW 5 1/2 yrs, LOTRO 3yrs, GW 1/2yr, DFO 1yr, EVE Online 3yrs, and Huxley (Beta).
Failed to impress: GW2 3months, Tera Online 6 months (best combat system in any MMO I've played) STO 1/4yr, Aion 1/2yr, AoC 1yr, CO, Fallen Earth, DDO, EQ2 1/2yr, WAR 1/2yr, Lineage 2 and FF XI 1/2yr, FF XIV.
Still a great article, one minor correction: "...company behind Crackdown, not holds the dubious distinction of being the game with the shortest lifespan... "
Should be "...now holds..."
Originally posted by GTwander:
How are you an MMO? Or any of us for that matter?
I say we strike all users from the site for not being MMOs.
I'm saddened that my favorite columnist didn't update the list for the year 2009. Perhaps my idea of failure is beyond what you wanted to highlight. In my eyes, games like Conan and Darkfall are epic failures that are only kept alive artificially. The hype vs the product vs the current state are all below average. There is no way they will ever hit any population (subscriber) records.
Why is Vanguard still running?
Asheron's Call has a better chance of bouncing back than many other MMOs that are out today.
Anyhow, I still enjoy your articles, I just don't like one-sided news.
Ataaka
Amen to that!!!
Did you not realize this article is about games that DIED?
It's not about games that are "failures" in your eyes but still alive.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
lol APB didn't even last three months. I hope the devs and marketing morons involved are forced to live under a bridge somewhere.
Talk about trying to hype a game purely by stealing a game concept from somewhere (GTA), hyping it up through meaningless, shallow marketing and then failing dismally on all other fronts. Good job. Next time maybe invest 1% of your budget in marketing and 99% in not releasing a total crap game instead of the other way around. Oh wait, there won't be a next time. Have fun under the bridge, hope the wife and kids will find room at her mothers house... it's getting cold outside. ;-P
I'm only sorry this abomination of a game didn't die sooner.
Now only STO needs to join the list (second or thrid place would be fitting) and my trust in the average MMO-customers will be half-way restored (well not really but at least I've got a realistic chance of seeing the STO-devs join the APB-devs under that bridge - perhaps their wives can even start a knitting circle).