• Tag Archives Aion

  • Aion: Truly Free Coming To North America

    Posted on February 21, 2012 by Omali Comment

    Last year, NCSoft announced the upcoming free to play transition of Aion…in Europe. In a rather unsurprising move, the developer announced today that North America will be following. Players will have access to all of the content in Aion free of charge, without restrictions on zones, housing, mounts, quests, etc. In addition, NCSoft promises robust cheat detection to ensure that bots won’t take a choke hold over the game.

    As a head start, NCSoft will be launching a “Rallying the Troops” event, offering new players a chance to check out the game with no time limit, but a level cap of 40. Returning players will have the ability to have their accounts reactivated for 14 days in the run up to the launch of Truly Free.

    Aion Truly Free hits this spring.

    (Source: Aion Truly Free)

    This entry was posted in Aion, Hot Titles and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • NCSoft Q4 Finances: Sales/Profit Down

    Posted on February 15, 2012 by Omali 2 Comments

    NCSoft has posted their fourth quarter finances. Sales were hit with a 6% loss since the last quarter, with operating profit reportedly taking a 51% hit and net income down 42% since last quarter. NCSoft attributes the decline in sales and profits due to scaled back in-game item sales.

    Year over year sales from 2011 compared to 2010 saw a similar drop in revenue by 7%, operating income by 24%, and income by 21%, due to what NCSoft refers to as a weakened user base, and an expansion in research and development. Labor costs increased 9%, marketing increased 25%, and variable expenses grew 7%.

    You can see from the chart above that Lineage has continued its dip in sales, which NCSoft attributes to a lack of item sales in-game. Lineage II’s sales opened up somewhat, attributed in the release to “roust sales in Japan.” Aion saw a dip in sales of about 8%, as did Guild Wars (22%), and City of Heroes has shown a 22% increase in sales over Q3.

    In terms of regional breakdown, Korea’s stake in NCSoft dived from 69% in Q3 to 60% in Q4. North America rose from 4% to 5% while Europe dipped from 3% to 2%. Japan almost doubled its share, from 12% to 21%, while Taiwan lowered its share from 3% down to 2%. Royalties increased to 10% from 8%.

    City of Heroes and Lineage II went free to play recently, with Aion moving free to play in Europe.

    (Source: NCSoft Finances)

    This entry was posted in Aion, City of Heroes, Editorials, Guild Wars, Hot Titles, Lineage 2, Live and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • NCSoft Outsourcing European Hosting?

    Posted on January 19, 2012 by Omali Comment

    You know, I hadn’t really noticed until tonight how small NCSoft’s library has become in the west. With the shuttering of Lineage, Auto Assault, Tabula Rasa, Exteel, and Dungeon Runners, us westerners are left with Aion, City of Heroes, Guild Wars, and Lineage 2. Four titles? Granted, we have Blade & Soul (hopefully) coming out at the end of this year, and Wildstar and Lineage Eternal coming at some point in the future.

    I can’t help but notice, however, that NCSoft’s personal appearance in Europe has taken a lesser role recently. Lineage II’s European service was recently handed over to Innova for the free to play transition, and when Aion goes free to play early this year, Gameforge is taking over service of that title. So far this is only on NCSoft’s titles in Europe that have transitioned to free to play, with the exception of City of Heroes in which case the two services (US/EU) were merged into one under NCSoft. This leaves Guild Wars.

    If I’m lucky, NCSoft will answer my emails about future title publishing.

    This entry was posted in Aion, City of Heroes, Hot Titles, Lineage 2, Lineage Eternal, Live and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Aion Free To Play In February…For Europe.

    Posted on December 14, 2011 by Omali Comment

    Considering the other titles lately to make the transition, an announcement of free to play from NCSoft or Sony Online Entertainment might be welcoming, but hardly surprising. Over in Europe, NCSoft announced that Aion will be undergoing a change in publisher, to Gameforge, who will be taking care of transitioning the European service, and its community, to a new free to play model. Starting in February 2012, players will be able to enjoy everything* that Aion has to offer for no fee.

    In order to combat gold farming, “starter” accounts will be limited to two characters and have limitations from certain chat channels and private trading. Former subscribers will have access to almost everything, sans the increased instance cooldown and limited fortress siege rewards. You can read everything at the F2P matrix. Otherwise, NCsoft continues what has started as a rather generous program for free players, offering everything but the kitchen sink to anyone willing to sign up an account.

    This does not affect the North American servers, and there are currently no announced plans to bring such a transition to the states.

    (Source: Eurogamer)

    (Additional: Free to play matrix)

    This entry was posted in Aion, Hot Titles and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Has Aion Embraced Pay To Win?

    Posted on September 28, 2011 by Omali 1 Comment

    Pay to win is a highly controversial label in the MMO business, and I should know. I haven’t even finished the second sentence for this article, yet there is already a mob forming inside of my house ready to beat me to death if I show even a hint of unwavering and militant opposition to the monetary scheme. Going back to our old rule book, it’s important to remember the rule of perception: The important factor is not your intent, it is the player’s reception. If players viewed Turbine’s survey wall as an underhanded, deliberate scam, that is how it will be remembered.

    Aion has a special sale going on in the NCsoft store that has managed to ruffle more than a few feathers: The publisher is selling Felicitous Socketing in both Fabled and Eternal flavors, in single sets or bundles of three. The items is single-use and allows you to socket a manastone with 100% success rate. If this makes no sense to you, you’ve probably seen socketing in games like Diablo or Torchlight, except in Aion this system is designed to be unreliable. Failing a socket will cost you the manastone. Couple low success rates with higher level armor/manastones, and you have an expensive recipe for disaster. When researching this topic, I came across a notable amount of posters claiming losses rising up to and over ten million Kinah.

    To top it off, the items are only available until October 12th, after which they will be removed from the store. So I’ll leave this one up to the viewers. Do you think this constitutes pay to win?

    This entry was posted in Aion, Community Concerns, Editorials, Hot Titles and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • NCsoft Q2 Release: Profits Up, Aion/Lineage 2 Down

    Posted on August 18, 2011 by Omali Comment

    The first thing you’ll notice about NCsoft’s quarterly report for the second quarter of 2011 is a massive spike in sales from Lineage. NCsoft attributes this to strong item sales promotions. As of now, Lineage is the company’s best source of income, despite the game’s removal from its Western presence just a couple of months ago. Lineage’s item sales have propelled a 67% year over year increase in income, despite a 1% decline in overall sales over the same period. City of Heroes and Guild Wars continued a slow decline, although City of Heroes will undoubtedly hit an increase in sales once the game goes free to play later this year.

    Lineage’s success, however, comes on the heels of both Lineage II and Aion dropping a hefty amount, attributed to “slow seasonality” in the report. I talked last year about NCsoft’s regional breakdown in sales, as a response to why some western gamers described feeling like NCsoft doesn’t pay the hemisphere as much attention. As of Q2 2010, the regional breakdown is as such:

    1. Korea: 64%
    2. Japan: 10%
    3. Royalties: 7%
    4. N. America: 9%
    5. Europe: 5%
    6. Taiwan: 3%

    Those figures in Q2 2011:

    1. Korea: 71%
    2. Japan: 10%
    3. Royalties: 9%
    4. N. America: 4%
    5. Europe: 3%
    6. Taiwan: 3%
    This entry was posted in Aion, City of Heroes, Editorials, Hot Titles, Lineage 2, Live and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Aion: 10 Day Free Trial And Welcome Back Week

    Posted on May 25, 2011 by Omali Comment

    Aion’s 2.5 patch brings a whole lot of sexy to NCsoft’s already big-hitting title. The patch brings with it a new graphics mode, new content, customizations, pets, mentoring, armors, abyss changes, dynamic maps, and more changes than you could legally shake your finger at. In fact, NCsoft is so excited, that they want to welcome back their old players (again) to show them just how well the game has improved…just not for a few weeks. Possibly to give the current subscribers a leg up on the update and work out any kinks before reopening the doors, the welcome back week runs from June 3rd to June 13th.

    If you haven’t logged into your NCsoft account since the security update, you may want to get a head start. NCsoft enacted a new security policy, requiring computers to be authenticated before an account can log in from them. In order to authenticate a computer, you will need to enter your password hint answers, and if you don’t know those, go through support to get them changed. Do so soon, because there’s no saying how much NCsoft’s Customer support will be backed up.

    Furthermore, those of you who never played Aion will have the opportunity to take part in a ten day trial, experiencing up to level 20. The trial goes live May 26th. Oh NCsoft, why did you have to pick June 3rd and make me choose between Aion, the Hellgate Global beta opening, and the Duke Nukem Forever beta (among other things that week)?

    This entry was posted in Aion, Hot Titles and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • NCsoft Q1 2011 Finances In: Profits Up!

    Posted on May 17, 2011 by Omali Comment

    It’s that time of the year already, the first quarter financial reports are starting to stream in. Last year wasn’t so great for NCsoft, considering they lost a $28 million lawsuit against Richard Garriot. Sales of Aion, Lineage, and City of Heroes went down, while Lineage 2, Guild Wars, and NCsoft’s other titles saw a brief increase.

    Another point worth noting is the American presence in NCsoft’s portfolio: It’s dropping. Whereas North America made up 12% of NCsoft’s sales in Q4 2009 (23,733), this figure has plummeted to 5% in Q1 2011 (or a paltry 7,129). Similarly, NCsoft’s presence in Japan and Taiwan has been suffering, albeit not nearly as much, and Europe has also plummeted from 12% down to 4% since Q4 2009. Royalties have skyrocketed, around 50% higher than the same time in Q1 2010. This is attributed mostly to Aion’s performance in China.

    Although these figures look great for NCsoft as a whole, they don’t really spell well for the Western markets for the coming years. As sales continue to fall in North America and Europe, NCsoft continues to shut down games, with the most recent being Lineage (just in the west) this June. Perhaps the trend can turn around with NCsoft’s upcoming titles: Blade and Soul, Lineage III, and Guild Wars 2 are looking to draw in big crowds, with Guild Wars 2 likely being the first to launch.

    I’ll be keeping watch on NCsoft as I always do.

    This entry was posted in Aion, City of Heroes, Hot Titles, Lineage 2 and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Looking Back, Moving Forward: November 2010

    Posted on December 6, 2010 by Omali Comment

    It's funny because it bashes WoW...

    Small change in the LBMF structure. Now that November is done, companies are going to have to ramp up work if they’re going to get their game out and hit that 2010 release date. According to the MMORPG.com game list, there are more MMOs apparently slated for release this month than I can care to count.

    My biggest disappointment with November was probably that there won’t be a 2011 MMO calendar. The 2010 MMO calendar on my wall, many of the months having various autographs, came out last year to benefit St. Jude Childre’s Research Center, and apparently is not coming back for 2011. I may just buy a Guild Wars 2 calendar, or perhaps just use my Nintendo 2011 calendar I received as part of the Nintendo Club.

    The Good:

    • Star Trek Online Free To Play: Sure, Cryptic may be bribing us by saying “play Champions Online free to play and perhaps spend some cash, and maybe we’ll consider throwing you a bone in Star Trek Online,” but who cares? Star Trek Online may be going free to play! Although it will be limited, a free to play transition for Star Trek Online should be just what the game needs to get some big traffic, especially with the changes in response to player gripes, and the introduction of user generated content.
    • K2 Networks Picks Up APB: K2Networks, also known as GamersFirst, picked up the rights to All Points Bulletin and plans on reviving the game early next year, after an extensive patching to make the game suitable for its new free to play environment.
    • PvP In Alganon: Well, technically to have player vs player combat you need more than one player, but we can work on that at a later date. In the November patch, Quest Online added a system for flagging for PvP, as well as dueling. In future patches, Alganon players will see a keep/siege system similar to Warhammer Online, as well as a renown system that players will level up for gear.
    • Pirates of the Burning Sea now Free: Flying Lab Software released the free to play transition to Pirates of the Burning Sea this month.

    The Bad:

    • No City? I’m On Break: A company royally breaking their game in a patch is not all too uncommon, in fact I can name at least one game (rhymes with ShroomTape) where such an event occurs every other week. When Mortal Online released a patch that inadvertently removed a city, killing its occupants and creating a gigantic void for players who came anywhere near it, much of the angry response came not because of the glitch itself, but because of the response. The players were told that the missing city could not be replaced for a few days, because the developers were off for the weekend.
    • Final Fantasy XIV: Not Satisfactory: It isn’t often a company comes right out and says “our game isn’t satisfactory,” but Square Enix did with Final Fantasy XIV, and after bad news on the financial grounds, they are committed to keeping their current subscribers (who haven’t paid a dime in subscription fees three months after release) and bringing in new players. To top off this need for players, I found that stores in the US, and possibly other countries, are pulling Final Fantasy XIV from shelves. Target and WalMart are now only selling the title online.
    • Star Gate: No More Resistance: Square Enix isn’t the only group getting a double whammy this month, as Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment announced that they had won the lawsuit against Fresh Start Studios, gaining their assets back for Stargate Worlds. Unfortunately, MGM terminated the agreement with Cheyenne over the Stargate license, meaning for right now the MMO is dead. Later on in November, Fresh Start announced that Stargate Resistance would be shutting down early next year.
    • Aion Million Man March: Later on in November, mmosite reported on a protest in Aion China against the rampant botting in the game. An estimated thirty thousand players appeared to congest cities in a number of servers in protest, shutting down four servers in the process.

    The “What’s Happening in December?”:

    • Earth…Something or Other: Earth Eternal shut down back in August after the developers stopped paying the bills, and I think it’s safe to assume that Sparkplay Media’s CEO is now unemployed. We still don’t know who purchased the game, although all signs point to Time Warner, and there is no indication when the game will be brought back online. Guess we’re in for another month of waiting.
    • Anarchy In The Cash Shop: Anarchy Online last month launched the game’s brand new cash shop, offering everything from level packs, stims, and more for a nominal fee. I’ll be watching to see if there are any financial reports gloating on the success of the cash shop, or if its existence is merely pushed to the back as something of an embarrassment.
    • Cataclysm Shakes WoW: Oh look, a mention of World of Warcraft on MMO Fallout! Although the damage to the World of Warcraft has already been done, for the most part, in the Shattering event, Cataclysm launches in just a few days bringing new races, new areas, and generally a whole lot of new to the World of Warcraft.
    • And More!
    http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/problem/stereoty.h
    This entry was posted in Editorials and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Thirty Thousand Man March: Chinese Aion Protest

    Posted on November 25, 2010 by Omali Comment

    Oddly enough, those are all on one faction.

    Over in China, Aion follows the suit of many other MMOs: A major bot problem. This isn’t necessarily due to NCsoft “not caring” about the gold farmers, but rather the enormous market compared to services in the West that brings in a substantial profit margin and results in a flood of input into a system that is already large enough to explode. It’s important to remember a major facet of gold farming: If there wasn’t any demand, there wouldn’t be any market for supply. But there will always be a demand, proportional to the size of the population, and legitimate players cannot be blamed for the actions of those who do buy from these services.

    Players in China, however, decided that enough was enough, and staged a protest. MMOSITE estimates that there were thirty thousand people in attendance, in a protest that spanned numerous cities and lagged those areas to a slow crawl. Players created new toons adorned with names like “no bots” and “ban the bots.” Eventually, at least four servers buckled under the strain and had to be taken down for maintenance.

    Of course, this inevitably received the attention of NCSoft, who attempted to disperse the crowd by spawning several Grand Chieftain Saendukals (boss), which the swarms of players quickly overtook.

    You can read the entire story here: http://news.mmosite.com/content/2010-04-12/30000_aion_players_protest_bots_led_to_servers_down.shtml#ue_pic

    Hopefully this sent a clear message to NCsoft to ramp up the anti-bot operations over in China. Here in North America/Europe, the bot problem isn’t nearly as large and NCsoft has brought in the G-Unit to bust gold farming. I’m not certain if there is a similar system in China.

    More in Aion as it appears.

    This entry was posted in Aion, Hot Titles and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.


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