January was a pretty eventful month, all things considered. With February ahead of us, let’s take a look at a few highlights of the month.
1. Sony Online Entertainment
It’s been a big month for Sony Online Entertainment, hasn’t it? January started off with Sony announcing, and then very quickly ending, changes to All Access that would remove the 500 station cash stipend given to players each month in return for one purchase of up to 2,000 station cash. In the end players will still receive their cash, although they have to log in to claim it. In addition, SOE announced that all of their games would be unified under a single $15 all access pass. If you are subscribed to one game, you are subscribed to all of them. Unless of course, you play Vanguard.
The month wasn’t all bad for SOE, however. John Smedley hinted at an MMO that Star Wars Galaxies fans could come home to, Planetside 2 continued its updates, and the alpha for Everquest Next Landmark launched in technically January, the best kind of January.
2. Licensing
Star Wars Galaxies taught us that hell has no wrath like a license holder. With a multitude of games disappearing from store shelves thanks to the expiration of licenses, we learned that Marvel Heroes has Marvel’s blessing for at least the next ten years. Turbine later announced that Lord of the Rings Online is safe until 2017 at the earliest. We already know that EA Games has the Star Wars license for the next ten years.
3. Smattering of Shutdowns
Archlord shut down its global server at the beginning of the month, followed by an announcement that servers in Korea would subsequently be shut down in February. According to our friends at MMO Culture, the sequel Archlord II hasn’t seen much of a response from players, with servers merging already in open beta. Next of course we have the announcement that Sony Online Entertainment is shutting down four games from its library, citing lack of profitability and, in the case of Vanguard, terminal technical issues.
January also saw the sunsetting of other MMOs, including Dynasty Warriors Online and the Playstation 3 shooter Massive Action Game. MAG, for those interested, can still be purchased used at Gamestop for $.99, just be aware that you are buying a coaster.
4. LFG 10-Man Funcom Raid
Do I need to reference this? It’s still on page one. Funcom’s offices were raided by the economic crimes unit whose name I won’t try to pronounce here. The developer is being charged with negligent bookkeeping and breaching disclosure requirements in regards to the launch of The Secret World. Funcom later commented to Massively to state that while the investigation goes on, the company is running as usual.
Funcom has been delisted from the stock exchange for the time being.
5. The Exclusive Scrolls
And lastly we have the reveal of the Elder Scrolls Online preorder package. Zenimax unveiling of the two editions has drawn controversy over the developer’s decision to offer the Imperial race as a collector’s edition exclusive. Additionally, players have also drawn criticism to the pack of bonuses included as a preorder exclusive, allowing players to create a character on any faction, regardless of their choice of race.
I feel that this controversy is equally about selling an “exclusive” race as it is about Zenimax going back on some previously strongly held beliefs about the Imperials not being playable as well as the faction pride that required race locks.
MMO Fallout 