Category: News

Star Vault Partners With Sky eSports in India


Star Vault AB today announced that it is partnering with Sky eSports to license Mortal Royale in the Indian market. The license will run for 48 months with Star Vault taking 30% of net revenues accrued within the country. Mortal Royale is the battle royale spinoff to Star Vault’s open world MMO Mortal Online.

“We are very pleased to partner with Sky eSports. Star Vault has never licensed the publishing rights to a successful collaboration to adapt the Mortal Royale to an eSport-interested audience can result in double milestones for Star Vault as a company. I also see great opportunities to find rewarding partnerships with other eSport-organizers in other parts of the world when we have a little longer, “says Henrik Nystrom, CEO of Star Vault.

Skytou Solutions Private Limited (Sky eSports) is an Indian company established in 2015 whose major business appears to be in building casino hardware/software, along with casual games. Skytou boasts an annual turnover of between one to two crore ($140-$280 thousand USD). Skytou employs approximately 11-25 people.

Source: Release (In Swedish)

Alganon Has Not Been Sunset, Is Still Planning A Comeback


Alganon isn’t dead, it’s merely resting.

You may be surprised to read that Alganon’s servers went down for maintenance and migration in November 2017 and haven’t been up since. In that time, Derek Smart’s company 3000AD has bought out Quest Online and now owns the Alganon game, the company is moving its servers to cloud-based servers, and there are apparently plans to kick the advertising back in once the game goes live again.

When will that be? After over a year, it’s not entirely set in stone. Derek Smart posted a couple of weeks back to confirm that the migration is still a work in progress.

The biggest problem that Alganon has is that it is an MMO. So you can’t just turn it off, unplug the servers, then plug it it back in. It has been running on legacy servers for many years; and when 3000AD bought it from QOL, I made the decision to not only move it to cloud servers, but also to make certain revisions along the way.

In addition to that, the game never really had that much marketing since 2012; so not a lot of people knew about about other than than the 250K+ accounts who already knew about it. So I’ve also been working with several parties on partnership deals which would see a territorial release as well as targeted marketing for it’s eventual relaunch.

Those of you who were around since the start, will also remember that I did the same thing back in 2010 when I took over the game. It was subscription based etc. It went offline for some time while it was being retooled for F2P etc. It later relaunched as F2P[qol.com], (I also refunded all subscriptions paid up to that time), then we added PvP[qol.com] etc

The game has not been sunset or I would have announced it as such. It’s coming back as soon as everything that I’m working on completes. Yes, it’s taken some time, but that’s how these things go. Plus, we’re not like other larger companies that handle MMO games, and thus have lots of people, resources, and money to do things like this within a reasonable time frame.

Source: Steam

Best Buy Thanks Fortnite For Boosted Holiday Sales


Fortnite: It didn’t just save Epic Games, it evidently also gave Best Buy quite the boost this holiday season.

The Wall Street Journal published an article on Thursday noting that Best Buy Co. gave credit to the insanely popular Battle Royale game for boosting its own holiday sales in 2018. How so? According to the company’s sales charts, the popularity of Fortnite spurred a surge in purchases of headphones and other game accessories.

Best Buy is so sure that Fortnite is behind this surge in purchases that CFO Corie Barry called the game a “phenomenon” that “lifted all boats in gaming.” Strong sales in gaming, wearables, appliances, and smart-home products helped to outweigh a hit to mobile phone spending.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Daybreak’s Player Studio Program Isn’t Dead, Revival Coming


Daybreak’s Player Studio program allows modders to create and submit their custom models in Everquest, Everquest II, and Planetside 2. If Daybreak sells the item in the in-game cash shop, you’ll be able to take a portion of the revenue. The future of the Player Studio has been in doubt ever since Daybreak’s acquisition and mass layoffs, however Planetside 2 producer Nick Silva posted this week on the Daybreak official forums to announce that not only has he been put in charge, but that the Player Studio will be given renewed attention.

Silva notes that the process will involve disabling new artist registrations temporarily, set to begin on March 25.

“In the meantime, we will be evaluating options for overhauling the Player Studio site with the intention of allowing broader categories of submissions and a more streamlined submission process. Provided that comes to fruition, we will be once again allowing new artists to join the new and improved program. Before that discussion takes place, we will be sure to process the backlog of Player Studio submissions already waiting in queue. Some of our artists have been waiting for a very long time for any sort of action to be taken on their projects, and for that I apologize.”

Source: Daybreak

Mobile MMORPG Life After Launches Today


NetEase Inc today announced the North American and Australian launch of LifeAfter, a zombie survival MMORPG for iOS and Android. LifeAfter packs together an MMORPG with gun-toting, hunting and gathering, and crafting. The game launched in China last year to much acclaim and hopes to gain the same following here in the west.

Players are tasked with hunting and gathering to survive, establishing a home base, leveling up to unlock new adventures and game modes, and operating outposts to recruit other survivors.

Check out the trailer above or see more about the game at the official website.

Maplestory 2 Removing Fairfight Balancing System


Maplestory 2 is saying farewell to fairfight, removing the controversial system in an update coming this week.

After announcing Project New Leaf, Nexon’s initiative to address Maplestory 2 feedback, the publisher will be releasing the first update in the initiative on Thursday February 28. Maplestory 2’s next update removes Fairfight, a balancing system that normalizes high level and low level players. This creates a wider range of content that high level players can explore without the restrictions of playing with low level friends. Additionally, Trader’s Ribbons are set to receive updates that will make them applicable to legendary gear.

Nexon also took this time to warn players about illegal Meso purchases (IE: All of them), that players who purchase Mesos illegally will receive permanent bans.

Source: Maplestory 2

Skybound Puts Down The Walking Dead, Terminates Game Contract


The slow death of Overkill’s The Walking Dead has finally come to an end, as the game has been pulled from digital store shelves with the console version officially cancelled. This news comes alongside an announcement from Walking Dead creators Skybound Entertainment that the media company has terminated its contract with developer Starbreeze, and effectively ended their ability to sell, maintain, or update The Walking Dead.

“We did our best to work with Starbreeze and resolve many issues that we saw with the game, but ultimately OVERKILL’S THE WALKING DEAD did not meet our standards nor is it the quality that we were promised. We are exceedingly sorry to our fans and share their disappointment in the game. We remain dedicated to providing our fans with the most premium quality content we can offer, and will continue to look for alternative video game options for the IP.”

Steam has already pulled The Walking Dead from sale.

Source: Variety

ArenaNet Delays Update Amid Layoffs


ArenaNet has announced that the World v. World mount, The Warclaw, has been delayed until March 5 amid ongoing layoffs at the company. The entire announcement has been posted below.

“Last week, we announced the upcoming release of our new WvW mount, the Warclaw. Unfortunately, this release will be delayed until Tuesday, March 5. In light of current events at the studio, we are taking this time to focus on our friends and colleagues. We hope you understand and we apologize for this delay. Thank you for your continued support of Guild Wars 2.”

There is currently no news on how many employees have been laid off.

Source: Guild Wars 2

Jagex Releases Elite Dungeon Finale


Today marks the release of The Shadow Reef, the third and final Elite Dungeon in an ongoing trilogy. Set in the ancient sunken temple of Ulthven Kreath, players face a hostile environment full of aggressive enemies before a chilling encounter with The Ambassador, a malevolent creature that dwells in the deep.

“Last summer, we created Elite Dungeons to combine engaging storylines with raid-like dungeon experiences. The Shadow Reef brings that questline to an epic conclusion, as players uncover the secrets beneath the inky waters of Gielinor, and experience an unforgettable encounter with The Ambassador, which will push players to the limit, whether adventuring as a team or solo.”

As established by the previous two dungeons, The Shadow Reef includes a story mode for players who simply want to experience the story and aren’t so concerned with the rewards.

Source: Jagex Press Release