Category: News

Early Access Title Tower of Time To Launch This April


Fledgling developer Event Horizon is getting ready to release their CRPG Tower of Time early this year on PC, and players are meeting the title with open arms and positive reviews. Boasting 30 hours of story gameplay on launch, Tower of Time promises to harken back to the days of Baldur’s Gate and the Might and Magic series. Starting with two adventurers and adding on to the party as they progress, players will travel through the Tower of Time, collecting randomized loot, customizing your adventurers, and taking down the game’s more than 100 enemies.

Tower of Time’s focal feature is the Arrow-Time combat system, which players may recognize as similar to Bioware RPGs of old. Arrow-Time allows you to slow down or completely pause a battle, survey the field, and plan your strategy.

Currently in early access, Tower of Time is enjoying a very positive 96% overall rating.

(Source: Press Release)

Destiny 2 Is Not In A Good Place, Says Analyst, Following Microtransaction Controversies


It feels like we can’t go more than a week or so without Bungie being forced to apologize to its community for another dumpster fire of a PR decision, with the promise that they will listen closer moving forward. With each apology centered around either a hard-to-overlook bout of poor design or perceptibly underhanded attempt to cripple game progression to bring player attention to the real money Eververse, it may not be surprising that players starting to turn away from Destiny 2 and Bungie’s investors are taking notice.

In a note to investors titled “Destiny is Not in a Good Place,” Doug Creutz of analyst firm Cowen points to Destiny 2 appearing to have a problem keeping its players engaged, with issues surrounding microtransactions and Bungie’s poor communication and response to criticism being at the forefront of his concerns. Creutz also focuses on Destiny 2 Twitch viewership when discussing player engagement, stating that franchise view counts are at an all time low. Destiny 2 is apparently bringing in 4,000-7,000 views on a Friday afternoon compared to 14,000-17,000 from Destiny 1 a year ago.

Cruetz also believes that Destiny 2 may have a much harder time turning itself around than Destiny 1 did, owing to a more competitive market.

“We do think Bungie still has some opportunity to fix the game’s problems over the next year and recapture engagement, but we’re not sure they have the ability to pull it off at this point. We also note that Destiny currently has more serious competition in its genre from a refurbished Division (Ubisoft) and the indie title Warframe than it did three years ago, when D1 had its own share of player dissatisfaction.”

(Source: CNBC)

MapleStory M Launches Globally This Year, Beta Available Now


MapleStory M is the mobile spinoff of the widely popular MMORPG MapleStory. The title has seen immense success since it launched in Korea back in 2016, the game quickly rose to the top of the charts with over two million downloads within the first two weeks. While the game doesn’t launch globally until later this year, players will be able to get their hands on the beta starting today.

Those who take part in the beta will have the opportunity to check out five original characters. The full launch will feature daily dungeons, private mini-dungeons, a challenge tower, raids, and more.

Based on the original side-scrolling MMORPG franchise, MapleStory M offers the same endless amount of customization, immersive storylines and epic boss raids that fans come to expect from the epic MapleStory franchise – now playable on the go.

The beta period for MapleStory M will be available for run until January 30 on Google Play. Beta access is available in all regions except for Korea, China, and Japan.

MapleStory M beta will be available to download until Jan. 30 through the Google Play Store in all regions excluding Korea, China and Japan. To download the game, please visit the storefront here. Interested gamers can follow MapleStory M on Facebook and Twitter.

(Source: Press Release)

Trion Worlds Announces Rift Prime: Subscription Server for Spring


As surprising as it may be, Trion Worlds was once very much against the idea of Rift going free to play. Yes, that Trion Worlds, the one with the $100 weapon pack in Defiance, the one that has more than once had to apologize for stepping over the line with its monetization strategy for Rift. In fact, it was Trion CEO Scott Hartsman who back in 2011 said that free to play would be a large net negative for Rift and its community.

“One of the assumptions people make is you can just take a game and throw a switch and change the model. For starters, you’d have to decide that that would be a good thing, and I do not think it would be – that would be a fairly large net negative for Rift and Rift community.”

Well all that is going to change, as Trion Worlds has announced the launch of Rift Prime, a subscription only server set to go public this spring. Rift Prime will, as stated, require a subscription and will remove loot boxes and drastically reduce the presence of the cash shop.

In the Spring of 2018, we will launch a new server, RIFT Prime. We’ve paid a lot of attention in discussions with all of you and within the broader gaming community regarding business models in the MMO and games industry as a whole.

We have the opportunity to experiment with this fresh RIFT server using an oft-requested subscription model and progressively unlocked content. Our goal for RIFT Prime is to provide the experience that many of you have requested: no lockboxes, a significantly reduced store with more of the current store-based items obtained through gameplay (or removed entirely) – plus the excitement of sequential progression through RIFT’s content with monthly milestones and achievements.

More details on the cash shop are on their way.

(Source: Rift)

Trion Worlds To Sunset Devilian Following Developer Abandonment


It’s a tale as old as time. Developer abandons property and leaves publisher with no avenue to fix game issues or develop further content, and game eventually shuts down due to lack of ability to support itself. In this case, Bluehole Ginno was in charge of handling the further development of Devilian promptly abandoned the title to work on another title that MMO Fallout readers may be modestly aware of: Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds. The game has been in relative maintenance mode since that time.

The time of Devilians has drawn to a close; on March 5, 2018, the sun will set over a peaceful Nala for the last time. The time has come to lay down your arms and carry the laurels of your victories with you to other worlds.

Active players within the last 90 days will be eligible to receive a welcome pack to one of Trion’s other titles. The options available are listed below and at the announcement.

• ArcheAge – The Erenor Eternal Starter Pack, containing:
• Mirage Snowlion Mount
• Moonsand Fox Pet
• 50 Bound Tax Certificates
• 5 Bound Vocation Tonics
• 5 Bound Vocation Expertise Tonic
• 30 Days of Patron Status

• RIFT – The Ascended Essentials Pack, containing:
• Storm Legion Souls
• Nightmare Tide Souls
• Primalist Calling and Souls
• Ascended Souls
• 6 Character Slots per Server
• 2 Bag Slots (Slots 4 & 5)

• Trove – The Trove Essentials Pack, containing:
• Ten class Tokens
• Fire Wings
• Trovian Supercycle
• Tome: Dragon Coin
• Tome: Jade Clover
• 10 Omni Mount Unlockers
• Trove Topper
• S.S. TrovianTrovial Sail
• 50 Gem Booster Boxes
• 100 Bombs
• 15 days of Patron Pass time

• Defiance – T.I.T.A.N. Augment Bundle, containing:
• 250 Arkforge
• Random Legendary Chip
• Random Tradeable Legendary Shield (Titan’s Fury Synergy)
• (these items are claimable on one character)

• Atlas Reactor – All Freelancer Pack
• Includes every character ever made unlocked in Atlas Reactor

Epic Strikes Again: Sues Over Fortnite V-Buck Exploit


Since last October, Epic Games has launched at least six lawsuits against individuals creating or advertising cheats for Fortnite, and as of last week you can add another one to that list. Epic has filed another lawsuit in the Northern District of California court, this time against an individual Yash Gosai, over his advertising of exploits in Fortnite Battle Royale.

While Epic’s previous lawsuits targeted creators and distributors of aimbots, this lawsuit deals with an exploit surrounding Fortnite’s premium currency V-Bucks. According to the lawsuit, Gosai is accused of developing and publicizing an exploit allowing people to gain free v-bucks without paying real money. Epic Games took the action of removing the video via DMCA takedown notice, which the defendant counter-claimed, and now the case is going to court on three claims: Copyright violation, breach of contract, and conversion (monetary damages).

Unlike the other cases we’ve covered where Epic Games is mostly seeking injunctive relief, barring the defendants from playing/cheating in their games, the fact that Gosai is being accused of both using and distributing an exploit to illegitimately acquire RMT currency for Fortnite makes this lawsuit one of the few where Epic is actually pursuing monetary damages. Epic is seeking unspecified damages plus interest and lawyer fees. As Yash Gosai is a resident of New Zealand, this case might take a while.

Both parties are scheduled for a meeting in April.

(Source: North California Court Docket Case 3:2018cv00152)

Paragon Might Be Unsustainable and Fortnite Killed It


There is no doubt that Epic Games has been drawing in the players and the money with the release of their PUBG-esque Fortnite Battle Royale. While Epic refuses to separate the two modes, it did recently announce that Fortnite had drawn in a combined forty million downloads. While Fortnite has been a runaway success, it looks like the game may have sealed the doom of another Epic product.

In an open letter to the Paragon community, Epic admitted that updates have been slow and the title’s inability to draw in players with each new updated has raised cause for concern. The update notes that over the coming weeks it will be looking at Paragon and determining how to move forward with updates.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be figuring out if and how we can evolve Paragon to achieve growth and success, and trying some things internally. In the meantime, Paragon’s release cadence will be slower.

Epic Games admits that a fair number of members of the Paragon team have jumped ship and moved over to Battle Royale and that the title may not reach what Epic considers to be a sustainable game.

Here inside Epic, we’re talking about the future of Paragon in pretty much the same terms as you’re talking about it. The core challenge is that, of new players who try Paragon, only a small number continue to play regularly after a month. Though Paragon has evolved, no iteration has yet achieved that magical combination of ingredients that make for a sustainable game. (As an aside, the problem isn’t marketing or how to make money with Paragon. We have good ideas that would solve those problems if we can find a way to make Paragon grow.)

The entire post can be read at the link below.

(Source: Reddit)

Forget Civil Court, Tencent Is Sending PUBG Cheaters To Prison


We’ve seen a lot of discussion about the morality of Epic Games suing people, including minors, for advertising their cheats in Fortnite, but while court-enforced injunctions may prevent some cheat makers from re-offending, Tencent over in China is taking a different approach; they’re getting law enforcement involved.

According to a report out of Bloomberg, Tencent has assisted Chinese police in taking down more than 120 people in 30 cases involving the creation and distribution of cheats for PUBG and is branching out into its other titles. The individuals under arrest are being charged with violating China’s criminal laws on disrupting computer networks, and unlike Epic Games’ simple injunctions, can and have faced jail times of up to five years as well as massive fines.

“PUBG is going through a puberty of sorts and cheaters threaten to stunt its growth,” said Kim Hak-joon, who analyzes gaming stocks for South Korea’s Kiwoom Securities Co. “Cheaters mostly drive away new users, and without retaining new users, PUBG won’t be able to consolidate its early success and become a long-lasting hit.”

This is not the first case of authorities cracking down on video game crimes. Last year, Jiangsu police arrested a Counter Strike: Global Offensive cheat developer who now faces up to 15 years in prison. In South Korea, a 17 year old was arrested for developing and selling cheats for Overwatch. Over in Japan, police have made use of the Unfair Competition Prevention Law in order to prosecute people creating and selling cheats for video games like Alliance of Valiant Arms and Sudden Attack. In 2014, two men were sentenced to prison in China after scamming people of digital items and selling them for cash.

In some cases, developers are assisting the police in cracking down on criminal offenses, however the police are the entities pressing the actual criminal charges.

Perpetuum Online To Shut Down Its Servers This Month


Perpetuum Online may be shutting down its official servers, but the game isn’t necessarily going away forever. Avatar Creations last week announced that, after seven years, the official Perpetuum servers will go offline as of January 25. If you happen to have an itch that only Perpetuum can scratch, you’ll still be able to log in to one of the game’s already available standalone servers, operated by members of the community.

We cannot release the live server’s database to the public due to privacy issues, however DEV Crm is committed to keep the live DB alive with his own private server solution. This won’t be the same as the current official server in terms of speed and availability and it’s strictly a “no promises made” gig, but it’s something.

The official news post goes into more details on standalone server operations. There are presently five servers online, however most have single digit player counts.

(Source: Perpetuum)

Game Software/Hardware To Hit $165 Billion In 2018


It’s no surprise that the gaming industry brings in quite a bit of moolah each year, a number that has been increasing for years and doesn’t show much of a sign of slowing down. Analyst Digi-Capital today released a prediction that video game hardware/software could reach $165+ billion in sales and go as high as $235 billion by 2022 if it stays on course. By comparison, according to the firm, this kind of revenue will make the gaming industry bigger in the next five years than the GDP of 150 countries.

You can read the whole report at the link below. The gaming industry has also been fueled by record investment, over $2 billion in 2017 and growing.

(Source: Digi-Capital)