It’s not just Disney and consumers who have a reason to be angry at Electronic Arts. Following a consumer revolt over its aggressive microtransaction strategies in Star Wars Battlefront 2, and despite Electronic Arts showing major growth over the past year up 52% year over year, its shares took a tumble after news that the December quarterly sales forecast would be lower than expected due to the performance of Star Wars. Shares of Electronic Arts were down 8.5% through Tuesday, knocking out $3.1 billion in shareholder value.
Physical sales of Battlefront II in the UK dropped at least 50% in the first week, while none of the versions of the title have hit the Amazon top 100 for 2017, which happens to be populated by titles including Mass Effect Andromeda, Splatoon 2, and Horizon Zero Dawn. Analysts are not happy, both with physical sales of Battlefront II as well as
“We were underwhelmed by sell-through for Star Wars: Battlefront II (EA) over the Black Friday weekend, which follows a controversial launch for the game,” Stifel analyst Drew Crum wrote in a note to clients Sunday.
Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen stated in a speech at the Credit Suisse 21st Annual Technology, Media & Telecom Conference that EA avoided cosmetic microtransactions due to limitations on the franchise canon.
“The one thing we’re very focused on and they’re extremely focused on is not violating the canon of Star Wars,” Jorgensen said. “It’s an amazing brand that’s been built over many, many years. So if you did a bunch of cosmetic things, you might start to violate the canon. Darth Vader in white probably doesn’t make sense, versus in black. Not to mention you probably don’t want Darth Vader in pink. No offense to pink, but I don’t think that’s right in the canon.”
EA’s microtransaction strategy has been incredibly successful in its sports titles from Madden to NBA and Fifa, however the recent expansion of said practice to titles like Battlefront and Need for Speed resulted in a large push back from consumers that executives may not have expected.
Webzen today has announced the upcoming addition of PvP content for its ARPG MU Legend.
Set for launch on December 5, this content update allows players to engage in 3v3, cross server battles with other players in the same region.
“We will continue to add PVP content to MU Legend’s global version according to our production roadmaps and milestones while also maintaining our efforts into expanding PVE functionality. Even though hack-&-slash games are usually more PVE oriented, we at WEBZEN believe that MU Legend also allows players to explore the PVP aspects of the genre to the fullest degree.”
MU Legend is the follow up to MU Online and is currently in open beta and available in six languages. For more information, check out the main website.
(Update 9/10: Out of respect for the courts, MMO Fallout has redacted the name of the defendant)
Epic Games has made some news this month over the announcement that they are filing lawsuits against people cheating in Fortnite. How many lawsuits? This many, so far:
One particular lawsuit has caught greater attention because it turns out that the defendant is 14 years old. Epic Games filed a complaint against C.R., or Sky Orbit as he is known on Youtube, one month ago for copyright infringement and breach of contract under North Carolina law. The lawsuit here stems from multiple DMCA stikes against the defendant’s channel by Epic Games, taking down videos showcasing and promoting cheating in the video game Fortnite. The defendant appealed said strikes, and under copyright law the only avenue going further for Epic Games is to file a lawsuit.
Further, Defendant is streaming videos of himself playing and cheating at Fortnite by using cheat software (“cheats” or “hacks”) to unlawfully modify Fortnite’s software. In the videos Defendant posts on YouTube, Defendant promotes and demonstrates a Fortnite cheat, and provides viewers with a link to a site from which they can acquire the cheat for themselves.
Epic Games also notes in the lawsuit that defendant has been banned from the game at least 14 times, and continued creating accounts and posting videos on Youtube attempting to promote the cheat program, going so far as to create a second Youtube account to circumvent the takedown notice.
Defendant has been banned from playing Fortnite for this conduct at least 14 times. He nevertheless continues to play using other accounts he created using false names. He has also continued to cheat and to publicly perform and display video of himself cheating on YouTube in an effort to induce others to buy the cheat he sells so that they too can cheat at Fortnite.
A response video by the defendant on the lawsuit can be found here where he disputes the number of bans and claims that the 14 count is exaggerated and is “more like 10 or 5.”
Epic has included the Copyright appeal sent to Youtube.
On October 17, 2017, Defendant submitted a counter-notification responding to Epic’s DMCA takedown notice for the First Video in which he stated “i did noting rong this strike is all wrong I was modding in a video game that isn’t against youtubes TOS Why was i striked ?!”
To say that Epic Games is suing a 14 year old because of cheating would be boiling down the story into its base parts and picking out the wrong piece to focus on. It’d be like me covering a burglary and the headline being “Man Arrested For Putting Some Money In His Pocket,” (Note: I’m not equating the two). There is also a misconception going around that Epic cannot sue defendant as he is 14 and therefore not an adult. This is also not true, as in the United States a child can be sued for willful or malicious damages, in which case his parents would be liable for paying said damages. Most states cap this amount, however North Carolina actually doesn’t have such a cap on damages.
In their lawsuit, Epic Games is seeking injunctive relief, barring the defendant from cheating or sharing further videos of cheating in Fortnite, as well as statutory damages due to the defendant distributing said cheats and advertising them on his Youtube channel. One spot where Epic Games may have lost the mark is in their belief that C.R. had a financial investment in the cheat itself. Unless Epic has access to some information that we don’t, the defendant has expressly denied that he is involved in any way with the creation of said cheat program.
On information and belief, Defendant engages in such conduct to promote the cheat via his Sky Orbit and Sky Orbit V2 YouTube channels because Defendant obtains some financial benefit or value in consideration for his video postings and/or the sale of the cheat he promotes and demonstrates in the First and Third Videos.
The defendant’s mother submitted a letter to the court which may or may not have been a bad idea, as it shows a glaring lack of understanding of both the situation as well as what exactly her son is being sued over, and likely divulges more than any lawyer would advise her to say.
Regardless, it is likely that Epic Games did not know the age of the defendant prior to filing said lawsuit, so whether or not they will pursue the case further will have to be seen. This is just one of at least six lawsuits currently pending from Epic toward cheat makers and promoters.
In case you didn’t think Gazillion could disappoint more, it has been confirmed through multiple sources that Gazillion has not only laid off their staff the day before Thanksgiving, but will not be paying them owed severance or accrued paid time off. In addition, the servers for Marvel Heroes on PC and Console will be taken offline today, November 24, instead of the original planned date at the end of December.
An internal email shared to PCGamesN indicates that this sudden scheduling change is at the behest of Marvel and the company’s bank.
“We also intend to shut down Marvel Heroes Omega per the bank and Marvel’s wishes on Friday, November 24, 2017. At Marvel’s request we have prepped succinct messaging and are preparing to shut everything down.”
As it stands, Gazillion will no longer be an operating entity following the sunsetting of Marvel Heroes.
NCSoft has announced that its MOBA title Master x Master will shut down in January. Master x Master launched in June of this year and never made much of a blip on NCSoft’s financial radar, certainly not enough to even warrant a mention on their quarterly reports. In fact, an investor might have gone the entire cycle without realizing that the game had ever existed.
With the service set to shut down on January 31, NCSoft has put the following changes into effect:
All players will receive 500,000 X-Coin to unlock all content
The community-developed Lua skin will be made available to all players for 1 X-Coin
Real money purchases on the MXM Store will be permanently disabled
All game modes will be turned on, and available at all times
Refunds in full on purchases made between Aug. 30 and Nov. 16. This will happen automatically within the next 7-14 days, and will be refunded via the same method the purchase was made, if possible. For additional refund specifics please refer to our FAQ.
A representative from Marvel has confirmed that the company has ended its licencing relationship with Gazillion Entertainment, and that Marvel Heroes will officially shut down in the near future. Marvel Heroes initially launched in 2013 on PC, and most recently on the PS4 and Xbox.
Rumors of turbulence within the company have been swirling around for months, including allegations of sexual misconduct by the current CEO. Some saw the writing on the wall when Gazillion went silent for weeks regarding future development plans.
The statement by Marvel is as follows:
“We regret to inform our Marvel Heroes fans that we have ended our relationship with Gazillion Entertainment, and that the Marvel Heroes games will be shut down. We would like to sincerely thank the players who joined the Marvel Heroes community, and will provide any further updates as they become available.”
No time table for the shutdown has been given at this time.
MU Legend has entered into open beta, and you know what that means: MMO Fallout has partnered with Webzen to give away starter packs. Coupon codes can be obtained through this website and others while supplies last (if they do run out we will try to get more). Coupon codes are limited to one per account, are usable until December 31, and contain the following items:
Platinum Service (3 Days)
Type A Costume (3 Days)
Constellation Wings (3 Days)
Holy Recovery Potion L x10
In order to redeem, please go to the website below and follow the instructions:
Note: You need to choose the character to give this pack to at the point of redemption, which means you will need to have downloaded the client and created a character in order for the code to work. The code will not redeem unless you have created a character.
Nexon this week announced the expansion of Maplestory Blitz into select regions in Southeast Asia, Europe, and Oceania on Google and Apple devices. Players are tasked with building decks using various heroes from Maplestory and dueling each other in real time battles. During the launch event, players can get their hands on boosters and card packs, collecting classic heroes such as:
Mercedes – A talented archer blessed by the Fairy King to rain deadly arrows upon the battlefield;
Phantom – The greatest thief who ever lived, and revived after years of imprisonment to avenge the death of his love, Empress Aria;
Kyrin – The infamous and charismatic pirate captain set on destroying everything that stands in her way;
Oz – Chief Knight of Fire who engulfs her enemies and allies in a blazing reign of flame;
Demon Slayer – Formerly the Black Mage’s most loyal commander, the skilled strategist joined the resistance following the Black Mage’s ultimate betrayal.
Maplestory Blitz launches today in Australia, Malaysia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland, the Netherlands and the Philippines.
NCSoft’s third quarter results are in, and the results are incredible. Thanks to strong performances in the mobile sector, the Korean developer/publisher has posted record sales and profits, as can be seen in the chart above. Mobile gaming now makes up 82% of NCSoft’s sales figures, posting 551 billion won in sales ($491 million USD) in just one quarter.
The popularity of NCSoft’s mobile titles in Korea has driven its sales up over 260% over the last quarter while Guild Wars 2 saw revenue increase 50% from sales of the latest Guild Wars 2 expansion. Lineage II, Aion, and Blade & Soul all saw their revenues drop slightly while Lineage experienced a small increase in sales. Lineage II Revolution expansion overseas and strong performance of Blade & Soul in China also helped with royalty revenue.
It’s been a long time since we talked about RaiderZ, the titular MMO that despite being shut down in Europe way back in 2013 managed to survive another two years until developer MAIET Entertainment also went bankrupt, forcing Perfect World Entertainment to stop publishing as certain critical bugs could not be fixed. Well, two years later and the game just refuses to stay dead. Over at the RaiderZ Facebook page, a new challenger has arisen to bring RaiderZ back to life.
Masangsoft’s announcement acknowledges that RaiderZ is a bit old by MMO standards and needs to be fixed up before it can relaunch. The developer doesn’t have much in the way of timetables, but has asked that we sit tight while they get to work and that more news should be coming soon.
We can’t say how much more time we need to reinvent this game. What’s certain is that we’ll try to provide better and better experiences for many people who look forward to this game. Sooner or later, you’ll hear another news about the beginning of our development.
For a good read, checkout MMO Fallout’s 2013 interview with Perfect World senior product manager Mark Hill.
MMO Fallout 
