Category: News

Divergence Online Slips Back Into Obscurity


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Divergence Online is an on-again, off-again MMO looking to replace the defunct MMO Star Wars Galaxies. But while Star Wars Galaxies still has thousands of people playing it, albeit on private servers, the first couple of months in early access seem to have left Divergence Online in the dust. This weekend brought in a peak of 5 concurrent players while the last month or so has seen server populations as high as twelve. There are presently two people online at 9:00pm EST on Sunday evening.

Granted, for all the grandstanding about internet celebrities demanding free copies of the game, it appears that gamers haven’t exactly been rushing for the chance to fund a trip down nostalgia lane. Divergence Online peaked at 63 concurrent players during its initial launch phase on Steam and sharply declined over the following weeks. Steam Spy estimates upward of 2,400 people own the game. Given a genre that relies on an active userbase, Divergence Online may have trouble bringing in new customers to fund its early access development.

Meanwhile, if you’d like to play a functioning version of Star Wars Galaxies with an active community, it exists.

(Source: Steam Charts)

Only A Couple of Months Left Before Wildstar Sunsets, According To Insider


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The wounds haven’t even begun healing from the announcement earlier today that Carbine Studios would be cutting as much as 40% of its work force, and according to insider reports the layoffs are not complete. In fact, if this source is to be believed, NCSoft has already made the decision to pull the plug. According to an article on Polygon, employees were notified following today’s layoffs that more are to be expected in the run up to the game’s closure later this year.

NCSoft later responded to the article, confirming not only the layoffs but that the plans to launch Wildstar in China have been scrapped. Despite this, the publisher is still standing by its claim that it remains committed to continued operations in North America and Europe.

Earlier this morning, Carbine Studios completed a reorganization of its operating structure. Moving forward, the studio will focus on operating and updatingWildStar as a live game in the US and Europe. As part of this change, the studio has canceled its plans to bring WildStar to China.

It’s interesting to note that it was just a few days ago in 2008 that producer Starr Long posted a statement to assure players that NCSoft was still committed to Tabula Rasa before announcing it shuttering later that year. See if you can find the similarities between Long’s statements regarding layoffs in 2008:

“Once all is said and done, we will still have a substantial live team for industry standards… NCsoft has committed a lot of money and resources into continuing post-launch development of Tabula Rasa.”

And NCSoft’s statement to Polygon today.

“As for WildStar, we remain committed to the game. Over the next few weeks and months we will deliver a significant update to the game, kick off a variety of community events, and continue our work on new content that we will talk more about in the near future.”

In my previous coverage of Wildstar, I noted that the game’s future rests heavily on a successful Chinese launch. With those dreams shattered, perhaps the Wildstar community should begin shopping around for a new home.

At this point in the timeline, it looks like the upcoming China launch may be Wildstars best, and only, bet at salvation. Assuming NCSoft is willing to shoulder the title to that milestone, we’ll likely be hearing in 2017 about whether or not this title goes on the chopping block.

(Source: Polygon)

Everquest Next Wasn’t Fun, Development Ceases


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Development on Everquest Next has ceased, leaving gamers wondering about the health of Daybreak Game Company and the future of Landmark. Daybreak President Russ Shanks took to the official website to announce the unfortunate reality that during development the team came to the harsh conclusion that the game just wasn’t coming together. As a result, the blip that was Everquest Next will fade into the what could have been pile in the ever growing timeline of MMO development.

Russ Shanks was also interviewed today by MMORPG.com, which you can read here.

For those familiar with the internals of game development, you know that cancellations are a reality we must face from time to time. Inherent to the creative process are dreaming big, pushing hard and being brutally honest with where you land. In the case of EverQuest Next, we accomplished incredible feats that astonished industry insiders. Unfortunately, as we put together the pieces, we found that it wasn’t fun.

The announcement comes with the vague promise that the world of Everquest has not yet stopped growing. The announcement of Everquest Next’s cancellation may not come as such a surprise to gamers who have been waiting a long time since any newsworthy information was released. The layoffs and financial issues over at Daybreak since the company spun off of Sony haven’t helped matters either.

(Source: Daybreak)

Nab TERA Elite, Lock In Your Subscription Price


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If you were gearing up to subscribe to TERA, now may just be the best time to do so. En Masse Entertainment has announced that subscription prices for the action MMO will be coming down to a mere $10.99 for the next twelve days. To sweeten the deal, anyone who signs on while the sale is active will be locked in at that price so long as they remain an active subscriber, including anyone who is currently already paying full price.

To better incentivize players to dole out, En Masse is offering two 30-day items to boost your character’s power.

All Elite players will receive one of each of these items the first time they log into TERA between Thursday, March 10 and Tuesday, March 22. The items will be delivered via item claim.

Existing subscribers just need to log into the account management page and lock in their new rate. The sale runs until the 22nd.

(Source: TERA)

Xsyon Announces Month of Events


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This Sunday, March 12th, marks the start of the 2016 Xsyon event season. Players of the sandbox MMO will be able to take part in a series of 16 events run by Xsyon staff and other members of the community, from fishing competitions to capture the flag and Hunger Games battles, among others. Most of the events appear to be on Fridays at 2pm EST and can be found on the Xsyon event calendar.

This year boasts Xsyon’s most unique and rewarding event season to date with many never held before events! Several events will be run by player tribes and hosted at player built arenas, dungeons and staging areas. We are also rewarding players this year with Event Tokens for winning, placing in and participation in events. These Tokens can be collected and traded. Starting mid-season, players will be able to exchange their hoarded Tokens for rare and valuable in game prizes!

Xsyon is available for a one time fee on the official website and via Steam.

(Source: Notorious Games Press Release)

Trion Worlds Promises Bans For Cheaters, Even Tenured Players


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(Editor’s Note: Trion World’s PR reps got in touch to clarify a few points to the story which have been noted below. A total of 983 accounts have been banned right away. In addition, they have stated that while money spent is taken into account to discern real players from throwaway/bot accounts, that it is only one factor and that time invested into the account also goes a long way to proving that the player is invested in the game. We thank them for getting in touch to clarify these points.)

ArcheAge’s new bot detection program has been enabled for a few weeks, with 983 accounts banned right off the bat and a number of other accounts put on notice. Trion Worlds has taken to the forums once again to claim that it will not tolerate anyone who cheats in ArcheAge…providing you don’t stop after this last warning. In addition, Trion Worlds will no longer take tenure (how much time and money has been invested) into account when banning for bots and hacks:

After this warning, anyone who continues to run the detected hack or bot programs will be subject to a permanent ban, regardless of their tenure in ArcheAge. Please note that we can also see when alternate accounts are associated with other main accounts, so making use of these tools on a throwaway account will lead to disciplinary action on your main.

Users who are casual botters will receive a warning by email.

Those players who appear to be mostly legitimate community members will receive an email warning them about this policy and informing them to stop immediately.

Trion’s previously light stance on casual bot usage stands in stark contrast to the company’s heavy handed punishment just a month ago when the company banned an entire raid of 53 accounts for using a glitch to defeat a world boss.  It also contradicts the numerous times that the company has claimed to be taking a zero tolerance policy on botting in ArcheAge.

The good news is that the new software aims to increase the rate at which cheaters are caught and banned while simultaneously reducing the number of false positives.

(Source: ArcheAge)

38 Studios Lenders Hit With Fraud Charges


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The Securities and Exchange Commission is now involving the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation and Wells Fargo Securities, levying fraud charges against both groups in relation to the bankruptcy of former game developer 38 Studios. In its complaint, the SEC is alleging that both groups knew that the $75 million loan that brought 38 Studios to the state would be insufficient to cover their costs and withheld that information. In addition, it is alleged that Wells Fargo had a conflict of interest with 38 Studios that it should have disclosed during the loan period.

“We allege that the RIEDC and Wells Fargo knew that 38 Studios needed an additional $25 million to fund the project yet failed to pass that material information along to bond investors, who were denied a complete financial picture.”
-SEC Enforcement Division Director Andrew Ceresney

The SEC joins the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation alleging fraudulent dealings in the $75 million loan given to 38 Studios for the now-defunct game Project Copernicus. 38 Studios went bankrupt in 2012 after releasing their game Kingdoms of Amalur, leaving state taxpayers on the hook for $115 million in unpaid principal, interest, and fees associated with the loan.

(Source: Providence Journal)

The Division Is Slamming Amazon’s Best Seller List


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With The Division’s launch just a few days away, it shouldn’t be too surprising that the title is ranking high on Amazon’s best seller list. The Playstation 4 standard version is the second best selling game on the list so far, outranked only by the recently released Twilight Princess remake on Nintendo WiiU. The Xbox One version ranks in at #10 overall while also being the fourth best selling game under Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright on the Nintendo 3DS.

The gold versions of both games rank in at #33 and #56 on Playstation and Xbox respectively, with the PC version at #47. Naturally the list only covers sales through Amazon’s store and does not take into account other retailers. Overall mileage may vary. The Amazon best seller list is generally dominated by currency and subscription cards for Playstation, along with controllers and console bundles.

The Division launches March 8th on Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

EA Origin Fraud Protection May Incur Delays


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If you’re looking to make a purchase in the Origin store, you may find your order delayed by up to three days. In a post released today on the Dark Age of Camelot website, Broadsword Entertainment warns that new fraud detection tools may flag purchases depending on several variables including number of codes purchased, resulting in the buyer not receiving their code until the next day.

This timeframe is dependant on the number of codes purchased at once as well as other variables. Most players should still receive their codes within 24 hours, however, it would be a good idea to order any new game time codes 72 hours prior to your account subscription ending if you wish to guarantee no subscription downtime.

Any user whose code isn’t delivered after three days is asked to contact EA’s customer support with the phrase “I did not receive my code after making a purchase on the Origin store. My order# is #####.” The news post warns that any other message could cause the email to be diverted to the DAoC crew, who can’t help with such problems.

(Source: Dark Age of Camelot)