News – Page 455 – MMO Fallout

Final Fantasy XIV Available On Steam and 50% Off

Final Fantasy is now available on Steam, and deal seekers can log in now to nab the title for 50% off for the time being. Until February 25th, you can nab the standard edition for $14.99 and the Collector’s edition for $24.99, with the latter including several exclusive digital items. Each purchase comes with 30 days of free game time, providing the Square Enix account you register it to does not already have a copy of FFXIV registered to it. If you already own the standard edition, it is still cheaper to upgrade to the digital collector’s edition through the Square Enix website ($19.99) rather than by buying the edition on Steam even with the 50% off.

Offer ends February 25th.

(Source: Steam)

Pantheon Flying Under Kickstarter Goal

In case you haven’t been paying attention, Pantheon’s Kickstarter ends in just under a week. With six days left in the campaign, Pantheon’s Kickstarter has still yet to reach the halfway mark towards its $800 thousand goal. The fact that several high-level backers have apparently withdrawn their pledges doesn’t help the overall figures either. Regardless of what you blame the shortcomings on, it is more than evident at this point that, barring some magical second coming of Donald Trump, that Pantheon will not be meeting its goal.

As far as Pantheon goes, failure on Kickstarter is not the end of the game by a long shot. Brad McQuaid has posted numerous times on Twitter that work shall continue on the MMO while Visionary Realms seeks out alternate forms of investment.

(Source: Kickstarter)

Perfect World Extends Support Hours

Perfect World Entertainment has announced that, to better serve their customers, the publisher will be extending their customer service and billing support hours.

We are pleased to announce that our Customer Service and Billing support hours have been extended to better, and more quickly, serve you. Starting now, our support teams will be working during the hours of 10AM to 7PM PST, 7 days a week. Need any help with login issues? Let us know. Having in-game problems? We’re here to help! Make sure to bookmark our support site here and reach out to us anytime.

In the future, Perfect World hopes to add live chat to their list of services.

(Source: Neverwinter)

NCSoft Q4 2013 Looking Good Thanks To Blade & Soul

NCSoft has released their Q4 2013 finances, and things are looking up for the Korean developer. Following the company’s major dip in the previous quarter, sales have recovered by 24% and profits by 85%, with pre-tax income up a staggering 97% over last quarter. Total sales amounted to $197 million in the fourth quarter, with operating profit at over $54 million. Royalty revenues from Blade & Soul contributed heavily to this outcome, thanks to the game’s ongoing success in China. Lineage continued to grow in Korea despite being the oldest game in the library, with Guild Wars 2 holding strong in its associated territories.

As already stated, Lineage saw a large rise in sales. Guild Wars 2 and Lineage II also saw bumps in revenue, with Aion remaining on a slight decline from the last couple of quarters. While Blade & Soul’s direct revenue decreased over last quarter, this presumably does not factor in sales from royalties in territories where the game is selling quite well. Cost of labor and marketing decreased year over year thanks to layoffs and launches of Guild Wars 2 and Blade & Soul respectively.

(Source: NCSoft Finances)

Turbine Suffers Layoffs

Turbine is in the midst of a round of layoffs. According to a news article on Gamasutra, the game developer let go an unspecified number of employees, with the explanation that the layoffs were necessary “in order for us to invest in growth areas at Turbine.”

“These are always tough decisions, which we don’t approach lightly, but it’s crucial that Turbine is structured in a way that reflects the current and coming marketplace.”

How these layoffs affect Turbine’s games, including Lord of the Rings Online and Infinite Crisis, will have to be seen.

(Source: Gamasutra)

Lord of Ultima Shutting Down

No, not that Ultima. Lord of Ultima is the browser-based kingdom building game that loosely shared the Ultima franchise name and if you’ve never heard of it, well you can understand why it is shutting down. EA Games announced today that the Lord of Ultima servers will shut down May 12th at 0700 UTC. Until then, registration of new accounts will be closed and the ability to purchase play4free funds for the game will also be suspended.

It is always hard when we are met with such choices and the decision to retire older games is never an easy one. We cannot thank those who have supported us enough, and throughout the years of Lord of Ultima’s existence it has been the pleasure of both past and present developers to have been on this journey with you.

Lord of Ultima went into open beta in mid 2011.

(Source: Lord of Ultima)

World of Warcraft Discontinues Resurrection Scrolls

The Scroll of Resurrection is being discontinued in World of Warcraft. Previously, scrolls of resurrection could be used to bring a player whose subscription had lapsed back into the game, not to mention gifting a spectral rider to the person offering the invitation. Players on the receiving end of the scroll could insta-boost one of their characters to level 80, in addition to the 7 days of free game time. The last day to send an invitation will be February 18th, with a 30 day time limit for recipients to accept.

Warcraft’s upcoming expansion, Warlords of Draenor, includes an insta-boost to 90 with the possibility that level boosts may become available on the in-game cash shop.

(Source: Blizzard)

The Secret World Preps Tokyo

The final showdown is upon us! After months beating back the filth as it attempts to creep its way around the world, players will finally converge to battle the Zero Point Pathogen in a 40 man raid.

The final showdown in Agartha takes place now in Funcom’s The Secret World! The last chapter of the extensive Whispering Tide event has come, and now the players must face a huge 40 man raid challenge to defeat the invasion of Filth.

The event will run until the portal to Tokyo has been cleansed, allowing players to enter Tokyo once Issue #9 is released.

(Source: The Secret World press release)

John Smedley Defends Curt Schilling

Those of you who read MMO Fallout know that I have quite a lot of respect for SOE’s John Smedley. The guy isn’t perfect and no one would doubt that there are plenty of mistakes made in Sony’s past, but the guy has a tendency to spell it out as it is and be as transparent as his corporate overlords will allow him to be. The company keeps their games going long after they are commercially viable, and even after they were no longer profitable.

Over the past few days, Smedley has taken to Twitter to defend 38 Studios and Curt Schilling, stating that Schilling’s “only crime was believing in his own ability to will things to be better,” adding that “he busted his ass to get funding.” He then goes on to state that Sony Online Entertainment was approached by 38 Studios for funding, but did not jump on board because the game was deemed too expensive and risky. He went on to say that the fact that no other company was willing to get on board should have been the first warning sign to Rhode Island not to go through with the deal. Public funds, says Smedley, should never go to back something as risky as an online game.

Rhode Island is set to vote today on encouraging out of court settlements against Schilling and those who drafted the loan.

(Source: Gamespot)

Defiance Unveils Gunslinger Trials DLC

Trion Worlds revealed Defiance’s next DLC pack: Gunslinger Trials, and if you haven’t finished the campaign or season 1 and don’t want to see any spoilers, skip the next paragraph. Set for release in March on PC, PS3, and Xbox360, Gunslinger Trials will include three new mission lines, nine new cooperative arenas, and will also open up the Thorn Liro arena to groups of players rather than the original solo.

Now on to the story. Gunslinger Trials picks up where the main campaign in Defiance ended, where we learned that Von Bach had survived his fall from the Golden Gate Bridge. The Earth Republic on the other hand continues expanding its terrestrial forces.

These stories are told with eleven new cutscenes and over three hundred new lines of dialog. Ark hunters will uncover a conspiracy to steal EGO implants, the revival of the Biodyne project, and even the rise of a new political power in the Earth Republic.

Players who take part will be rewarded with, what else, new guns to shoot things with, each tailored to the fighting style of its creator. More information to come in the weeks ahead.

(Source: Defiance)

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