News – Page 458 – MMO Fallout

Eve Online Graphic Novel Released

CCP Games has announced that the first issue of Eve: True Stories is now available for download. The graphic novel series follows the real events of players in the game Eve Online, with the first issue in the series devoted to the fall of the Band of Brothers alliance. The novel is published by Dark Horse Digital, written by Daniel Way (Deadpool) and features the artwork of Tomm Coker (Daredevil Noir) and David Palumbo (Aliens).

Interested readers can nab the issue for free using the Dark Horse app. Three more issues are set to release over the course of March and into early April, with a hardcover edition coming in June. More information can be found at the link below.

(More Info: Eve Online)

Salem Resetting Characters and Merging Servers

Hang on to your britches, pilgrims. We haven’t heard from Salem in quite a while, so today’s news probably isn’t all that surprising. In order to consolidate players and implement a new map generation system, the folks at Seatribe have announced the game will be wiped and restarted under a new server.

The current server architecture is overestablished compared to our actual needs. Long term it is not feasible for us to keep running multiple servers dropping to as low as single digit populations during off-hours. A reset allows us to concentrate population to one, cardinal server, which appears more in line with the game’s actual needs.

Several players have welcomed the upcoming wipe, noting that a power disparity has allowed a select few to essentially take over servers and kill anyone who might present a threat or progress in any meaningful way. Earlier last year, Paradox Interactive cut involvement with Salem, returning full development back to Seatribe.

(Source: Salem)

Webzen Posts 67% Drop In Annual Profits

Webzen has released their 2013 earnings release, and the results are a mixture of bad and probably salvageable. Despite a 26% rise in revenue over last year, operating profits dropped by 67%. To put the loss into better perspective, Webzen’s 2012 revenue amounted to $53.6 million USD (approximately), with $45.6 million of that going toward operating expenses, leaving around $8 million left as operating profit and that doesn’t even factor in taxes. In 2013, while revenue gained 26% to $67.47 million, operating costs surged even higher by 42% to $64.87 million. So while revenues grew during the year, operating costs resulted in the final operating profit plummeting.

With a number of titles still in development, Webzen’s portfolio is looking rather slim at the moment. The last year saw the shuttering of Archlord, SUN, and Arctic Combat, with only two of the four games currently listed on Webzen’s global website actually being playable. Games like R2 and Mu Rebirth are still “upcoming,” with development continuing on other titles including Archlord 2. Also worth noting is that revenue from domestic sales fell slightly while overseas grew by a wide margin to 73% of Webzen’s total revenue.

Another factor of operating cost could be related to Webzen’s 100% acquisition of gPotato.com back in February.

(Source: Webzen Earnings)

Less Than Massive: Irrational Games Closure

Ken Levine announced today that he plans to shut down the Irrational Games studio following the release of Bioshock Infinite’s next DLC, Burial at Sea Part 2. Levine and a select group of other developers from the studio will form anew under Take-Two Interactive in order to work on smaller games that provide a closer relationship with the customer.

The Bioshock franchise will remain with Take-Two Interactive.

(Source: Gamasutra)

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)

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It:

Spread It: