Funcom Q2 2011 Finances


It’s August, and that can only mean plenty of Q2 financial reports to read. Funcom has released its financial reports for the second quarter of 2011, with just enough time to factor in Age of Conan: Unchained. Here are some points of interest:

  • Age of Conan: Unchained has more than doubled revenue for the title, although we already knew that.
  • Bloodline Champions is being localized in Russia.
  • Funcom believes that the Secret World will be a less risky launch, given the stability of its engine (Dreamworld 2.0)
  • Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, and Bloodline Champions are all bringing positive cash flow, but the development costs for The Secret World, Pets Vs Monsters, Fashion Week, and My Kingdom are putting serious hurt on Funcom’s money.
  • Funcom sees The Secret World as selling more in its first year than Age of Conan did, as well as significantly better retention.
  • A “healthy retention” for The Secret World is considered 490,000 subscribers. “Conan-like scenario” is listed as 280,000 subscribers.
Unfortunately, unlike NCsoft, Funcom does not offer as detailed sales figures on a per-game basis or per-region. So Funcom is bleeding money, but such an outcome is expected with so many projects on the table.

Jagex Could Do Runescape on Consoles, But Microsoft…


Jagex’s CEO Mark Gerhard would like to see Runescape on consoles, but refuses to segregate the community by platform. In a comment to Develop Online, Gerhard has stated that Jagex is well-positioned to ship a console version of Runescape, but has been stopped at all corners by the big three: Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. The subject of free to play is one that Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata hates with a passion, Microsoft opposes (Gerhard comments that “one console” wanted them to charge five euros mandatory for use) and Sony is the only of the three that would like to add Runescape to its free to play initiative.

Where the three giants agree, however, is not allowing the community to interact with those on rival platforms.

“We’re not going to frame [as in, segregate] our community into boxes just for a few million more customers. Of course I’d love a few million more customers, but I just wouldn’t do it. Not at the expense of fracturing it, because you almost become the disease you’re trying to solve.”

And yes, Final Fantasy XI is an MMO on the 360 with cross-console play to Playstation 2 users. This is a title we consider grandfathered in, because it was developed long before Microsoft or Sony had the volatile stance that they do now. Don’t fret, however, as Gerhard is not giving up the goal, and expresses trust that the big three will open up their doors eventually.

“But we’re well placed to be on all devices soon,” he added, “so we can have a global community”.

Star Vault Publishes Q2 2011 Finances


Star Vault has published their results for the second quarter of 2011. You can read the report in its native Swedish, or poorly translated by Google. For the sake of convenience, I will post some of the more important information here:

  • Mortal Online has seen an increase in subscriptions and box purchases since Q1.
  • In order to reduce costs, the board of directors has cancelled the liquidity guarantee.
  • According to Henrik Nystrom, a rights issue resulted in enough income to pay off earlier loans.
  • Mortal Online needs 500 more subscribers to achieve “break-even.”
  • Star Vault has partnered with Lekool to publish Mortal Online in Asia (we already knew that)
Although Mortal Online is still not breaking even, Star Vault continues to inch toward that goal with what, despite what some people would like you to believe, appears to be growing in terms of sales and subscribers. Who knows? Mortal Online could be a real surprise comeback.

Video of the ____: Treating New Customers Better Than Current


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl67TNDW-0Q

Even kids know it’s wrong to treat new friends better than old friends.

Celebrate Rift's Half-Birthday With 7 Free Days


Trion is happy to celebrate Rift’s half-birthday. So happy, in fact that the developer is opening the game up to new and previous players alike, to enjoy the game free of charge for seven days. Starting when the servers come back up today (following a patch) and running through August 31st, you’ll be able to simply create an account or sign in with your existing account, and enjoy all that Rift has to offer. Current subscribers are not left in the dust, and will enjoy bonus experience including bonus guild experience.

Read more about the celebrations here, including information on some meta-game contests Trion has planned. The servers are expected to come back up around noon EST (GMT -5).

Celebrate Rift’s Half-Birthday With 7 Free Days


Trion is happy to celebrate Rift’s half-birthday. So happy, in fact that the developer is opening the game up to new and previous players alike, to enjoy the game free of charge for seven days. Starting when the servers come back up today (following a patch) and running through August 31st, you’ll be able to simply create an account or sign in with your existing account, and enjoy all that Rift has to offer. Current subscribers are not left in the dust, and will enjoy bonus experience including bonus guild experience.

Read more about the celebrations here, including information on some meta-game contests Trion has planned. The servers are expected to come back up around noon EST (GMT -5).

Nominations For Golden Joystick Awards/GDCO


The Golden Joystick Awards have been running for 29 years, making the ceremony older than a good amount of the people reading this website. Every year, games compete in a number of categories from shooter to adventure and everything in between, with the voting determined by viewers like you. This year marks the first year that there is a “Best MMO” category, as well as “Best free to play,” meaning Jagex won’t be the only developer with a Golden Joystick (Jagex has won “Best UK Developer” two years in a row, but that category is gone this year).

The Games Developers Choice Online Award is in its second year, and spawned from GDC Austin, and acts as a sister competition to the Games Developers Choice Awards, similar yet focusing on online innovations. The actual awards ceremony will take place on October 12th at Games Developers Conference Online in Austin, Texas.

You can still vote for the Golden Joystick Awards here. For the sake of space, check after the break for the full nominee list.

Continue reading “Nominations For Golden Joystick Awards/GDCO”

Everquest II: Now With A Decent Free Trial


Technically Everquest II has the mother of all free trials, however if you’re looking to bud into the subscription-only sector to play with friends, this promotion doesn’t exactly help you. Announced on the Station website, the new free trial offers 14 days of worry-free gaming, with a few perks on the side. Players receive a superior experience potion offering twice the advancement for two hours, and a special cloak that increases run speed by 25%.

If you don’t play the subscription version, you can still obtain the cloak and potion in Everquest II Extended, along with a few other items according to players. For casual players who don’t have anyone playing the subscription version, Extended is still the best deal.

Crimecraft De-Mergifying Servers Tomorrow


No, de-mergify is not a word, but technically neither is Crimecraft, or Bleedout, or Vogster. Earlier this year, Vogster merged the two servers on Crimecraft down to one, resulting in a certain writer for MMO Fallout losing his low level character (pictured above). To bring in more players and increase the scope of the game, Vogster just recently launched the free client on Steam, offering players a bonus pack if they sign up before August 29th.

So tomorrow (the 25th), Vogster is set to open a second server to alleviate the population. Vogster is going to need a second briefcase for the lods of emone that will be pouring in.

Good luck to Vogster, the existing community, and those who are just now discovering Crimecraft.

Faxion Online To Shut Down


My favorite questions are those that answer themselves. For instance, when the entire Faxion Online team was laid off, the question turned to how long the servers would remain standing before UTV finally announced the shut down. The answer: Today. Faxion Online players were greeted today with a somber note:

It’s with an extremely heavy heart that I write to inform you of the upcoming discontinuation of Faxion live services. This week, we will begin the process of ending live service, starting with the immediate discontinuation of store purchases, online registration, and client downloads, with final server closure scheduled to commence within the next 30 days.

Faxion is the heaven vs hell MMO that launched earlier this year in May, to a substantially low reception. Although the game was praised for its concept, it was widely panned as being unfinished and buggy. The game was described as essentially launching in a beta state, with the beta phase being an alpha. Unlike a few other MMOs that managed to launch in the beta stage and still move on to survive a few years out, Faxion didn’t gain the trust of its financier, UTV, laid off everyone at the company.

If Faxion is a lesson to MMO companies, that lesson is about launching an unfinished product in a market saturated with competition. The era where an indie developer can thrive because the game is free to play is over, with Lord of the Rings Online, Everquest II, and a growing list offering AAA experiences for next to nothing.

Who knows, perhaps K2 Networks will buy Faxion and relaunch it.