Talk about the pitcher beating the runner with his own baseball bat. Following the announcement this month that Atari was divesting itself of Cryptic Studios and selling off the developer, Gamut News is reporting that Perfect World Entertainment has purchased 100% of the minds behind Champions Online and Star Trek Online.
Under the stock purchase agreement, Perfect World will pay an aggregate purchase price of approximately EUR35.0 million in cash, subject to working capital and other adjustments as provided in the agreement. The consummation of the transactions contemplated in the agreement is subject to satisfaction of closing conditions.
Perfect World Entertainment has been making quite an effort to break into the American/European markets, and this acquisition looks to be their golden ticket. The big question on a lot of minds is whether or not Neverwinter Online is transitioning with Cryptic, or if Atari plans on taking the IP back and licensing it to a different firm. Furthermore, this also raises interest in what Atari’s next quarter will bring financially, with the removal of Cryptic Studios.
Can anyone else say free to play Star Trek Online?
But wait, Omali, you say. Wasn’t Cryptic Studios recording a one thousand percent increase in revenue from Champions Online? Why would Atari be writing the company off? Cryptic may be better of than they were in 2009 ($17.9 million loss) at a $7.5 million loss for 2010, but a loss is a loss, and it looks like Atari is jumping ship. Actually, according to the financial report, the company has been “discontinued” since March 31st. Atari plans on continuing support for Champions Online and Star Trek Online, until a buyer can be found.
“In line with the previously stated strategy of fewer but more profitable releases and further expansion into casual online and mobile games, the Company has determined that external development creates more flexibility in the changing marketplace,”
The development of Neverwinter is apparently not altered by this news, at least for the time being.
So the question remains: Who is the buyer? I have a feeling Atari already has a buyer, and rumors are floating around that Jack Emmert (Cryptic Studios co-founder) is looking to rebuy his company. On the other hand, GamersFirst could always buy up the studio and turn both games into cash shops with games attached, filled to the brim with cheaters and gold farmers.
Vivox is a company you may be familiar with, even if you don’t fully recognize the name. The company provides voice chat to a wide range of MMOs and services, from Sony Online Entertainment (Everquest/Star Wars Galaxies), Fallen Earth, Eve Online, and even All Points…moving on. Vivox also hosts for titles like IMVU, D&D Insider, NCsoft, and more.
The company has taken the MMO industry by storm, and if your MMO has voice chat (Combat Arms, Global Agenda, RoM, I could go on), the chat is likely provided via partnership with Vivox. So, unsurprisingly, in addition to Vivox’s continued Skynet-esque approach to inserting itself into every MMO on the market, Cryptic announced on the Champions Online and Star Trek Online websites that the two will be receiving voice chat.
Vivox, Inc., the number one integrated voice platform for the Social Web, and Cryptic Studios, a leading developer of massively-multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG) and a subsidiary of Atari, Inc., today announced a platform agreement that will integrate Vivox Voice services into all Cryptic titles.
The announcement does note that the chat function is coming to “all Cryptic titles,” and given the reliance on teamwork in Neverwinter Online, it is safe to assume that Vivox will also be providing support for that game as well.
By now this type of news shouldn’t be too surprising, and I doubt anyone expected to see a headline: “Cryptic announces major loss in revenue after move to free to play.” As Turbine, Sony, and more have proven before us, the seeming majority who bash everything with a free option and a cash shop ultimately turn up as a very vocal, very tiny minority. There are, of course, those who will claim that Champions Online will have died without making the switch, and they are probably correct in that assessment.
However, if Cryptic Studios is going anywhere now, they’re going to the bank. According to Cryptic, the number of unique logins, concurrent players, and revenue have spiked over 1,000% since the game went free last month. To celebrate, Cryptic is placing a one-hour xp boost in the Cryptic Store for free, limited one per account. If you’re jonesing for some quick cash, the item is apparently tradeable, so save it and see if someone will buy it for a good amount of in-game money.
Having Champions Online free to play will be an interesting move in the months/year to come, as this means more competition for City of Heroes and DC Universe. Will the competition have to adapt to survive? Will Iron Man have to face his one true fear in order to defeat his nemesis? Find out all this and more! On the next issue of Amazing Issues of Amazing Amazements!
Since it had to be asked: Does Bill Roper regret leaving Cryptic now? Someone just missed a fat bonus check.
I quickly sent an email to Cryptic as to why the standard edition of the game has been removed from every digital distribution source, and received the following in response:
“Since we lowered the prices on the digital deluxe and are happy to offer the DDE value to any customer, removing the standard seemed reasonable, as there’s no compelling reason to confuse customers with two digital SKUs that are pretty much priced the same. I guess another way of thinking about it is that the DDE now becomes the standard, only it grants more perks – we’re giving anyone who buys STO digitally that value..”
So the Digital Deluxe edition is becoming standard, and the standard edition is being retired. At $14.95, the deluxe edition is the price of a month’s subscription anyway. Thank you to Ivan Sulic from Cryptic for the quick response.
Since its release, Cryptic has added a ton of features to Star Trek Online, most notably the introduction of player created content. With three seasons behind it, some of you are likely considering getting back into the game, or buying it, but would rather not spend the fifteen bucks to start up your subscription, or pay for the box copy.
Boy do I have good news for you. Amazon.com is currently having a sale on Star Trek Online for $2.50 USD. Now, purchasing the game will give you a CD key and a download link to the client. The key can be used on a new account to give full access to the game plus 30 days of subscription time. On the other hand, I had no problem adding a key to my own account.
I’m still doing some testing, but I had no problem added the Amazon key to my existing account. This doesn’t work in duplication, but if you need a reason to get into/back into Star Trek Online, what better than spending two bucks?
When Champions Online went into preorder, Cryptic offered a lifetime subscription for two hundred dollars, giving players the perks of subscribing (foremost being able to play) as well as a few other bonuses, free swag, etc. The lifetime subscription went away when the game launched, after a few pre-launch issues, and after the usual early adopters finished saying “I paid a lifetime subscription for this?” the subject mostly went away.
Well, with the timely launch of Champions Online free to play this spring, and no doubt the recent return of the McRib, Cryptic Studios would like to announce that the Champions Online lifetime membership is back…for 33% higher cost than you will remember. Now three hundred dollars, the Champions Online lifetime subscription will grant unmitigated access to the subscriber perks, plus access to the hottest place in Millennium City: The VIP lounge (Warning: Escort service not included). At three hundred, the cost of membership roughly equates to twenty months of VIP time, so if you plan on subscribing longer than that, you’re probably better off just paying the money up front and not having to pay more later on.
Well someone will find love in the lifetime subscription, and if you don’t…well, that’s your perogative? People seem to be taking this news too seriously on other websites, and by people I mean the usual Cryptic trolls who follow every news article on Champions Online so they can call Cryptic “Craptic” and giggle like little girls that they’ve won the argument. It’s fine to show your unbridled, and some would say slightly stalker-ish, rage towards Cryptic if you’d purchased the game and were disappointed, but eventually you have to move on from posting in every news article about how Bill Roper/Jack Emmert is the devil and how you will never buy from them again.
When Cryptic Studios announced that Champions Online would be going free to play, you couldn’t find a single conversation that did not turn to “will Star Trek Online follow?” Well that is what the community has been asking Jack Emmert, who came back with a simple proposition: If you eat your dinner, you will get dessert. Cryptic is taking a chance with Champions Online going free to play, and if that venture does well then the company will consider taking Star Trek Online in the same direction.
“We’re not sold one way or the other with Star Trek yet. If people want Star Trek to go free-to-play then get in and play Champions and help make it a great success, because that would send a strong message.”
This and more can be found in a Eurogamer interview with Jack Emmert, who wanted to be clear that the decision is not solely up to him.
“There are more people than just I on that decision and I can’t begin to say it would be an automatic ‘Yes, we’d do it.'”
Emmert goes on to talk about a few other projects, like user generated content that the team hopes to start in Star Trek Online and then move to Champions Online. Neverwinter, and a few other unnamed projects that Cryptic has in the works that will no doubt lend their features retroactively to Champions and Star Trek Online.
“It is definitely not fantasy-based. I can say that. It is something that’s pretty exciting. It’s under wraps and hopefully we can talk about it soon.”
Wouldn’t it be funny if Cryptic were picking up the Stargate MMO? Just saying…
Gustav Rancero says: I haven't appeared in a while.
When Bill Roper left Cryptic Studios, I couldn’t help but feel that great change was to come to the world of Cryptic’s two MMOs: Champions Online and Star Trek Online. It isn’t that Roper is necessarily a bad person, just that he loved cash shops with the kind of passion that can only be found between a man and Scarlett Johansson. Since then we’ve received news that Cryptic is leaving the MMO scene on future titles, putting less of a focus on the cash shop in Star Trek Online, with more to come.
After a year of mandatory subscription, Cryptic announced that they are moving towards the free to play model, ala Turbine, the cash shop will start offering healing aids, buffs, reward multipliers, and more. The subscription will still be there, but players will have a free to play option with limitations.
Silver Members:
Have access to all zones.
Do not have access to custom archetypes.
Have 2 character slots (Gold = 8).
Have 1 inventory bag slot (Gold = 4).
Cannot utilize power tinting.
Can place 5 items at any time on the auction house (Gold = 10).
Cannot access veteran rewards.
Chat restricted for first 20 hours.
Forums restricted to posting in certain boards (can read all boards).
Self-help knowledge base (Gold access free live support)
Do not have priority login (Gold gain priority)
Purchasable for Silver:
Gold archetypes.
Adventure packs.
Gold costume parts (have access to 3,000+ parts initially).
Gold costumes.
Gold travel powers
Hopefully Cryptic Studios will enjoy the same success with this transition that Turbine and Sony have enjoyed with their respective free to play transitions. The model Cryptic presented sounds a lot less over-encroaching with the cash shop, and maybe MMO Fallout’s favorite Cryptic representative will stop by and give us a one on one? I’m already in the bathroom performing the ritual, just stand in front of the mirror and say: CapnLogan CapnLogan CapnLogan!
Of course, this transition brings up the age old question: Is Champions Online going free to play DDO-Style or LOTRO-style, meaning is it changing systems because a forced-subscription model is no longer viable and this is Cryptic’s Final Fantasy (Dungeons and Dragons Online) or because the previous model was fine but Cryptic sees this model doing even better (Lord of the Rings Online)? The answer, of course, can only be found in speculation, and hopefully my sentiments about Star Trek Online turn out to be true.
“I have my concerns about Champions Online passing the MMO Turing Test, but I have a lot more faith in Star Trek Online’s long term viability.”
More on Champions Online as it appears. There is currently no set date for the free to play transition, however the beta will begin
“The big change is the development philosophy. There are some more changes coming in terms of the games, but we’ll cover that in the months to come. The big change is that we’re not making MMOs, we’re making online multiplayer games.” -Jack Emmert, CEO, Cryptic Studios.
Things are really bustling over at Cryptic Studios. Bill Roper and Craig Zinkievich are gone, and the throne has been passed to Jack Emmert, who wow’ed us with the announcement that Star Trek Online would be putting less emphasis on cash shop items in the future. Both Champions Online and Star Trek Online boast healthy numbers, according to Emmert, which intrigues us (read: me) here at MMO Fallout all the more with Cryptic’s announcement that they are no longer developing MMOs.
I wanted to talk, today, about comments I’ve been seeing both in my own emails and on other forums, on Cryptic’s shift to these CORPG’s (Cooperative Online Role Playing Game), and why this is causing fear in a few players. Culminating in CEO Jack Emmert’s statement above that Cryptic is moving away from MMOs and onto online cooperative games with Neverwinter Wonders, the question inevitably comes up as to what this means for longevity in Star Trek Online and Champions Online. Cryptic’s two MMOs have come under fire in recent months with concerns that the games may not have much in terms of long term viability, and statements like the one I presented above just add fuel to the fire.
Jack Emmert refers to the status of Champions Online and Star Trek Online as “healthy” and “significant,” respectively, and really all we can do is take his word on it. Champions Online recently reached its first birthday, and is still receiving updates and booster packs (with Demonflame on its way). Star Trek Online has somewhat turned into Cryptic’s main product, and is still receiving regular content updates in the form of weekly episodes and occasional larger updates. Cryptic is set on getting in touch with their community with regular question and answer sessions, as well as monthly “state of the game” addresses.
So when I say that the concerns are understandable, and even justified, I want it to be clear that they are overreactions. Cryptic’s change in pace to non-MMO titles may actually be a good thing, as keeping Champions Online and Star Trek Online as their only two MMOs ensures that the titles won’t have to fight one another to the death in order to obtain attention from Emmert and crew. Remember, Sony and NCsoft may have major libraries of MMOs, but most of their games are being worked on by completely different developers. Cryptic has separate teams, but they are still one company. If Paragon Studios went under, for example, the Aion team would be unaffected.
I have my concerns about Champions Online passing the MMO Turing Test, but I have a lot more faith in Star Trek Online’s long term viability.
Remember, if I see any concern that something is going terribly wrong with any MMO, this website is the first place you will find it. I expressed my concerns greatly on All Points Bulletin, and on the flip side I said over a year ago that Star Wars Galaxies wasn’t going anywhere, and it is still trudging along with regular support. This wasn’t the greatest choice of words for Emmert, and he needs to address this quickly on the forums/website for both games.
MMO Fallout 