Diablo-style God-of-War reminiscent upcoming MMO Mytheon is among the ongoing list (read: all of them) of MMOs with troubled developments. Citing poor efficiency and unreasonable demands for time and funds, publisher True games launched a lawsuit against the developer, Petrolyph. I commented (not here) at the time that the reasons cited in the lawsuit make it sound like True Games’ lawyers are the same people who troll MMO forums about how they cancelled their preorder because they didn’t anticipate that an MMO from an indie developer is likely to be delayed for months on end, but rather the game itself is an artful scam, by a fraudulent company. Petroglyph stated, in their defense, that True Games was expecting essentially a AAA title.
I’ve never been good at subtle titles, so you’re already aware of how this story ends. Unlike the other lawsuits I cover, this suit does have a happy ending: Although neither side is admitting fault or wrongdoing, they have settled their differences and Mytheon is back on track for a June 13th launch.
Congratulations and, once again, best of luck to Mytheon in becoming…well, a launched game.
As I mentioned earlier this week, the Fates (mortals) in Mytheon are having quite a hard time. Not only do they have their original task of attempting to bring down the gods, but now they must take down an even greater foe: The publisher. Citing consistent delays and unreasonable requests for funding, True Games Interactive, a company still in its toddler stage (founded January 2008) and has been publishing Warrior Epic. Now, in my normal fashion, I won’t be bashing Warrior Epic, but I will point out that my trek to the WE forums found that only five out of the sixteen forum categories have had a post in the past week, with six having no posts since April. Apart from that, my only company were forum bots from Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Baidu.
Petroglyph Games, noted defendant and developer, is being accused of not patching the title, and holding the source code hostage. True Games announced that they are moving full steam ahead with the title’s current beta process.
“Mytheon will proceed through Open Beta and launch officially in the near future. We cannot provide more details at this time. Players and fans of Mytheon will not be affected in any way. We are committed to delivering a fun and unique game play experience with the release of Mytheon.”
Best of luck to Mytheon in the future. It’s time to slay some gods!
Mytheon, at its core, may sound a little like God Of War: The MMO. Deciding to take their fate into their own hands, the mortals have taken up arms against their gods, to bring them down and prove once and for all that they are capable of self sustainment. Mytheon is a top-down game, akin to Diablo, and is set to run on a free to play, microtransaction level when it releases this year (subject to change).
It appears the Fates (mortals) of Mytheon may be struck down, not by the Gods, but by the other hand that feeds them: The publisher. True Games, to-be publisher of Mytheon, is suing the developer Petroglyph Games, due to unfulfilled obligations. According to documents provided, Petroglyph was originally supposed to deliver a gold title back in November ’09, a date that was extended to February, and followed by a promise of delivery in March. When March rolled around, and off into the sunset, with no Mytheon.
Among True Game’s claims are that Petroglyph made unreasonable demands for additional funds and time, coupled with a lack of enthusiasm and efficiency, that threatened both companies. According to Petroglyph, True Games is trying to make Mytheon into something it isn’t: A full blown $15/month MMO.
I’m in the Mytheon closed beta, and what you don’t say is often more powerful than what you do say (not to mention I believe I am under Non Disclosure) so I will leave it at that. This does remind me of the current lawsuit between Bethesda and Interplay, as that is over the slow progress of Fallout for different reasons.
One important point I need to get out of the way first:
-Games Workshop is the creator of the Warhammer world used in the Warhammer tabletop games, pen-and-paper games, and video games.
-EA/Mythic are the creators of Warhammer Online, the MMO.
-Curse/Warhammer Alliance is not a fansite. Mere fansites do not make 3 million in revenue in a year, have a board of directors, or have investors.
In a perfect world, Mythic would be going under scrutiny for their own actions, and the lawsuits brought forth by Games Workshop would not have much of an impact on them, if any at all. Sadly, we do not live in a perfect world, and the end result is Mythic is being barraged for a lawsuit brought by Games Workshop against Warhammer Alliance. Games Workshop is currently suing Curse over Warhammer Alliance’s alleged infringement of GW’s trademark on “Warhammer Alliance.” Alongside trademark infringement, Games Workshop is also suing for cybersquatting, dilution, and unfair competition.
I didn’t make this an “In Plain English” article, because this doesn’t, and shouldn’t, include Warhammer Online. More importantly, this lawsuit does not involve Warhammer Online or Mythic Entertainment. Currently there are far too many reactionary posts by people blaming Mythic for this lawsuit, calling it an act of desperation among other things.
“Failing game seeks money anyway it can get it. Anyone can sue anyone for anything nowadays. It’s really sad.”
Projectkmo @ Massively
“I actually subscribe occasionally to Warhammer Online just to show my support. This will end that…”
Duulin @ Massively
So just to get this straightened out once and for all: Mythic has NOTHING to do with the lawsuit.
One important point I need to get out of the way first:
-Games Workshop is the creator of the Warhammer world used in the Warhammer tabletop games, pen-and-paper games, and video games.
-EA/Mythic are the creators of Warhammer Online, the MMO.
-Curse/Warhammer Alliance is not a fansite. Mere fansites do not make 3 million in revenue in a year, have a board of directors, or have investors.
In a perfect world, Mythic would be going under scrutiny for their own actions, and the lawsuits brought forth by Games Workshop would not have much of an impact on them, if any at all. Sadly, we do not live in a perfect world, and the end result is Mythic is being barraged for a lawsuit brought by Games Workshop against Warhammer Alliance. Games Workshop is currently suing Curse over Warhammer Alliance’s alleged infringement of GW’s trademark on “Warhammer Alliance.” Alongside trademark infringement, Games Workshop is also suing for cybersquatting, dilution, and unfair competition.
I didn’t make this an “In Plain English” article, because this doesn’t, and shouldn’t, include Warhammer Online. More importantly, this lawsuit does not involve Warhammer Online or Mythic Entertainment. Currently there are far too many reactionary posts by people blaming Mythic for this lawsuit, calling it an act of desperation among other things.
“Failing game seeks money anyway it can get it. Anyone can sue anyone for anything nowadays. It’s really sad.”
Projectkmo @ Massively
“I actually subscribe occasionally to Warhammer Online just to show my support. This will end that…”
Duulin @ Massively
So just to get this straightened out once and for all: Mythic has NOTHING to do with the lawsuit.
Update: According to a report from Bethesda to Joystiq, the lawsuit has not been dropped. Please accept our apologies as our bounty hunter tracks down Interplay investor “Frymuchan” for his disservice.
“It’s an ongoing legal matter. I don’t know where whoever reported that got their information, but it is ongoing and we are going to see how it plays out in court.”
It feels like a long time since I’ve been able to update on the Bethesda/Interplay lawsuit, and in fact it’s been over four months since the latest lawsuit news! And what news it is:
Bethesda has dropped the lawsuit against Interplay, over the Fallout MMO “Project V13,” allowing the struggling developer to move full steam ahead in their development. The terms of the dropped lawsuit are in the secret vaults for now, but hopefully someone from Bethesda or Interplay can shed some light in the coming days, on the status of Project V13 and the two company’s involvement, and perhaps what led to the lawsuit being dropped.
For the sake of not getting up hopes, I’m still leaving Project V13 in the “rumor mill” file, as no longer being sued puts the title exactly where it was before the lawsuit began: On a long road to nowhere. We are also awaiting news of Bethesda’s upcoming MMO, speculated to be based on the Elder Scrolls universe (Well if it was a Fallout MMO, it is scrapped now)
The Fallout MMO is expected to go into beta sometime in mid-to-late 2012, and no that isn’t one of my jokes.
As its players have pointed out to me in the past, there is really not much difference between Evony and other video games. It’s a game, for starters, it is played with a keyboard and mouse, and is played entirely through a browser. It is owned by a Chinese gold farming company, and did I mention that most companies use scantily clad women (or just shots of breasts, as seen above) to sell their games? Don’t forget, you can play it free forever.
Here is a question for the budding internet lawyers in the room: How does a Chinese company pretending to be American justify suing a British blogger in Australia? The whole thing sounds like either a poorly put together joke, or the kind of litigation taught in the same university that Jack Thompson received his degree at (Vanderbilt Law School, for those keeping track). Needless to say, this is exactly what happened when UMGE, I mean Evony LLC, decided to sue UK blogger Bruce Everiss, veteran games industry marketer.
The charge was libel, the evidence? Claims by Everiss that Evony was run by a Chinese company, and that company was linked to a goldfarming operation. The lawsuit has been pretty quiet for a while now (these court cases take a long time to get going), until the unveiling that Evony LLC has dropped the case only two days into proceedings. The official reason for the dropped case, according to Evony’s legal division, was feedback and criticism from their player base.
Evony will be required to pay the A$114,000 in addition to a second fee of A$80,000 or else the court proceedings will reconvene. According to The Guardian, the cost of their legal strategy alone could run Evony more than double the hundred grand they will be forced to pay for Everiss’ legal fees. In Australia, only companies with fewer than 10 employees can sue for libel, this likely being one of the factors that ultimately killed the lawsuit.
The intrigue doesn’t stop there! In his thank you post, Bruce Everiss gave a special show of gratitude to Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard, whose “testimony to the court helped enormously.” Everiss did not go into detail on exactly what the testimony was, but I think it’s safe to say that Mark Gerhard has made his way into the good grace of plenty of gamers.
Between aiding the potentially suicidal, stopping theft, and fighting crime, it seems more and more MMO developers are striving to prove that the customer-business relationship doesn’t have to be so distant. Maybe if UMGE sues me for this article, Mark Gerhard will come to my rescue.
Zenimax Media is just one of the Area 51’s of the MMO world. Zenimax owns Bethesda, id Software, and several other studios. The studio has since become the MMO branch of Bethesda, and according to past rumors has been working on an upcoming title since at least 2007. Rumors had it that the MMO was going to be the oft-rumored Fallout MMO that Interplay had started but never gave information on.
In court documents recently discovered during the Bethesda Interplay lawsuit, details have come forward related to this secret MMO that Zenimax has been working on. Bethesda has funneled tens of millions of dollars into this project, that has been under development since 2006 (So the rumors were not far off). A team of approximately one hundred people are working on the game, and according to VG247, should have been announced last year.
In the legal documents, Bethesda has described the title as a “World of Warcraft” style MMO, and may be set 200 years after Oblivion (as revealed by the Elder Scrolls novel, that accidentally leaked the next game in the series). It is not currently clear what Bethesda means by a WoW-like MMO, in the creative sense or the mechanic sense (It’s an MMO).
So what does VG247’s source say about this MMO? It is based on the Elder Scrolls series. Even better, the title was supposed to be announced late 2009, but the announcement was somehow missed, potentially relating to the lawsuit between Bethesda and Interplay. VG247 appears to be very confident in their source.
There does seem to be some legitimacy in the claims, as Bethesda has reportedly moved to have any revealing legal documents censored to the public domain, even though the old analogy fits of closing the fence door once the horses have escaped. It is possible but unlikely that Zenimax is working on a Fallout MMO in expectation that Interplay will lose the lawsuit, and for all intense and purpose, they do know a lot more than we do as to how well the court case is going.
More on Bethesda’s MMO as it becomes apparent, and more on Fallout (The MMO) as it appears as well.
Now, one truth that has always been self evident; a company doesn’t have to deal with MMOs to give the industry something to learn from. Such is the case with Microsoft, Danger Inc (Yes, that is the company name), T-Mobile, and a certain mobile phone called the Sidekick. For those of you living under a rock, the Sidekick was introduced in 2003 with a great feature: Everything you did on the device was immediately backed up on their internal servers. Add a contact? Backed up. Delete a contact? Backed up. Send an alcohol inspired text message? Sadly, backed up. When you turn off the phone, everything on your phone is deleted so it can be properly synced when you next boot up.
The sidekick is something akin to the mobile phone of MMOs, where equally everything you do is backed up on internal servers rather than your own computer. Because crucial information is stored on the company’s servers rather than a person’s computer, or phone, it becomes imperative for that company to have backups available in case something were to go awry. Jagex, for example, does a backup of its systems on Runescape every fifteen minutes, just in case there’s a major server crash and a rollback is needed. Even then, a critical crash earlier last month resulted in several days of data loss on the friends list server.
So here we are in October: T-Mobile’s service went down around the start of the month, much to the dismay of its users. After several days of no service, Sidekick users reported information missing. As it turned out, there were some critical errors on Microsoft’s end where the servers were stored. The personal information synced by the Sidekicks was lost, with no usable backups available. Effectively, all personal data on every T-mobile device is gone. The only way, currently, to keep your data from being lost is to keep your phone on at all times until the service is fully restored.
There are currently two lawsuits running over this issue. Sidekick users can expect a compensation of a $100 gift certificate and a free month of service.
In a move first capitalized by The Wizard, viewers got a glimpse of the oft-delayed and just as oft-sued, upcoming MMO Stargate Worlds. In the premier of Stargate Universe, character Eli Wallace is a gamer who finds his way into the Icarus program. After spending months attempting to complete an “unbeatable puzzle,” he gains the attention of Stargate Command. Of course, the game he is playing is none other than Stargate Worlds.
This is the first update on Stargate Worlds’ website since May, and it is unclear at this time whether this is a sign that the game is still going, or if what we saw was just a simple cameo from one section of the IP to another.
It’s only a little but we will have much more to show very soon as we mentioned earlier.
Certainly more to come. I don’t normally report on pure MMO news, but I make an exception for Stargate Worlds. You could make quite a nerdy soap opera based off of the development of Stargate Worlds. Will Stargate Worlds ever be released? Are the claims of the ponzi scheme true? Will Cheyenne’s employees ever be paid? Will Gary Whiting be thrown under the bus? Tune in next time folks! Same vaporware time, same vaporware place!
MMO Fallout 