World of Warcraft has shown us that when it comes to dominating the marketplace, Asia is just as important as the West. In an article on Games Industry, Trion has announced a partnership with Asiasoft to bring Rift to multiple Southeast Asian countries.
“Asiasoft, with its deep reach into Southeast Asian countries, is an ideal partner to realise our goal of bringing original connected experiences like Rift to gamers everywhere.”
(Source: Gamesindustry.biz)
For every decent article I write on this website, I’m inundated with people asking me to talk about “the great fall of Rift,” and how the game is apparently sliding down a population exodus to match or beat that of Warhammer Online all those years back. Still, when I have to make announcements like Rift placing more servers on Trial status and making sure everyone knows it is not the same as a merger, and assuring people that Rift’s consistent promotions to bring the client price down cheaper than a McDonald’s value meal is actually an aggressive marketing strategy by Trion rather than the desperate grab for players that some make it out to be, my job becomes rather difficult.
So my greatest asset is figures. Hard figures released by the developer, not half baked xfire statistics or polls on a thread where 80% of the people voting “I cancelled and hate this game” have never even purchased the game. According to Reuters, Trion has pulled in over $100 million in Rift during 2011, according to Trion CEO Lars Butler. And with impending releases in Asia, this figure only stands to increase over 2012. Trion has also received an injection of $85 million (this is not figured into the revenue) by investors.
$100 million in revenue feels more realistic when you account that at least $50 million of that came through initial box sales when Trion reported one million sales, before the major price reductions began. Figuring out the actual number of boxes sold (digital and retail combined) would be next to impossible with all the promotions Trion has done over the past six or seven months.
(Source: Games Industry)
The moment many dedicated trolls have been waiting for since Rift launched last year has finally arrived. According to Rift Junkies, players are being greeted in-game with a new Message of the Day detailing upcoming server mergers. According to the MotD, the last day to move yourself to a new server will be January 18th, when those servers will be marked “trial servers” and character creation will be locked. Otherwise, the Rift server transfer is still in effect, and players can choose to move to whatever server they please.
Last year I pointed out that Rift was performing a soft shut down of servers by calling them trial servers and suggesting that players move off of them. There has been no announcement by Trion on the forums or website, outside of the in-game MotD. The servers will be merged as follows, according to information gathered by Rift Junkies:
Transferring Shard: –> Receiving Shard:
PVE
Belmont –> Millrush
Galena –> Millrush
Atrophinius –> Greenscale
Crucia –> Greenscale
Alsbeth –> Shatterbone
PVE – RP
Estrael –> Faeblight
Shadefallen –> Faeblight
PVP
Sunrest(PVP-RP) –> Deepstrike
Freeholme –> Deepstrike
Dayblind –> Deepstrike
Faemist –> Briarcliff
Sure, it may be a blatant parody of the Old Spice guy, but does the Old Spice guy fight invading aliens with a Corgi? I didn’t think so.
I’ve had a corn sandwich.
Is anyone else getting tired of hearing every month of new developers being hacked? Trion announced today that their servers have been breached, and a database including usernames, encrypted passwords, birth dates, email addresses, billing addresses, and the first and last four numbers of associated credit cards was accessed.
There is no evidence, and we have no reason to believe, that full credit card information was accessed or compromised in any way. We have already taken further action to strengthen our systems, even as we, with external security experts, continue to research the extent of the unauthorized access.
Head over to Trion’s website to read the whole announcement and for more information. Users are required to change their passwords, reset their security locks, and choose new security questions. Those who follow these steps will receive three free days added to their account, regardless of whether or not they are currently subscribed.
(Source: Announcement)
Will Rift eventually become free to play? No one can say for sure. As long as Scott Hartsman has a say, however, anyone who wants to play the MMO will have to pay up. In an interview with Eurogamer, Scott Hartsman of Trion stated that Rift is still growing, and that there are absolutely no plans to change face and make the game free. After all, the game is so pupillary, why would they reduce to 85% of the community (ala the 85/10/5 rule) paying nothing?
“One of the assumptions people make is you can just take a game and throw a switch and change the model. For starters, you’d have to decide that that would be a good thing, and I do not think it would be – that would be a fairly large net negative for Rift and Rift community.”
Sorry, folks! If you want to get into Rift, why not take advantage of Trion’s rather aggressive sales strategy? The game is on sale very cheap, very often.
Will Rift eventually become free to play? No one can say for sure. As long as Scott Hartsman has a say, however, anyone who wants to play the MMO will have to pay up. In an interview with Eurogamer, Scott Hartsman of Trion stated that Rift is still growing, and that there are absolutely no plans to change face and make the game free. After all, the game is so pupillary, why would they reduce to 85% of the community (ala the 85/10/5 rule) paying nothing?
“One of the assumptions people make is you can just take a game and throw a switch and change the model. For starters, you’d have to decide that that would be a good thing, and I do not think it would be – that would be a fairly large net negative for Rift and Rift community.”
Sorry, folks! If you want to get into Rift, why not take advantage of Trion’s rather aggressive sales strategy? The game is on sale very cheap, very often.
No, Games Developers Conference Online, the piggy nibbler award is for me. GDCO has come and gone, and although the Golden Joystick Awards won’t be released for a little while longer, I wanted to share the results. Because what makes for more controversy and argument than the opinion of someone who molded a piece of metal to represent that opinion?
Does Rift have one million subscribers? I have no idea, only Trion knows that information and the furthest they will move into specific information is the claim that Rift is number two in the market, and still growing. Either way, Trion is not a stranger to trash talking, and in an interview with Industry Gamers, Lars Butler wants Blizzard to know that Rift and its band of Hulkamaniacs are about to put the smack down at this year’s SummerSlam.
“I think nobody can ever predict that there’s another WoW because WoW basically had, for seven years, no competition. There was nobody launching that created an experience that was even remotely comparable – never as deep, never as polished. Now that has changed, obviously. Rift is out there as the most serious competitor they ever had, and now with Rift updating and evolving in the most dramatic way, that is changing everyday. Essentially, with every new update, the landscape is changing. But our goal is not necessarily to create one giant product that everybody has to play, but to give people choice.”
With Rift launching earlier this year, Trion is looking to expand its presence in the MMO market with the launch of End of Nations early next year, an MMORTS with a free to play model, and Defiance further along the line. Defiance is set as an MMO shooter, coinciding with the Syfy television series.
Still, mincing fighting words with the behemoth known as Blizzard has historically not gone well for the little guy, as Funcom and Mythic could easily tell you. We’ll have to wait and see if Trion has written a check their ass can’t cash.
Does Rift have one million subscribers? I have no idea, only Trion knows that information and the furthest they will move into specific information is the claim that Rift is number two in the market, and still growing. Either way, Trion is not a stranger to trash talking, and in an interview with Industry Gamers, Lars Butler wants Blizzard to know that Rift and its band of Hulkamaniacs are about to put the smack down at this year’s SummerSlam.
“I think nobody can ever predict that there’s another WoW because WoW basically had, for seven years, no competition. There was nobody launching that created an experience that was even remotely comparable – never as deep, never as polished. Now that has changed, obviously. Rift is out there as the most serious competitor they ever had, and now with Rift updating and evolving in the most dramatic way, that is changing everyday. Essentially, with every new update, the landscape is changing. But our goal is not necessarily to create one giant product that everybody has to play, but to give people choice.”
With Rift launching earlier this year, Trion is looking to expand its presence in the MMO market with the launch of End of Nations early next year, an MMORTS with a free to play model, and Defiance further along the line. Defiance is set as an MMO shooter, coinciding with the Syfy television series.
Still, mincing fighting words with the behemoth known as Blizzard has historically not gone well for the little guy, as Funcom and Mythic could easily tell you. We’ll have to wait and see if Trion has written a check their ass can’t cash.
MMO Fallout 