Project Lore

I am not sure how many of you may have heard of this game, but earlier this week it was announced that Tabula Rasa, a MMORPG set in an original science fiction universe, will be closing early next year. The closure of another AAA MMORPG title is never good for the market, as it scares potential publishers and other investors away from the sector. This is no exception due to the fact that the man behind the title is considered the father of modern MMORPGs, Richard Garriott.

Garriott, creator of Ultima Online, had high hopes for his latest title, which was developed by Destination Games, a company he co-founded with his brother Robert and Starr Long. After negotiating a deal with the big name in Korean MMOGs, NCSoft, to become NCSoft Austin, the company announced its first original project, Tabula Rasa. Tabula Rasa was launched in late October to slightly positive reviews, highlighting its differentiating features such as combat that involved targeting, cloning of characters, and putting players in the middle of a war.

Yet, Garriott's title failed for a myriad of reasons, although I place the blame on its initial lack of end game content upon release. Upon discovering this, players including myself left en masse upon completion of the trial. This was something that alpha/beta testers had been warning the company about.

The fact of the matter is, many MMOs are shoved out the door before they can reach that final level of polish. In my mind, World of Warcraft's initial success was due to the incredibly polished opening levels, as seen in territories like Westfall. Granted, WoW's endgame was incredibly difficult at release, but Blizzard's title had it. Age of Conan's launched product was a buggy mess, while the latest big name MMO, Warhammer Online, has receives hotfixes every few days to address remaining bugs. This is something its subscribers appreciate.

Had AoC and Tabula Rasa been given another six months of development, perhaps they would have held onto their playerbase. I know Tabula Rasa surely would have held onto me. Since launch the developers behind TR have addressed many of the main complaints, adding endgame, more PvP options and a much needed auction house. Sadly, few players ever take a second look at an MMO they left because “it sucked.”

The death of Tabula Rasa in late February will lend more credence to the genre being a very risky market,  causing fewer new products, and fewer companies trying to be innovative. Competition is a good thing, and we now have one less title that was trying to be something besides a WoW-clone.

Along with the announcement, NCSoft has laid off an unnumbered amount of workers, retaining the core development team to run the game till end of life. I will be revisiting Tabula Rasa once the free play starts on January 10^th. Hopefully the closing events are worth revisiting something that could have been awesome.

Click to read more ...

Warning: The post contains business information that may not be suitable for some minds. In the event that you hate business, market analysis, facts, quotes, words and things of that nature, you may want to read some other posts. However, it is good to have these things when you try and argue with your friends about which MMO is the best. Blizzard Entertainment has certainly struck a gold mine with World of Warcraft. ProjectLore is living proof of its popularity and cultural impact. I could give you all numerous examples to the phenomenon that is World of Warcraft, but its 11 million subscribers worldwide, should be enough to convince gamers. Since WoW's launch in 2004, it has constantly been put up against other MMORPGs. The first of which was the sequel to the previous industry leader, EverQuest 2. It took a few months, but it became readily apparent that WoW had won that first battle. The next battle was fought with some old Blizzard employees and their first title, Guild Wars, in April 2005. The trend continues, with a string of MMOs trying to dethrone World of Warcraft, but none putting more than a dent in the armor. A pair by Turbine (Dungeon and Dragons Online & Lord of the Rings Online), the terrible MMO from the Matrix universe (The Matrix Online), a MMO from the father of MMOs Richard Garriot (Tabula Rasa), and the brutal Age of Conan, all pail in comparison to World of Warcraft's influence. With the exception of EverQuest 2, I only felt that Dungeon & Dragons Online: Stormreach had a chance to upset WoW's stride. That is until Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning was released in September. Mythic Entertainment released WAR to solid reviews and has posted impressive subscription rates since. To date, it is the closest anything has come to stealing WoW's thunder, holding over 750,000 subscribers with more than 1.5 million units shipped to retailers. Unlike AoC, it doesn't appear that the subscribers are leaving in droves after the free 30-days either. Is Blizzard worried? It doesn't appear so, but maybe they should be.  Just a little. When Age of Conan was doing so hot its first months, Blizzard sat back and watched their members return, “about 40% of those players have returned to World of Warcraft," according to CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime. That was just two months after AoC launched, so one would imagine that the number has only grown since then. Yesterday, as part of Activision-Blizzard's business mumbo-jumbo, Morhaime returned to update that number, and included WAR in the statistics. A whooping 68% of people who left for AoC have returned to WoW. Mythic Entertainment's title seems to have faired a bit worse than AoC. Almost two months out from WAR's launch and Morhaime reports a return rate of 46% to AoC's 40%. In fairness to WAR versus AOC, many people are likely returning to WoW for Thursday's release of Wrath of the Lich King. In fairness to both of them, just because players have re-subscribed to World of Warcraft doesn't mean they aren't still participating in the other MMO. Yet, according to research, most MMO players only subscribe to one title. The numbers show that WAR has been the biggest threat to World of Warcraft, but even a shiny new title with an incredibly dark universe and more mature theme, hasn't been able to retain its users when put up against an expansion. Let us pray that the competitors stay in business, and new titles make it to market for years to come. This will ensure that Blizzard has to keep the design juices and creativity flowing. Competition is a good thing. Anyone think Blizzard should be scared of some upcoming MMOs?  Aion?  Star Wars: The Old Republic? LEGO Online?  To be honest, I think LEGO Online just might grab some impressive numbers.

Click to read more ...