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Funcom's revenues decrease in Q2
Funcom has released its second-quarter financial results for the year, and it's not a glowing success story. Revenue dropped roughly $600,000 compared to Q1, a drop attributed to weaker in-game item sales over the quarter. Despite this, the report indicates that the company remains on-track as a whole, with the overall pattern of expenses not significantly changed. All of the major MMOs in the studio's portfolio are stated to be cash-flow positive, which is good news for fans. While the company launched several marketing attempts to draw more players into its titles, The Secret World was the most successful at bringing in more players via its most recent major update. The company projects good results for LEGO Minifigures Online when it releases in October. Interested players can look at the full report, which is less overwhelmingly positive than might be ideal but hardly paints a picture of doom.
WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney steps down as president of Carbine Studios
Jeremy Gaffney, President of Carbine Studios, has announced via the WildStar forums that he will be stepping down from his current role as president of the studio. He's staying on in a consulting and advisory role, but he'll no longer be steering the operation. Why the change? According to Gaffney's post, part of it is a result of both losing several family members to cancer last year and having to receive treatment for skin cancer himself. He's recovering without incident, but he put off the treatment for nine months to keep working through launch. Meanwhile, he also wants to allow the studio's creative team to keep working on improving the game rather than simply listening to his creative vision, something which is more easily accomplished if he steps away from an active role. Gaffney concludes his letter by thanking the fans as well as the studio for making a game that he's proud to have been a part of. [Thanks to Pete for the tip!]
Broadband is more important to Americans than cable
In the same way that WhatsApp has caused the number of text messages to fall, it looks as if cable is now less important than broadband in American homes. For the first time, the number of households that pay for a high speed internet connection has exceeded those who get their daily fix of news from CNN. The stats come from TV-industry analysts Leichtman Research, which is claiming that there are 49,915,000 broadband users in the country, squeaking ahead of the 49,910,000 who subscribe to cable TV. Naturally, we're sure that almost all of those people are paying for both services right now, but it might not be long before cord-cutting starts to make a dent in those figures. After all, services like HBO Go, NFL Now and Simpsons World may currently require online users to have a cable subscription, but we bet it won't always be that way.
EVE Online: Crius launches today
EVE Online is just churning out expansions (or plus-sized content updates, if you will) lately, with today's Crius release being the latest of the bunch. Crius' main focus is on revising and expanding the industrial and crafting portions of the game. Players can join industrial teams to get important jobs done, enjoy an overhauled research interface, partake in dynamic pricing of tasks, and add industry-related upgrades to starbases. Other fun features of this update include interior atmospheric audio, a new reprocessing system, the ability to opt out of fleet warps, and API support for the industry features of this patch.
EVE Online's in-game industry to be more challenging come Crius
The EVE Online team is trying out a new type of blog post today, this one taking time to look at the "bigger picture" of how in-game industry will function with the upcoming Crius release. According to the post, the team wants industry to be understandable by players and both interesting and skillful to use. "You should feel that you are 'good at industry,' rather than just that your character is. You're good at industry because you make good decisions, you outsmart your competitors, you've invested in the right places and you're ahead of the market," the post states. CCP says that it sees the purpose of EVE's industry as a different breed than what goes on in other MMOs, because the player is challenged to do more than just make certain items: "This is the world we're trying to create, the industry that New Eden deserves: one where you're in charge, where you're facing a new challenge every day, and where you have all the freedom in the world to decide how to solve it."
EVE Fanfest 2014: EVE's Kronos expansion is an industrial revolution
The EVE Online keynote presentation finished just a few hours ago at EVE Fanfest 2014, and it looks as if there are big plans for the year ahead. This summer will bring us the Kronos expansion, which is scheduled for June 3rd and aims to revolutionise every aspect of industrial activity in EVE Online in terms of both gameplay and accessibility. The economy has become quite stagnant over the past year as players have long since worked out all the most efficient ways to manufacture and trade, so CCP has planned its very own industrial revolution with a complete overhaul of industrial gameplay. Kronos also marks another important milestone for CCP, as the company will be switching from releasing two major expansions per year to a more agile strategy of releasing 10 smaller updates each year. The Kronos release was originally planned as a full expansion before the changeover to a 10-release schedule, so it's as packed as a full expansion. In addition to a deluge of industry overhauls, we'll be getting a shiny new mining ship, major pirate faction ship revamps, an enhanced new player experience, and a cool new effect when players warp into or out of an area. Read on for a breakdown of the EVE keynote presentation and to find out why CCP is moving away from its usual two expansions per year.
DayZ's Dean Hall says Steam removes the need for publishers
Steam's ubiquitous nature as a digital distribution platform has really changed the landscape of PC gaming. It's changed it so much that according to DayZ creator Dean Hall, companies don't really need to worry about a publisher any longer. Hall went on the record recently saying that the Early Access service offered via Steam essentially lets players take over the role of publisher, paying to finish development and providing marketing via word-of-mouth. The strategy has obviously worked quite well for DayZ, which has sold an impressive number of copies even in its very early and unfinished state. Hall also pontificates that it remains up to publishers to see where they fit into the new paradigm, since Early Access gives smaller studios an option that they wouldn't have otherwise.
Ask Massively: And the money will follow
A reader named Josh recently wrote to Massively to ask about the viability of a career in games journalism. He's not a kid with stars in his eyes; he's an adult who works for an elite tech company, and his dad is a published journalist himself. He once focused his MMO hobby into a livestreaming channel and blog but shut them down because of the time involved, and now he's considering whether a career shift to doing what he loves might be worthwhile. As a 30-year old with a family of three, I have a feeling that it would be very difficult to transition into the world of technology journalism. My impression is that it is an industry that does not really pay that much, and therein lies my quandary. My question for you at Massively is whether it is really possible to pursue the field of technology/gaming journalism and still support a family? And what traits are desirable in a technology journalist? Do editors look for people who have journalism degrees and existing experience, or is it a situation where you can step up to the plate and impress someone with your existing skill? How many of you that work for Massively actually support yourselves and your families based on your journalism, and what did it take to get to that point in your careers? Unfortunately, Josh's gut feeling is correct and terribly timely.
Destiny beta is incoming for summer; Activision predicts big successes
Is Destiny really going to be the next big thing in gaming? Activision CEO Bobby Kotick certainly thinks so. In the recent fourth quarter earnings call for the company, Kotick went on the record saying that it will be the best-selling new IP in video game history, which is potentially true; any new IP has that potential, but Bungie's upcoming MMOFPS has slightly better odds than most. It's helped by launching on four platforms at once: Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4. All of that potential is based on how well the game actually plays, though, and potential players will get to find that out this summer. The current target for release is September 9th, although there's obviously plenty of time and space for that date to move forward or backward depending on beta testing. Keep your eyes peeled for more information as we move out of the winter and into spring; a lot can happen over the next few months.
SOE opens 2014 G.I.R.L. scholarship submissions
SOE has begun its 7th Gamers in Real Life Game Design Competition, inviting aspiring game developers to apply for a possible $10,000 college scholarship and a 10-week job as a paid intern at the studio. To apply, you'll need to be enrolled in an undergraduate program that has something to do with video games, have a 3.00 GPA or higher, be 18 or older, and be a legal resident of one of the 50 United States or District of Columbia. The application includes concept artwork, captions, and an essay. Interested participants need to submit their application by March 19th. We interviewed the 2013 winner, Esther Wu, last October about her experience with the competition, which is worth a read if you're interested in participating.
38 Studios' intellectual property auction in December, Project Copernicus on the table
The tragic tale of 38 Studios' unreleased MMO, Project Copernicus, isn't over just yet. The Associated Press reports that "[a]bout two dozen parties, including some overseas" have "expressed interest" in bidding for the intellectual property of 38 Studios, which includes the unfinished game. The auction, which was set to take place on November 14th but was delayed due to unexpectedly high demand, is scheduled for December 11th. Nick Jimenez, executive vice president of auctioneer Global Heritage Partners (which is handling the sale of the studio's intellectual property), stated that the potential buyers in the auction "are from North America, Europe, and Asia" and that "[s]ome have expressed interest in buying all the intellectual property, and some are eyeing parts of it." It's unclear what his means for the future of Copernicus, or at least of Copernicus as we know it, but be sure to keep an eye out for future developments.
An interview with 2013 SOE G.I.R.L. Scholarship winner Esther Wu
Sony Online Entertainment's G.I.R.L. (short for Gamers in Real Life) scholarship was developed to encourage women to pursue careers in game development and design. The winners are selected via an annual competition and receive a $10,000 scholarship in addition to a valuable in-studio internship working on one of SOE's many games. The submissions, which this year consisted of art design pieces and essays on the topic of women in gaming, are reviewed by a panel of judges from SOE. This year's winner, Esther Wu, spent 10 weeks working with the PlanetSide 2 art team at SOE's San Diego headquarters. We sat down with her to learn more about the G.I.R.L. Scholarship, her internship, and where she hopes to go next.
The Soapbox: Game companies exist to make money
I'm going to start this article off with a statement, and it's going to be divisive, but not for the reasons you might expect. A good chunk of you reading this are going to read the line, roll your eyes, and immediately think that I've just written the most obvious thing ever. Some of you might even take to the comments to start calling for my termination just from this line alone. Ready for this? Game companies exist to make money. All right, so it was probably all of you rolling your eyes. This is pretty basic stuff, right? Except I'm willing to bet that some of you who rolled your eyes at that sentence still don't really get it. You understand that companies are trying to make money, but you don't really grasp what that means in a larger sense. So let's just accept that some of you are going to read this article and nod along the whole time without learning a whole lot. The rest of you will head to the comments and start demanding my head.
Behind the scenes as a [REDACTED] Game Master
Once upon a time, I worked as a game master for a very popular MMORPG. My duties were relatively simple: help players out of sticky situations and enforce the rules of the game when it came to cheating, harassment, and general player behavior. A game master's role is to protect the player from any and all potential game dangers, up to and including the player himself. In my work as a GM, I saw many amazing things. I saw guild members contact support staff because they were worried about another player's real-life wellbeing. I saw incredibly complex scams across multiple players and accounts that, while infuriating and exceptionally against the rules, were astonishing in their genius. And of course, I saw lots and lots of cybering.
Razer unveils redesigned Naga MMO mouse
Razer has just revealed the newest edition of its MMO-centric Naga gaming mouse. Changes to the peripheral range from big to small: the 12-key thumb grid is receiving mechanical keys that are easier to access and a slight redesign, the mouse wheel now features tilt-clicking, and the interchangeable body pieces of the Naga 2013 have been replaced by a one-size-fits-all design. Also new with this edition of the Naga is an in-game configuration tool that allows users to set keybindings to the device directly from the game of their choosing. The tech specs look like this: 19 programmable buttons, 8200 DPI 4G sensor, green LED backlighting, 7-foot braided cable, and 1000Hz ultrapolling. Perhaps most interesting: Razer is releasing both right-handed and left-handed versions of the new Naga. Our own Eliot Lefebvre is taking a run with the updated mouse and will be reporting his findings here once he's put it through its paces. [Source: Razer press release]
The Soapbox: A new mode of interaction
Video games are, by definition, an interactive medium. The entire point of playing a video game is that you get to explore the world, talk to the characters, slay the monsters, and reap the rewards. And you do all this with a keyboard and mouse or controller or futuristic headset or whatever. Players are in charge; players create their own experience. Every video game ever released hinges on player interaction to tell its story. Without the player, a game's inhabitants are meaningless pixels guarding empty checkpoints, staggering through the woods with a groan, or walking in endless circles selling bread. In order for a game to function, players must be able to interact with it. The only question is how.
Valve introduces Pipeline, a program for teens seeking careers in the gaming industry
Valve recently introduced a program called Pipeline with the aim of providing guidance for high schoolers that are contemplating a future in video games. Pipeline will host content in the form of videos and a forum that will answer commonly-asked questions about careers in the gaming industry. "Pipeline is an experiment to see if we can take a group of high school students with minimal work experience and train them in the skills and methods necessary to be successful at a company like Valve," the site notes. Pipeline is currently nothing more than a video and FAQ, but that will certainly change in due time.
The Daily Grind: How many times can a game launch?
We've given Neverwinter a lot of guff for its soft launch followed by an actual launch, but the fact is it's not the only culprit. MechWarrior Online has theoretically been in open beta for some time, but now it has a launch date. Firefall's closed beta at times felt like it was just an open beta in waiting. Some free-to-play games don't even bother officially launching; they just slowly stop calling the game a title in beta while the cash shop quietly opens. And then you have relaunches like Final Fantasy XIV... You'd think that the criteria for a launch would be pretty straightforward, but increasingly we've seen titles that can rack up multiple launch dates with the same amount of fanfare, and that's without considering staggered early access. So today we ask you, dear readers: How many times can a game launch? Do soft launches and full launches count? Relaunches? Business model launches? Major patch launches? What should and shouldn't count? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Red 5's Mark Kern discusses wasted space in MMO development
A recent article by Mark Kern of Red 5 Studios is all about the idea that most of an MMO is wasted space. Not travel space that doesn't need to be there; no, Kern is talking about the huge amount of low-level content that gets played and discarded at a dizzying pace as players move past it. According to Kern, anywhere between 80-90% of the content in a given MMO is both expensive to craft and more or less irrelevant to the game after six months. Kern stresses that the primary problem is that the cost of developing an MMO is raising while the time spent on content doesn't change, resulting in a neverending rush to produce more high-level content at a rate that's simply not realistic. He advocates more dynamic content, more scaling, and more flexibility in progression to help make development costs feel less like money flung into a pit for low-level content. If you're interested in the industry as a whole, it's worth a read. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Shroud of the Avatar team adds Starr Long to the mix
Fans of the Ultima series should be happy to hear that Shroud of the Avatar has added Starr Long to its roster as executive producer. Don't recognize the name? You should; according to Richard Garriott, Starr Long is the reason that Ultima Online existed in the first place. As Garriott puts it, while there had been discussions about doing an online installment of the series, Long was the one who was insistent that Ultima Online needed to happen. He was so much the driving force behind it that Garriott points to him as the push that kept him working on the game. A formal announcement will be made on Saturday at RTX 2013 alongside a special demonstration of Shroud of the Avatar, which will be available via livestream. If you've been hoping to see some of the key players behind UO back together, it looks as if you're in luck. [Source: Portalarium press release]
