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Equity crowdfunding is coming, but not on Kickstarter
Think you can do a better job than wealthy venture capitalists at sussing out potential winners and losers in game development? You'll soon be able to put your money where your mouth is thanks to a new wave of up-and-coming crowdfunding sites that will be offering equity instead of plushies and in-game digital goods. In the wake of Oculus' $2 billion Facebook deal, The Verge has published a piece that asks what one of the Rift's original $300.00 Kickstarter backers would've gained had they been actual investors instead of donators. The answer is a cool $43,500, or a substantial 145x ROI. Kickstarter, for now at least, won't be jumping on the equity bandwagon. "We believe the real disruption comes from people supporting things because they like them, rather than finding things that produce a good return on investment," CEO Yancey Strickler told Popular Science.
An analysis of the Glitch auction house
Glitch is gone, but it lives on in our hearts, and it makes for a fascinating case study. The game arrived, enraptured, and departed so quickly that a great deal can be extrapolated about the game. A new analysis over on Gamasutra focuses on looking at the game's economy over time, seeing how it kicked off and where it wound up, and uses that to draw conclusions about handling player-run economies in other games as well. The article outlines how Glitch handled currency and items, then notes the market trends and how players interacted with both one another and the economy. It concludes that in addition to monitoring the economy, designers need to keep an eye on the small number of players who serve as major economic drivers and watch them closely. The behaviors of players will also vary over time, meaning that past data have to be checked against more recent data to be relevant. If this is your sort of analysis, by all means, read the article in its entirety.
PlanetSide 2 players make thousands from Player Studio
A new video from SOE discussing PlanetSide 2's Player Studio showcased three players who have made $4,000, $7,800, and $12,000 from the program respectively. The video lightly touches on why the players started creating items, such as decals and helmets, and tips for others to make and promote their own items through the revenue-sharing system. According to SOE, Player Studio items represented more than 10% of total in-game item sales and 35% of all cosmetic items in PlanetSide 2 during January and February. There have been 2,000 submissions for the program in less than eight months, with 469 of those accepted into the marketplace. You can watch the full video after the jump!
Darkfall to add clan markets and realistic weather effects
If you haven't had enough snow this winter, you'll be able to get some more in Darkfall Unholy Wars! The PvP sandbox's upcoming patch is introducing realistic rain and snow weather effects. Snow will soon be dusting buildings, trees, ships, and the ground, significantly altering the visual landscape. Suddenly, those stark white mounts will no longer be such a liability! The update also includes a new way for clans and alliances to do business amongst themselves in the form of clan markets. The clan markets have individual permission settings, so business can be restricted to individuals (when clan-only), allies, non-enemies, or everyone. As an added benefit, clan markets won't have any courier fees or taxes, at least for the time being. These structures can be built within any clan holding, be it a a city or a hamlet, and trade can commence between all locations. Markets can be damaged to the point of deactivation or lost if holdings change owners. The patch is due out next week. Check out more details about these features and other fixes in the patch notes, and watch as snow covers the landscape and ships alike in the weather video below. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding February 9 - 22, 2014
In the world of MMOs, no news is not necessarily good news -- especially when it comes to crowdfunding. Silence often denotes a lack of progress on a game, and that can certainly make investors nervous. Thankfully, many games provide players with updates that we, in turn, provide for you here. If no news is bad, then news is good, right? Unfortunately, this doesn't hold true. In the case of Star Rider and Hot Rod Hustle, the news is that neither met its funding goals. So we say farewell to these two games from Make My MMO. And Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's campaign was chock-full of news, but in the end, its Kickstarter didn't succeed either; Pantheon, however, is continuing the fundraising effort on its official site. At least some news is good! War of Omens also leaves this round up, but for different reasons: Players can hop in and play the game! Likewise, HEX: Shards of Fate and StarCraft Universe move on now that both have moved into testing. Another sandbox, Terrayn, also joins the Kickstarter ranks. To hear other good news, keep reading.
Epic Space Online presents space without borders
Let us introduce you to Epic Space Online, an MMO so epic, it says so right in the title. This indie game was developed by the Alpha Company and is currently available, although it's trying to get voted into the Steam Greenlight program for wider recognition and distribution. Epic Space Online takes place in a single shared, procedurally generated universe without any borders. Players can vie over territory, mine ore, deploy stations, make ships, trade goods, and even command giant carriers staffed by other players. The devs have promised weekly updates and features to keep things lively. You can check out the trailer after the break.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding January 26 - February 8, 2014
The crowdfunding train just keeps rolling right along, with passengers always coming and going. New passengers hop aboard while others hop off at their desired destination. Sadly, some have to disembark early -- such is the case with Universe Rush and Antilia. Although the Kickstarter campaign fell far short of its goal, Antilia does plan to continue development on its own. On the brighter side of things, some passengers reached their stop; Tales From The Strange Universe reached its goal, and both it and Novus AEterno (which brought in over 3.5 times its initial goal) will now take their places in the funded category. The Repopulation, earning over 175K during this latest Kickstarter run, disembarks at Betawatch station thanks to its ongoing alpha testing. Catch up on all the news for all these titles as they journey through crowdfunding here in Make My MMO.
Pantheon interview offers glimpse of economy, housing, and more
With the imminent shut down of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes on the horizon, eyes are turning to the upcoming Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen project spearheaded by one of the earlier fantasy game's creators. Brad McQuaid, first known for his work on the original EverQuest, is looking to fill the niche for old-school games that focus on group content and slow progression. How much will Pantheon fit the bill as the go-to game for all those old-school gamers looking for a challenging new home? Before the weekend announcement caught everyone off-guard, we nabbed McQuaid and Director of Development Salim Grant to find out a few more details about the game and its economy (no bind-on-pickup!), crafting, housing, and classes and races.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding January 12 - 25, 2014
After a sleepy holiday season, the crowdfunding crowd has woken up and gotten down to business. And amidst that new bustle of activity, Make My MMO's ranks are altering a bit. Two games leave our listing, but each for different reasons; the cross-platform space sim Space Unfolding folded after missing its goal, and Face of Mankind moved along to Betawatch to join the ranks of the games in testing. And now that War of Omens' campaign has wrapped up, it moves into the fully funded category. Some campaigns have really kicked into high gear. Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen joined the crowdfunding race and has delivered a slew of nearly daily news. Novus AEterno has nearly tripled its goal and is closing in on yet another stretch goal these final days of its campaign, while The Repopulation has also blown away its initial goal and is aiming for its eigth stretch goal (not to mention revealed plenty of juicy new bits). A smaller title, Tales From The Strange Universe, is more than halfway to its modest goal with a week left. And newcomer Star Rider also jumps on the Kickstarter bandwagon. Unfortunately, others aren't faring as well. Things aren't looking promising for Antilia or Universe Rush, whose campaigns end soon and are still over $85K and $98K short of their respective goals. Want more details on these stories or an update on all the already-funded projects? We've got the round-up right here.
The Road to Mordor: The ins and outs of LotRO's mithril coins
Even though mithril coins have been in the game for the better part of a year now, we haven't really had a discussion about them in this space. I think it's time to do that, especially considering how Turbine keeps expanding the reach and utility of this handy-dandy (and expensive-wensive) currency in Lord of the Rings Online. Mithril coins were added in March 2013's Update 10, and their purchasing power expanded in subsequent updates. Basically, the mithril coin was a new type of currency that offered a quick and clean solution to buying goods and services in the game without the player's having to go through the LotRO store. Think of them as video arcade tokens, obtained with real money and used on the entertainment that you desire. Turbine saw these coins as a way to streamline certain pay-for-service portions of the game that had their own separate currencies (such as revival tomes and stablemaster writs). One unified currency for a variety of uses. I haven't seen a lot of chatter on these coins as of late, leading me to believe that their inclusion in the game is more or less accepted now. Some people find the coins irritating and an abuse of free-to-play moneygrabbing tactics. Others find them very useful and welcome in the game. I have a foot planted in both camps, and today we're going to look at the ins and outs of using mithril coins.
MMO Mechanics: Balancing game economies
Most players won't need an economics degree to play an MMO, but strong mechanical forces under the bonnet still guide our actions in our favourite titles. Virtually every financial exchange can be broken down into an effort equals economic gain equation: We put in our hours, and the game economy churns out new gear or money. Since so many in-game actions financially reward players, MMOs have developed mechanics that attempt to curtail the inflation game economies usually see. Charging your character for goods and services, bind-on-pickup gear, regular destruction of valuable goods, and player-controlled auction house and farming systems all combine to keep the spiralling amount of coppers falling into player hands in check. In this week's MMO Mechanics, I'm going to look at some ways both sandbox and themepark MMOs automatically rebalance weighted economies by exploring the systems that restrict the free trade of goods and curb players' constant accrual of money. I'll look at how each system functions and how player manipulation adds a new layer of realism to game economies.
The Repopulation passes $100K, eyes traveling vendors
Another day, another stretch goal accomplished by The Repopulation. This time, the sci-fi sandbox passed the $100,000 mark and ensured that cooperative structure placement will make it into the game. Next up is the traveling vendors goal at $115,000. What's a traveling vendor? Well, it basically "allows players to mark themselves as a vendor at any time," Above & Beyond explains on its website. "While this flag is enabled, other players will be able to interact with them to browse and purchase goods which they have marked for sale without any player interaction necessary." There's a lot more to traveling vendors, but you'll need to click through the links below for full details.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding December 29, 2013 - January 11, 2014
Was 2013 the year of Kickstarter? Whatever you think personally about the funding model, you can't argue with the fact that over $480 million was pledged through the crowdfunding platform in the last calendar year. That's definitely one hunk of change! But whether or not that figure translates into a tidal wave of awesome games has yet to be seen; the jury will remain out until even more funded games actually release and players get to experience what they backed. As for specific MMO news this past fortnight, the bulk of it involves new titles vying for a slice of 2014's crowdfunding pie. The CCG War of Omens has already grabbed a piece; it met its goal and has moved on to stretch goals for the last couple of days. Other hopefuls include more two space strategy games. Learn more about all of these, as well as the news from the funded front, right here in Make My MMO.
Tamriel Infinium: The Elder Scrolls Online predictions for 2014
Normally, in an article like this I would attempt to predict when a given game will actually launch, but ZeniMax has already told us that The Elder Scrolls Online will release on April 4th, 2014. I guess the next question is whether I believe that it will actually launch on that date. I do because it's far too perfect from a marketing standpoint, and if history tells us anything, ZeniMax is not afraid to launch a buggy title. However, the June release date for the console version of the game might be a bit more flexible. It's possible that it will take two to three months to convert the game from the PC/Mac version to the console version, but I think it's more likely that the PC/Mac launch will serve as a testing ground for the console release. If the PC/Mac launch works out well, then we will certainly see an early June launch for consoles, but if there are issues, don't be surprised when that release date shifts to July. Still, I do think that July would be a hard stop; anything later would likely cost ZeniMax far too much money. I enjoy making predictions. I'm not always right, but that doesn't mean it's not fun giving it a shot. Just remember, my predictions are my personal opinions reflective of information released by ZeniMax regarding ESO. I do not have super-sight nor a dev in my pocket, so your guess could be as good as mine. In fact, after I make my predictions, I'd like to read yours in the comments.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding December 15 - 28, 2013
'Tis the season... but not for news! With minds focused on the holidays, it looks as if not much happened in the realm of crowdfunding since our last Make My MMO update. Just how slow was it? It was so slow that Star Citizen did not announce earning another $2 million. A few tidbits did, however, did trickle out. Novus AEterno met its goal within 102 hours and still has a month of funding ahead. On the other hand, Empires of Tahn followed what seems to be the new norm: cancel the project before getting the dreaded "unsuccessful" label. And one title that is already strong in its development has jumped back into the crowdfunding realm; The Repopulation aims to incorporate even more features into the sandbox. There are also a couple dev blogs to speak of and a few odds and ends, all of which you will find rounded up for you below.
Square Enix tweaks Final Fantasy XIV housing prices
Thanks to what Square-Enix has called a "prodigious amount of gil in circulation" on certain Final Fantasy XIV worlds, it appears as though new players and those returning from a break are priced completely out of the housing market. In the interest of getting the system under control, Square announced yesterday that it will be dramatically reducing the price of land across numerous servers. According to the announcement, land pricing for legacy worlds will be adjusted to match land pricing of non-legacy worlds. This will result in land values on certain worlds being reduced by 2.5 to 5 times their current value over the course of several weeks. Additionally, Square plans to "re-evaluate" the final price of land across all worlds sometime in late January. Check out the full post to see which worlds have which pricing and how values are about to change. [Thanks to Zengarzombolt for the tip!]
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding December 1 - 14, 2013
If it seems as if crowdfunding's gone into a turkey coma lately, you aren't just imagining things -- at least as far as funded games are concerned. News on that front has seemed scarce compared to the deluge of some other two-week spans, but the current campaigns are trying to make up for it. Life is Feudal canceled its Indiegogo campaign, but devs vowed to "survive according to Plan 'B'," so we'll keep an eye out to see whether it moves into personal funding as other games have done. (That route is working for Neo's Land, whose donations keep creeping higher.) Similarly, Novus AEterno scrapped its second Kickstarter campaign, but in a twist, it's already restarted another with a lower goal. Outer Worlds Online, however, just didn't make the funding cut. On the successful side, manners and dinner parties will be coming to an MMO near you; Ever, Jane got an invitation to join the funded club. A few other funded titles also saw some progress, and still others joined (or re-joined) the race for your support. And topping all that, we also bid farewell to Elite: Dangerous, who leaves Make My MMO for Betawatch now that its alpha has started. You can catch all the updates below.
Forza 5 December update slashes car prices, adds new modes
A substantial update coming to Forza 5 this month – perhaps as early as next week – will make it easier to stock your virtual garage with expensive vehicles. Prices for on-disc cars will be slashed almost in half (down 45%, to be exact), IGN reports, while racers will also accumulate money much faster after the update. On top of that, developer Turn 10 is adding a pair of new game modes: Drag Racing and Tag. In Drag Racing, up to 16 players can hop into a lobby and challenge other drivers in one-on-one straightaway races or simultaneous drag races for up to eight players at a time. The setup sounds quite similar to the Forza 4 version of drag racing. Tag is a bit more complex with three different variants on the classic children's game: One player is designated as "it" and must run from the other players to win; one player is "it" and, upon tagging other drivers, will cause them to be "it" as well, with the last standing untouched driver winning the match; and in the last variant, one player begins the match as "it" and must tag other players to pass the "it" status, with the player having been tagged the least amount of times winning the match. "We based our economy largely on Forza Motorsport 4 data," Turn 10 creative director Dan Greenawalt told IGN. "The earn rate [in Forza 5] should have been the same," Greenawalt added, assuring that Turn 10 is "making updates pretty quickly and painlessly" and will continue to do so based on input from the Forza 5 community.
The Daily Grind: Are you OK with auction houses?
You know, I really miss player shops in MMOs. I realize that the universal auction house is a concession to convenience that most players can no longer live without, but there's something to be said for local market economies and merchant autonomy when it comes to setting yourself apart from the crowd. Not to mention the fact that it's occasionally fun to take a break from the usual killing and looting and browse through a painstakingly furnished player storefront. What about you, Massively readers? Assuming you've ever played an MMO with player-run shops, vendors, and more realistic market systems, do you like those mechanics? Or do you prefer the auction house? 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!
Hartsman: ArcheAge getting substantial progression and economic tweaks
Well, there's good news and bad news with regard to ArcheAge's western release. And I know you, you want the bad news first, right? Well, here it is: the game's still quite a ways off. Trion hasn't said as much, but if you read between the lines of CEO Scott Hartsman's latest interview, it's hard to come away with any other impression. Hartsman spoke with fansite ArcheAge Source, and he said that "XL can only work on so many things at a time while they strive to constantly improve their live Korean service." This means that ArcheAge's partnered launches outside of Korea are worked on "serially," and the western release is a couple of spots down in the pecking order. The one piece of good news there is that the western release will benefit from all of the stuff XL has learned from launching the game in other markets. Hartsman also mentions substantial progression and economy improvements that will find their way into the sandpark game before it reaches western shores. "The economic game of ArcheAge is a big part of what attracted a lot of us to this game," he said. "XL will be implementing improved balance between crafting, farming, and trade, [with] the goal being to promote a more vibrant economic game that produces more valuable and more frequently used items than what the original version launched with." [Thanks to all our tipsters!]
