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Captain's Log: Star Trek Online potpourri
This week, Cryptic Studios continued its preparations for Star Trek Online's Season Six release. Many of the anticipated features have been made available on the game's test server, and lucky for you, I've had the chance to jump in and try out a little bit of the new fleet advancement system and the affiliated starbases. After the initial phases of Season Six were pushed to the test server, Cryptic announced the 900-day veteran rewards as well as information on the impending implementation of the new Account Guard system. Even better, more information about the starbase features, especially the ships players will soon be crafting, has been revealed by Star Trek Online's Lead Designer, Al Rivera. It's all after the cut!
Funcom CFO resigns in wake of $23.3M loss
These are bad times all around in the massively multiplayer online game industry in terms of the economy. The troubles of some companies are still coming to light, as is the case with Funcom. James Lee from GamesIndustry.biz writes that Funcom has reported its Q4 2008 financial results with "an operating loss of USD 23.3 million, caused by a depreciation of USD 22.8 million due to the lagging performance of Age of Conan." In addition, Funcom CFO Olav Sandes has given notice of his resignation. Sandes is not the first high level employee to quit in recent months, but all is not doom and gloom. Funcom's Q4 2008 subscription revenues from Age of Conan have shot up to USD 8.7 million, up from USD 1.2 million year-on-year, Lee reports. Funcom expects a Q1 2009 revenue of between USD 6 million and 8 million, largely comprised of subscription fees for Age of Conan. James Lee's GamesIndustry.biz article has further details on Funcom's financial situation. Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!
Blizzard VP discusses mistakes made and player expectations
Blizzard may be reigning supreme in the MMO world, but that doesn't mean they haven't made some mistakes along the way. Indeed, it's actually refreshing when a company is willing to come out and admit to those mistakes, namely during the BlizzCon panels, as Blizzard's Senior VP Frank Pearce addresses in a recent interview with James Lee from Gamesindustry.biz. "The panels are here about being open with the fans. I don't think the mistakes we've made are big, huge secrets anyway, right? You can see the mistakes in the results of the work anyway. It's more important to acknowledge your mistakes and learn from them than to keep them a secret," Pearce says.Over the course of the interview, Pearce speaks about a few of the ways that the company may have been off the mark, and about what the players expect of Blizzard, particularly in terms of expansions. Pearce also acknowledges the possibility that delaying console MMO development could open Blizzard up to increased competition further down the road, with those companies who establish themselves there first. See the full interview with Frank Pearce for more on Blizzard's approach to the industry, and their ambition to have their content quality trump that expected one-year interval between World of Warcraft expansions. One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
