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RIFT approaching the one million sell-through mark
For some, success is measured in how fun a game is and how much it accomplishes that which it promised. For others, success is all about the cold, hard numbers -- subscribers, units sold, accounts created, concurrent players. Today, Trion Worlds considers RIFT a success on the latter front as well as the former, as it announced that the company is nearing the million sell-through mark for the game. A unit sold-through means that a copy of RIFT -- physical or digital -- has been sold to a customer, not merely shipped to retail. In an interview with Gamasutra, Trion's David Reid says that the company's $50 million title is doing well with direct competition against established fantasy MMOs like World of Warcraft. "We're really pleased with what we're seeing. And beyond that, it was a pleasure to see in the latest Activision Blizzard earnings call that RIFT was inquired about when Blizzard announced their subscriber numbers went from 12 million to 11.4 million," Reid said. "You can do some math... we know very well where those 600,000 people are." Trion is becoming well-known for its aggressive marketing push behind RIFT, which Reid thinks is paying off handsomely: "We know we have a very stick game, we know we are getting a lot of success right now... If in fact the 600,000 players [Blizzard] lost came to RIFT, I don't think they'll be getting those 600,000 people back as quick as they did from Aion, Conan, Warhammer and the like."
Former Atari VP moves to Trion Worlds
Trion Worlds has a new star quarterback for its European branch today, as former Atari general manager John Burns joined the team. Burns is now senior vice president and general manager of Trion's European branch. Trion's David Reid feels that Burns is a major catch for the company: "John joins Trion with almost two decades of gaming experience with him, and will be essential in our continued success throughout Europe. With the launch of RIFT earlier this year, we began laying the groundwork for a strong presence in Europe, which will grow as we bring premium, connected games to gamers around the world." Burns has a lengthy track record in the industry, boasting over 20 years of experience at various companies. Prior to Atari, John Burns worked at Electronic Arts, Bandai, Acclaim and Sega.
Trion answers Ubisoft-related questions about Rift
With Rift's closed beta starting this Friday, an early 2011 launch date is looking likely. In service of that, Trion Worlds is busily getting its house in order and gearing up to push the fantasy epic live around the world. Earlier today Massively reported on Trion's announcement that gaming megalith Ubisoft would be publishing the upcoming MMORPG in Europe. The Ubisoft name-drop brought to light some reader concerns about the draconian DRM schemes the publisher is (in)famous for, so we decided to go straight to the source to clear things up. Join us after the cut for an impromptu interview with Trion Worlds Senior VP of Publishing David Reid.
The Daily Grind: Your thoughts on Jeff Strain's NCsoft departure?
As we've reported on for the past two days, ArenaNet co-founder Jeff Strain has left his position at NCsoft and is moving on to new pastures. While his former co-founding partner, Mike O'Brien, has said pretty affirmatively that his departure won't affect the development of Guild Wars 2, we're still interested in what you think of all of this.It's certainly a very sudden and unexpected move, especially when you take into account the departure of David Reid as well, even if they both left for unrelated reasons. With Aion coming closer and closer to a launch in the United States, and NCsoft pushing to be #2 in the realm of subscription numbers, the timing for these departures seems to be odd.But, we're not going to waste this space with our thoughts, we want yours! Drop what you think of all of this into the comment box below, and let your voices ring across the internet!
Breaking: ArenaNet co-founder leaves NCsoft
MMORPG.com is reporting that both Jeff Strain and David Reid have recently departed NCsoft West. Strain, the President of Product Development for the newly-restructured NCsoft West and Reid, the President of Publishing are both said to have left for "unrelated" reasons.Jeff Strain has always been much more than just a co-founder of ArenaNet, as his visions have driven the company to spectacular feats with their blockbuster title Guild Wars. David Reid was brought on last year with the newly-announced NC West, which aimed to re-structure the company on the tails of Tabula Rasa's closing. Does this spell even more bad news for NCsoft, only a month before they launch Aion? According to a press release from NCsoft West Public Relations Director Ryan James, "These changes do not influence any other teams, development schedules or other launches." That may be true, but it's the reputation that seems to be in the most trouble now. We wish Mr. Strain and Mr. Reid the best of luck in their future endeavors.
Massively talks with NCsoft about CoH changes, Austin studio shakeup
Massively and NCsoft have had the chance to touch base several times in the last week or so, and we wanted to be sure to put it all together in one place. If you're a fan of NCsoft's games, or just a fan of the genre, you undoubtedly have heard about the trials and tribulations player and developer have been experiencing of late. We've got all the details you want about the NCsoft Austin shakeup, the future of Tabula Rasa, the City of Heroes Issue 13 changeup and the microtransaction initiative the NC NorCal team is ramping up. Check out this roundup of NCsoft posts for everything you need on one of the bigs MMO publishers around. City of Heroes Mission Architect moving to next year!So what is replacing Architect? How about an all new level syncing system that will ensure you can always keep up with your buddies? The "Day Jobs" system, with brand-new civilian costumes and a brand-new game mechanic? Rebalancing of powers for PvP? A new merit reward system? David Reid sets the record straight on NC WestDavid Reid, appointed President of Publishing, was kind enough to give up considerable time yesterday for an interview. We discussed Guild Wars and Tabula Rasa, but the main focus was on the NC West announcement. Brian Clayton and Matt Miller on Power and Responsibility in City of HeroesRight now the news is breaking about a major change to the City of Heroes issue release schedule. The Mission Architect feature is being moved to Issue 14. Issue 13, now titled Power and Responsibility, will include a whole lot more cool content and reach the player base that much sooner. NCsoft 'very encouraged' by Guild Wars 2Massively recently got to talk to David Reid, the newly appointed President of Publishing for NC West, about several key NCsoft matters. We took the opportunity to ask David about ArenaNet and Guild Wars, and in particular, what was happening with Guild Wars 2.
Scott "Lum the Mad" Jennings responds to David Reid's NCsoft West comments
Earlier today we featured remarks from David Reid, Vice President for Publishing at the newly forming NCsoft West branch. During our discussion we talked about NCsoft's shift from a publisher of games big and small to one focused solely on AAA big-budget titles. One of the individuals impacted by that decision was well known MMO industry commentator and designer Scott Jennings. Sometimes known as "Lum the Mad", Jennings was part of a team that was dispersed as a result of the creation of NCsoft West, and is now working at John Galt Games (makers of Web Wars).We asked Mr. Jennings to respond to Mr. Reid's comments, as an individual personally impacted by NCsoft's decision to move towards a AAA-only strategy. The designer had quite a few things to say about that decision. "It was my belief, and still is, that it is entirely possible to make smaller, less bloated titles that appeal less to the mass market and more to market niches that are underserved to date, which are easier to design and develop for when you aren't married to a $50 million+ budget."Please click through to read Scott Jennings' full response to the NCsoft decision below the cut.
David Reid sets the record straight on NC West: Part 3
Dungeon RunnersMassively: Now when you're talking about stepping more in the direction of the triple-A titles, that sort of implies that you're getting away from some of the smaller games that you guys have been working on in the past. We know that the Dungeon Runners team is experiencing some changes – can you talk specifically about that game, and what's going to be happening with those folks? David Reid: Even before the NC West announcement, the Dungeon Runners team went through some changes. You're probably referring to the announcement of the reduction we had of about 21 people, several weeks before the announcement of NC West, and Dungeon Runners was part of that. And that was about the fact that – yes, we like Dungeon Runners as a service, but there was a decision not to port that product on to other platforms but to keep the game intact as it is right now on the PC platform. There were a number of other projects that had not been announced that were part of that, and they too were what we'll call lighter and smaller MMO fare, rather than triple-A types of products. Beyond that, Dungeon Runners is as healthy as it's ever been, and is still a vibrant part of the NCsoft portfolio. It's just that it's a different sort of business, and one that is a very successful kind of business overall, it's just not where NCsoft is going to continue investing its product development publishing resources, going forward. Massively: So it would be fair to say that people who enjoy Dungeon Runners shouldn't expect it to go anywhere, but as far as a ton of new content in the future... that would probably not be the direction that the company would be going in for that product? David Reid: I'd clarify that answer just a bit. We were thinking seriously about 'should we bring Dungeon Runners to other, alternative platforms?' And that's what a large amount of that team was working on, and other parts of NCsoft. That decision has been: no, we're not going to. I wouldn't read into that anything about the amount of content that the Dungeon Runners team is going to be making on a regular basis. That will continue to go forward. Console PortsMassively: You mentioned porting to other platforms a couple of times now. We think it's a little more than a year ago at this point that you announced you had that agreement with Sony to think about doing some stuff for the PS3. We haven't really seen that so far. Is that part of this announcement, sort of refocusing NC West on getting some of Ncsoft's more stable games over to the Playstation 3? David Reid: Yeah... I can tell you that we do think console development is an incredibly important part of our future. We do think that, you know, you look at companies like... NCsoft today is a PC only company, and we've seen what's happened with some of these formerly PC only (or predominantly PC) companies who have successfully brought their properties to the console. As a gamer myself, I take a lot of inspiration from what the Tom Clancy series did for UbiSoft, or what Morrowind as a shifted Xbox and PC title did for Bethesda. And we believe that there is a transition like that that NCsoft can have, by taking some of its triple-A properties, and making a great triple-A MMO that works on the console. "As a gamer myself, I take a lot of inspiration from what the Tom Clancy series did for UbiSoft, or what Morrowind as a shifted Xbox and PC title did for Bethesda." So yeah, it is true. You can't do everything all the time, and at some level we recognise that the best prize for NCsoft to be focused on is the triple-A space, and that's on the PC platform and on the console platform. But beyond that, I don't have an announcement that I can make for you at this time! Massively: Not a problem. We just wanted to clarify, because it seems like a natural progression from where you guys are talking about with triple-A titles being your focus. David Reid: We passionately agree. Absolutely. Massively: We really appreciate you guys' time. We know that the readers have been... we guess the best word is confused, because as we said, it sort of came out of nowhere. And we're glad we had the chance to talk! David Reid: You bet! Well, at the end of the day, I hope that for folks who are fans of these giant triple-A games, these big investments in the MMO space with high production quality, there should be no confusion: this is good news for that game. We are going to get back to doing this all day, every day, in a world class way. The lighter side of the business, the free-to-plays and things like that, those are great businesses, but there will be other companies who will be delivering that form. It won't be NCsoft so much, going forward.Read what David Reid had to say on Tabula Rasa and Guild Wars.
David Reid sets the record straight on NC West: Part 2
Massively: Great. So it's actually more towards NC West as sort of a general umbrella under which these specific studios can have their own names, and really carve out their own places within the company? David Reid: Absolutely. Think about it this way: the reorganization and the establishment of NC West is more of an acknowledgement that we as a company can be doing better on the publishing side, in terms of taking these great products that these veteran leadership studios have been able to crank out, and turn them into much bigger phenomena. Right? I mean, we've had great success with City of Heroes, we've had great success with Guild Wars, but we think it can be bigger. What we're not doing is changing the studio organization, other than the studios all now report in to Jeff Strain, who has moved on from the day to day management of ArenaNet – Michael O'Brien is now the studio head there, and is leading the Guild Wars 2 team and other projects there – but Jeff serves as a manager across the studio organization. "... we've had great success with City of Heroes, we've had great success with Guild Wars, but we think it can be bigger." And in parallel, what I get to do for Jeff and those studios is make sure that we do the best we can to deliver triple-A world class launches across our Western territories, and make sure that the marketing, the sales, the customer support – all the elements that great developers look to great publishers to do – are being done here. There's going to be some common platforms and things on the technology side, and a common team that helps serve the business, but nothing really changes on the product development side. Massively: Okay. So you're saying nothing much is going to change on the product development side, but to that end it seems like as part of the NC West conglomeration, there are some folks moving around. There's a little more... we guess you could say refinement in what people are doing in a couple of these different studios. Could you talk generally about what we're seeing, as far as people moving on to new positions, people moving on from Austin to Seattle, those sorts of things? David Reid: I should say one thing: that the decision about moving out NC West in the way we're doing it is, while there's no real change happening at the studio level, there is this ratification of 'NCsoft is going to be in the triple-A MMO space day in and day out', right? We've done some interesting things and had some success with smaller titles, things like Dungeon Runners and Exteel are doing well for us, but the company by and large is the company that Lineage built, and this reorganization is a ratification of getting back to that business and going all-in on the Lineages, Guild Wars, Aions, City of Heroes, Tabula Rasas, Blade and Souls, those sorts of games are what NCsoft is going to be doing day in, day out here in the West. Now, there's a specific question you asked there about how does this impact certain people. We are planning to – we're in the process of now porting the internal people that we would like to relocate to Seattle, and have offered a healthy number of folks a relocation up to Seattle to be part of what is principally a publishing headquarters. And so that's where the bulk of the North American and global leadership for marketing, for sales, for PR, aspects like that, we're thinking will be headquartered in Seattle. Seattle for us was the logical place to go because of the relationship with Seoul, and Seattle just happens to be the place where you get the best number of non-stop flights to Seoul and to our West Coast studios, and to our UK office, out of Seattle versus any other city on the West Coast. And so we are also relocating what is now our Eastern games studio, the folks that are our North American and European producer team, for bringing games like Aion and Lineage and Blade and Soul into the Western market. Those folks are moving to Seattle, as well as the publishing headquarters. Continue to Part 3
David Reid sets the record straight on NC West
Nobody can have failed to notice the announcement of NC West, which broke recently amid rumors of staffing reshuffles in various NCsoft studios. Although some key concerns were addressed very swiftly, many of our readers had plenty of questions to ask, and so did we.David Reid, appointed President of Publishing, was kind enough to give up considerable time yesterday for an interview. We discussed Guild Wars and Tabula Rasa, but the main focus was on the NC West announcement.Massively: We really do appreciate you guys talking to us, because there are a lot of Massively readers who are concerned with this announcement. It was kind of sudden – the NCsoft West thing just kind of snuck up on them, and they're not entirely sure about what's going on. Although you guys have put out a couple of statements so far about it, I think people are still a little unclear on it. David Reid: That's exactly why we are keen to talk with you. Let us be clear about whatever questions your readers have, and set things straight on that. Massively: Great! As a broad question: NC West sounds like (to us, and we want to make sure we have this clear) a conglomeration of the game development assets for NCsoft in the US, into a smaller number of groups than it is right now. Is that the primary goal?
NCsoft 'very encouraged' by Guild Wars 2
Massively recently got to talk to David Reid, the newly appointed President of Publishing for NC West, about several key NCsoft matters. We took the opportunity to ask David about ArenaNet and Guild Wars, and in particular, what was happening with Guild Wars 2. Massively: Something we know the Guild Wars players are very interested in, is with Jeff Strain now moving into his new position within the company, what does that say for ArenaNet and Guild Wars 2, which is obviously a product that ArenaNet's been working on for some time? Guild Wars players are... well, they're dying for you to let them know what's going on with that game. Is this a good sign or a bad sign for the company, and what should this say to Guild Wars players who are looking forward to the sequel with more than bated breath? David Reid: First thing: I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that we, too, have an enormous amount of enthusiasm for Guild Wars 2! And we're very encouraged by what we're seeing.
Tabula Rasa is triple-A and here to stay, says NC West President
Massively recently had the chance to speak with NC West's newly appointed President of Publishing, David Reid. The bulk of the interview concerned the formation of NC West and its implications for NCsoft as a whole, but David also took the time to answer our questions about several of NCsoft's existing triple-A titles, including Tabula Rasa. Massively: Obviously, Tabula Rasa is one of the triple-A titles NCsoft has in its stable. We hope you'll disagree, but we've heard again and again these rumors from players who are talking to people and from people within the industry, that people within the company are looking at Tabula Rasa to perform better than it has in the past, and that if it doesn't, then there might be consequences to that business reality. Can you clarify that for us, or expand upon that?
Austin 'critically important' to NCsoft, says David Reid
With the formation of NC West recently announced, industry professionals and interested gamers alike have been trading rumors concerning the NC Austin studio. Sanya Weathers has a lot to say on the subject, and DJ Jester of w00tradio.net devoted a large chunk of his recent podcast to the events and the gossip surrounding them.Now the President of Publishing for NC West, David Reid, has given an interview with Edge Online. Dismissing speculation as erroneous, he states that 'Austin continues to be a critically important space for NCsoft. The Tabula Rasa team is still there, along with customer service and QA.'
Dungeon Runners is safe, says NCsoft
Despite earlier reports that NCsoft's Dungeon Runners was on its way out, in line with the company's recent plans to concentrate on larger triple-A MMO titles, we now hear that the free-to-play cult favorite is not going anywhere just yet. David Reid, NCsoft's VP of Marketing explained that the company will continue to focus on the larger titles, but Dungeon Runners is indeed safe. He does point out though that it's unlikely that the smaller titles will receive the same support and attention they've always had.Plus, as is the case with so many other MMO publishers and developers these days, NCsoft is expected to pursue its relationship with Sony to bring MMOs to the PS3. "We have a good relationship with Sony and we're excited about it, but there are a lot of good platforms out there," Reid explained.
GameTap now in Canada, other locations planned
GameTap, the subscription, all-you-can-eat game download service is expanding into Canada and other international locations. Beginning today, Canadian gamers can pay $6.95 USD each month and are also eligible for the current $59.40 USD promotion for a full year. GameTap plans a bigger worldwide rollout in 2007, with the first quarter goal to reach three or four other English-speaking markets. After that, the company will focus on additional English markets throughout the year, with non-English localizations prepared for 2008.We assumed that the delay for international release was due to licensing issues -- game distribution licenses vary by region -- however, David Reid, VP of GameTap Marketing told us via email that the wait was unrelated. Reid explained, "We were far more concerned with getting the product right before exporting GameTap out of the U.S. Now, with the original content, robust community features, over 700 games, and GameTap TV programming, we truly feel that we have a strong, comprehensive product ... ."However, the company can still be challenged by landing local publishing rights. Reid acknowledged that the exact lineup of games will be almost the same for all markets, but not every title will be available. He said, "For any games that are not initially included, especially any particularly notable titles, we will be working hard to bring those to our international audience."GameTap also announced its "GameTap Originals" brand, a way to publish new content. We already knew about Sam & Max, released today, and Myst Online: Uru Live, being released in December; both of those games will receive the Originals label.Reid couldn't specify, but said that other developers and titles are on the way. He also said that exclusivity -- Sam & Max will also be offered from Telltale next month -- will be determined on a case-by-case basis.While the news is anti-climactic for American gamers, Canadians -- and eventually other regions -- can now ponder the subscription-versus-ownership question for themselves.See also: Gametap for $5 paid in advance
Joystiq interviews David Reid of GameTap
We recently sat down for a quick meeting with David Reid, VP of Marketing for GameTap, the Turner game-download subscription service. GameTap had previously announced that the episodic releases of Sam & Max and Myst Online: Uru Live would be added to the service as part of its monthly $10 fee; these are the first new games to go alongside GameTap's catalog of re-releases. Reid talked about how GameTap is growing, the sort of gamer it attracts, and how -- as Reid says with his marketing prowess -- the site is shifting from the DVD-model to the HBO-model of new content.
Joystiq interviews GameTap's David Reid
We had a chance to sit down again with David Reid at PAX, and talk with the former director of platform marketing for Xbox and current vice president of marketing for Turner's online subscription gaming platform GameTap about the growing role of episodic gaming and downloadable content, the Sam & Max deal, competition with Xbox Live, and even the Penny Arcade game. Since the interview took place on Friday morning -- after the embargo on the Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness game had already been broken, but before the team made their official announcement -- there wasn't much David could say except that they'd be willing to work with Penny Arcade "in principle." You can download the full interview here (.mov), or watch the video embedded after the break.
