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Black Prophecy developer Reakktor Media on its last legs
The future is looking a bit hazy for Black Prophecy developer Reakktor Media, as reports indicate that the studio "has begun the insolvency process" and is scrambling for work in order to keep itself afloat. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Reakktor Media's managing director Kirk Lenke stated that "[the studio is] in a position to accomplish basically anything [that] is played right now, even if we were focused in the recent times on multiplayer mobile gaming," which may indicate an interest in developing games outside of the MMO genre. Lenke also notes that the studio currently has a Diablo-esque sci-fi title in the early development stages. At any rate, we wish the best of luck to the folks at Reakktor Media. Even if things are looking pretty grim, here's to hoping that there's a silver lining in store for the studio.
Black Prophecy wins "Best of Free-to-Play" at Gamescom
Gaming publications Gamestar and GamePro were keeping an interested watch on the happenings at Gamescom last week, and earlier this week they handed out their own round of awards. Gamigo and Reakktor Media received top honors in the free-to-play category for Black Prophecy, beating out several other nominees including Battlestar Galactica Online and Mytheon, another Gamigo game. "We feel quite honored. This award is recognition for all the hard work our team has put in over the past few years," said Kirk Lenke, CEO of Reakktor Media. The full story can be read on Gamestar's site in the original German or an English translation.
Black Prophecy team talks business model, F2P
Reakktor Media's Black Prophecy science fiction MMORPG has been generating a fair amount of fan discussion, and dare we say concern, since announcing a free-to-play business model and a partnership with gamigo last month. In the fourth edition of Reakktor's 'Behind the Scenes' web series on the game, Black Prophecy's Assistant Product Manager Christian 'SnowCrash' Schutt engages gamigo's Patrick Streppel and Reakktor CEO Kirk Lenke in a question and answer session that features community concerns drawn from the official forums. The session delves deep into explanations of the game's business model and also features answers to burning questions regarding a Collector's Edition and post-launch content. "Neglecting to update is the nail in the coffin for any MMOG. We all know that. We've already laid out a roadmap for content patches and add-ons and are starting on its development so players won't have to wait too long for new material," said Lenke. Check out the full session at the official site.
Reakktor Media financial woes resolved, full speed ahead for Black Prophecy
Those following the news surrounding development of sci-fi MMO Black Prophecy from Reakktor Media know there's been a significant hurdle to this title seeing the light of day -- the issue of insolvency. When parent company 10Tacle filed for insolvency, this adversely impacted subsidiary Reakktor Media and threatened continued development of Black Prophecy, which Reakktor addressed in an interview with Massively in April. It was announced today that their restructuring plan has been successful, and that their insolvency plan saved the jobs of all 36 employees at the company. Even better, Black Prophecy is on track for a release next year, according to the press statement released by the HERMANN law firm which oversaw the insolvency proceedings.
Black Prophecy creators reach out to the community
Black Prophecy is a space-based science fiction MMO in development at Reakktor Media in Germany, which we've covered a bit here at Massively. But the fact is that Reakktor may not be a company that many MMO gamers are all that familiar with. The Black Prophecy team has decided to try and remedy this, with a Q&A in their community forums that introduces a bit about CEO Kirk Lenke and development director Simon Bachmann, as well as their approach to the game.Ultimately, the Q&A answers some of the questions that people have about Black Prophecy, both in terms of game mechanics and the business decisions behind getting the title published.
Black Prophecy interview focuses on endgame content
Black Prophecy is one of the new breed of space-based science fiction MMOs on the horizon that will be a noticeable departure from the type of gameplay that EVE Online offers. Specifically, Black Prophecy is by design a more casual game. This is not to say that Black Prophecy won't have high-level or 'endgame' content, but it will be a faster progression to endgame, according to Reakktor Media CEO Kirk Lenke. Kirk was interviewed by GameSNAFU's Sylvester Rozylo and the questions turned to PvP and Black Prophecy's endgame. Kirk said, "Black Prophecy is designed to allow players to achieve major goals in character development without investing excessive amounts of time. So basically it will be possible to reach the endgame content within a few weeks, but you shouldn't be afraid that the fun will run out once you reach the endgame." Kirk added that Reakktor "will pay very close attention to creating a lasting experience that's as attractive as possible wherein the focus will be on intense PvP action for solo, team and clan players." Kirk has plenty more to say on PvP in Black Prophecy, which you can find in his interview at GameSNAFU.%Gallery-46991%%Gallery-51088%
Black Prophecy interview details impact of clan resources on PvP
Fans of sci-fi MMOs looking for something a tad less complex than EVE Online have much to look forward to in the coming months and years, first with the joystick-style game Jumpgate Evolution and, further down the road, with Black Prophecy from Reakktor Media. We came across an interview (in German) with Reakktor Media CEO Kirk Lenke at OnlineWelten titled "Volle Kraft voraus" that might interest gamers hoping to learn more about Black Prophecy. For our non German-speaking readers, that's "full speed ahead" and the interview has been translated into English and posted on the Black Prophecy forums by a community member named Renfield. The OnlineWelten interview hits on much of what Massively covered when we spoke with Black Prophecy's development director, but also looks at clans (guilds) and the advantages that membership can provide for players.%Gallery-46991%
Black Prophecy not playable on console at release says Reakktor CEO Kirk Lenke
One of the sci-fi MMOs we're hearing more about is Black Prophecy from Reakktor Media, a ship-oriented space combat game. Nolvadex from Gamesource recently interviewed Reakktor Media's CEO Kirk Lenke. He gives some basic info about the game's backstory and some of the options available to players, as well as the company's choice to build Black Prophecy on the Gamebryo graphics engine. Lenke states that Reakktor plans to bring a few features to Black Prophecy that should be familiar to Neocron players. He says, "Features that have been successful in Neocron will also be ported to Black Prophecy as much as they fit into the game play and render technically possible, such as the mentioned clan system." Lenke also specifically addresses the fact that Black Prophecy will not be available on console at release: "Originally it was planned to release Black Prophecy for PC and Xbox 360, but the console version has been stopped by our former mother company, 10tacle Studios, in the past. The release of a console version in the near future seems quite unrealistic now as the porting to the Xbox 360 is much more difficult to accomplish as it would have been in the beginning of the development," Lenke says. "Nonetheless a console release of Black Prophecy is not completely ruled out," adds Lenke.
