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Mark Kern starts new studio, raises $1M for VR MMO
Ex-Red 5 CEO Mark Kern has been a busy little bee since his departure from Firefall. Kern established a new studio called MEK Entertainment with associates from Red 5 and Blizzard, raising $1 million in seed funding for his next project. While it doesn't have a name, this project is reportedly an MMO designed for the Oculus Rift. It will use retro-style pixel art and depend heavily on "creative contributions" from the game's community. "We can't build it alone," Kern said. "I've been looking for a way to let more gamers and modders realize their own virtual worlds, and I think we found it." Kern cited inspiration from other titles such as the SNES, Terraria, Starbound, and (of course) Minecraft. You can watch a teaser for the MMO after the break.
Choose My Adventure: Firefall is finally a real game
Forgive me, Massively readers, for I have sinned. It has been six months since my last Choose My Adventure. Luckily, absolution is readily available via a 50-pound desktop computer, a mostly stable internet connection powered by one of the most hated companies in the United States, and three or four Hail Proudmoores. In summary: I have stared into the face of an eternal offline purgatory, clenched my teeth, and growled, "Not today." No, today I'm going to play Firefall. And you're coming with me.
Ex-Red 5 staffers blast Mark Kern's 'destructive' behavior
If you wondered what was going on behind the scenes of Red 5 Studios turbulent past year, then a new exposé on Game Front might illuminate you. Anonymous former employees of the Firefall studio allegedly came forward to spill the beans about mass layoffs, questionable decisions, and ex-CEO Mark Kern's erratic behavior. One person said that Kern's constantly shifting decisions caused severe stress on the team: "Months of work would be thrown out simply because he would change his mind, or he would have another 'revolutionary' idea." Another anonymous ex-staffer said that Kern was worse than that: "When he did get involved in the production of the game itself he was simply destructive. He would swoop in one afternoon and berate a series of features several teams had spent months on, declaring they begin again and LISTEN to what he told them to do. He'd be back in a few days to see if it was done. This crushed morale, and forced people into spontaneous, isolated crunch mode. He would shout and scream his perspectives." [Thanks to Dengar for the tip! Part three of the expose is now live as well.]
Mark Kern addresses his departure from Red 5 Studios
Using a mixture of geek culture references, former Red 5 Studios CEO Mark Kern posted a brief statement on MMORPG.com to address his departure from the Firefall studio. Kern referenced the event as his "Kobayashi Maru test" and insinuated that fans shouldn't fully believe what they may have heard. "While there have been rumors about whether I was demoted, terminated, or maybe even corporately executed, I will only say this: Remember that Han always shot first," he wrote. Kern said that he had fond memories of his time with the company and wished the studio success in the future. Mark Kern was let go from Red 5 on December 19th and replaced by acting CEO James Macauley. [Thanks to ArchDevi for the tip!]
Mark Kern removed as CEO of Red 5 Studios [Updated]
According to a recent report from Gamefront, Red 5 Studios CEO Mark Kern has been terminated by the company's board of directors, effective immediately. Vice President of Development James Macauly has apparently sent an email to all employees informing them of the change in leadership, with this latest dismissal coming in the wake of several previous layoffs at the Firefall studio. No official statement has been issued to the public by the company at this time. An anonymous source within the company has also spoken out against Kern in The Escapist, claiming that the CEO was frequently absent and arrived sporadically to hand down arbitrary decisions. How true these statements are cannot be confirmed, although the company does hold a low rating for employee satisfaction overall. We'll have more on the situation if and when a statement is issued regarding Kern's continued employment or lack thereof. [Update: Red 5 Producer Matt DeWald has issued a formal statement on the now-confirmed rumors: "As of Thursday, December 19th, Mark Kern is no longer the Chief Executive Officer of Red 5 Studios. Mark founded Red 5 Studios in 2006 to provide exceptional game entertainment along with a world-class team of developers working on the MMO Shooter, Firefall. Red 5 Vice President of Development, James Macauley, will be moving into the role of acting CEO. The team at Red 5 continues work on Firefall and looks forward to all that we have to offer in 2014."]
Red 5 Studios to suspend Firefall PvP, wants to 'get it right'
Red 5 Studios will suspend the Player vs. Player (PvP) elements of Firefall at a "near future point" to focus their resources on improving the game's Player vs. Environment (PvE) aspects, CEO Mark Kern announced on Thursday. Kern explained that Jetball, Firefall's "last big attempt" at a PvP mode that was designed for eSports, was fun but didn't "attract many of our players (less than 3% PvP in Firefall)." Kern described PvP as an important part of Firefall and said that the studio will "regroup, rethink, and deliver the best PvP system we can." Kern said the studio's most immediate efforts will focus on PvE, as players want "more content, fewer bugs and more polish." Although Kern did not have a date for the suspension of PvP, he said it will eventually return to Firefall "when it's ready."
Firefall disabling PvP for retooling
The current iteration of Firefall's PvP mode is not long for this world. Red 5 Studios CEO Mark Kern wrote a letter to the community stating that the studio is displeased with the current PvP state in the game and wants to "regroup, rethink, and deliver the best PvP system [it] can." Kern said that less than 3% of the player population in the game engages with PvP: "Firefall started with PvP. We have gone through several iterations, and for some time, pursued the controversial e-Sports route. As many of you know, its not working very well." As a result, Red 5 will be shutting down the PvP side of the game in the "near future" to retool and relaunch the system.
Red 5 CEO details Firefall fixes, apologizes for open beta issues
Firefall jet-booted into open beta on July 9th, but the transition ended up being a bit trickier than Red 5 expected. Tutorials broke, crafting crashed, abilities vanished from hotbars, and logins were jammed. CEO Mark Kern offered a letter to Firefall players today apologizing for the problems encountered and detailing all the fixes the team has put in place. According to Kern, login errors are resolved, server capacity is raised in all regions, instances are stabilized, tutorials are un-stuck, and calldown menus function again. Additionally, dropships are cruising along the correct flightpaths and the game's crafting and customization menus are smoother, faster, and more responsive. Kern conceded that Firefall isn't perfect (or even finished), but wants players to know that he and his team are working on it: Please accept our apologies for the rocky start, and while we are not past all of it yet, things have improved tremendously and we are working on resolving the remaining issues. Meanwhile, please join us for a series of new content and features that are rolling out regularly. It's been an incredible experience and only made possible by you, the community. Thank you and see you in Firefall. Red 5 has an open beta Firefall tournament scheduled to start this Sunday, August 4th.
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!]
Community Blog Topic: Is leveling too easy?
Recently Mark Kern, former Blizzard developer, claimed that World of Warcraft and MMOs in general are too easy. He said that the journey is too quick and therefore people are only enjoying the endgame content. Is he right? There is no disputing the fact that leveling is quick and easy in WoW right now. Players can run random dungeons one right after the other and get from 15 to endgame rather quickly. Questing is more streamlined as well. And there are many other ways to get experience, such as pet battles and archaeology. Add to all of this the heirloom and experience buffs and you can zip from beginning to end without seeing much of the in-between. But the heirlooms aren't mandatory and neither is running dungeons. Is the speed and ease of leveling in the eye of the beholder?
Former WoW developer Mark Kern wonders if WoW is too easy
Mark Kern, who left Blizzard way back in 2005 to found Red 5 Studios, is working on a new free to play, sci-fi MMO called Firefall -- and has some less than flattering things to say about the game WoW has become. His top complaint: that MMOs are now too easy. "When was the last time you died in a starter zone?" Kern muses. "Sometimes I look at WoW and think 'what have we done?' I think I know. I think we killed a genre." The easier content, he argues, means both developers and players focus less on the content in the middle of the game and more on racing to get to the end game -- and by rushing through the game from level 1 to level 90, you miss out on a lot of the game itself. Of course Kern notes that his upcoming MMO has the mix just right -- and that by focusing on the journey instead of the destination, Firefall is a lot more fun. While we are fans of new games -- and love the art style Firefall has going -- we're less convinced about dying in newbie zones as a gameplay necessity. Time will tell if Kern has the right of things -- Firefall's open beta is starting soon.
Firefall's Kern: 'I look at WoW and think what have we done... We killed a genre'
Firefall head honcho and former World of Warcraft dev Mark Kern asks if MMOs have become too easy in a guest blog at MMORPG.com. It's basically a rhetorical question, since he goes on to outline "the creeping casualness" that defines the genre in 2013. He aims plenty of disparaging remarks at WoW's accessibility formula and its mandate to acquire casual players by streamlining or omitting traditional MMORPG systems. "And it worked. Players came in droves, millions of them," Kern writes. "But at what cost? Sometimes I look at WoW and think 'what have we done?' I think I know. I think we killed a genre." Kern goes on to lament the lack of difficulty inherent in post-WoW MMOs, and naturally he says that Firefall has found just the right balance between accessibility and challenge. He also says that the game's crafting system is "one of the deepest and most complex of any MMO, having more in common with the well-loved crafting system of the original Star Wars Galaxies than the simplified crafting systems of current MMOs."
PAX East 2013: Red 5 on Firefall's new gaming TV channel
Red 5 Studios' MMOFPS Firefall is probably familiar to the Massively family, but it presentation Friday at PAX East was a chance to get a look behind the curtain at how far it's come and how far it has to go during testing. CEO Mark Kern and Lead Game Designer Scott Youngblood presented a little history of the game's development so far, with a look to the future. But if that's not enough to get you to gear up and plant a Thumper, maybe their announcement about a brand-new video channel devoted to everything and anything involving gaming will catch your interest.%Gallery-183638%
The Firing Line: On Firefall forum censorship
The Massively tip line is a curious creature. It's cantankerous, unpredictable, and just as likely to bite your leg as it is to rub itself against your shins and let loose with a rumble of contentment. Despite the low signal-to-noise ratio, we do get useful info from our tipsters, often in the form of breaking news, obscure and interesting tidbits, and ideas for further coverage. This week's Firing Line falls under that last category, as we received word from one tipster that something is rotten in the state of Firefall.
Firefall hits 500k member milestone, reveals system requirements
Red 5 Studios has announced today that its MMO-ish shooter Firefall has reached the milestone of 500,000 registered members just after its first exclusive beta test. Red 5 CEO Mark Kern comments on the improvements the team is making to the game following that first beta test: "We're treating Firefall as a service, which means it's critical that we're continually adding value and fun for players. Having a large and growing community lets us know that we're on the right track. But more importantly, their feedback helps us stay on the right track." The studio also released the game's official system requirements, which you'll find after the cut. [Source: Red 5 Studios press release]
Red 5 Studios CEO denounces consoles and publishers
"Who needs publishers any more? I certainly don't. I couldn't care less about them at this stage," said Red 5 Studios CEO Mark Kern. In a candid interview with Eurogamer, Kern ripped into both consoles and publisher-led models as relics on their way out the door. Kern said that the pressure that publishers put on studios are death to the industry, resulting in either "an indie game or... a massive AAA, IP-backed sequel with derivative gameplay." He thinks that there's no middle ground, and it disturbs him how many studios fire staff right after a game launches. Instead, the man behind Firefall believes that the free-to-play model puts the power back in the hands of the developers who then can concentrate on making games without having to kowtow to the publishers and distributors. "Look at Riot Games and League of Legends. They have more users than World of Warcraft does. That's crazy. And they don't have a publisher," Kern said. Citing the expense and sluggish reaction of console development, Kern also predicts that mobile and PC gaming are on their way to take over the field. "Something has to change," he concludes. "Consoles, I believe, are dead."
The Firing Line: Controller wars edition
Welcome back to The Firing Line, shooter fans. Some interesting stuff went down this week, much of it related to DUST 514. Even if you're not partial to what some have dubbed "the controller wars," there's still plenty of online shooter news for you to peruse after the cut. Join me on the other side for a glimpse of Hawken, Firefall, and my PlanetSide character!
You (yes, you) can expand Firefall's gameworld
Red 5 Studios is making a little marketing push for Firefall, and the first salvo takes the form of a new dev diary video starring CEO Mark Kern. If you're not familiar with the game, this clip is a great place to start. Kern explains how Firefall is really two titles in one, with the first game being a ginormous open world featuring loads of PvE content. The second game is centered around Firefall's e-sport components, which include ranked leaderboard matches ranging from 5-on-5 to 15-on-15. Kern also mentions the game's unique take on beta and launch. In basic terms, Red 5 implements feature sets, collects beta feedback, and iterates on down the line (as opposed to presenting a finished product for mass beta testing). This staged approach will also apply to the game's launch, and Kern says the game will be rolled out "organically" much like Google's Gmail service. Finally, content expansion in Firefall will be player-driven. Cross-server cooperation will be necessary to craft MRU units that will expand the playable area from 10 square miles to an entire globe. Kern also touches on the trendy games-as-a-service mandate, and he says that as long as players are around to support Firefall, Red 5 will be around to generate new content. Watch the full video after the break.
Firefall beta shutting down to protest SOPA
Gamers opposed to the controversial new SOPA legislation are somewhat limited in terms of voicing their displeasure. Game companies have a bit more visibility, and Red 5 Studios is making the most of it. On January 18th, the company will temporarily shut down the beta for its highly anticipated Firefall MMO shooter as a form of protest. The lights will remain off for 24 hours, and Red 5 CEO Mark Kern has some strong words for the bill and those who support it. "We are extremely disappointed in this misguided legislation. We are also ashamed of the ESA for supporting a bill which is clearly not in the best interests of gamers or the game industry," he told ShackNews. Kern went on to say that Red 5 has canceled its plans to attend this year's E3 "unless ESA reverses their stance."
Crytek team lead Ury Zhilinsky joins Red 5 Studios
Red 5 Studios announced today that former Crytek lead, Ury Zhilinsky, has been hired by the studio as Senior Graphics Programmer. Ury brings over 10 years of industry experience to the Firefall developer and has worked on projects such as Crysis 2 and the ever-impressive CryENGINE3. Of the addition, Red 5 CEO Mark Kern said, "Ury's skill and experience make him an asset that any team would be happy to have, but it's his development philosophy that makes him a fit for the 'tribe'." Things seem to be looking up for Firefall, but we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out.
