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Mythica MMORPG Cancelled By Microsoft
Ivan writes "Microsoft announced that it has cancelled Mythica, its internally developed massively multiplayer PC RPG with a Nordic twist. The official website has the formal cancellation announcement, but additionally, 1UP spoke with MS reps who gave a few more details, noting 'the company had two MMORPG projects in development -- Mythica, and an as-yet-unannounced title. Rather than support the development and eventual maintenance of two MMORPGs in an already crowded and highly competitive market, Microsoft cancelled Mythica to make room for its other game.'"
For once I agree with something MS did. There are already too many mediocre MMORPGs floundering around in the marketplace. It's only a matter of time before some of them are forced to close their doors. As I understand it, there are a bunch of them (like Anarchy Online) that are caught between having too few subscribers to make a significant profit, but too many to pull the plug without facing a significant backlash. Aside from pure financial considerations, though, I wonder how much Mythic's lawsuit played into the decision (that's Mythic, developer of Dark Age of Camelot, as opposed to the just-cancelled project Mythica).
In a perfect world that is. While this is true in the long run, you won't see these results any time soon.
This avoids any possibility of continued legal action by the makers of "Dark Age of Camelot".
Not sure what the status of that suit was but with no game MS doesn't have to worry about taking a lawyer from their crack team of legal-ninjas scouring the globe for teenage website operators to sue.
Let me start this off by saying I'm not a big fan of Microsoft in General.
But that game was amazing. I got to play it ( An Alpha or Pre-Beta ) at GenCon, and it was really fun. I can't remember alot of details, so mod me as you will, but from what I remember gameplay was very intuitive for an RPG, let alone a MMORPG, and battles were face-paced and quick, and very heartpounding.
This is coming from a 3 year EverQuest addict. I'm sorry to see this game going.
Edward@Tomato - /home/Edward/ man woman
man: no entry for woman in the manual.
"Qua!?"
Cyan and UBI just cancelled URU live as well. They gave excuses that not enough people signed up for the game to make it viable so they pulled the plug and promised a bunch of expansion packs instead...which sucks IMHO.
It seems like there just aren't enough gamers interested in paying a monthly subscription to make it profitable for game makers. That, and the fact that a lot of willing customers are still stuck with dial up internet access and can't enjoy these games anyways. Maybe when everyone can get easy, inexpensive access to broadband these games will garner more interest. In the meantime, I'll just keep hosting my lan parties.
-Pat
Richard Garriot is current working on an MMORPG called Tabula Rosa under the Korean publisher NCSoft. NCSoft also published Lineage, currently the largest MMORPG in the world with around 4 million subscribers. So it seems as if "Lord British" will get a great chance to show what he can do with some real money.
speaking as someone on the inside, the name lawsuit had nothing to do with the cancellation. Microsoft had resolved to change the name and that process was well under way when the axe fell. If Mythica was going to be killed because of the lawsuit, the decision would have been made weeks ago.
The Sims Online tried to tap some of this market. Despite its failure, the game managed to draw in something of a new crowd; people who weren't big on RPGs or online gaming.
I see two opportunities for MMORPG companies:
1) Market expansion a la Sims Online: attracting more of the mainstream crowd. That doesn't mean writing a game that everyone likes; it means writing a game that has appeal outside the current MMORPG player base.
2) Separation and rationalisation of the graphics engine, game world functions, support, and billing function. As the player base widens, I think it will be increasingly hard to develop a game that has appeal to everyone. Instead, if you have a generic (but evolving) game world engine, a single billing and support entity, and flexible graphics engines, then you will be able to develop and run multiple MMORPGs at a lower cost. You may be able to profitably run a niche-market game for perhaps 20.000 subscribers, if you have 10 such games. That way, you'll be able to tailor each game to the wants of a small group of players, rather than being forced financially to write a game that tries to be everything to everyone.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
All of them, from Brad McQuaid, Raph Koster, to Lord British, they all have egos the size of planets. Reading their posts to various forums and industry sites it is evident that they cannot learn. Well I will be nice, I have seen much from Brad recently, but Raph proves time and time again his disconnect.
Hell even Jessica Mulligan, who wrote Biting the Hand - a sometimes hard look at the gaming industry, turned into what she/he claimed was the problem. After taking the helm of AC2 and now AC1 she seemed to operate in a manner completely opposite of what she was preaching beforehand. Granted turing around the Turbine ship wasn't going to be easy but its moving.
The problem comes down to the fact they hit on success and suddenly feel as if they are the only ones with opinions that matter. Which probably explains why most are fearful of doing another game or if they do it it never lives up to expectation.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Maybe they saw that 400k people signed up for the World of Warcraft beta and realized that there was no point competing with the best! (I know that half of them were Korean but Blizzard games still rule) Probably everyone posting on this forum has wasted countless hours on titles such as Starcraft and Diablo 2...
Correction, it *had* a casino.
Was shut down because the sheer amounts of people were crashing Shadowhaven. That and you could use batwings rather than the tokens.
I was an avid Everquest fan when it was released ... played it for years, grew frustrated with bad interface, bad customer support, bad policy ... and quit. Reactivated later, grew frustrated with bad interface, bad customer support, bad policy, bad design ... and quit. Reactivated later, grew bored with bad content, bad customer support, bad design ... and quit.
From what I remember, McQuaid's "vision" was what stifled EQ development and gameplay for many years.
I've had quite enough of his "vision" to last me a lifetime. Thank you, but no thanks. I was looking forward to Mythica. Too bad.
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." - Napoleon Bonaparte