True Fantasy Live Online Cancelled

Sad Gamer writes "Well, it seems long-awaited Xbox Live-compatible MMORPG True Fantasy Live Online has been cancelled. Apparently: 'The main reason cited for this action was the inability to deliver the intended experience to users of Microsoft's XBox Live service in Japan...' This leaves a tiny list of titles that left that can help to push XBox Live in Japan. 'Now Japanese XBox Live users only have titles like Halo 2 and Dead or Alive Ultimate to look forward to in the upcoming months.'" GameSpot has a full translation of the brief Microsoft Japan press release regarding this previously discussed, Level 5 created MMO, formerly likely for Western release as well, which notes: "The MMORPG genre, across all platforms, has become an incredibly crowded and competitive marketplace. In response, Microsoft Game Studios has decided to streamline its portfolio, making fewer bets in this genre."

Comments

Filthy Pus-sicles

[Anonymous Coward]

It's about time they cancelled True Fantasy Live. I was on the early testing program and it was very slow, buggy, and didn't have anything going for it over other competitors like There, Inc. Plus, There has recently stopped development of their world as it's just not something that's ready for prime-time. Everybody and their dog is jumping into the MMORPG genre too. After all, why sell one game per year at $60 when you can sell it for $60 plus $10/month? As a result, tons of crappy games saturate the market and turn people off.

I hope you've enjoyed this FROSTY PISS!

Re:Filthy Pus-sicles

[schild]

What are you babbling about? There, Inc. has all but disappeared and they weren't even in the same class. One was going to be a cel-shaded Everquest-esque MMORPG and the other was a social experiment that barely classified as a game but more as a virtual world. People are jumping into the MMO genre because it's new (read: the wave of the future) and there's a lot to be said for player retention in these types of games. Unfortunately very few people know how to make them right. What has happened here is Microsoft has decided to put all their eggs in Brad McQuaid's (and the rest of the Vanguard team's) basket and hoping he can turn out his second Everquest. Most likely this will result in crap of the highest level. But it's their choice. They have the money to toss around on shit like this. That said, I don't know where you get the idea "tons" of MMO's will flood the market. MMORPG's haven't even truly broken into the mainstream yet considering how many gamers there are out there. On top of that they cost an incredible amount of money to produce, execute, and maintain. One day someone will do it right, but until then, it's not oversaturation we have to worry about, it's the deluge of shitty games that we've seen thus far. One last thing, $60 box and $10 a month? You obviously do not play MMO's or games for that matter. Besides the Star Wars Galaxies limited edition box + digital sunglasses, I haven't seen a $60 since Final Fantasy II (IV) came out for the Super Nintendo. As for the monthly price Star Wars, Lineage 2, and City of Heroes has upped the standard to $15 a month. That's $70 more than $10/month per year. That's a hefty freaking difference. Please, don't talk again, ever again.

Re:Filthy Pus-sicles

[schild]

Sigh, forgot html tags. (-1, crappy formatting)

Re:Filthy Pus-sicles

[Anonymous Coward]

List of MMORPGs

May want to check that out before you say we are not being flooded by MMORPGs. Just because most are bad and you never hear about them, doesn't mean they are not there.

Re:Filthy Pus-sicles

[schild]

I have that list bookmarked. Half of them aren't out. Many will die before more are released. Many of them are independent with very little market penetration. You want a list of MMO's that matter?

WoW, EQII, Tabula Rasa, Vanguard, and MxO. The rest are neither here nor there.

The MMOG genre is not one that trifles with small budgets, the benchmark is set high - unfortunately, the gameplay benchmark is set very low.

Re:Filthy Pus-sicles

[Anonymous Coward]

Your last paragraph is the exact reason why many gamers like myself consider MMOGs to be tools of the devil. I'd rather see a company release three excellent single-player games in a one year span for the same budget it would cost to produce one mediocre MMOG (or expansion pack) every 1.5-2 years. But well, what can you expect from a game mechanic that expects other players, which may or may not exist, to be THE main reason to play games which rely on it.

Re:Filthy Pus-sicles

[Anonymous Coward]

There has anything but dissapeared, they got a taste of big government money and decided working for the US military took precidence over There as a consumer world. Now they are looking to license their tech rather than further devolop the world. Also the world is still available for current and even new subscribers just that we aren't going to benefit from specific development for the world.

Re:Filthy Pus-sicles

[NotNormal23224]

Bummer didn't take my logon for my comment before, well anyway i forgot to mention that There's work for the government was featured on Tech TV awhile back.

Re:Filthy Pus-sicles

[MBraynard]

I have that list bookmarked. Half of them aren't out. Many will die before more are released. Many of them are independent with very little market penetration. You want a list of MMO's that matter?

WoW, EQII, Tabula Rasa, Vanguard, and MxO. The rest are neither here nor there.

So you criticize his list because half aren't out yet. And then you list at least three out of five as being ones that matter that aren't out yet either. Weak.

I was considering buying an Xbox

[bear pimp]

I was considering buying an Xbox when this came out. I was really looking forward to it.

Maybe it makes sense, the Japanese xbox market is small, and I've heard from several places that cel shaded games are unpopular in the West. What a shame, I love cel shaded games. Maybe there will be a pc release one day...

Re:I was considering buying an Xbox

[SphericalCrusher]

Yeah. It's quite funny how I own almost every video game console except for the Xbox. I actually was going to purchase one when this game came out, just because it looked so amazing. I may still get it, if Fable turns out to be decent, but I really hate Halo.

Re:I was considering buying an Xbox

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no way on Earth that you're Japanese. I just looked over your posting history, and it simply isn't possible.

There aren't many foreigners living in Japan. Maybe you're a serviceman with too much time on his hands or a military brat.

Re:I was considering buying an Xbox

[WorkEmail]

What's next, will they cancell Fable too? I sure hope not. A lot of people will be greatly dissappointed, they had really been hyping that game for over a year.

Well then.

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess I retract my previous statement from late yesterday.

In its place, I'd like to place a nice memorial wreath and a tasteful sympathy card that reads, "Meh."

Is anyone surprised?

[MC Negro]

The MMORPG genre, across all platforms, has become an incredibly crowded and competitive marketplace. In response, Microsoft Game Studios has decided.

READ:

The MMORPG genre, across all platforms, has become an incredibly crowded and competitive marketplace. In response, Microsoft Game Studios has decided that 'True Fantasy Online' might be too blatant a rip-off of other RPGs from more experienced competition, especially given that the everyone's favorite pseudo-PC has had such great success in the exclusive RPG genre

C'mon, with a name like "True Fantasy Online", you're pretty much begging Japan to laugh at you. I guess this sort of adds insult to injury with regard to acceptance in Japan. But at least our Japanese brethren have an equally anticipated and deep game to play 'til Halo 2 comes and dies on a cross for our sins (or whatever ailment the Xbox evangelists are proclaiming it will heal)

Re:Is anyone surprised?

[Anonymous Coward]

C'mon, with a name like "True Fantasy Online", you're pretty much begging Japan to laugh at you.

Uh, you realize that the developers of this game (Level 5) are Japanese, right?

Re:Is anyone surprised?

[MC Negro]

Uh, you realize that the developers of this game (Level 5) are Japanese, right?

Yes, but developer != to marketing director :-) Microsoft still holds the cards with regard to publishing the game.

Honestly, I think the game would've done alright in the US, simply because the US has a much larger Xbox user-base, many of them craving a decent RPG for their 'box. But in Japan where there are already plenty of great, arguably better RPGs, you'll be stiff to find enthusiasm.

Re:Is anyone surprised?

[Slyght]

There's a good chance that in Japan it would have been called something other than "True Fantasy Online," being the title would probably be in Japanese and all.

Re:Is anyone surprised?

[Lynxara]

I imagine it would have still been called "True Fantasy Online". A remarkably high number of Japanese games have names that are English phrases, and are sometimes even written with roman letters rather than the Japanese phonetic alphabet. Giving your game a title that uses words in a popular foreign language (like English, French, or German) is something that Japanese consumers seem to find stylish.

Re:Is anyone surprised?

[blueskatz]

Yeah, but this game was being made by Level 5, a Japanese company and the creators of the Dark Cloud series.

I for one was excited about this game, and I'm sad to see it go. Oh well, at least Dark Cloud 3 is still in development for PS2.

Re:Is anyone surprised?

[suyashs]

They are also doing the graphics design for Dragon Quest VIII for PS2...

Re:Is anyone surprised?

[Anonymous Coward]

Level 5 is the developer for Dragon Quest VIII. Square-Enix contracted them out and will publish it. The art design, as always, is done by Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball Z fame.

http://www.level5.co.jp/english/products/new/dq8 /i ndex.html

unique features?

[Lord_Dweomer]

You know, in my brief look over of the game, I failed to see any unique features that would make it competitive in the MMORPG market. Perhaps someone can point some out to me.

Seriously, nothing pisses me off more than seeing some new cookie cutter MMORPG come out with zero new features just trying to capitalize on an existing franchise or powerhouse marketing.

Re:unique features?

[shadowcabbit]

Initially what had really impressed me was the graphics engine and the sheer customizability of the characters. It would be difficult to run around the world and see identical carbon copies of tpeople-- at least, that's the impression I got from previews and screen shots. Voice chat would also have been a neat feature for the MMORPG set (AFAIK; I really only play FFXI).

I was sort of looking forward to TFLO, until I sold my Xbox (because nothing good was coming out for it in the near future and I'd played everything I wanted to that was already out). Looks like it doesn't matter much now what else comes out on XB, I probably won't be as interested anymore.

Re:unique features?

[bugbread]

The obvious one is that it's a MMORPG for the XBox, which would make it unique. Since some people prefer to play games on their consoles, for better or worse, this would be a big deal for them.

As for playing TFLO on a PC, I agree with you completely.

Re:unique features?

[Zonk]

The XBox component would have made it unique. I know that I would have liked to try a MMOG via XBox live.

It would also have been the first MMOG to natively and ubiquitously support voicechat.

I think MS has made a mistake in ditching the MMOG market. It may be getting crowded, but the propertie s they were creating had features that set themselves apart from the crowd in interesting ways.

Mythica and TFL would have been cool games. A combined 5 or 6 years of dev time, flushed down the drain because Microsoft got twitchy about the market.

My hope is that MS will try to recoup it's losses by selling the properties to other development companies, but I kind of doubt that will happen.

Re:unique features?

[2nd Post!]

Which is why there isbe FFXI on PS2 and Everquest on PS2, right?

Re:unique features?

[Anonymous Coward]

Which aren't on the XBox, which is why a massmog on the XBox could be a big deal to people with XBoxs.

Re:unique features?

[bugbread]

...There are FFXI and Everquest on PS2 because TFLO would be the first MMORPG on the XBox?

Re:unique features?

[2nd Post!]

But you said:

Since some people prefer to play games on their consoles, for better or worse, this would be a big deal for them.

You didn't say XBoxes, you said consoles.

Re:unique features?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not everybody's console is a PS2, dipshit. Some X-Box owners want to play games on their consoles.

Re:unique features?

[bugbread]

Your semantics > my semantics.

My implication was that since some people prefer to play games on their consoles, and some people only have an XBox, it would be a big deal for them. Obviously, not a big deal for PS2 owners. I should have been more explicit.

Microsoft's really good . . .

[superultra]

. . . at canceling these days. Talk about Japan not having any titles? What does that leave in Microsoft's pocket for the US after Fable and Halo 2? Mechassault 2? Citizen Zero, another MMORPG that has been in development for two years and will most likely get canceled as well? Ooo. My guess is that anyone working for MS right now, either first or second party, has sent out more than a few resumes in the last few weeks and is all but waiting for The Email. Unless they're Bungie and (ironically) Rare.

Which reminds me. Need proof of in house politics at MS? Note that none of Rare's wholly unimpressive games have been canceled. -cough-PeterMoore-cough-.

I hadn't seen True Fantasy firsthand, but I will say that the fact that you didn't have to fight at all seemed rather interesting. It's nothing new, but it seemed to be a focus rather than an afterthought. Fishing sounded cool, is all. And, it was by the team that did Dark Cloud 2, which was excellent. Oh well.

Re:Microsoft's really good . . .

[blueZhift]

You can say that again! But in this particular case, while I'm disappointed, I'm not surprised. And it is probably a good business decision. While I'm sure MS is aching to crack the Japanese market, True Fantasy Online had virtually no chance of success. There's too much strong competition now. Final Fantasy XI Online has been very successful on PC and the PS2 leaving no room for another MMORPG on the console.

Hopefully all of the hard work Level 5 put into the game can be recycled into a decent offline RPG for Japanese XBox users at least. Politics definitely has some part in MS decisions. With respect to the failure of the XBox in Japan, I would say that the biggest problem is that they just haven't made the XBox Japanese enough in that market. It probably isn't easy, but they should at least be able to emulate Sony and Nintendo to get some traction there.

At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if XBox 2 never sees the light of day.

Re:Microsoft's really good . . .

[dafoomie]

What does that leave in Microsoft's pocket for the US after Fable and Halo 2? Mechassault 2?

Halo 2
Fable
Mechassault 2
Doom 3
Jade Empire
Full Spectrum Warrior
Star Wars: Republic Commando
KOTOR 2
Starcraft: Ghost
Sudeki

Xbox has plenty of titles in the pipeline.

If you're going to troll, do it right... It's official; Netcraft confirms: Xbox is dying.

What MMORPGS?!?

[the_skywise]

"In response, Microsoft Game Studios has decided to streamline its portfolio, making fewer bets in this genre."

And those would be... uh... all those... uh... online fantasy titles like...uh...

(Unless, like the EA Sports line, Microsoft is whacking their internal Fantasy RPG's to attract Square-Enix?)

Re:What MMORPGS?!?

[*weasel]

And those would be... uh... all those... uh... online fantasy titles like...uh...
Brad McQuaid & Sigil Studios' Vanguard... for the PC of course.
This, following the cancellation of Mythica, and the sale of Asheron's Call's hosting and administration back to Turbine Entertainment.

My guess is that TFLO was going to get pushed back again - and what's the point of releasing a massmog for the XBox in mid 2005 - when the neXtBox is going to hit at xmas05?

This likely indicates they're going to back off their push to get Japanese adoption for the current XBox. Instead, I expect them to try to launch the neXtBox with a Japanese 'must have' from Level 5. I never quite understood the point in pushing so hard for adoption this late in the generation anyway.

I'd also be surprised if the neXtBox didn't have a massmog title very early in its life.

Re:What MMORPGS?!?

[Ayaress]

what's the point of releasing a massmog for the XBox in mid 2005 - when the neXtBox is going to hit at xmas05?

That's one of those places where backwards compatibility comes into play, if that comes into play with the Xbox successor. The promise for backwards compatibility in the PS1 let a lot of developers continue to pursue projects that would have vanished from late releases otherwise.

Is that an oxymoron ?

[GMC-jimmy]

"True Fantasy Live" as a term has got to be atleast close to some of the other greats, such as "Government Intelligence".

Re:Is that an oxymoron ?

[Lonath]

It's "Military Intelligence". At least use the correct joke in your "Witty and Ironic Slashdot Post".

Re:Is that an oxymoron ?

[GMC-jimmy]

At least use the correct joke in your "Witty and Ironic Slashdot Post".

Excuse me. Everyone is bound to make a mistake at some point. Like you failed to provide an answer.

Well this sucks.

[AzraelKans]

Sometimes events like this remind me that MS actually has no experience in gamedev only in business, fantasy whatever online wasnt such a bad idea simply because there are no other MMORPGs for the xbox.

Of course that game was not going to work in Japan, final fantasy its an institution there and the game its more than a tad similar to it, but thats not all, most of the audience in Japan is tech savy and perfectly capable of using other more mature (although more complex) games like WOW , FFXI or EQ2, the only way to market this game was to offer it to total non gamers who wanted to learn about online playing and MMORPG basics. Its a shame MS didnt saw that and instead tried to xerox copy FFXI to the book.

Well that leaves a HUGE niche for an Xbox live rpg , who would take the call now? bioware? dare I say Blizzard? (hey! I can dream at least). Anyway chances are the answer is "no one" and we will have to wait until xbox2 (xbox-j) arrives. so as stated: this sucks.

[rant]
If you are wondering why no project of Rare has been cancelled, Its simple, MS knows RARE has tons of industry experience and they dont. So they let them have their way even when they dont fully understand what they are doing.
Thats not the case with the rest of their teams (except bungie) since they are oftenly almost as unexperienced as MS.

Sometimes this backfires as proved in "grabbed by the ghoulies" which was mostly a failed gameplay experiment but wait til you see what they did with "conker reloaded" after seing the e3 trailer my confidence in them has been recovered, lets hope it lives up to expectations.
[/rant]

Re:Well this sucks.

[MC Negro]

as proved in "grabbed by the ghoulies" which was mostly a failed gameplay experiment

You evil bastard. How dare you insult the brilliance of a game like "Grabbed by the Ghoulies". It was not a failed experiment. It was a revived one :-P

It's just like P.Diddy said! Microsoft does care about its gamers.

This is sad...

[Anonymous Coward]

The nicest looking game on Xbox, cancelled. Level 5's Dark Cloud 2, as it stands, is my favorite PS2 RPG so far... but, it's possible that Level 5 has been concentrating more on Dragonquest 8, which is guaranteed to be a billion seller. Not to mention, Level 5 is a Japanese developer, and Xbox has sold extremely poorly in Japan (as it deserves to here :D)

In other words...

[Anonymous Coward]

the inability to deliver the intended experience to users of Microsoft's XBox Live service in Japan...

Translation : 'we couldn't figure out how to copy Final Fantasy XI.'

Ouch.

[SuiteSisterMary]

Am I the only person seeing all of these references to Mythica, and TFL or TFLO and thinking 'Myth: The Fallen Lords for Xbox? Sweet!'?

Translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Real translation of Microsoft press release:
"Japan? Ahhh, f*** it."

In the words of Nelson

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha ha!

Well poo

[XellDx]

There goes the sole reason I wanted Xbox live.
Seriously though, this shows if anything how immature in the Industry microsoft actually is. They've been hyping this game for almost 3 years now. I mean, this was a major presentation at last years E3. I won't say that I didn't see something like this coming with TFLO being a complete no show this year, but jesus. To cancel the game when it's so close to being finished?

The reason I say it shows immaturity it becuase this game has a fan base in the US and it hasn't been released yet.So of course its being marketed towards Japan first, the land thats completely over saturated with MMORPG's. It might not be as big as MS wants for a MMORPG, but since Xbox live pretty much only cover shooters and sports games right now, they're limiting the subscriber base to people who only want to play those types of games; Games which are intrinsicly[sic?] better played with other humans who can be made fun of face to face. (Granted, there are some exceptions, but those have only recently started to arise). Back on the point about this being launched in Japan, the Xbox is obviously not doing as well as hoped over there. Hello? Mr. Balmer? Can you pay attention and maybe release the game where you have people buying your system? Thanks.

To show this game for as much has been shown and then throw it away suggests that MS is starting to think about how much money they are really losing. Unless Factor 5 has been lying to us and the game was horribly incomplete, this is a very, very bad message.

There are a number of good XBox titles coming up

[Anonymous Coward]

Forza Motorsport, Republic Commando, Unreal Championship 2, Halo, Burnout, Mechassault 2, and a number of others that made showings at E3.

Live is going to be busy come this Christmas or so.

Troll is fun to toss around

[superultra]

Halo 2 - Check, said that
Fable - Check, also said that
Mechassault 2 - Check, said that
Doom 3 - Not first party
Jade Empire - Check (I did miss this one, granted)
Full Spectrum Warrior - Not first party
Star Wars: Republic Commando - Not first party
KOTOR 2 - Not first party
Starcraft: Ghost - Neither exclusive nor first party
Sudeki - Ummm, probably allowed to live because it was so close to completion

So, again, where are the titles in Microsoft's pocket? And, if you'll check my previous posts, I am not trolling. I am often the paladin of defense for microsoft on games.slashdot. I think that the Xbox Live Arcade almost makes up for this blunder. But they're still making a mistake by thinning out their lineup.

Or maybe I'm still bitter about Psychonauts.

It's funny, it's as if calling a parent poster a troll is the slashdot equivalent of making fun of someone's mom, or calling McFly a chicken. Go check your definition of "troll" before you start slinging it around please. If anything, calling someone a troll is more troll-ish now than posting "BILL GATES ROX."

Re:Troll is fun to toss around

[dafoomie]

You didn't make it very clear that you were referring to first party titles. So, of the titles I mentioned, they'll have Halo 2, Fable, Mechassault 2, Jade Empire, and Sudeki. This is not enough for the next 6 months? In addition to that, they'll have:

Unreal Championship 2 (yes, from Epic, but Microsoft is the publisher)
Forza Motorsport
Conker Live and Reloaded
BC
Kingdom Under Fire
Kameo
Perfect Dark Zero, but god knows when that'll come out.

So, lets say that of the 11 games I mentioned, 4 or 5 will be very good (Halo 2, Fable, Mechassault 2, Jade Empire, BC) 4 will probably be average to somewhat good (Unreal, Conker, Forza Motorsport, Kingdom Under Fire) and 2 might suck (Sudeki, Kameo). Thats really not that bad. In fact, its pretty good. Saying "Ok, they have Halo 2, Fable, Mechassault 2, and Jade Empire coming out soon, but what else do they have?" is like saying "Bill Gates has 80 billion dollars, but what else does he have?" 4 potential blockbusters in 1 holiday season, let alone 3rd party titles, is a ton.

I was looking foreward to True Fantasy Live Online though. But it must not have been very good if they cancelled it. It's true that the MMORPG market is saturated right now, but it would have had no competition on Xbox Live.

I have only one Fantasy:

[butane_bob2003]

Final Fantasy. Which brilliant, creative and original marketing talent came up with the name 'True Fantasy'? Were they looking for a name that said 'cheap knockoff'? Maybe they think the word 'Fantasy' is obligitory?

It's obvious that...

[the_skywise]

Microsoft is trying to get a jump start on the competition by going for the XBox 2. But I'm concerned that they're going to slice off the existing market by not offering backwards compatibility and screwing over the current generation of XBox owners. (Myself included)

Ah yes

[XellDx]

The point is that this is the only -RPG- for xbox live.

As stated above,
racer, shooter:shooter:shooter, racer, shooter

So if you don't like shooter's, have a nice racer.

No, its mature actually

[Anonymous Coward]

They were cancelling a product because they realised it sucked. Arguably it should never have gone so far, but its better this way for consumers. Lucky you, you didn't buy an Xbox and a Live subscription only to play something that everyone who tested it thought was utter rubbish.

Only MS are taking a pummeling on this, and it must be worth it to them to take the punishment.

I amuses me the way random Slashdotters rip into Microsoft for being clueless about business. If you can do better perhaps you should fly over to Redmond in your own private plane, pull out a bankers draft for a dozen or so million and buy the source code.

Re:No, its mature actually

[XellDx]

They were cancelling a product because they realised it sucked

I amuses me the way random Slashdotters rip into Microsoft for being clueless about business

In order. First off, the public was never told that this product -sucked- until they cancelled the game. In fact, the same people who now say that it did not meet thier criteria thought that it was in fact the bee's knee's a few months ago.
Granted, you should never really listen to these people, but we knew that we liked what we saw. That is why the attack was on the -presentation- and how it could affect the perception of MS insofar as to what they're really up to with this.

Secondly, its is very, very hard to not point out the facts when it comes to the Xboxs' performace in Japan. It is not good and should not be treated as 'newcomers folly'. This is a multibillion dollar corporation that bungled a multibillion dollar opportunity.
That is fact and nothing will change it, not blaming the market place, not cancelling games, not realizing 3 years later that 'oops, this might have been a mistake'.