Latest news with #MMORPGs
Business Mayor
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Marathon is fighting the ultimate uphill battle
Ever since its initial reveal, Marathon has had an air of skepticism surrounding it by the gaming community at large. At first, I mostly attributed this to Bungie's uneven approach to handling its premier live service franchise, Destiny. Between decisions like removing past expansions, vaulting weapons, and more underwhelming updates than positive ones, I could completely understand the hesitancy around the studio attempting to launch and maintain a second live service game. As we've inched closer and closer to its release date, the general outlook seems to have only gotten more dismal. Yes, there have been some very concerning controversies that shouldn't be swept under the rug, but Marathon is suffering from a more systemic problem with live service games as a whole that it will need to overcome to succeed. Live service games are labelled as such because they're meant to be living, evolving experiences that players can keep coming back to for months and years. MMORPGs were the progenitors of this model, but now we've seen it applied to all sorts of genres. Despite its ups and downs, Destiny is still the poster child for what we now call live service games and the model so many have tried to imitate. As with anything successful in the gaming industry, it wasn't long before every big player wanted a piece of that pie. The allure of a perpetual money-maker was too great to resist, despite the reality being much more complicated. Sony was arguably the one to invest the most heavily in the model, at one point boasting over 12 live service games in the works. Between released and cancelled projects, that number has shrunk to possibly two, those being Marathon and Fairgames. While we can't discuss the broken trust between gamers and the current and upcoming slate of live service games without mentioning Concord , the root of the problem goes back much further than that. The first game I recall raising major red flags in the gaming sphere was Anthem. Even before all the behind-the-scenes problems in development were brought to light about the game, fans were leery about a studio known for RPGs seemingly trying to hop onto the latest trend. Anthem launched to a less-than-stellar response and quickly went on life support. It failed to satisfy BioWare's core RPG fans or any potential Destiny converts due to a lack of both a satisfying story or a compelling endgame grind. Before launch, EA shared a roadmap calendar detailing three acts of content, and when nothing beyond Act 1 was released for over a year, BioWare promised a major overhaul of the game, unofficially called Anthem 2.0. All of these plans were cancelled. Firewalk Studios Since then, we've seen more major games make bold claims about months and years of future content, only to pull the rug out from players after a middling — or downright abysmal — launch. Examples include Redfall , Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League , and, of course, Concord. That last one is likely the one that broke the camel's back for most gamers due to how unprecedented it was. This was a PlayStation first-party release with prime showcase placement, an ambitious roadmap of content, an experimental storytelling method, and even a tie-in episode in Secret Level before the game had even come out. That game failing would be bad, but it being scrubbed from existence is catastrophic for gamers' trust in PlayStation and live service as a whole. Not only do we have to be concerned about a game simply breaking all promises of support, but also the entire experience being ripped from us. While I don't think the sins of one game should be borne by another, I can't blame anyone who has adopted a more wait-and-see approach to new live service games. If we can't count on a name as big as PlayStation to make good on its promises, why should we think differently for any other studio? Trust isn't given anymore, it needs to be earned. The impressions I have seen from both major pundits and average players in forums for Marathon feel a lot like what the sentiment was for Concord before launch. The general feelings appear to float around a 'it's pretty fun to play, but there's not enough there right now' type of vibe. Justified or not, that's a death sentence for a game that relies on a large population of people being willing to support the game at its weakest so that it can even attempt to reach its full potential. Gamers have long memories — at least when it comes to being burned. A roadmap and a 'trust us' from the development team just doesn't cut it anymore. Marathon could very well have the potential to be amazing, but it has to start out great to even have a chance to get there. Not enough people will settle for even good, and with so many people perfectly content sitting on the sidelines to see if it fails before it even gets off the ground, it will result in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Bungie shouldn't be let off the hook for blatant plagiarism or the apparent crashing moral at the studio. Rumors swirling about how the unrealistic amount of money it needs to make to be considered a success don't help either, but Marathon 's fate wouldn't look any more certain even if that had never occurred. Until enough live service games earn our trust back, each game is fighting an uphill battle that gets steeper with every failed attempt.
Korea Herald
13-02-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Nexon tops W4t in annual revenue
Nexon, the publisher of popular games such as Dungeon & Fighter and MapleStory, posted record-high annual sales of over 4 trillion won ($2.76 billion) last year, becoming the first Korean gaming company to hit the milestone. The company, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, announced Thursday that its total revenue for the previous year reached 446 billion yen, or 4.01 trillion won, a 5 percent year-over-year increase. Fourth-quarter sales declined by 6 percent to 79.7 billion yen. Despite the overall revenue growth, Nexon reported an operating loss of 1.7 billion yen. The company attributed its record sales to a roughly 10 percent sales increase in its three key franchises — the MMORPGs Dungeon & Fighter and MapleStory as well as the soccer video game FC. Together, these titles, along with revenue from services related to its intellectual properties, accounted for 74 percent of Nexon's total sales. Among them, Dungeon & Fighter saw a 53 percent year-over-year increase in sales, driven by the successful launch of its mobile version in China last May. MapleStory, a long-beloved title in Korea, also saw 24 percent growth as its global reach expanded. Nexon introduced localized content and targeted promotions, focusing on penetrating global markets. While continuing to strengthen those thriving flagship franchises, Nexon plans to broaden its product lineup by leveraging its IPs to achieve sustained growth, tapping into revenue from its core game titles. 'Nexon is enhancing strategic research and investment to expand its business through strong IPs such as Dungeon & Fighter and MapleStory,' said Nexen CEO Lee Jung-hun. 'We will strive to bring greater joy to our users through both existing franchises and new intellectual property-based games.'
Korea Herald
12-02-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
NCSoft in the red for 1st time in 26 years
Korean game developer NCSoft reported its first operating loss last year since 1998, the year after its founding, primarily due to the declining performance of its core game series along with downsizing costs. According to the company's earnings report on Wednesday, its sales revenue dropped 11 percent to 1.6 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in 2024 compared to the previous year. It posted an operating loss of 109.2 billion won, a sharp decline from a 137.3 billion won profit in 2023. NCSoft attributed the loss to one-off expenses, including retirement severance -- reportedly over 100 billion won -- incurred during restructuring, as well as increased marketing costs for new game launches and live operations, which deliver new features, updates, promotions and in-game events. 'Early last year, our headquarters (in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province) had nearly 5,000 employees. Since spinning off four studios, this number has been reduced to 3,100, with 1,000 employees moving to subsidiaries and approximately 800 to 900 leaving through voluntary retirement programs,' said NCSoft Co-CEO Park Byung-moo during a conference call. 'We do not plan to undertake restructuring with specific targets. Instead, our focus will be on continuously reshuffling to enhance efficiency.' By region, sales in Korea reached 1 trillion won, accounting for 65.6 percent, followed by 227.5 billion won in Asia and 134.2 billion won in North America and Europe. In response to public criticism of NCSoft's recent game releases, particularly regarding a lack of high-quality features, Park noted that this year's key strategy is to improve the quality and marketing efficiency of each game launch. This includes eliminating technical glitches and assessing games through extensive communication with users. NCSoft also aims to diversify its portfolio by developing new game series and expanding its publishing business by acquiring new game companies. To penetrate global markets, the company will release new games across various genres, such as MMORPGs, shooters, strategy games and subculture-themed titles. 'Last year, we launched 'Throne and Liberty' targeting the North American and European markets and found a significant number of potential MMORPG users overseas, noticing a lack of supply in this genre,' he said. 'With the game surpassing 7 million users globally, it's evident that introducing more MMORPGs could stimulate market growth.' Park highlighted the role of artificial intelligence in achieving cost-efficient game localization overseas and stated that the company will explore new business opportunities with its AI-driven game data analysis tools.
