That might not be true Champion. CBS owns the IP and if subs drop enough CBS might step in to reclaim their reputation.
Ouch, I guess you could be right. Even as a fan of both ST and Cryptic, I couldn't get into STO, so I agree the game needs a lot of work, but I never considered that CBS might pull the plug. It is surprising that CBS agreed to a small potatoes MMO in the first place, not that I would expect them to do TOR, but I am surprised they let the game be made in such a short time on such a low budget. If CBS allowed for those production parameters, it doesn't seem like their reputation was foremost in mind, just the cash, but who knows how suits think.
That might not be true Champion. CBS owns the IP and if subs drop enough CBS might step in to reclaim their reputation.
Ouch, I guess you could be right. Even as a fan of both ST and Cryptic, I couldn't get into STO, so I agree the game needs a lot of work, but I never considered that CBS might pull the plug. It is surprising that CBS agreed to a small potatoes MMO in the first place, not that I would expect them to do TOR, but I am surprised they let the game be made in such a short time on such a low budget. If CBS allowed for those production parameters, it doesn't seem like their reputation was foremost in mind, just the cash, but who knows how suits think.
Yeah that mystifies me to. I dont think it will happen i think they will go F2P before they got that close but it could happen.
well their watching the threds on the mmorpg game sites for gamers complaints and comments as well.
so they just might pull the plug on it and end it all before a year is up.
cause all they wanted any way was the almight Dollar $ !
and plus the sto mmo' is not what every startrek fan exspected of it to be there was nothing good realy in the game to keep gamers to want to play.
even the gamers who paid a years subs for it are now also canceling and getting done with the game.
the gms also nerfed the fed side and their skills and disabled some of their skills cause klingon gamers cried duren pvp on beta.
I lost interest in the game when they nerfed the fed side more and more of their skills.
which was when the new patch came out for first season.
so I complained to the gms and on the game forums too, and nothing happened I also canceled my monthly sub as well.
its not worth the time or money to play this game when the gms ruined it for the biggest fan base out of startrek !
I rather take the $14.95 sub fee I was paying and go to a bar and have a few drinks with my friends and family and dance with a few hot girls, then pay for a nerfed game like sto.
I can play unbalanced games online for free so why would i want to keep paying for one ?
I would not want to keep paying for one when all the gms do is ruin my side of the games fun by nerfing the feds side and their skills for both pvp and pve.
plus there was no warp drive skill in the game to use like in startrek fleet command 3 !
I consider that old game more fun then this new mmorpg startrek online game.
at least on that game no gms nerfed the fed side or their skills or disabled any !
I like a game thats more even and balanced then unbalanced !!!!
when its unbalanced and I tried both sides and i see it ! .... I complain then I leave cause I know they wont fix it cause the gms are to lazzy to do so just like on the first server for old archlord ..
so whats the use of keep playing a game thats no good and no fun any more and only 1 sided ?
there is no logic or common sense to it. !
so i canceled my sub and left I wont even bother to go back even if they paid me $1,000,000.00 USD !!!
I rather go play ace online at least that F2P mmorpg flight game is balanced and free and more fun to play even the pvp loads more fun and thats a older game.
I got over 100 friends that was waiting for sto and had only few of use buy the game and try it out first to test it before the rest of our online game clan did so they wouldnt waste their money.
and ever sence our reveiws and the reveiws they saw on here and other sites.
they all refused to buy the game and try it and pay for it.
its not even worth our game clan time to play it if it became F2P !!!
I don't think STO will die or go F2P any time soon. MMOs have a habit of hanging around even with a tiny subs base, it doesn't take much to keep the servers running and maintain what's there already. Cryptic will need another source of income to support STO though.
As for the IP being picked up by another developer, that never seems to happen. Even Bioware have set SW millenia before the films to avoid the same timeline as SWG (unfortunately). I can't see anyone picking up ST in the same time period as Cryptic, which is a real shame.
I think that probably because of the IP alone that this game will hang around for a while. As it has been mentioned already MMO's regardless of how good they are have a tendency to stick around for quite some time. Just look at what happened to SWG after everything it's gone through, it's still around. That could be just because of it's IP or because they made it more WoW like and have been able to bleed off a few tired of WoW people but it is still there.
Perhaps a better question then would be how long do you think it will be before they cease development on the game, just leaving it to run with a minimum of staff keeping the servers going.
Perhaps a better question then would be how long do you think it will be before they cease development on the game, just leaving it to run with a minimum of staff keeping the servers going.
Well they've said they've got 7 people doing content which seems pretty low numbers given the amount of material in the star trek IP. I guess if all they're doing is writing quest text and recycling art assets ala nebula exploration mission then it's probably adequate.
When they announced what their goals were for sub numbers I thought they said something along the lines that lifetime they were looking for was in the neighborhood of two years.
As far as technical support, Im not sure they have any. The supposrt forums are a joke, just a bunch of players trying to trouble shoot each others problems. I think the last dev post in there was from soon after launch when everyone had the disconnect issue (which still exists with no explanation or resolution). The workaround they gave didn't work and there's been no follow up on the people that are STILL having the same issue as launch. I think at one point ther were blamining people's ISP's which seems like a cop out to me. Let's see my ISP works with every other piece of online software I've ever used except STO. So the problem is with my ISP? Give me a break.
Not going to happen for a very long time. As SWG has proven, a game can be a complete piece of shit yet still hang around because of IP recognition. Though I have to admit, even with the sory state that galaxies is in, it looks wonderous in comparison to STO because you at least have player housing,crafting and vast worlds to explore. Who knows? Maybe cryptic really will add a housing type elemant along with expansion of the planets. But if the monthly subs continue to drop, they'll simply keep it as is and just make it a F2P game for as long as they can.
I say in about 3-4 months they will have run out of the operating capital they received from lifetimers. Anyone in the know has seen the subs drop off like rats fleeing a sinking ship, so they dont have any money coming in off of subs. Discuss.
I say you have no clue what you're talking about, I don't know of any information regarding lifetime subs nor monthly subs and I can attest to seeing games much worse than this lasting much longer than the eight months you seem to be saying this game will last. And while you seem to try to point to logical reasoning for your ideas you ignore fact, I can't think of a legit mmo that released a playable game that didn't last a year and many games I can think of delivered far less than Cryptic did with STO. This posting is as mundane as the rest of the threads trying to predict the demise of a game.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
Not going to happen for a very long time. As SWG has proven, a game can be a complete piece of shit yet still hang around because of IP recognition. Though I have to admit, even with the sory state that galaxies is in, it looks wonderous in comparison to STO because you at least have player housing,crafting and vast worlds to explore. Who knows? Maybe cryptic really will add a housing type elemant along with expansion of the planets. But if the monthly subs continue to drop, they'll simply keep it as is and just make it a F2P game for as long as they can.
I don't think the game will go under any time soon. Looks at the crap SOE pulled with SWG and it's still running. How long did Hellgate London last? Didn't they shut it down as soon as the numbers of months money wise equaled what lifers paid?
SWG had the luxury of being subsidized with the $OE Station Access Pass, in which it is part of the Station Pass game line up. If it were a stand alone game, it would have had the plug pulled a long time ago.
That might not be true Champion. CBS owns the IP and if subs drop enough CBS might step in to reclaim their reputation.
Ouch, I guess you could be right. Even as a fan of both ST and Cryptic, I couldn't get into STO, so I agree the game needs a lot of work, but I never considered that CBS might pull the plug. It is surprising that CBS agreed to a small potatoes MMO in the first place, not that I would expect them to do TOR, but I am surprised they let the game be made in such a short time on such a low budget. If CBS allowed for those production parameters, it doesn't seem like their reputation was foremost in mind, just the cash, but who knows how suits think.
Just a guess but CBS wanted a Trek MMO ASAP to take advantage of the new life Trek 90210 breathed into the franchise. I don't know what their arrangement is with Atari/Cryptic is regarding the licensing fee, but I'm thinking as long as CBS is getting paid, they really don't give a crap that this "MMO" is a laughingstock. Zinc or Emmert said they could "get by" on 50k subs (which they'll be seeing pretty soon IMO), so it doesn't look like there's a sub number threshhold where CBS pulls the plug, unless it is even lower than 50k.
I think this game is an all-time fail, but even I don't think it's going away anytime soon unless Atari files for bankruptcy. CO probably doesn't even have 50k subs, and they haven't gone F2P or closed that down yet...
I say in about 3-4 months they will have run out of the operating capital they received from lifetimers. Anyone in the know has seen the subs drop off like rats fleeing a sinking ship, so they dont have any money coming in off of subs. Discuss.
I must not be "in the know," since I have yet to see a single verifiable source for actual subscription numbers released by Cryptic or Atari. (Grossly misquoted milestones from developer interviews especially excepted.)
Where exactly are you seeing sub numbers upon which to base any speculation? Links and/or references to a reliable source, please.
Well, the game was shite in my opinion, it had the complete feel of being a single player game, it did not have the feel of an online game were you met other players in game at all (apart from when you had to fork out for another months subscription). I had never been as bored in a supposedly online mmo than i was in this one. Many will just pay and play simply because of the 2 words in the game title and these will defend it to their last breath if needed.
For me this game just didnt hit teh mark at all, so i stopped and quit and will not go back. Some here are giving it 3-4 mths i see, but i would probably be more generouse and give it another 11-12mths (it may last a little longer than tabula rasa) but not by much.
I say in about 3-4 months they will have run out of the operating capital they received from lifetimers. Anyone in the know has seen the subs drop off like rats fleeing a sinking ship, so they dont have any money coming in off of subs. Discuss.
I must not be "in the know," since I have yet to see a single verifiable source for actual subscription numbers released by Cryptic or Atari. (Grossly misquoted milestones from developer interviews especially excepted.)
Where exactly are you seeing sub numbers upon which to base any speculation? Links and/or references to a reliable source, please.
Like you allude to, Jack said "over 100k" a couple weeks ago, and I doubt it has gone up. If they had over 200k, they probably would have said so. If they had 180k, they'd probably have said "close to 200k", etc.
Someone on the forums did some math on the Captain tracker on the official website a week or so ago, and there were fewer than 400k total captains, including captains of players that no longer are subscribers. I quit before the end of Feb and I had 3 captains, and 2 of them were listed twice. Very few people only had one, so you can safely assume they sold well under 500k units. The fact there are no official sales numbers should be a hint and a half they aren't proud of them.
Whatever the actual sales were, for there to only be 100k-ish subs in less than two months going live for a Star Trek MMO should tell you all you need to know about that sinking failboat.
Comments
Ouch, I guess you could be right. Even as a fan of both ST and Cryptic, I couldn't get into STO, so I agree the game needs a lot of work, but I never considered that CBS might pull the plug. It is surprising that CBS agreed to a small potatoes MMO in the first place, not that I would expect them to do TOR, but I am surprised they let the game be made in such a short time on such a low budget. If CBS allowed for those production parameters, it doesn't seem like their reputation was foremost in mind, just the cash, but who knows how suits think.
Cryptic is trying a Customer Development approach to MMO creation.
Yeah that mystifies me to. I dont think it will happen i think they will go F2P before they got that close but it could happen.
well their watching the threds on the mmorpg game sites for gamers complaints and comments as well.
so they just might pull the plug on it and end it all before a year is up.
cause all they wanted any way was the almight Dollar $ !
and plus the sto mmo' is not what every startrek fan exspected of it to be there was nothing good realy in the game to keep gamers to want to play.
even the gamers who paid a years subs for it are now also canceling and getting done with the game.
the gms also nerfed the fed side and their skills and disabled some of their skills cause klingon gamers cried duren pvp on beta.
I lost interest in the game when they nerfed the fed side more and more of their skills.
which was when the new patch came out for first season.
so I complained to the gms and on the game forums too, and nothing happened I also canceled my monthly sub as well.
its not worth the time or money to play this game when the gms ruined it for the biggest fan base out of startrek !
I rather take the $14.95 sub fee I was paying and go to a bar and have a few drinks with my friends and family and dance with a few hot girls, then pay for a nerfed game like sto.
I can play unbalanced games online for free so why would i want to keep paying for one ?
I would not want to keep paying for one when all the gms do is ruin my side of the games fun by nerfing the feds side and their skills for both pvp and pve.
plus there was no warp drive skill in the game to use like in startrek fleet command 3 !
I consider that old game more fun then this new mmorpg startrek online game.
at least on that game no gms nerfed the fed side or their skills or disabled any !
I like a game thats more even and balanced then unbalanced !!!!
when its unbalanced and I tried both sides and i see it ! .... I complain then I leave cause I know they wont fix it cause the gms are to lazzy to do so just like on the first server for old archlord ..
so whats the use of keep playing a game thats no good and no fun any more and only 1 sided ?
there is no logic or common sense to it. !
so i canceled my sub and left I wont even bother to go back even if they paid me $1,000,000.00 USD !!!
I rather go play ace online at least that F2P mmorpg flight game is balanced and free and more fun to play even the pvp loads more fun and thats a older game.
I got over 100 friends that was waiting for sto and had only few of use buy the game and try it out first to test it before the rest of our online game clan did so they wouldnt waste their money.
and ever sence our reveiws and the reveiws they saw on here and other sites.
they all refused to buy the game and try it and pay for it.
its not even worth our game clan time to play it if it became F2P !!!
I don't think STO will die or go F2P any time soon. MMOs have a habit of hanging around even with a tiny subs base, it doesn't take much to keep the servers running and maintain what's there already. Cryptic will need another source of income to support STO though.
As for the IP being picked up by another developer, that never seems to happen. Even Bioware have set SW millenia before the films to avoid the same timeline as SWG (unfortunately). I can't see anyone picking up ST in the same time period as Cryptic, which is a real shame.
I think that probably because of the IP alone that this game will hang around for a while. As it has been mentioned already MMO's regardless of how good they are have a tendency to stick around for quite some time. Just look at what happened to SWG after everything it's gone through, it's still around. That could be just because of it's IP or because they made it more WoW like and have been able to bleed off a few tired of WoW people but it is still there.
Perhaps a better question then would be how long do you think it will be before they cease development on the game, just leaving it to run with a minimum of staff keeping the servers going.
Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-pope.
Well they've said they've got 7 people doing content which seems pretty low numbers given the amount of material in the star trek IP. I guess if all they're doing is writing quest text and recycling art assets ala nebula exploration mission then it's probably adequate.
When they announced what their goals were for sub numbers I thought they said something along the lines that lifetime they were looking for was in the neighborhood of two years.
As far as technical support, Im not sure they have any. The supposrt forums are a joke, just a bunch of players trying to trouble shoot each others problems. I think the last dev post in there was from soon after launch when everyone had the disconnect issue (which still exists with no explanation or resolution). The workaround they gave didn't work and there's been no follow up on the people that are STILL having the same issue as launch. I think at one point ther were blamining people's ISP's which seems like a cop out to me. Let's see my ISP works with every other piece of online software I've ever used except STO. So the problem is with my ISP? Give me a break.
This is my Official "I don't give a shit" reply.
And yet, I cared enough to reply to this thread... Man, that's just WACKY, ain't it?!
I make spreadsheets at work - I don't want to make them for the games I play.
Not going to happen for a very long time. As SWG has proven, a game can be a complete piece of shit yet still hang around because of IP recognition. Though I have to admit, even with the sory state that galaxies is in, it looks wonderous in comparison to STO because you at least have player housing,crafting and vast worlds to explore. Who knows? Maybe cryptic really will add a housing type elemant along with expansion of the planets. But if the monthly subs continue to drop, they'll simply keep it as is and just make it a F2P game for as long as they can.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
I say you have no clue what you're talking about, I don't know of any information regarding lifetime subs nor monthly subs and I can attest to seeing games much worse than this lasting much longer than the eight months you seem to be saying this game will last. And while you seem to try to point to logical reasoning for your ideas you ignore fact, I can't think of a legit mmo that released a playable game that didn't last a year and many games I can think of delivered far less than Cryptic did with STO. This posting is as mundane as the rest of the threads trying to predict the demise of a game.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
I concur
SWG had the luxury of being subsidized with the $OE Station Access Pass, in which it is part of the Station Pass game line up. If it were a stand alone game, it would have had the plug pulled a long time ago.
Just a guess but CBS wanted a Trek MMO ASAP to take advantage of the new life Trek 90210 breathed into the franchise. I don't know what their arrangement is with Atari/Cryptic is regarding the licensing fee, but I'm thinking as long as CBS is getting paid, they really don't give a crap that this "MMO" is a laughingstock. Zinc or Emmert said they could "get by" on 50k subs (which they'll be seeing pretty soon IMO), so it doesn't look like there's a sub number threshhold where CBS pulls the plug, unless it is even lower than 50k.
I think this game is an all-time fail, but even I don't think it's going away anytime soon unless Atari files for bankruptcy. CO probably doesn't even have 50k subs, and they haven't gone F2P or closed that down yet...
I must not be "in the know," since I have yet to see a single verifiable source for actual subscription numbers released by Cryptic or Atari. (Grossly misquoted milestones from developer interviews especially excepted.)
Where exactly are you seeing sub numbers upon which to base any speculation? Links and/or references to a reliable source, please.
Well, the game was shite in my opinion, it had the complete feel of being a single player game, it did not have the feel of an online game were you met other players in game at all (apart from when you had to fork out for another months subscription). I had never been as bored in a supposedly online mmo than i was in this one. Many will just pay and play simply because of the 2 words in the game title and these will defend it to their last breath if needed.
For me this game just didnt hit teh mark at all, so i stopped and quit and will not go back. Some here are giving it 3-4 mths i see, but i would probably be more generouse and give it another 11-12mths (it may last a little longer than tabula rasa) but not by much.
Like you allude to, Jack said "over 100k" a couple weeks ago, and I doubt it has gone up. If they had over 200k, they probably would have said so. If they had 180k, they'd probably have said "close to 200k", etc.
Someone on the forums did some math on the Captain tracker on the official website a week or so ago, and there were fewer than 400k total captains, including captains of players that no longer are subscribers. I quit before the end of Feb and I had 3 captains, and 2 of them were listed twice. Very few people only had one, so you can safely assume they sold well under 500k units. The fact there are no official sales numbers should be a hint and a half they aren't proud of them.
Whatever the actual sales were, for there to only be 100k-ish subs in less than two months going live for a Star Trek MMO should tell you all you need to know about that sinking failboat.