The MMO year had its ups and downs. Today we focus on the downs. What disappointed us the most in 2015?
Creating MMOs and MMORPGs is an extremely difficult business. There are often problems, conflicts with players, something gets delayed or just doesn’t work. Today we look back at the year 2015: What were the major disappointments?
Flop 5: Archeage – Sandbox runs into the sand
ArcheAge, it’s hard to believe today, was the big thing in September 2014. New hot sandbox game with PvP, crafting, naval combat, social systems – super exciting!
But by the end of the year, cracks started to show. The hype turned out to be a flash in the pan, and it only smoldered after a series of blunders and issues from the Western publisher Trion Worlds. By the end of 2014, the Korea port only earned mockery and schadenfreude. The errors made were too absurd, and the cash shop was too brazen. Without test servers, development was pushed ahead blindly to strike while the iron was hot: The consequences were disastrous.
In 2015, Trion Worlds said things would be different. They claimed to have understood and planned a fresh start with ArcheAge. The old team of producer and community manager moved on to Devilian – with fresh faces, ArcheAge was supposed to go to work, but even the first actions seemed unfortunate. The new producer wanted to do it “too well”, gifting returning players a dolphin for which others had paid dearly. Then some promises of being lenient with the cash shop could not be held (Korea was causing stress) and somehow the first half of the year went pretty much into the sand.
For the second half of the year, they wanted to strike back with a server merger and important updates, but by then ArcheAge had already run out of steam, and interest in the game had faded.
Overall, ArcheAge has become a dark chapter in the MMO history of the last 2 years due to the many problems with the port, handling the community, and with the cash shop. It’s still a shame because the game itself has so much potential and fans who can overlook all that are still occupied and happy.
It remains a great “What if?” – What if a publisher had patiently and quietly brought “ArcheAge” to market instead of hastily chasing the hype that slipped like sand through their fingers? Currently, people almost only talk about ArcheAge as “We have learned from our mistakes” and as “We don’t want to do it like ArcheAge anymore.” – Also a legacy.
On the next page: A game that we once thought would be THE new MMORPG …
