The decision of Ashes of Creation to collaborate with the Russian publisher My.com is not well received by fans of the MMORPG. They fear that Ashes of Creation may pivot to Pay2Win. The CEO has now responded to the concerns.
The MMORPG Ashes of Creation announced this morning that it is teaming up with My.com. The Russian publisher is set to publish the MMORPG in Europe. However, a release date is still a long way off.
Who is My.com? My.com is a subsidiary of Mail.ru, a huge Russian corporation. My.com has previously published games like Allods Online, Armored Warfare, Warface, and Revelation Online. None of these are considered major hits.
Additionally, fans accuse My.com of relying on “Pay2Win,” thus granting unfair advantages when players invest a lot of money in the cash shop.
At Ashes of Creation, the motto has been strictly “against” Pay2Win. This is incredibly important to many MMORPG fans.
What do the fans of Ashes of Creation say? We compile comments from Mein MMO. There, fans or at least observers of Ashes of Creation say:
- Jürgen Fröhlich: “Well, I’m curious to see if this goes well – based on my experiences with my.com, I have doubts”
- C0ug4r: “With this decision, expectations are set so low that in the end, one can only be positively surprised…”
- Deader: “Are you all out of your minds? Really? Omg!!!!”
- Jyux: “RIP Ashes of Creation”
The comments on the international site mmorpg.com are similar. Here, “Pay2Win” concerns are particularly vocal (via mmorpg.com).
How Ashes of Creation responds: The CEO of Ashes of Creation, Steven Sharif, has issued a statement. He says:
Intrepid [Sharif’s company] will retain 100% creative control over Ashes of Creation. Our partners at My.com and Mail.ru share our [negative] stance on Pay2Win, as it is very important to us.
This partnership allows us to focus on the development of the game. We can feel confident about the level of service that My.com and Mail.ru provide to our glorious community.
Dream phase over
What is behind it? The interesting part is that indie MMORPGs in the concept phase are still blank slates onto which players project all their wishes. Indie MMORPGs promise a better future where everything will be different. The studios have no past, no sins committed yet.
This earthly decision for a publisher with a past, about which everyone has an opinion, brings the project back to reality. Especially since Ashes of Creation claims to be an MMORPG that wants to do everything differently, the choice of publisher feels like a rude awakening.
While fans would likely scrutinize any publisher critically – even alternatives like Trion Worlds would have been harshly criticized.
Whether the choice of publisher will truly affect the development of Ashes of Creation remains to be seen.
