In October 2018, the German company Gamigo took over the developer and publisher Trion Worlds. Some MMORPGs from that time are still successful and are being further developed, such as ArcheAge. Others, however, are in absolute stagnation, like Rift or Defiance. We take a closer look at the games.
Which MMOs are we talking about? When Gamigo took over the games of the company Trion Worlds in 2018, some feared for the future of their favorite games. Currently, however, most of the company’s games are still running, except for Atlas Reactor.
The innovative turn-based tactical game “Atlas Reactor” never received the attention it deserved according to players. In April 2019, it came to an end.
But what about the other titles like Rift, ArcheAge, Trove, and Defiance 2050? Do they still have a long future ahead? And how is Gamigo doing overall?
Things are looking good for the MMORPG ArcheAge, but not so much for Rift
How is Archeage doing? The MMORPG ArcheAge was able to generate a lot of attention in 2019 with its new version Unchained. The concept was not groundbreaking:
- The game must be purchased once, instead of being available for free as before.
- There is no subscription model and no Pay2Win in the shop.
- To make money, paid battle passes are offered, which only include cosmetic content.
- Otherwise, ArcheAge and Unchained are supposed to be kept at exactly the same level regarding updates and content.
But the concept worked and attracted many new players. It led to long queues, but also to new issues with the battle passes.
Gamigo is, like Trion Worlds before, just the publisher of the game. ArcheAge is still being developed by the Korean company XL Games. This situation often leads to delayed releases compared to the game in Korea and to bugs that are only fixed with delays. Players are also complaining about this, along with support issues, in 2020.
For players on normal servers, there was also Patch 6.0 in 2019, which brought new graphics, a new class specialization, and some other changes.
How is Rift doing? The other MMORPG that Gamigo took over is Rift, which was developed by Trion Worlds itself. The situation here does not look so good:
- The classic servers for Rift were released in 2018 and were a success. However, Gamigo shut them down in 2019.
- The number of servers in Europe was reduced. The last standalone PvP server disappeared.
- A battle pass was introduced.
- The model for new content has changed. Instead of one big update, many small ones are supposed to come.
But the announced updates did not materialize. There are complaints on reddit that there has been no real new content for almost 3 years (via reddit).
The player population does not seem to be at rock bottom yet. At least the MMORPG maintains relatively consistent numbers on Steam (around 240 daily players via Steamcharts), and there are still reports of existing players and raid groups on reddit.
But nothing currently indicates that Rift will receive any major updates.
What do the numbers say? The latest quarterly report from Gamigo confirms the picture that one has of both MMORPGs.
In the overview of revenues from licensed games for the entire year 2019, one can see the significant gap at least in financial returns between the two MMORPGs:
- The Free2Play version of ArcheAge accounts for 15% of the total revenue from licensed games. Unchained itself contributes another 10%. This is remarkable since the release only took place in October 2019.
- Rift, on the other hand, only accounts for 5%, which is a fifth of what ArcheAge brings in.
But the other two games from Trion also land in the top 10 of Gamigo’s licensed games. One surprises negatively, the other positively.
Defiance is at the bottom, Trove surprises positively
Which game from Trion surprises negatively? In 10th place among the licensed games stands Defiance. The MMO shooter received a major update with a new class and new content just before the takeover by Gamigo.
But that didn’t lead to a turnaround. It is reported on reddit that while it gets a bit busier during special events, the servers are basically quite empty. At least the game still receives irregular updates and events.
Defiance at least appears in the quarterly report with 2% of all revenues from licensed games.
Which game from Trion surprises positively? On the positive side is the MMO Trove, which surprised positively in the quarterly report. With a 16% share of the revenue from licensed games, it ranks first if the ArcheAge versions are separated.
In the building game that resembles Minecraft a bit, you can explore dungeons with a character, build houses, and create in the world. Different classes and quirky lovable creatures are available for selection.
In 2019, Trove even received some content updates, including “Into the Deep,” which introduced new world bosses, potions, and improvements (via Trionworlds).
Trove is currently the most successful Trion game on Steam. With 2,035 daily players in the last 30 days, it is quite solid (via Steamcharts).
Gamigo fully in the hands of a shareholder
What else is happening at Gamigo? Gamigo as a company is doing well. In 2019, net revenues were 58.9 million euros, which is 30% higher than the previous year.
The majority of the company’s revenue comes from PC games (80%) and is relatively evenly distributed across the continents of Europe (44%) and America (46%).
The company’s own games Desert Operations Global and Fieste Online are both over 10 years old and were able to improve or at least maintain their position in 2019.
Gamigo has now been fully taken over by the company that already had the most shares. While Media and Games Invest (MGI) as the main investor had held 53% of Gamigo’s shares for a longer period of time, there has now been a near-complete takeover.
In the call for the quarterly report, it was mentioned that the company now owns 99.9% of the shares in Gamigo. They are currently working on obtaining the remaining shares.
What is MGI? The company Media & Games Invest owns various companies, which usually continue to operate under their own names, including:
- Gamigo, Trion Worlds, and Aeria Games (Echo of Soul) in the gaming sector.
- Mediakraft (agency for influencers)
- Various marketing and advertising agencies
Whether this will lead to changes is currently uncertain. The head of MGI, who is also the CEO of Gamigo, emphasizes the “synergies” from which both companies are to benefit. However, synergies were also a keyword during the takeover of Trion Worlds. At that time, Gamasutra reported that 175 out of 200 employees were laid off at Trion Worlds.
In addition to Gamigo, we also looked at other MMOs. Many did not perform ideally in 2019:
