Rift reached over one million subscribers right at the start in 2011, which was comparable to the release numbers of Warhammer Online (800,000) or Age of Conan (around one million). However, both had a large franchise behind them. Scott Hartsman, the former head of Trion Worlds, explained how this was achieved and why the MMORPG then failed.
What did Rift do right at launch? One important pillar of the successful release was the marketing campaign. The MMORPG advertised with the slogan “We’re not in Azeroth anymore.” This was mainly aimed at capturing the millions of players who had turned their backs on WoW at that time.
WoW Cataclysm was not well received by many players with its revisions in 2010 and is still considered one of the least popular expansions.
Moreover, the slogan caused active WoW players to be “triggered” and thus talk about Rift. Hartsman recalls:
I was the Executive Producer and studio head, and I still vividly remember the day our marketing director David Reid came to my desk and said, “We have a few ideas for the release campaign. You are going to like some of them and absolutely hate one of them.” […].
The last page of the presentation shouted at us in capital letters: “WE’RE NOT IN AZEROTH ANYMORE!” The first words out of my mouth immediately were: “Oh, damn, no. We can’t do that.” Then a pause.
Then we both looked at each other and simultaneously realized: “We HAVE to do this.” “Do we really want to do this?” “I think we have to do it, right?” “Yes. We have to.”
He emphasized that at a time before influencers and only with magazines and game boxes, you needed a big bang to stand out. And that was exactly that slogan.
Hartsman also explained that he received an email from a former colleague who worked on WoW, which simply stated “Really?”.
Rift was one of the big WoW killers that ultimately failed. More on this in the video:
Rift could not maintain the live service as planned
What did the game fail at? The launch of Rift went excellently. Even today, the release is considered one of the most problem-free and relaxed MMORPG launches. With an 84 on Metacritic, it is also among the highest-rated MMORPGs ever.
But after the release, the studio encountered several issues. The head of the game actually wanted to increase the number of employees for Rift to bring live content while also working on an expansion. However, Trion Worlds was simultaneously developing two other AAA MMORPGs that were already behind schedule.
Financial problems then led to the team needing to shrink and a paid expansion had to be rushed to market as quickly as possible.
We were able to conduct the first series of patches very well and extremely reliably. We had even adjusted the game so that many balancing changes and small updates could be made without downtime. That was responsive and important work, but it did not push the major launches forward as planned.
Through our regular updates, we could add content for various segments of players, but they were small adjustments, not major breakthroughs. The regular updates were nowhere near what they should have been.
If we had fulfilled all three points [Good and fun content, stability, regular large updates], RIFT would have remained on the growth path that we all wanted. For that, the team definitely needed to grow and not shrink.
Rift is still around, but a shadow of its former self
What happened next for Rift? About a year after the release, the MMORPG switched from subscription to free-to-play with an optional subscription. Initially, this was praised as very fair, but later it diminished and there were even pay-to-win accusations.
In 2018, the German publisher gamigo acquired the studio Trion Worlds. They then decided to release many smaller patches instead of a few large ones. However, the concept did not work, and 2021 saw no new updates. At the beginning of 2022, gamigo announced an update that fans are still waiting for to this day.
Hartsman is still proud of the game. It is still online 12 years after release and still being talked about. After all, he only came to talk about the release again through an article from the colleagues at MassivelyOP (via Medium.com).
We all know it could have been more, and that each of us would have liked to have the chance to do better. But for what we achieved, we can really be very proud.
However, in 2023, things don’t look good for Rift. Revenues and player numbers are declining, certainly also because there is simply no new content anymore. For me, it belongs to the MMORPGs that won’t last much longer: I predict: These 6 MMOs will die in 2023.
But how do you see Rift? Did you become aware of this MMORPG through this campaign? And are such jabs at WoW good or too “cheeky”?
