WildStar – the Space Problem Child
The SF MMO WildStar simply does not seem to be getting better. The numbers from the fourth quarter of 2014 were disastrous. One has to say it harshly. The game on our list that wanted to be most like WoW has been hit hard by the WoW expansion. Before the release of WildStar, it was said: “We want the former WoW players“, but Blizzard quickly sucked up the former WildStar players at the release of Wod.
The long-awaited content push with update 4 is a month old, and a free play action has also started. The impact of this will show up in the next quarterly numbers. It was not an initial start, that can already be established now.
Fans are hopeful: The world feels full again… but is it really?
The studio Carbine seems to still have trouble dealing with the new situation, and with the reduced staff and surely reduced budget, regularly delivering new content is a challenge. This also applies to something as mundane as press releases.
While normally every MMO makes sure to at least make some media appearance at least once a week, this is simply not feasible for WildStar anymore. They have been out of step for months. But what is there to report? Update 5 is probably still far away. The plans that were nurtured before the release were already not worth the paper they were written on just two months after launch: Everything was thrown out. But well, that is water under the bridge.
In-game, loyal fans report that there is now more happening. Players are returning disappointed from WoW. A lot has changed in the game, and WildStar is experiencing a second spring.
However, it is hard to believe that a game can recover “on its own” without any major intervention. The impression that more is happening is probably mostly due to the mega servers.
Free2Play or Out?
Even though WildStar has solved some of the biggest “We-are-Hardcore” problems and does not deserve to be a failure of substance: It looks bleak. As to how it is going behind closed doors, one does not really know. One only knows the quarterly numbers, and they paint a really grim picture.
As a “straw”, one could cling to something like: Well, maybe WildStar is coming to China, and NCSoft hopes for a push from this. Or they truly believe the game is so good that they are just firmly convinced of it. But in the MMORPG market, the same applies as everywhere else: Exceptions to iron rules are rare, and miracles even rarer. Even though WildStar is now a better game, players out there have to hear about it first. And by the time they do, it might be too late.
It is probably more realistic that an emergency plan has been worked on internally for a long time already. “Hopefully,” one can only say, “it is called Free2Play.” And that is no longer a guarantee for a guaranteed second spring, as too many games have taken this route in the past. A realistic alternative scenario would probably only be a closure. One does not want to imagine this for such a quality game.
