As others have noted this is _not_ the number of ingame accounts, it is not even the number of website accounts specifically for STO. From the original press release on the subject :
Highly Anticipated MMO for PC Releases with Over 1 Million Cryptic Accounts Created New York, NY (February 2, 2010) – Atari, SA, one of the world’s most recognized videogame publishers, and acclaimed developer Cryptic Studios™, are proud to announce that the bold new PC MMO, Star Trek Online, is available today in North America and throughout the week in worldwide territories. Already, over 1 million Star Trek fans have created accounts at the official websites.
Yes it is, when you consider that the Cryptic forum account names are universal; even if someone never visited the STO website, their CO forum account would still be counted since the account handles are universal across their games and are the login names for their games.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
I am sure it will suffer liike all mmo's at thd 30 day mark, but I see the game keeping a healthy niche for some time, you don't have to have 8 million subs to be a profit making game, most companies, say 300k is a good money maker, as wow is not the norm as far a subs more like an anomoly in the gaming world... I see a good 5+ year STO run.. Then again, I could be drunk..
Originally posted by wgc01 most companies say 300k is a good money maker
There was a time (not that long ago, really) when 300,000 subs got you bragging rights as the Third Biggest MMO in the world. That MMO was Star Wars Galaxies, and it held that crown for almost 2 years (right through and well after the NGE...). It was surpassed by EQII, and still held 200,000+ for quite a long time.
So, if you're holding STO up to the WoW or Final Fantasy bar, yeah, everything's a 'failure', but when you hold it up to more reasonable long-term player retention standards (EQ, EQII, CoX, Lineage, Lineage II, FFXI, DAOC, etc.) a half-million is a runaway success, and a quarter-million is more than enough to keep the lights on.
I mean, let's be real here... STO won't 'kill' WoW, but would you say that it's likely have more success than A Tale In The Desert or World War II Online or Anarchy Online?
FWIW, those three all keep the lights on, month after month after month, with less than 20,000 subscribers.
I entirely expect the subs to drop off on March 2nd, to what extent I cannot be sure. But the game is steadily improving, stability is less of an issue and the interface for you character before you log in is much better. Still, with the number of STO naysayers predicting that it would crash and burn in its initial outing will probably predict even greater doom and gloom when the free month ends,so I will tarry off to the STO forums and see what they're saying about it over there.
Champions online was a joke and cryptic didn't gain talent overnight.. STO is a boring boring joke of a game... yes there are those people who fall for the fresh new spark of a just released MMO - same as always... takes them much longer to see passed the game they have built up in their mind but they realize it all the same
I was trying to figure out a witty way of making fun of this press release while being able to point out that I think its pretty irresponsible for MMORPG.com to reporting "spin" as news (at least not without pointing out the spin factor). In the end all I could come up with is:
"MMORPG.com, on of the world’s most recognized MMO information sites, has officially surpassed 1,166,357 fan accounts on its main site. This makes MMORPG.com's unplanned and totally not going to ever be made MMO 10% more badass than Star Trek Online who actually has a game and four decades worth of IP to draw from."
Sub numbers are what should be followed, not "accounts" which could be 90% non-subscribers.
I tried the late open beta, it was painfully horrid ruiniation of Star Trek. It should have been something decent with politics, exploration, scientific discovery, diplomacy, open space, clean air...etc
But what is it?
Pretty Uniforms, a character creator that allows you to look like a complete mongo, an instanced mess...
Oh well, guess I'm old and too intellegent :P :P
unfortunately IF they did have those sort of systems/missions/mechanics people would only complain that its boring and it sucks, and it takes to long to do Diplomatic type missions and such. Think of how much people in many MMOs hate/dislike escort and or gathering/running around talking to npcs quest/missions. I think it would have been cool to have those features in. Still a great and fun game imo. and you cant really make a seemless universe/space iz big, the loading does not bother me at all, it almost no diff than what travel time would be in many of the fantasy mmos that are out there.
Considering they launched with only one complete faction,( Klingon being primarily pvp) we shall see. If they don't follow up and deliver a two faction game as promised, I suspect the attention span of many players will wane.
Well I have played PC games and MMO's for a very long time I would tell how many but it would tell my age. I played the Open Beta and Head start of STO and they really had capacity problems. However since the official release it has been much much better. I suspect they had contractual agreements with a data center that didn't give them more capacity until the 2nd' they also say they are adding more this weekend. Right now with most folks who play any game have a very short attention span. In fact many have quit reading by this point in my 2 cents worth.
I think this will not fail because. Now open your minds for this answer set back and relax and reflect on my words.
Star Trek Fans will keep this thing alive. I do agree with several posts that cryptic must listen to its player base and fix repair or replace what needs to be. But to just think about how many fans there are that just want to play a game about Star Trek will keep them in business a long time.
As the article stated about a mmo being a marathon, true enough there. Look at other MMO's example Lotro tons of people hated it when it first came out but those who stuck with it got to see a mmo change and change change. It is a great game now tons of content and a bunch was free and there still giving away content updates about 4 updates a year are free and 1 expansion a year that you have to pay for. That is an update every 3 months for free. From what I have read STO and Cryptic have free content coming as soon as next month.
With all that said. I really like STO this is the first MMO I have played that doesn't make me want to rush to end game to get the biggest and best. Yea I look forward to it but it’s fun right out of the box killing klingons flying a star ship having an away team. It’s not killing wolves and boar and other small critters to level up. I think if folks will streatch that attention span and let them get settled in. We are on a continuing mission to boldly go where cryptic hopes millions upon millions of paid subscribers want to go.
Originally posted by Ozmodan Yay for one million suckers. Watch the population dwindle once people understand how unfinished the game is.
This is Atari you are dealing with now people, only a challenged person expects to get their monies worth on anything they put their name on.
A person signing up to a forum for a game that interests them is a sucker? Umm...okaaay.
Yes the population will go down as a result of their launch woes...but I would bet within the first year they'll gain back at least half of what they lose after the first month solely because at it's base it is a great game.
Atari's the publisher...they definitely pushed it out the door early...not letting Cryptic actually finish the game first. I believe that Cryptic is a solid company. They know they have dug themselves in a hole...and they will work themselves out.
They developed a great game...and it is unfinished...but what is there to start with is an excellent game. They just need to flesh it out more. They certainly have source content to work from, so coming up with that isn't as much of an issue like it is with most MMOs.
Yeah I'm a bit of a fanboy when it comes to the game. I'm a fan of Cryptic...and I've loved Star Trek most of my life. The lifetime sub for me was a no-brainer. There are plenty like me as well...which will keep Cryptic going for a while. I'm taking my time...letting them work out the launch issues while I play Mass Effect 2. In a month or so when the irate 30 dayers leave I'll hop back in and it should be a very smooth experience.
I tried the late open beta, it was painfully horrid ruiniation of Star Trek. It should have been something decent with politics, exploration, scientific discovery, diplomacy, open space, clean air...etc
But what is it?
Pretty Uniforms, a character creator that allows you to look like a complete mongo, an instanced mess...
So yeah, I won't be subbing for another month. Way too many bugs and game play is repetitive, more so than most. As seems to be par for the course, it was released about 6 months too early just like Champions was. Right now, it's a just a paid beta. Major, annoying bugs remain. There is the framework of a decent space combat engine here, begging to be mated with a good game but I don't think that that will ever happen. Cryptic is too focused on mediocrity. Just enough to get by is their slogan apparently.
The heavily instanced layout of the game helps not one bit. There is a complete lack of any sense of community because the player base is so fragmented by all the instancing. It's a stupid way to design a virtual world architecture, it defeats the very nature of what an MMO should be by it's very nature. Find a good fleet, because that's the only community you will get. Oh, and not more than 50 of you could ever gather in one place because of instancing limits.
I feel about this the same way I felt about DDO. Another great IP pissed away on a weak effort.
Comments
.../... That's clear.
Yes it is, when you consider that the Cryptic forum account names are universal; even if someone never visited the STO website, their CO forum account would still be counted since the account handles are universal across their games and are the login names for their games.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
Ask them how many subscriptions they have and see how long it takes them to say "we don't publish subscription numbers."
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
I am sure it will suffer liike all mmo's at thd 30 day mark, but I see the game keeping a healthy niche for some time, you don't have to have 8 million subs to be a profit making game, most companies, say 300k is a good money maker, as wow is not the norm as far a subs more like an anomoly in the gaming world... I see a good 5+ year STO run.. Then again, I could be drunk..
That MMO was Star Wars Galaxies, and it held that crown for almost 2 years (right through and well after the NGE...). It was surpassed by EQII, and still held 200,000+ for quite a long time.
So, if you're holding STO up to the WoW or Final Fantasy bar, yeah, everything's a 'failure', but when you hold it up to more reasonable long-term player retention standards (EQ, EQII, CoX, Lineage, Lineage II, FFXI, DAOC, etc.) a half-million is a runaway success, and a quarter-million is more than enough to keep the lights on.
I mean, let's be real here...
STO won't 'kill' WoW, but would you say that it's likely have more success than A Tale In The Desert or World War II Online or Anarchy Online?
FWIW, those three all keep the lights on, month after month after month, with less than 20,000 subscribers.
I entirely expect the subs to drop off on March 2nd, to what extent I cannot be sure. But the game is steadily improving, stability is less of an issue and the interface for you character before you log in is much better. Still, with the number of STO naysayers predicting that it would crash and burn in its initial outing will probably predict even greater doom and gloom when the free month ends,so I will tarry off to the STO forums and see what they're saying about it over there.
Champions online was a joke and cryptic didn't gain talent overnight.. STO is a boring boring joke of a game... yes there are those people who fall for the fresh new spark of a just released MMO - same as always... takes them much longer to see passed the game they have built up in their mind but they realize it all the same
I was trying to figure out a witty way of making fun of this press release while being able to point out that I think its pretty irresponsible for MMORPG.com to reporting "spin" as news (at least not without pointing out the spin factor). In the end all I could come up with is:
"MMORPG.com, on of the world’s most recognized MMO information sites, has officially surpassed 1,166,357 fan accounts on its main site. This makes MMORPG.com's unplanned and totally not going to ever be made MMO 10% more badass than Star Trek Online who actually has a game and four decades worth of IP to draw from."
Sub numbers are what should be followed, not "accounts" which could be 90% non-subscribers.
I belive Warhammer never even hit the million mark at/around launch
unfortunately IF they did have those sort of systems/missions/mechanics people would only complain that its boring and it sucks, and it takes to long to do Diplomatic type missions and such. Think of how much people in many MMOs hate/dislike escort and or gathering/running around talking to npcs quest/missions. I think it would have been cool to have those features in. Still a great and fun game imo. and you cant really make a seemless universe/space iz big, the loading does not bother me at all, it almost no diff than what travel time would be in many of the fantasy mmos that are out there.
I knew those bashers and haters of this game are just a bunch of trollers...
by the way OP i dunno if u know it but whatever if is a sprint of marathon as long as the income is higher than expenses they be fine...
Considering they launched with only one complete faction,( Klingon being primarily pvp) we shall see. If they don't follow up and deliver a two faction game as promised, I suspect the attention span of many players will wane.
Give it a month or two. More than half of those accounts will be inactive by then.
Lotro claimed 4 million CHARACTERS had been created, not subscriptions. I'll agree it's a stupid thing to PR, just like 1 million "accounts".
Alltern8 Blog | Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic | Cryptic Studios - A Pre Post-Mortem | Klingon Preview, STO's Monster Play
One word (or acronym rather): WAR
1.3+ million copies sold, down to around 100k subs.
My gaming blog
they will not be "sitting happy" in 2-3 months time that's for sure!
My 2 cents.
Well I have played PC games and MMO's for a very long time I would tell how many but it would tell my age. I played the Open Beta and Head start of STO and they really had capacity problems. However since the official release it has been much much better. I suspect they had contractual agreements with a data center that didn't give them more capacity until the 2nd' they also say they are adding more this weekend. Right now with most folks who play any game have a very short attention span. In fact many have quit reading by this point in my 2 cents worth.
I think this will not fail because. Now open your minds for this answer set back and relax and reflect on my words.
Star Trek Fans will keep this thing alive. I do agree with several posts that cryptic must listen to its player base and fix repair or replace what needs to be. But to just think about how many fans there are that just want to play a game about Star Trek will keep them in business a long time.
As the article stated about a mmo being a marathon, true enough there. Look at other MMO's example Lotro tons of people hated it when it first came out but those who stuck with it got to see a mmo change and change change. It is a great game now tons of content and a bunch was free and there still giving away content updates about 4 updates a year are free and 1 expansion a year that you have to pay for. That is an update every 3 months for free. From what I have read STO and Cryptic have free content coming as soon as next month.
With all that said. I really like STO this is the first MMO I have played that doesn't make me want to rush to end game to get the biggest and best. Yea I look forward to it but it’s fun right out of the box killing klingons flying a star ship having an away team. It’s not killing wolves and boar and other small critters to level up. I think if folks will streatch that attention span and let them get settled in. We are on a continuing mission to boldly go where cryptic hopes millions upon millions of paid subscribers want to go.
Thanks
CapJLP
Yay for one million suckers. Watch the population dwindle once people understand how unfinished the game is.
This is Atari you are dealing with now people, only a challenged person expects to get their monies worth on anything they put their name on.
A person signing up to a forum for a game that interests them is a sucker? Umm...okaaay.
Yes the population will go down as a result of their launch woes...but I would bet within the first year they'll gain back at least half of what they lose after the first month solely because at it's base it is a great game.
Atari's the publisher...they definitely pushed it out the door early...not letting Cryptic actually finish the game first. I believe that Cryptic is a solid company. They know they have dug themselves in a hole...and they will work themselves out.
They developed a great game...and it is unfinished...but what is there to start with is an excellent game. They just need to flesh it out more. They certainly have source content to work from, so coming up with that isn't as much of an issue like it is with most MMOs.
Yeah I'm a bit of a fanboy when it comes to the game. I'm a fan of Cryptic...and I've loved Star Trek most of my life. The lifetime sub for me was a no-brainer. There are plenty like me as well...which will keep Cryptic going for a while. I'm taking my time...letting them work out the launch issues while I play Mass Effect 2. In a month or so when the irate 30 dayers leave I'll hop back in and it should be a very smooth experience.
No exploration? Do tell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx2VQ74SNJI
Were you trying to encourage or discourage people from this game by posting that movie?
Forum posts are not official MMORPG.com news articles.
I get that. It just looks pretty bad when the official news articles are 24 hours late.
...
so if someone does not have the same opinion as you they MUST be a troll, right? *rolleyes*
So yeah, I won't be subbing for another month. Way too many bugs and game play is repetitive, more so than most. As seems to be par for the course, it was released about 6 months too early just like Champions was. Right now, it's a just a paid beta. Major, annoying bugs remain. There is the framework of a decent space combat engine here, begging to be mated with a good game but I don't think that that will ever happen. Cryptic is too focused on mediocrity. Just enough to get by is their slogan apparently.
The heavily instanced layout of the game helps not one bit. There is a complete lack of any sense of community because the player base is so fragmented by all the instancing. It's a stupid way to design a virtual world architecture, it defeats the very nature of what an MMO should be by it's very nature. Find a good fleet, because that's the only community you will get. Oh, and not more than 50 of you could ever gather in one place because of instancing limits.
I feel about this the same way I felt about DDO. Another great IP pissed away on a weak effort.
That about sums it up for me as well.... at least I saved myself the $50.....