Of course, any game that is still running hasn't really failed.
However, it can fail by certain measurements or fail to meet projections or user expectations.
For example, if SWTOR doesn't garner at least 1 or 2 M steady subs it will be deemed a failure by many, even if it ends up the largest MMORPG in the West outside of WOW. (in fact, if it doesn't exceed WOW's sub numbers some will call it a fail)
Usually if a MMO opens up with a lot of servers and ends up consolidating most of them its considered a failure.
If it promises to break new technical ground, like AOC did with DirectX 10 and then renigs on the promise, again its a failure in many eyes.
Failing to launch cleanly is a very common one that so many MMO's keep making.
That is not exactly true. Vanguard is still running and it will never get in all the money it costed to make it.
A failure is a game that during it's life time failed to get in the money it cost for making it and the money it took for running it.
If you just make a buck over that it is not a failure but a buck less and it is.
There are exceptions, if the company made a GFX engine and re uses it alll the games should split the cost it took to make it.
But it all really comes down to money. Earning money = Good. Losing money = Bad. Beer = Good.
Ignorant people label things when they don't have all the facts. The fact is, unless you are a company employee with access to financial statements, budgets, projections, and the like, you don't know what constitutes "failure" for any given title. It amazes me how many people can't grasp such a simple and indisputable concept.
Ignorant people label things when they don't have all the facts. The fact is, unless you are a company employee with access to financial statements, budgets, projections, and the like, you don't know what constitutes "failure" for any given title. It amazes me how many people can't grasp such a simple and indisputable concept.
So if a game shuts down and the company behind it goes bust you cannot call that a failure if you haven't been employed by the company in the first place..... really?
"Come and have a look at what you could have won."
As I've stated before, MMORPG sites are filled with people who think MMORPG"s in general all fail. They just don't want to admit they just don't like MMORPG's anymore.
For me, a game has failed when it can not deliver on the hype the devs and publishers created. This game will be the next (Insert Game here), it will be innovative by including (insert most requested feature at the time here), it will be the best MMORPG of (Insert current year or year of launch here).
This is the first type of failure for me. Age of Conan and Aion are examples of this form of failure.
Failed Endeavor
Next type is actual failure. Game is canceled and shuts down because they couldn't get things working or simply couldn't generate enough interest. APB is an example of this.
The Walking Dead
Then there is the last form of failure imho. It's the same as the second type but.... for w/e reason it's still around and just getting worse and worse. MO is an example of this.
If a game starts out as a cash shop F2P game, it's already an obvious failure. Name one that wasn't. Means game makers already know their game is shit and people wouldn't sub to it.
Also, it's most likely a failure if it loses more than half it's subs in a first year.
On the other hand, a successful game to me is one that people will talk about a lot and compare other games to it many years after it's release. Like everquest, wow, daoc.
Failure is any MMO that isn't making a profit...thats it. It doesn't matter if an mmo has 40 million subs or 40k subs, if it makes a profit, the game is a success.
Any company can fire enough staff, cut development, close servers or similar actions to keep costs lower than revenue and this make profit, but is that really the yardstick we should measure success by?
All companies have targets they expect their games to achieve and on top of that there are potential targets that games should hit.
For example, when a game releases with 30 servers they are expecting to have at least 30 servers worth of players and most likely are being conservative seeing the history of games closing servers. When a game closes a large portion of those servers shortly after release they have failed to meet their goals. While that is not COMPLETE failure, it is a failure and most likley symptomatic of a much larger problem with the game. Aion is a great example as NCSoft did not releasing enough servers at launch to avoid having to close servers shortly after release. Yet a year later they were closing a large number of servers as interst in the game declined.
Changing revenue models is also a sign of failure. Disagree if you like, but that is the trend for troubled games right now.
Then there is failure to achieve potential. The mmo market is so huge right now that what was wildly successful 10 years ago should be an average success right now. When an extreme niche game like eve can attract, retain and grow a playerbase larger than almost every traditional mainstream mmo that shows there is a problem. This isn't a knock on eve, but it targets a pretty small market of players when all things are considered.
I don't thin it is reasonable or rational to expect games to get wow like numbers, but it is easy to see that there is huge interest for a new mmo when we see new releases selling over 1 million copies in their first few months. The market exists and players are pretty desperate to give money to a company that provides a decent mmo to play. Yet time and time again new mmos release to a surge of box sales and then a rapid and steep decline in players. That is an overall failure by most games to even the market out.
Comments
That is not exactly true. Vanguard is still running and it will never get in all the money it costed to make it.
A failure is a game that during it's life time failed to get in the money it cost for making it and the money it took for running it.
If you just make a buck over that it is not a failure but a buck less and it is.
There are exceptions, if the company made a GFX engine and re uses it alll the games should split the cost it took to make it.
But it all really comes down to money. Earning money = Good. Losing money = Bad. Beer = Good.
Ignorant people label things when they don't have all the facts. The fact is, unless you are a company employee with access to financial statements, budgets, projections, and the like, you don't know what constitutes "failure" for any given title. It amazes me how many people can't grasp such a simple and indisputable concept.
So if a game shuts down and the company behind it goes bust you cannot call that a failure if you haven't been employed by the company in the first place..... really?
"Come and have a look at what you could have won."
As I've stated before, MMORPG sites are filled with people who think MMORPG"s in general all fail. They just don't want to admit they just don't like MMORPG's anymore.
Failed to deliver
For me, a game has failed when it can not deliver on the hype the devs and publishers created. This game will be the next (Insert Game here), it will be innovative by including (insert most requested feature at the time here), it will be the best MMORPG of (Insert current year or year of launch here).
This is the first type of failure for me. Age of Conan and Aion are examples of this form of failure.
Failed Endeavor
Next type is actual failure. Game is canceled and shuts down because they couldn't get things working or simply couldn't generate enough interest. APB is an example of this.
The Walking Dead
Then there is the last form of failure imho. It's the same as the second type but.... for w/e reason it's still around and just getting worse and worse. MO is an example of this.
If a game starts out as a cash shop F2P game, it's already an obvious failure. Name one that wasn't. Means game makers already know their game is shit and people wouldn't sub to it.
Also, it's most likely a failure if it loses more than half it's subs in a first year.
On the other hand, a successful game to me is one that people will talk about a lot and compare other games to it many years after it's release. Like everquest, wow, daoc.
Any company can fire enough staff, cut development, close servers or similar actions to keep costs lower than revenue and this make profit, but is that really the yardstick we should measure success by?
All companies have targets they expect their games to achieve and on top of that there are potential targets that games should hit.
For example, when a game releases with 30 servers they are expecting to have at least 30 servers worth of players and most likely are being conservative seeing the history of games closing servers. When a game closes a large portion of those servers shortly after release they have failed to meet their goals. While that is not COMPLETE failure, it is a failure and most likley symptomatic of a much larger problem with the game. Aion is a great example as NCSoft did not releasing enough servers at launch to avoid having to close servers shortly after release. Yet a year later they were closing a large number of servers as interst in the game declined.
Changing revenue models is also a sign of failure. Disagree if you like, but that is the trend for troubled games right now.
Then there is failure to achieve potential. The mmo market is so huge right now that what was wildly successful 10 years ago should be an average success right now. When an extreme niche game like eve can attract, retain and grow a playerbase larger than almost every traditional mainstream mmo that shows there is a problem. This isn't a knock on eve, but it targets a pretty small market of players when all things are considered.
I don't thin it is reasonable or rational to expect games to get wow like numbers, but it is easy to see that there is huge interest for a new mmo when we see new releases selling over 1 million copies in their first few months. The market exists and players are pretty desperate to give money to a company that provides a decent mmo to play. Yet time and time again new mmos release to a surge of box sales and then a rapid and steep decline in players. That is an overall failure by most games to even the market out.