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The Secret World: 200k Sold, Funcom to Shift Focus for the Future

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  • KuppaKuppa Member UncommonPosts: 3,292
    Originally posted by spawn12345
    Its a sad world in mmo's when great ones like TSW dont get any sales and and kiddie mmo's with no soul like WoW and GW2 everyone buys. I think this genre in gaming is dying

    good thing everyone is entitled to their own opinion :)

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  • RawizRawiz Member UncommonPosts: 584
    Originally posted by spawn12345
    Its a sad world in mmo's when great ones like TSW dont get any sales and and kiddie mmo's with no soul like WoW and GW2 everyone buys. I think this genre in gaming is dying

    Naw, I think the time when you can be an ass and lie is dying. That's what Funcom did in the past, now they're reaping it. Expecting major sales after AoC fiasco is their own fault, no one elses. They're suffering, because they chose to ignore clear signs.

    It makes me happy.

    Also calling a game with 8 zones, barely any multiplayer, a buy game+sub+cash shop and less content than games came out with like 5-10 years ago, great, doesn't make TSW anything more than a failed release. TSW is just another kiddie game with more dark theme and more zombies.

  • MvffinsMvffins Member Posts: 6
    QQ I would have been one more customer but my computer doesn't run it well QQ.  Very sad seeing as instead of making the comat animations more smoothly they just upped the graphics so only high end computers run it.  Sometimes smooth animations are more visually appealing than throwing as many little objects as you can on a server, just saying.
  • TeknoBugTeknoBug Member UncommonPosts: 2,156

    Wasn't it AoC or Warhammer Online that sold 900K units at launch, 200K in this day in age is terrible.

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  • GR3NDELGR3NDEL Member UncommonPosts: 112

    Ahh... so once again, I see that 'innovation' isn't actually what so many are screaming for.  Pity.  Sort of like 'traditional family values' - makes a great soundbyte, but when you press people for details... well, it hardly matters at this point.

     

    The numbers are disappointing, that's no lie.  Does it affect my ability to continue playing the game?  No, it does not.  Might it in the future?  Possibly, but that future hasn't arrived yet.  Until then...

     

    I for one will continue playing TSW.  I thoroughly enjoy the game, the lore, the atmosphere, the classless-leveling system...  What about  the combat animation?  Pfft... I don't consider it bad, and is certainly not a deal-breaker.  After all, what does it matter if the pyrotechnics is uber-awesome if I don't even notice it because I've already seen it a million times in the game?  Character customization?   True, I think it's somewht lacking in that regard... but again, it's not a deal-breaker for me.  I think my character is completely acceptable in appearance, and the devs are already preparing to roll out additional customization options.  Plus, there are more options for customizing my character in the store.  I have already purchased a few items, and have been pleased with the results.  Bugs and issues in the game?  That's hardly surprising, but Funcom continues to work at fixing the bugs as best they can.  I'm not worried about that... nor will I make the mistake of comparing a game out for just two months to games that have been out for years - well actually, I think that TSW is awfully polished for a game just out the gate.  I can think of an MMO or three I've played that have been out a lot longer that didn't have the same polish... but that is, of course, my opinion.

     

    As long as TSW's doors are open, I will continue playing it - and I will continue paying for it... both the monthly sub and the store, if that is my desire.  That's my right as a consumer, and I choose to exercise it.  If others don't, then that's fine.  If others choose to actively hate the game, that's their choice (and their blood pressure).  I will simply shrug and continue playing.

     

    Everything else is just white noise.

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  • NetspookNetspook Member UncommonPosts: 1,583

    For me, following the news about the game over the last few months, killed my interest.

    First, we heard about the in-game browser. It wasn't added because it was convenient, it was added because it would be necessary to google for answers to the puzzles. I love puzzles, but when they're intentionally impossible for most to solve without google, then it simply sounds annoying, at best.

    Second, the cash shop. This in addition to a sub? No thanks.

    For me, it doesen't matter how good or bad this game is. A couple details killed my interest completely. Even if they offer trials soon, I'm skipping this one. I suspect more than a few share my opinion about the cash shop, this site alone suggests so. Which is likely a major reason for their low sales.

  • RawizRawiz Member UncommonPosts: 584
    Originally posted by GR3NDELIf others don't, then that's fine.  If others choose to actively hate the game, that's their choice (and their blood pressure).  I will simply shrug and continue playing.

    Funny how I've lost 3kg in weight after Funcom made a statement they're doing poorly, it's actually doing good to me to hate them! I guess I can at least thank them for that!

    Each to their own, more power to you!

  • RawizRawiz Member UncommonPosts: 584
    Originally posted by Netspook
      Second, the cash shop. This in addition to a sub? No thanks.

    For me, it doesen't matter how good or bad this game is. A couple details killed my interest completely. Even if they offer trials soon, I'm skipping this one. I suspect more than a few share my opinion about the cash shop, this site alone suggests so. Which is likely a major reason for their low sales.

    Major problem with Funcom is that they think they're a high-roller, like Blizzard who can get away with a sub+cash shop. They just aren't, though, and they will never be either. Their game has less content than vanilla WoW had, for christ's sake.

    They should've gone with either sub or cash shop, going with both is a suicide as can be seen now.

     

  • GR3NDELGR3NDEL Member UncommonPosts: 112
    Originally posted by Rawiz

    Each to their own, more power to you!

    And to you! :)

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  • NikkitaNikkita Member Posts: 790
    Originally posted by Grotar89
    Originally posted by Piiritus

    Truly sad because now that I have tried GW2 with their story for 12 year olds (probably written by some of that age too) I ike TSW even more. And I'm not bashing GW2 here becaue I'll play that one too as my 2nd MMO at least for a while but TSW is just bloody good.

    Dont worry GW2 will soon be your first MMO once TSW shuts down or gets new content every 6 months.

    And what logic are you using behind TSW closure? when even AOC is thriving to this date which was in even worse condition at launch. Atleast TSW is playable and have proper content for smooth leveling and decent end game.

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  • tharkthark Member UncommonPosts: 1,188

     

    Really sad...Funcom please don't give up..You guys make great games and great MMO's, unfortunatly there has to be some that obviously fails, and in this case it is the only team that really tries to create something diffrent and new..

    Also..

    Sad to see that there is so many clueless people on this forum, people that either use hersay from other clueless people or just doesn't get what TSW is all about , many played a few quests during beta then based it upon that, like the "poor combat" so many has spoken off, there is NOTHING wrong with the combat in TSW, infact it's very good and in conjunction with the skill wheel it's brilliant.

    Funcom has innovated so much in this game, I thought it would become a milestone for how MMO's would look in the future..Naturally the game is not for everyone, but it's still BY FAR the best MMO that has released this year. Now we are stuck with super easy kiddy games .

    Hopefully , they will get back on track. when more "mature" gamers get's their hold on this game ..maybe it will sell itself on heresay,,

    sad..really

  • RawizRawiz Member UncommonPosts: 584
    Originally posted by Nikkita
    Originally posted by Grotar89
    Originally posted by Piiritus

    Truly sad because now that I have tried GW2 with their story for 12 year olds (probably written by some of that age too) I ike TSW even more. And I'm not bashing GW2 here becaue I'll play that one too as my 2nd MMO at least for a while but TSW is just bloody good.

    Dont worry GW2 will soon be your first MMO once TSW shuts down or gets new content every 6 months.

    And what logic are you using behind TSW closure? when even AOC is thriving to this date which was in even worse condition at launch. Atleast TSW is playable and have proper content for smooth leveling and decent end game.

    AoC hasn't been thriving for years man. Sure, it's "cash flow positive" (lovely term to bring out them rainbows), but all that requires is to have like 3-5 people working on the game, a lot of server merging and coming up with a patch once every six months.

    AoC, for sure isn't thriving.

    TSW is what it is, seems it's a small niche game and will remain as one.

  • TheocritusTheocritus Member LegendaryPosts: 10,015
           200k has to be a huge disappointment...It seemed like they put as much into TSW as they did into Conan and this fell way short.....Funcom made alot fo mistakes with TSW, especially getting too greedy right away which turned away more than a few Im sure.....Also took a look at AO today and it was a virtual graveyard also....Dont know how AoC is doing but Im guessing this flop has hurt Funcom badly.
  • NikkitaNikkita Member Posts: 790
    Originally posted by thark

     

    Really sad...Funcom please don't give up..You guys make great games and great MMO's, unfortunatly there has to be some that obviously fails, and in this case it is the only team that really tries to create something diffrent and new..

    Also..

    Sad to see that there is so many clueless people on this forum, people that either use hersay from other clueless people or just doesn't get what TSW is all about , many played a few quests during beta then based it upon that, like the "poor combat" so many has spoken off, there is NOTHING wrong with the combat in TSW, infact it's very good and in conjunction with the skill wheel it's brilliant.

    Funcom has innovated so much in this game, I thought it would become a milestone for how MMO's would look in the future..Naturally the game is not for everyone, but it's still BY FAR the best MMO that has released this year. Now we are stuck with super easy kiddy games .

    Hopefully , they will get back on track. when more "mature" gamers get's their hold on this game ..maybe it will sell itself on heresay,,

    sad..really

    If a game is not made with mas appeal in mind obviously it won't see same number of sales as WOW or GW2. Both are Mcdonald MMOS made to please as many people as possible. It is like a double edged sword. 

    If you make a niche MMO, sales are low, people label it is a failure. If you make a MMO to appease Masses people still call it failure because for them it is like Justin Biber..talentless hack.

    However, TSW has a very good chance to grow but slowly like Eve did. which i remember when i started playing had 25K subscribers.

     

     

    Originally posted by Rawiz
    AoC hasn't been thriving for years man. Sure, it's "cash flow positive" (lovely term to bring out them rainbows), but all that requires is to have like 3-5 people working on the game, a lot of server merging and coming up with a patch once every six months.

    AoC, for sure isn't thriving.

    TSW is what it is, seems it's a small niche game and will remain as one.

    Compared to the state AOC was released in i would say it surely is thriving in its current state with F2P conversion. EVE is a niche too and has been growing steadly over the years. Depends upon FC and how much it is going to support TSW.

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  • thekid1thekid1 Member UncommonPosts: 789
    Originally posted by Nikkita
    Originally posted by thark

     

    Really sad...Funcom please don't give up..You guys make great games and great MMO's, unfortunatly there has to be some that obviously fails, and in this case it is the only team that really tries to create something diffrent and new..

    Also..

    Sad to see that there is so many clueless people on this forum, people that either use hersay from other clueless people or just doesn't get what TSW is all about , many played a few quests during beta then based it upon that, like the "poor combat" so many has spoken off, there is NOTHING wrong with the combat in TSW, infact it's very good and in conjunction with the skill wheel it's brilliant.

    Funcom has innovated so much in this game, I thought it would become a milestone for how MMO's would look in the future..Naturally the game is not for everyone, but it's still BY FAR the best MMO that has released this year. Now we are stuck with super easy kiddy games .

    Hopefully , they will get back on track. when more "mature" gamers get's their hold on this game ..maybe it will sell itself on heresay,,

    sad..really

    If a game is not made with mas appeal in mind obviously it won't see same number of sales as WOW or GW2. Both are Mcdonald MMOS made to please as many people as possible. It is like a double edged sword. 

    If you make a niche MMO, sales are low, people label it is a failure. If you make a MMO to appease Masses people still call it failure because for them it is like Justin Biber..talentless hack.

    However, TSW has a very good chance to grow but slowly like Eve did. which i remember when i started playing had 25K subscribers.

    I thought the Secret world was a quest based game. How are they going to grow slowly if they can't even keep their current subscribers. And with that few players new quests won't be released at a steady pace..

  • GR3NDELGR3NDEL Member UncommonPosts: 112
    Originally posted by Nikkita
    However, TSW has a very good chance to grow but slowly like Eve did. which i remember when i started playing had 25K subscribers.
    Compared to the state AOC was released in i would say it surely is thriving in its current state with F2P conversion. EVE is a niche too and has been growing steadly over the years. Depends upon FC and how much it is going to support TSW.

     

    I agree with both of these points.  I don't see TSW as a mass-market game, and honestly I don't have a problem with that.  Given time and development, however, I don't see why TSW can't rebound and continue to bring in new players.

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  • NikkitaNikkita Member Posts: 790
    Originally posted by thekid1
    I thought the Secret world was a quest based game. How are they going to grow slowly if they can't even keep their current subscribers. And with that few players new quests won't be released at a steady pace..

    TSW is a quest based progression game but it is not all about quests. FC devs have already talked about implementing server wide events in future along with continued monthly updates. There are also plans to improve the PVP. 

    They have a better chance here because in my opinion it is more easy to focus on demands of small community of  niche titles instead of trying to make everyone happy when it come to MMOS like WOW.

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  • tank017tank017 Member Posts: 2,192
    If they make the game F2P-which they have all the essentials already in place-then the game will be fine.i love the world and theme and will continue top play.
  • fenistilfenistil Member Posts: 3,005
    Originally posted by Nikkita
    Originally posted by Grotar89
    Originally posted by Piiritus

    Truly sad because now that I have tried GW2 with their story for 12 year olds (probably written by some of that age too) I ike TSW even more. And I'm not bashing GW2 here becaue I'll play that one too as my 2nd MMO at least for a while but TSW is just bloody good.

    Dont worry GW2 will soon be your first MMO once TSW shuts down or gets new content every 6 months.

    And what logic are you using behind TSW closure? when even AOC is thriving to this date which was in even worse condition at launch. Atleast TSW is playable and have proper content for smooth leveling and decent end game.

    Thriving?

    Dead servers?  People bitching and trolling?  Patches that are breaking up things really bad?  Game bleeding players continuesly?  (even Funcom admit it in their reports- revenue from AoC is declining quarter after quarter ).

    Sure techically it is better than it was at release, but after years it is kinda obvious, no?

    Still currently there is big lag problem. 

     

    So thriving? Please, game is in state of decline AGAIN. 

    F2P gave AoC 'life' for few short months only, now it is similar to pre-f2p all over again.

  • thekid1thekid1 Member UncommonPosts: 789
    Originally posted by Nikkita
    Originally posted by thekid1
    I thought the Secret world was a quest based game. How are they going to grow slowly if they can't even keep their current subscribers. And with that few players new quests won't be released at a steady pace..

    TSW is a quest based progression game but it is not all about quests. FC devs have already talked about implementing server wide events in future along with continued monthly updates. There are also plans to improve the PVP. 

    They have a better chance here because in my opinion it is more easy to focus on demands of small community of  niche titles instead of trying to make everyone happy when it come to MMOS like WOW.

    You must be a very positive person :)

    I thought this forum moved on from potential and judge only what is there now and not maybe/perhaps/promised somewhere in the future. Maybe.

    Especially if the game only sold 200k copies and has questionable subscriber retention. Since it's quest based and once you have done all the quests..

     

  • NikkitaNikkita Member Posts: 790
    Originally posted by thekid1
    Originally posted by Nikkita
    Originally posted by thekid1
    I thought the Secret world was a quest based game. How are they going to grow slowly if they can't even keep their current subscribers. And with that few players new quests won't be released at a steady pace..

    TSW is a quest based progression game but it is not all about quests. FC devs have already talked about implementing server wide events in future along with continued monthly updates. There are also plans to improve the PVP. 

    They have a better chance here because in my opinion it is more easy to focus on demands of small community of  niche titles instead of trying to make everyone happy when it come to MMOS like WOW.

    You must be a very positive person :)

    I thought this forum moved on from potential and judge only what is there now and not maybe/perhaps/promised somewhere in the future. Maybe.

    Especially if the game only sold 200k copies and has questionable subscriber retention. Since it's quest based and once you have done all the quests..

     

    I am not that positive just guessing here in hypothetical situation where FC supports TSW and continues to develop it ;)

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  • BartDaCatBartDaCat Member UncommonPosts: 813

    This is disappointing news, but I'd have to agree with some of the sentiments here;  The Secret World was really aimed at a niche market and it lacked the broad appeal to go toe-to-toe with some higher-revenue generating MMOs.

     

    Add to this the timing of its release was also an obvious pitfall.  From the early buzz I read about the game, I expected them to hold out and try to offer more features before releasing the game.  It's unfortunate that it was slightly rushed out the door to compete with games that had far superior marketing techniques. 

     

    The launch went relatively smooth, but there were some glaring flaws that didn't help TSW make its case early on; flawed quests that hindered progression, and the early issue with the broken chat system was basically anathema to a social-based online game, especially one that lacks a group finding tool and relies on communication between players.  The bugged quests were inconsistently repaired, so they would work on some "dimensions" but not on others. 

     

    This was not encouraging to skeptical potential subscribers.

     

    I guess I'm one of the ones that fit into the TSW niche demographic.  I really like TSW, but I could see how it's not for everyone.

  • fenistilfenistil Member Posts: 3,005

    Quote from Funcom's presentation for Q2 2012 - page 24.

    Source link:

    http://l3cdn.funcom.com/funcomportal/pdf/investor/2012/280812_Funcom_2Q12_presentation.pdf

     

    "Future games from Funcom will be based on more focused, gameplay and player driven games,
    more in line with the developments in todays market. Such games have shorter development time,
    and less upfront investment. Examples are League of Legends, World of Tanks and Minecraft."

     

    For mmorpg genre it is actually GOOD news that Funcom is shifing it's focus to non-mmorpg online lobby games - believing Funcom examples. 

     Mmorpg market is OVERSATURATED and western market is actually BLEEDING players.

     

    Seriously western mmorpg market needs an earthquake.  GW2 will do okay,  almost all other mmorpg's are and will fail.

    ArcheAge have a chance to do okay, since it's main market are in Asia - so even with niche 200-300k subs following in west it will survive and XlGames won't get hurt badly by it since most of their revenue will come from Asia and game have a chance for big succes in Russia.

  • Loke666Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441

    My local store sells both it and GW2 for 60 Euro, and that is a bit expensive for a game with monthly fees.

    Maybe they should have learned from AoC and released it as F2P, maybe they should have taken 30 Euro for it instead but I think they went overboard a bit about the initial investment here.

    Another option would have been releasing it as B2P with a somewhat beefed up cashshop.

    I dont think it is the game in itself that went wrong, but they must have made some mistake, because it should have sold at least twice those numbers. Not that many MMOs are releasing this year and it is rather different and have an interesting world.

  • DaezAsterDaezAster Member UncommonPosts: 788
    Originally posted by BartDaCat

    This is disappointing news, but I'd have to agree with some of the sentiments here;  The Secret World was really aimed at a niche market and it lacked the broad appeal to go toe-to-toe with some higher-revenue generating MMOs.

     

    Add to this the timing of its release was also an obvious pitfall.  From the early buzz I read about the game, I expected them to hold out and try to offer more features before releasing the game.  It's unfortunate that it was slightly rushed out the door to compete with games that had far superior marketing techniques. 

     

    The launch went relatively smooth, but there were some glaring flaws that didn't help TSW make its case early on; flawed quests that hindered progression, and the early issue with the broken chat system was basically anathema to a social-based online game, especially one that lacks a group finding tool and relies on communication between players.  The bugged quests were inconsistently repaired, so they would work on some "dimensions" but not on others. 

     

    This was not encouraging to skeptical potential subscribers.

     

    I guess I'm one of the ones that fit into the TSW niche demographic.  I really like TSW, but I could see how it's not for everyone.

    agreed, not to mention the pretty bad character creator in a genre all about character development. First impressions can make or break you. One of the reasons it didn't do so well is you have to get passed a few not so good things before you find the jewels but some don't go that far before saying screw it and giving up. Look at how many people are judging gw2 on the first ten levels. The appitizer wasn't great (character creator, intro)but the main course was (missions, investigations). For me it's kind of a 50/50 game but it does have some really great ellements that are atleast worth the box price, the sub not so much imo....

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