LOTRO moves to an indie-studio, Daybreak publishes

Volgore

From the official forums:

"The game teams responsible for The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) and Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) are now moving from Turbine to Standing Stone Games, a newly formed indie game studio. In addition, we’ve partnered with Daybreak Games to provide global publishing services."


https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?649784-Standing-Stone-Games-A-message-from-Rob-Ciccolini&p=7676699#post7676699

Archlyte

Hmm I wonder what this portends

Buccaneer

At least it is keeping with tradition. SOE where MMO's go to die.


Poor SOE/Daybreak, they're the MMO equivalent to the elephant graveyard.

Sovrath

So Turbine broke away from Warner Brothers and is using Daybreak to publish?

And renamed themselves.

Archlyte

Sovrath said:

So Turbine broke away from Warner Brothers and is using Daybreak to publish?

And renamed themselves.

Oh is it just the same team in a new building?

Sovrath

Archlyte said:

Sovrath said:

So Turbine broke away from Warner Brothers and is using Daybreak to publish?

And renamed themselves.

Oh is it just the same team in a new building?

Well they say they are still working on the games. Who knows if they actually moved.

" ... staffed by people who have been working on DDO and LOTRO for many years. The teams remain very much committed to both games and are thrilled to continue development and operations of these games as an independent studio."

Kyleran

Archlyte said:

Hmm I wonder what this portends

Like a rusting old automobile, Turbine is being stripped for it's salvageable parts for sell off.

Sovrath

oooo

What is happening to Turbine?

Turbine will no longer be involved in the development of LOTRO and DDO. They will continue on the development of their products.

https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?649786-Standing-Stone-Games-Transition-FAQ

So I guess the teams within Turbine have left.

oh, and this:

What does this mean for licensing of the Dungeons & Dragons and Lord of the Rings IPs?

We’ve updated our licensing agreements without issue and will continue that relationship.

Does this mean the games are shutting down?

No! On the contrary, we are extremely excited by this transition into an independent studio, and we can't wait to work on the game long into the future.

DreadTooth

LOTRO players: Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I mainly played to sit in populated areas and force people to listen to Metallica midi files on my various old-timey instruments. If this means the game might go somewhere, I might try it again

Sovrath

DreadTooth said:

LOTRO players: Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I mainly played to sit in populated areas and force people to listen to Metallica midi files on my various old-timey instruments. If this means the game might go somewhere, I might try it again

Honestly? As a long time Lord of the Rings player I think it could be good. A fresh start without the Turbine upper management perhaps?

Po_gg

Sovrath said:

So Turbine broke away from Warner Brothers and is using Daybreak to publish?

And renamed themselves.

More like the opposite of what Cryptic did when broke up with Ncsoft, they ditch the name but keep the game, at least based on the FAQ. Most of them leaving, continue under a new name, taking the games and all with themselves. Turbine will remain and probably as they said earlier, will develop mobile games.

It was quite a surprise news. Will be interesting to see how it will turn out on the long run...
edit: oh, I see you already found the FAQ

Archlyte

I think DDO and LOTRO were both games that have made some good contributions but have fallen short in some important areas imo. 

-DDO should have been built for World of Greyhawk, should have had more open world, and should have given more interface options with the world.

-LOTRO needed to have the character models redone and the artist responsible thrown to wolves. The weird PvP model was also a low point.  

Halibrand

They're still the same team, in the same building, and this transition has been in the works for a lot of months now.  The most important thing to note, I think, is in the FAQ where it says that both the IP licenses for DDO and LotRO have been updated without problems.

Basically, Turbine split in two: mobile games (which Turbine kept) and MMOs (which became Standing Stone Games).  No staff changes are happening at this time, all the staff changes in regard to this move happened earlier in the year.  It actually seems pretty promising.

And Yule festival starts today, in LotRO!

DreadTooth

Sovrath said:

What does this mean for licensing of the Dungeons & Dragons and Lord of the Rings IPs?

We’ve updated our licensing agreements without issue and will continue that relationship.

So, they own the game but are accepting payment from someone else who also has to pay the cost of operating the game? Sneaky.

Turbine and I... I dunno. After DDO went from so much promise with the "It's D&D!" and "You can dodge attacks!" to so much disgust with "It's got linear crappy walled skinny levels!" and "You can't dodge attacks!", I just... I just can't.

So, I'm happy to see LOTRO escape their grasp. Although, I am curious if they simply own the IP and claim rent, or if there are stipulations of what can and can't be done with the game by the new developers (same team of people, I get it).

Lithuanian

Both happy and very cautious.
First - Turbine website still lists Lotro, DDO as their games.
Second:what would happen with Turbine points? Disappear?
Third: Turbine failed to listen to players. Update 19.2 caused uproar even amonsgt fanboys - yet absolutekly nobody was listened to. Like - "I am boss, hence you are fool".  Last updates were a just a pure failure. End game is not raiding, but collecting flowers for the sake of flowers, with RNG programmed to work like crazy person.
Now, despite all feedback - RNG is worse. Wellcome to new update, folks.
What happens now? Continuing "we are always right and you are worthless" style? Moving to pure p2p? Moving to forced fellowship content?

I am cautious. Changes in mmo only rarely end well.  it could mean we see the end of Lotro. Excited team, new challenges blah blah blah - standard PR jargon. What hide beneath "excited" phrases, only God and developers know. None would tell the truth.

SpottyGekko

Will this "newly formed indie studio" have the financial muscle to renew the LOTRO license when it comes up for renewal next year ? It can't be more than a few months away...

Or is this divorce a calculated move to shield the Turbine brand from any negative fallout if LOTRO closes down in 6 months ?

I guess they can always launch a "Save LOTRO" Kickstarter campaign.

Ozmodan

Well the Lotro server statuses have been up , but the client refuses to accept any logins.  So their transition has some glitches.

Hopefully the game will continue to be accessible to us.

Oops, I take that back, it is now patching....

I never did understand why Warner Bros bothered purchasing Turbine to start with.  I have not see any new games come out of Turbine.

I am curious of the arrangement the new studio has with Warner Bros.  Usually you would expect some kind of buyout.  If that were the case you have to wonder about the ability of the new studio to pay such.... 

CrazKanuk

That's crazy! So DBG is maybe going to take a shot at being a game company? Not just a game liquidator? 

Po_gg

Lithuanian said:

Second:what would happen with Turbine points? Disappear?

It will stay, according to the FAQ. What is more concerning, the absense of MC mentioning, which is (I agree ) on one hand like cancer, but also is deeply integrated now into the game. Maybe it will be gone?

logicbomb82

Bring on Asheron's Call 3!

Po_gg

AC is never mentioned, some speculates it will stay with Turbine... which means no AC3.

Myrdynn

AC is dead as can be, 

praying for AC3

Sovrath

SpottyGekko said:

Will this "newly formed indie studio" have the financial muscle to renew the LOTRO license when it comes up for renewal next year ? It can't be more than a few months away...

Or is this divorce a calculated move to shield the Turbine brand from any negative fallout if LOTRO closes down in 6 months ?

I guess they can always launch a "Save LOTRO" Kickstarter campaign.

Well, they said they renewed the licenses.

What does this mean for licensing of the Dungeons & Dragons and Lord of the Rings IPs?

We’ve updated our licensing agreements without issue and will continue that relationship.

Filbur

Is this april fool's day?

How the (once) mighty have fallen

Lithuanian

Question is, why should Studio B honour free stuff Studio A was giving away? Promises are just empty worrds. Mithril coins not mentioned, any willingness to listen to player never mentioned, any strategy about game's direction not mentioned.
We are kept with just empty words.

SpottyGekko

CrazKanuk said:

That's crazy! So DBG is maybe going to take a shot at being a game company? Not just a game liquidator? 

No, DBG are MMO janitors.

They make sure the lights stay on in all the old MMO's...