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Future of the Russian Version of Black Desert Online Hangs in the Balance - MMORPG.com
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Future of the Russian Version of Black Desert Online Hangs in the Balance - MMORPG.com
The Russian version of Black Desert Online hangs in the balance. The official RU BDO forum has a new post from the team that informs players that the contract with Pearl Abyss ends on October 12th and that, while negotiations are still ongoing between GameNet and Pearl Abyss, servers may go offline on that date pending a restart "outside the platform". At this time there is no word on how the discussions between the two companies is going.
Comments
but not the Russian server
It was train wreck from day one (well, to be honest even earlier - there was pre-launch issues with bundles) and now it is probably over.
if that's the case and the pieces of shit at PA want to force the russian publisher to use the global p2w as fuck version (which is their goal according to the last few dev letters. a global united version for the sake of 'easier updates'. lets not kid ourselves, it's for more p2w obviously) and the russians don't want to, that might explain this whole thing.
Problem solved.
yeah that's never going to happen ...
these guys are greedy beyond belief.
greed and incompetence is what made what could have been one of the best mmo into that shitty virtual casino we have here.
not surprising knowing that it's an asian mmo produced by an asian company and these guys are all ok with heavy p2w and gambling in their games. it's part of their 'culture' and it's probably never going to change.
And pray tell, what issue would politicians have with this game? There is nothing illegal going on with Black Desert. The worst Black Desert has going for it is a pay to win cash shop, and expensive prices for cosmetics. These things are not illegal. There are no gambling mechanics in Black Desert Online. When you buy something on Black Desert, you get exactly what you pay for. How you use what you paid for is on you. Gambling mechanics would mean paying for a 'chance' at an item. And before you spout "Well you buy Valk's Cry for a chance at enhancing your weapon", you're not paying to enhance the weapon. You're paying for a Valk's Cry.
Also, I love how everyone is already making assumptions on why the contract hasn't been renewed yet and instantly throwing blame on Pearl Abyss. I am not a fan of Black Desert's practices either, but a lot of you are jumping the gun way too fast here. Making a judgement instantly based on reputation / history is like treating someone like a criminal / felon for having a traffic ticket. All you guys see is a record, so therefore it's true apparently. Y'all should really be logical about this. Reputation / History should only make you cautious, not outright hate something.
That being said, a lot of you fail to understand.. Pearl Abyss is the one that controls these games. Not the Russian Publisher, not Kakao Games. They just publish the game. Pearl Abyss has full creative control over the game. What they say goes in, or what they say isn't allowed, is how the Publishers have to follow. It's always like that for any Asian MMO you see that gets published here in the west. Pearl Abyss is the one that approved how Russia monetized their region.
If you guys actually did some research, you'd come to find that Russia's version of BDO also had a similar priced cash shop with Pay to Win elements and supposedly a premium monthly subscription server where everything on the cash shop was made obtainable through gameplay. So it either pay a monthly fee, or deal with a Free to Play cash shop. Also, if you look into who GameNet actually are, they are a casino based company. The majority of their assets are casinos, slot machines, betting sites / systems, on top of their online video game history. With that said, GameNet isn't really pulling in any revenue. Their stock has pretty much flat-lined, or dropped slightly. Pearl Abyss probably sees this as a non-profitable endeavor which is why the license to publish BDO in Russia is in the balance.
I am the Cannon Fodder God
No sane person in this industry wants or enjoys drawing out or spinning drama-yarns concerning their game they either own or publish, so we'll likely not get the whole story until long after-the-fact.
Fishing on Gilgamesh since 2013
Fishing on Bronzebeard since 2005
Fishing in RL since 1992
Born with a fishing rod in my hand in 1979
Also, i just want to say, i love insightful people.
Fishing on Gilgamesh since 2013
Fishing on Bronzebeard since 2005
Fishing in RL since 1992
Born with a fishing rod in my hand in 1979
Russian isn't the least p2w version, NA was the least p2w until custom melting was implemented.
asdasdasd
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
i'm no lawyer or expert on gambling but you can legally cash out your chips in a casino, you can't do that in bdo.
and i think this is why nothing much has been done regarding predatory monetization in videogames. outdated gambling laws and what defines gambling in general.
the only case where something was done was counter strike skin gambling/betting sites where you could actually 'legally' (grey area since it was something new) cash out on your virtual goods, making it fall somehow under gambling laws or close to it. that's why valve stepped in before it escalated too much.
there is hope though, belgium is fighting loot boxes in video games and one can only hope other countries would follow.