They Break Winter Extravaganza?

Most commercials and sales campaigns remind me of the https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Sirius_Cybernetics_Corporation and their eventual fate...

 

Barnum - There is a sucker born every minute

 

Barnum lowballed the numbers.

 

Personally, I'm awaiting the howls of outrage/demand for refunds that will arise when one of the titles is shuttered within the next 24 months.

That will be immensely entertaining.

Edit:

Original prediction was one shuts down within 12 months. Changed it to 24 months to make it nearly impossible for me to be wrong.

#winner

 

Still waiting on those independently audited number myself

 

Waiting for the next post....

"But wait, there's more! Free set of steak knives to first 100 callers (erm...subscribers)!!"

 

Yours for the low price of only $1999.95! Buy now!

 

according to massive they added 6000 more life time subs which brings the grand total to 10k! If anyone things this is healthy for the company it isnt in 3 years they will have very few renewed subs and a low monthly cash flow. Which brings me back to what i was talking about before that this company will be sold in the next year to year and a half. EQ2/EQ will be put into maintenance mode this year and DB is counting on EQ3 to bring in the big bucks for the new buyer. You can only milk a dry cow so long before it dies. The question is whoever buys DB will they honor these lifetime subs?

 

Serious question, no snark. I'm genuinely curious why folks think there will be an EQ3/? in MMORPG form?

EQ's success stemmed largely from being one of the very first and had time to dig in before any significant competition emerged.

EQ2 had a mediocre launch, and as much as I love the game (that it was, not what it is now), due to various reasons, it never stepped up and stood out the way it could have.

EQ(3) has already failed at least twice in development.

While NantWorks, or whatever the name of the joint venture is, did buy rights to EQ as well as H1Z1, it is to develop them on mobile platforms. (And I haven't seen any news about it since that initial release, other than the esports team went bankrupt or something like that)

In the wider game community, a lot of folks are surprised to learn EQ/EQ2 are still running (technically), and of those who aren't surprised, a large number do NOT have a positive opinion (and it's not just DBG, though they've done a lot of damage. SOE did it's fair share as well).

So why do people think Norrath, in the form of a new (or existing, in the case of the bubble gnomes(tm)) EQ, will bring in any major investor interest?

 

Im going from that Reddit post made a few months back stating everything that was going on at DB for the future. So far it seems everything that was said has come to pass. It has also been rumored that Holly was in secret making EQ3 with a team at DB so although my statements are off of rumors and speculations it does make sense. I think if there was a EQ3 and DB published it wouldnt do as well as the general community distrusts DB but if EQ3 came to pass under a different company that bought DB it might have a good chance especially if DB decided to sunset or even out EQ2/EQ into maintenance mode. As those loyal Norrath players will want to continue to play in the world they love so much.

 

I wouldn't be spending money on another EQ MMO at this point if I held the purse strings for DBG.

 

I loved EQ2 it was the first ever online game i played and even though i tried others over the past 10 years EQ2 always brought me back it felt like home...... The last 2 years though have pushed me away to the point i think i never will go back.
If a EQ3 game out i would give it a chance just hoping someone other then CN is steering the ship if not Pantheon is coming in a year or so

 

This is kind of the basis of my curiosity and question.

I remember seeing concept art and possibly an interview/article (I could be misremembering the article part) when the first whispers of an EQ3 started.

EQNext was widely publicized.

The basis for this speculation seems to be a rumor that got posted on reddit. If it has even a grain of truth, is this new EQ title an MMORPG? Is it an MMO at all? With the changes and layoffs over the past several months, is it still a thing? Speculation is all well and good, but without evidence, it's just a fart in the wind.

Devil's Advocate, let's say the rumor is 100% true, if the current estimate of ~170 employees is also true, some of which are NOT part of the development teams, is that enough dev power for PS2 Arena + development of this new EQ title + new content/maintenance of current titles? Given the dev post in the other thread, and how strapped things are already, I don't think so.

And none of that explains why folks think, in current year, any sane investor would place a high value on a Norrathian title? (not just name recognition for mobile games, and an esports team like NantWorks)

I love EQ (started just before Velious expansion). I love EQ2, I pre-ordered and was there on launch day... for as long as the game would let me stay logged in. I've played many, many other titles, but always considered EQ2 my home - warts (and there were many) and all, up until the sell out.

 

10 FREE legendary infusers!

But wait there's even more!

2 FREE loot box tokens!

But, that's not all...

You also get 3 Free LON cards!

But hurry, time is running out!

 

I agree with Tekka on this. I believe the only life Norrath has left is likely in the Nantworks mobile title.

This company will recycle assets and extract increasing amounts cash shop revenue from a declining base of loyal customers until they are $1 in the red, then see ya.

DBG has shown it has little appetite for developing future projects. And even if it did, there is little evidence that DBG has a management culture that can compete with the likes of WoW, ESO, FF, or upcoming titles like AoC or Pantheon. They are too inept.

As far as selling the ip? I just don't see any one valuing it for much, because it's not worth much.

This lifetime sub offer is just a gimmick intended to get people to pay $300 for a f2p p2w macro transaction game, because they finally figured out that when people cancel subs, they stop spending in the cash shop.

 

Tekka i have played EQ2 with you for sometime for good or bad you have always stated your mind and everything was always black and white you left zero areas for the grey area that alot of people like to live in. Rumors and speculations which is a big grey area but is all i have. If you take a look into all of rumors and speculations there is a line people can start to draw form. From what i remembered from the reddit post EQ3 was supposed to compete with Pantheon so my best guess would be another MMORPG but also have a Battle royal as well (roles eyes). Planet side arena from what i can tell was a dev team of 70 that used assests from PS and rushed BR game together then layed off the team for a chance to take a piece of the BR fad and also try and make a few bucks for DB. As for investors the EQ ip still holds some value and any company that buys DB knows they would have to understand they would need make alot of changes to right the sinking ship but a new AAA title ready to go would entice a buyer if everything was spun right way and the price was right. Only time will tell what happens but my bet still stands on CN selling and EQ2/EQ sun setting and or maintenance mod in the next year to year and a half.
The writing is on the wall

 

The true people that run DBG are very smart people Fuli and as CN is a investment firm they will only hold onto DB for x amounts of years until the have made back the initial investment and then sell it off for more profit. As well all know EQ/EQ2 is on the downward spiral and we all know why but in order to make any company profitable it needs to grow and adding another title will do that.

 

I disagree, the current titles aren't worth much sure, but I think the property itself is worth something. Nostalgia is a powerful thing and in 5 years if they were to say there's a new EverQuest game coming out with a different developer, I think you'd see a lot of interest in it.

 

I know. There a strategy called " market harvesting" that has been all the rage with bottom feeding investors over the last 10 years. I've described it a couple of times , so I won't bore people with another.

Market harvesting is not dependent on selling any ip to be a profitable investment, but if they can sell the ip for a few bucks, well, cool.

Imo, any assignment of worthwhile value to the ip of eq2 is mostly an emotional one held by game loyalists. Economically, I believe it would have to be extremely cheap to attract any interest, but someone might buy it.

Longdale may have a plan for an EQ3, but I wouldn't count on any investor hanging their hat on existing management, because history can be useful.