Wolfpack Studios Closing 22
After a good long run, Wolfpack Studios is being closed down by publisher Ubisoft. Their recent announcement of free-to-play was apparently not the opening of a new business model, but instead a harbinger of the end times. From the MMORPG.com article: "This according to sources at the development house who were recently informed that their jobs were being terminated. The last day for Wolfpack staff is May 15th. Parent company Ubisoft is said to instead be redirecting their company's focus to next-gen platforms. At this time, there is no word on what this will mean for the future of Shadowbane itself. The game just hit its three-year anniversary and was recently offered free to all users."
First? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:First? (Score:1)
We'd have been better off if EA had managed to take over the company.
Re:First? (Score:2)
Seen this before... (Score:2)
Short life (Score:4, Insightful)
I knew a group of people (roughly 30) who attempted to play Shaadowbane after release. All from different gaming backgrounds, EQ, DAoC, AC, AO, D2, DS, NWN, etc. The game seemed to hit a wall in advancement within the first month of play. Most quit after 30days, only 1 person out of a group of 30 lasted longer than 90 days.
The game was not good when compared to already establshed games in the genre. Then more advanced games like WoW came out and that just made Shadowbane's already bad situation worse.
Re:Short life (Score:2)
You level really fast in Shadowbane, PVE is really just there to hit the max level and get gold so you can advance your guilds city upgrade your gear. Its all about the city and destroying other players.
So no wonder they left, they probably all wanted the uber lewts and what not.
Re:Short life (Score:1, Insightful)
Even as a free game, it didn't hold my interest all that much. There is appears to be very little content other than kill the mob, grind the levels.
I know as a PvP game, part of the design goal is that enemy players are "part of the content", but the game seemed completely void of anything else to do. Even compared to the original EverQuest, its contents fail to appeal. It has no chance against WoW.
Oh, and lastly the lag was un
Bummer (Score:3, Interesting)
It was funny to see the one rogue get caught stealing, deny the whole thing and then get smashed down in one hit by another character level 75 main who is spamming "QUIT STEALING" it was comedy gold.
Shadowbane
Wolfpack? (Score:3, Funny)
Great game (Score:1)
PvE players aren't into the whole virtual material loss thing, really that was the problem imo. You might say they are wussies to atttached to pixels. I know I would say that
A few years from now, there will be a game where you can lose your possesions on death and it will be hailed as revolutionary by t
Source Code?? (Score:1)
Sad... (Score:2)
Sad to see the company go though...
Won't somebody think of the children?!? (Score:1)
I've played PvP in a number of online worlds and SB was just the worst. And by worst, I don't mean the worst system, but the worst player experience. There was something about Shadowbane being only PvP that attracted the most socially defective. And I'm grading "socially defective" on a curve for online games.
Sad to see a bun
Re:Won't somebody think of the children?!? (Score:2)
WoW's PvP, compared to SB, is like kids playing little green army men versus the real army. It's so dry, sterile, and contrived. Death is meaningless. Losing a BG is meaningless. Gear is everything and can overcome skill and teamwork. A lot of teamwork and organization is required
Wow! (Score:1, Troll)
Industry Conslidation (Score:2)
Picking which publishers will thrive going forward will be the big investment trick. The ones currently at the top don't always perform the best as they have a lot of fiscal baggage to content with. With the consoles settling down after Christmas game sales should thrive, at least for the platform aimed righ