Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder Online MMORPG Announced

[Ettin]

So, assuming that Ryan is successful, and assuming that the development has been ongoing for at least a year, we are looking at beta release in 2013 (with beta meaning "a lot of bugs, but playable").

Considering they have no programmers and no money...

 

[ruemere]

Considering they have no programmers and no money...

That remains to be seen.

It is possible to create indie games nowadays for a fraction of cost of heavy-weight brutes. It is also possible to purchase assets to avoid starting from scratch.

In my opinion, Ryan is a visionary. He's also a skilled manager. He is likely to come up with something.

Regards,
Ruemere

PS. World of Ryzom.

 

[Ettin]

That remains to be seen.

Nope.

There is no way this MMO has been in development for a year. No "remains to be seen" about that. Dancey could come up with something, but that's not the part of your post I was discussing!

Dancey was the Chief Marketing Officer for EVE Online, though. Maybe he'll do for this what he did for EVE!

 

[Morrus]

Of course, the big question is: when will the tabletop RPG of the MMO come out?

 

[MichaelSomething]

My thinking is simple. They are planning a sandbox MMO. Has there been a sandbox MMO more popular than Star Wars Galaxies? I don't believe so. SWG was badly mismanaged, but the MMO market has shown sandbox style MMOs to be drastically less popular than them park style. For those who aren't familiar w/the terms, sandbox is an open world, not really quest driven, more things up to the players to make their own fun. Theme park refers to an MMO that is highly quest driven, lots of planned activities built into the game, etc. World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Everquest, those are all theme park MMOs. Star Wars Galaxies is the best example that I'm the most familiar with as I played that for a few years.

I wish them luck, but I don't have much in the way of expectations. This has nothing to do w/my opinions on Pathfinder as an RPG itself.

What about EVE online???

 

[Nightson]

It'd extremely, extremely unlikely that a pathfinder MMO will explode and have the runaway success of WoW. But the thing people don't seem to realize is that you don't need anywhere near WoW number to make the MMO profitable. Simple fact of the matter, most of the MMOs are still around making money for their companies even while they're considered to be failures by gamers because they don't have huge numbers.

 

[an_idol_mind]

It'd extremely, extremely unlikely that a pathfinder MMO will explode and have the runaway success of WoW. But the thing people don't seem to realize is that you don't need anywhere near WoW number to make the MMO profitable. Simple fact of the matter, most of the MMOs are still around making money for their companies even while they're considered to be failures by gamers because they don't have huge numbers.

And in the case of Pathfinder Online, even a moderately successful game would be huge for a company that has no previous releases out there.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It'd extremely, extremely unlikely that a pathfinder MMO will explode and have the runaway success of WoW. But the thing people don't seem to realize is that you don't need anywhere near WoW number to make the MMO profitable. Simple fact of the matter, most of the MMOs are still around making money for their companies even while they're considered to be failures by gamers because they don't have huge numbers.

"Most" is probably overstating it. Matrix Online and plenty of others have met their end in the last few years.

And, again, "it'll break even, probably," is hardly the sales pitch that will have the investors lining up to hand Goblinworks a minimum of $100,000. (I know I'd be likely to hand my cash to the guys who can more realistically promise a much higher return on investment.)

They've got a tough road ahead of them. I don't think many people don't wish them success, but good wishes alone aren't enough for MMO success.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

And in the case of Pathfinder Online, even a moderately successful game would be huge for a company that has no previous releases out there.

Successful means "do i get the money out i put in". Building up an MMO company from scratch and designing a new kind of sandbox MMO from scratch takes time, and time is the most expensive asset in game development. You don't necessarily need many subscribers to earn money, but getting to the point when the money you generate each month is really "yours" is the tough thing.

I know i sound like a negative nelly, but if they told me this was supposed to be a browser or facebook game, i would be more optimistic.

 

[Jhaelen]

WoW is a theme-parrk MMO.

I guess your mental image of a theme-park is different from mine then.

What I've been thinking of is this.

Note that I don't play WoW, but I don't think I've ever read that you can build anything at all in the game. And even if you can, it's absolutely not the focus of the game.