Star Trek Online - "Boldly going where Everyone has gone before"

[Moosehands]

Rise from your grave! _{And go right back into it.}

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/81641-Rumor-P2-to-Shut-down-Today

A rumor that P2 Entertainment, formerly Perpetual Entertainment, will be shutting down today was circulating the after-hours party scene last night.

Multiple sources close to the company came forward late last night to confirm the story, though no official announcement has yet been made.

P2 recently laid off the vast majority of its work force after opting not to continue developing Star Trek Online, and were embroiled in a lawsuit with Kohnke Communications, their PR representation, over back pay owed; they settled out of court. Before it changed its name to P2, Perpetual Entertainment laid off staff and stopped production on its first MMOG, Gods and Heroes, late in the development cycle.

We were unable to reach P2's management for comment.

I can confirm this rumor is true.  Perpetual closes its doors today.

[Mrbloodworth]

Cool, but i still want to know who picked up the IP.

[UnSub]

Cryptic hints it has a secret sci-fi MMO under development.

However, given the licensing issue they've just faced with Marvel / MS and the fact that Cryptic really, really wants to self-publish their own IPs, I think it's more likely the secret MMO is the dark worlds / secret cities one that's shown on their Under Development page and also kinda referenced in the ChampO Game Informer article.

[UnSub]

Circumstancial evidence continues to point to Cryptic now developing STO:

The webmaster of www.startrek-games.com was going to post the design documents that used to be in the now-defunct Perpetual Entertainment's possession (the original developers of STO). Apparently, just before the site was to publish the first part of the design breif for all to see, he was contacted by a legal representative with the following:

We understand from various website postings that are attributed to you that you may be in possession of certain documentation relating to the Star Trek Online game that contains intellectual property, the rights to which belong to our client and its licensors.

… Our client respectfully requests that you refrain from posting any materials containing intellectual property that you do not own, including but not limited to any artwork, storylines, character progressions or game design specifications.
…
Our client respectfully reserves its full rights in the event that you choose to post infringing materials. 

Following this was a debate whether or not this message was true, as well as some other legal items. However, once the name of the legal representative was made known, Timothy J. Harris of Morrison & Foerster, I (Dracus) did some investigative work, and found that Mr. Harris is the legal representative of Cryptic Studios.

It's internet sleuthing, but hey, rumours are fun to spread.

[UnSub]

Rumour-watch, Part II: Apparently NCsoft was going to publish STO, but cancelled it, leaving PS2 to swing in the breeze until they had to shut down.

I don't believe that rumour for a second, because unless NCsoft are in real financial trouble, STO wouldn't be a license to let go of.

Whoever has this license (and a lot of people think that Cryptic does) is doing the right thing by shutting up about having it. If you had the STO license, you need to build it in near secrecy and just announce closed beta when you are ready. There is no point building up hype for it because all you are going to do is attract people to tell you how you're doing it wrong. They can do that during closed beta just fine as well.

[WindupAtheist]

I don't believe that rumour for a second, because unless NCsoft are in real financial trouble

On one hand, when's the last time NC had a hit?
On the other hand, everyone in Korea still plays a Lineage or two.

[Montague]

Rumour-watch, Part II: Apparently NCsoft was going to publish STO, but cancelled it, leaving PS2 to swing in the breeze until they had to shut down.

I don't believe that rumour for a second, because unless NCsoft are in real financial trouble, STO wouldn't be a license to let go of.

Whoever has this license (and a lot of people think that Cryptic does) is doing the right thing by shutting up about having it. If you had the STO license, you need to build it in near secrecy and just announce closed beta when you are ready. There is no point building up hype for it because all you are going to do is attract people to tell you how you're doing it wrong. They can do that during closed beta just fine as well.

That doesn't make sense to me. Since P2 and its investors are were footing the bill for development costs, what downside risks could NCSoft have had? The only thing I can think of is that NCSoft was unwilling to foot the marketing costs... for Star Trek Online? If any game would market itself that would be it. I'm not an expert on the software industry but I don't see why even though there was a restructuring that NCSoft would essentially turn down free money.

[Ratman_tf]

If any game would market itself that would be it. I'm not an expert on the software industry but I don't see why even though there was a restructuring that NCSoft would essentially turn down free money.

http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=149543

And lest we be doomed to repeat history...

http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/

[Venkman]

Whoever has this license (and a lot of people think that Cryptic does) is doing the right thing by shutting up about having it. If you had the STO license, you need to build it in near secrecy and just announce closed beta when you are ready

Nah, you don't tell anyone you're doing it until maybe open beta, preferably launch. In the meantime, you treat this like the Manhatten Project, with a few dozen or hundred people working on bits and pieces with only a core few full-timers (who's livelihoods are tied to not talking about it) who know what's going on. You can test a lot of functionality without the full-on theme and graphics because let's face it, IP-based games are what you throw been-there/done-that derivation at.

But you'd need to be serious about this and not just see it as a quick until-contract-is-terminated PR cash grab.

[Aez]

All I have to say is that this thread's title is still awesome_for_real.

[UnSub]

Whoever has this license (and a lot of people think that Cryptic does) is doing the right thing by shutting up about having it. If you had the STO license, you need to build it in near secrecy and just announce closed beta when you are ready

Nah, you don't tell anyone you're doing it until maybe open beta, preferably launch. In the meantime, you treat this like the Manhatten Project, with a few dozen or hundred people working on bits and pieces with only a core few full-timers (who's livelihoods are tied to not talking about it) who know what's going on. You can test a lot of functionality without the full-on theme and graphics because let's face it, IP-based games are what you throw been-there/done-that derivation at.

But you'd need to be serious about this and not just see it as a quick until-contract-is-terminated PR cash grab.

I said closed beta because you'll want players for the stress testing but still under an NDA for anything that might change.

If it is Cryptic, I'd suggest they invite people out of the ChampO closed beta (when it happens) to take part in a secret STO closed beta. It keeps things quiet for a MMO that letting people comment about en masse would only create forum conflicts thus far unseen in human history.

As it stands, another rumour is that Cryptic is currently evaluating P2's STO work to see what they want to keep and what they want to do over.