BSG MMG: perhaps not?

[Stormwaltz]

(CEO Michael) Wallis recalls that Colony was originally founded in order to build an MMOG from the “Battlestar Galactica” TV series.

“But Universal wanted $9 million for a four-year contract,” he says. “It’s great to secure a license like that given the property’s built-in audience, but licenses have to be renewed at some point. And, with a successful MMOG, the licensor can really hold you hostage at renewal time. Because there’s no way to tell how long an MMOG will continue to exist -- “Ultima Online,” for example, is still going strong after 10 years -- there’s a huge potential upside. With a licensed property, all of that can come crashing to a halt once the license is up.

“So I told them that $9 million just didn’t make sense because,” Wallis adds, “if they come back to us in four years and want another $9 million, we wouldn’t have even recouped our expenses by then..."

Actual numbers are so rarely quoted in this business. Found here.

Later, the same fellow says;

“I think gamers yearn for the wild early days of the original ‘Ultima Online’ when you were able to leave the confines of a protected city, wander around the wilderness, and encounter other players who may or may not be friendly. It got your heart pumping, your adrenaline flowing; that’s the sort of unrestricted PvP action we intend to provide.”

I think there's only room for one successful niche free-PVP space game. But I'm cynical.

[Rithrin]

As long as they steer clear from the whole Homeword-esque combat of EVE then it should attract a different crowd, right?

Heck, lack of flashy, fast paced combat is why I'm not playing EVE. I'd play a BSG MMO if it was like that.

[Lantyssa]

I am still looking for Privateer in Space.

[HaemishM]

Mmmmm, I love the taste of blind innocent ignorance playing with millions of dollars in dev budget.

“The big claim to fame of ‘WoW’ is its ease of use,” he explains, “which is what’s attracted people who have never played an MMOG before. Similarly, we expect to have lots of really big ‘Stargate SG-1’ TV fans drawn to our game, many of whom have never even played a computer game before, let alone an MMOG."

What?

You have already failed the market expectations quiz. You want an audience that has never played a computer game before to buy a $50 boxed game and THEN pay a $15/month subscription fee? Do you not realize that you are asking an awful lot of the non-gamer there? There's likely many reasons they are non-gamers in the first place. Just having Stargate on the box isn't going to drag them into computer gaming. That's the huge fallacy of licensed products.

As for an unrestricted PVP space game, there's also Jumpgate. Which sucks, but it proves there's room for 2 types of PVP space games. Really though, for an MMOG, as long as the game doesn't crash and burn into a bug-ridden mess and is decently playable, I think it has a chance to succeed.

[WindupAtheist]

If that Firefly MMO somehow manages to turn out as a decent game, I'll be curious how it does.  The fanbase is small by the standards of movies and television, but it's fanatical and internet-savvy.  If a reasonable fraction of those fans can be turned into subscribers, the game could end up doing quite well.

If only a million people go to see your high-budget movie on opening weekend, you're a failure.  If a million people subscribe to your MMO, you're wearing a moneyhat and pissing on the heads of everyone but you-know-who.

[Chimpy]

I never understood the fascination with the new version of Battlestar Galactica. I watched the first couple of episodes and I found it somewhat bland and uninteresting. I guess I am just too big of a Dirk Benedict as Captain Starbuck fan to enjoy the remake.

If a decent space MMO came out I would probably grab it. I toyed with trying Eve but seeing the conversations about it I think I will pass until I get the big gaming bug in a year or two.

[Zedword]

I never understood the fascination with the new version of Battlestar Galactica. I watched the first couple of episodes and I found it somewhat bland and uninteresting. I guess I am just too big of a Dirk Benedict as Captain Starbuck fan to enjoy the remake.

If a decent space MMO came out I would probably grab it. I toyed with trying Eve but seeing the conversations about it I think I will pass until I get the big gaming bug in a year or two.

Grace Park.

--Zedword, yes please

[Mandrel]

I never understood the fascination with the new version of Battlestar Galactica. I watched the first couple of episodes and I found it somewhat bland and uninteresting. I guess I am just too big of a Dirk Benedict as Captain Starbuck fan to enjoy the remake.

If a decent space MMO came out I would probably grab it. I toyed with trying Eve but seeing the conversations about it I think I will pass until I get the big gaming bug in a year or two.

PewPew Lazers in Spaaace.  And Nukes!  The miniseries and first 2.4 seasons were good, but it went downhill fast with all the metaphysical garbage they were throwing in there.  Give me more attacks by basestars, and less love parallelogram, please.

[Venkman]

They don't even use lasers though :)

With the next season of BSG being the last season, I can't see a BSG MMO mattering that much. Even a Star Trek one makes sense these days because of the way invested multigenerational nature of the fanbase. BSG is going away for a reason. I don't think you could convert whatever the fanbase is to a significant enough crowd to be worth the high investment of time and money needed to make a licensed MMO out of it.

I'm pretty jaded on MMO space games though. I really really want Freespace 2 MMO. The closest I got was JTL, but that was tied too much to the other portion of the game I no longer enjoyed.

[WayAbvPar]

Similarly, we expect to have lots of really big ‘Stargate SG-1’ TV fans drawn to our game, many of whom have never even played a computer game before, let alone an MMOG."

I would be SHOCKED if anything but a tiny minority of SG-1 fans had never played a computer game before. Unless they have a stranglehold on the 75 and older demographic that I am missing.

[Chimpy]

Similarly, we expect to have lots of really big ‘Stargate SG-1’ TV fans drawn to our game, many of whom have never even played a computer game before, let alone an MMOG."

I would be SHOCKED if anything but a tiny minority of SG-1 fans had never played a computer game before. Unless they have a stranglehold on the 75 and older demographic that I am missing.

Maybe a lot of Canadians would play it?

Everytime I flip channels and land on it I see people with maple leaf patches on their shoulders speaking in a Canadian accent.  :-D

[Sir Fodder]

“I think gamers yearn for the wild early days of the original ‘Ultima Online’ when you were able to leave the confines of a protected city, wander around the wilderness, and encounter other players who may or may not be friendly. It got your heart pumping, your adrenaline flowing; that’s the sort of unrestricted PvP action we intend to provide.”

Pfft, someone needs to let this guy know that Trammel and Shadowbane proved that this isn't true.

[Morat20]

Similarly, we expect to have lots of really big ‘Stargate SG-1’ TV fans drawn to our game, many of whom have never even played a computer game before, let alone an MMOG."

I would be SHOCKED if anything but a tiny minority of SG-1 fans had never played a computer game before. Unless they have a stranglehold on the 75 and older demographic that I am missing.

All I know is that all the planets in the universe are a lot like the outskirts of Vancouver.

Chimpy: That's Stargate: Atlantis. It's a spin-off, and the characters are supposedly part of a multi-national expedition, and one of the main four -- a very annoying guy -- is Canadian.

Frankly, if I find me a Stargate I'm going to quit my job and sell tours to PJ3-959, also known as "The Planet With All the Horny Naked Chicks".

Also, I was under the impression that the SG-1 MMORPG was going to be a bit closer to Planetside. Lots of shooting and action. Although there will probably be "Kill 20 Gou'ald to collect 5 Ancient Artifacts" and I'll be damned if I'm going to keep running the P3X-989 instance to get my rare Tokra Nano-Bot reflex upgrade artifact.

[Slayerik]

“I think gamers yearn for the wild early days of the original ‘Ultima Online’ when you were able to leave the confines of a protected city, wander around the wilderness, and encounter other players who may or may not be friendly. It got your heart pumping, your adrenaline flowing; that’s the sort of unrestricted PvP action we intend to provide.”

Pfft, someone needs to let this guy know that Trammel and Shadowbane proved that this isn't true.

Cause we all know that the Open PVP is what killed Shadowbane.  :-D

Good try mate.

Unless you are fishing for guys like me, then a good try indeed!

[Righ]

Still waiting for the Shadowbane server with the beta 3.0 gold drops and city ranking times. That and bug fixes were all they needed to do to DEV TO WIN.

[Slayerik]

I am still looking for Privateer in Space.

Add me to that list.

[Righ]

Hang on a sec. Isn't that redundant? Privateer was a spaceship game akin to Elite, wasn't it? I still want to kick Zhodani ass in a Traveller MMORPG.

[Lantyssa]

Supposedly, but I don't know how the controls handled in Elite.  I couldn't manage Wing Commander because while similar, they weren't like Privateer's.

The gameplay concept though, yes.  Any of those plus Tachyon or the X series and I'd be a happy panda.

[Hoax]

Still waiting for the Shadowbane server with the beta 3.0 gold drops and city ranking times. That and bug fixes were all they needed to do to DEV TO WIN.

I'm actually going to play some SB now that it is f2p, I've got it installed but I haven't gotten around to figuring out what the best way to go about it is.  I'm figuring either run several instances of the game or dual-tri box it.  Level a class I want to play with a druid for heals or something.  I'll prob post about it if I actually get some enjoyment out of the old nag.

[Trippy]

Hang on a sec. Isn't that redundant? Privateer was a spaceship game akin to Elite, wasn't it?

Basically.

I still want to kick Zhodani ass in a Traveller MMORPG.

Traveller was cool, though mostly we spent our time trying to figure out how to abuse the character creation and ship building systems (hint: hollowed asteroids make for extremely cheap and tough hulls).