DAoC Europe Closes

[IainC]

GOA link

Mythic Link

Today, it was announced that after eight years of operating Dark Age of Camelot in Europe, GOA’s license with Mythic Entertainment will soon expire and they will no longer publish or support the game.

Over the years, GOA has fostered a vibrant and dedicated community that is passionate about the game. In the coming weeks, GOA will be entrusting Mythic with this community of players.

We are currently working with GOA to take over operation of the game and its European community, and will soon be providing details about pressing player questions such as existing subscriptions, character transfers, game versions, localization, and more. We look forward to welcoming all players from the European servers and look forward to supporting them in the years to come.

While this closes one chapter for DAoC in Europe, a new one begins with a bright future of RvR ahead.

We’ll see you in the Frontiers!

Mythic Entertainment

I knew the licence was up but it's sad to see the end of the European servers. Most of the English community is already on the US servers but there are a lot of French and German players still on the GOA platform.

[NiX]

Shitty to hear. I know you used to work there, so it must be a bit more saddening for you. Hopefully no layoffs come from this.

[UnSub]

That'll be another hit to DAOC player numbers then. Some won't want to move servers, some won't want to be on US servers, some will remember that they've been paying to play DAOC since 2003 without logging in and cancel their sub.

[IainC]

Shitty to hear. I know you used to work there, so it must be a bit more saddening for you. Hopefully no layoffs come from this.

DAoC was being run out of Paris rather than the Dublin office where WAR is handled. The number of staff working solely on Camelot is quite small. Mostly they were GMs and some QA/storyline people and, with few exceptions they were all on temporary contracts anyway. I'd imagine the handful of people on permanent contracts in the DAoC office will get transferred across to other departments.

[Fordel]

That'll be another hit to DAOC player numbers then. Some won't want to move servers, some won't want to be on US servers, some will remember that they've been paying to play DAOC since 2003 without logging in and cancel their sub.

With Europe closing, there may be more people on my WoW server, then there are people playing DaoC total at this point. 

[Furiously]

Wait- I read it as they were tAking their ball back from GAO.

[IainC]

Wait- I read it as they were tAking their ball back from GAO.

The licence has expired. Originally it was licensed through to 2007 with an option for GOA to renew through to 2009 (which they exercised). Now the licence has expired and I guess either GOA don't want to keep running it, Mythic don't want to enter a new contract with GOA or neither can agree on terms. I'd imagine it's still making money in Europe, the costly localisation work has been done already and it's not as though Mythic are pushing out 4 million word expansions for the game these days. Staff levels are minimal and the expensive members of the team are shared with other projects anyway.

[UnSub]

So it could be a case of Mythic saying, "We'll take this profitable operation off you - thanks for your time GAO"?

[Count Nerfedalot]

So it could be a case of Mythic saying, "We'll take this profitable operation off you - thanks for your time GAO"?

Exactly.  If by "Mythic" you mean that mythical independent studio that's now merely a sock-puppet of EA.

If GOA didn't see the writing on the wall when Mythic sold out, then they are idiots.  The Borg doesn't play nice with little guys.  It assimilates them or destroys them.  Period.

[Righ]

The Borg incorporated the wisdom and technology of the species that they assimilated. EA are more like Ferengi.

[Venkman]

The point is that DAoC Europe will live on. It just won't be GAO running it. Will there be a lag time where the game is not operating at all to be relaunched "later"? Or will this be a smooth transition with maybe a day or two of downtime?

[IainC]

So it could be a case of Mythic saying, "We'll take this profitable operation off you - thanks for your time GAO"?

Exactly.  If by "Mythic" you mean that mythical independent studio that's now merely a sock-puppet of EA.

If GOA didn't see the writing on the wall when Mythic sold out, then they are idiots.  The Borg doesn't play nice with little guys.  It assimilates them or destroys them.  Period.

I'm sure they did see the writing on the wall which is why they've been adding other games to their portfolio such as League of Legends. There are a few other   games in the pipe as well all from different developers.

[snowwy]

Doubt you'll find many Euro-players missing GOA anyway. Not very impressed with how they have been running WAR at least

[UnSub]

Since Australia is often considered as part of Europe (because 1) a number of distributors lump us in there and 2) US citizens have been known to go looking for kangaroos in Austria) my general experience of how US CS treats non-US customers is that we're generally second class. Not generally deliberately, but more from a "you play in off-peak when most people are in bed so you'll just have to wait / miss out" kind of way.

So they might not have been happy with GOA, but they shouldn't expect better from Mythic. Particularly if they want to get CS in something obscure, like French.

[apocrypha]

Particularly if they want to get CS in something obscure, like French.

Green text? GOA are a French company aren't they?

And the only MMOs I've ever played where EU players didn't feel like they were of secondary importance to the US players were EVE and WOW. I fully understand that GOA's hands were tied by Mythic in many ways but they were generally viewed in a pretty negative light by the EU playerbase when I was playing DAOC.

[eldaec]

btw GOA and the GAO are very different things.

This sounds like Europe is no longer sufficiently profitable to run independently, and so they fold it into the US operation to give both a little more critical mass. Makes more sense than extending the European contract would.

The EA thing is probably incidental, though can't imagine GOA will be signing any new contracts for Mythic games even if they do release another MMOG before being completely embraced and extinguished (odds of which are not good).



In related news, the acquisition of Mythic by EA is looking like a fantastic deal for Mythic shareholders right now.

[Redgiant]

"Portfolio diversification" seems to be the prudent step lately for all things Mythic.

<cough> Warhammer Alliance

[MerseyMal]

Took opportunity of a recent free 7 day access event as did guild mates some of whom were still bound in the old frontiers (it had been that long!). Had fun and was great to wallow in nostalgia as my group got steamrolled by hibbies :)

[UnSub]

Massively reports that it's done - EA runs DAOC in Europe as well.

And from the FAQ:

# Will I have to resupply my billing information?

    * Initially, no you will not. The first month of this service with Mythic will come at no cost to you. As we move into merging accounts and characters into the NA system fully, you will need to investigate the payment methods and options we have available to you, and may need to alter your information.

And this is where players will leave. The first 30 days is fine because its free, but the second you start making players actively consider paying again / re-enter account information is the point you give them to opt out. Plus a lot of zombie accounts (i.e. paid up but no-one has used them in a long time) will likely disappear as players either cancel or never change their details.

DAOC Europe may suddenly look a lot less profitable 30 days from now.

[Lum]

I 110% guarantee you that the bean counters are well aware of the disparity between active players and inactive yet still open accounts.

[IainC]

Mythic burn some bridges with GOA as they rollback the former EU Classic cluster by a week.

Edit: VN Boards (not traditionally a pro-GOA venue) aren't buying the blame shifting.

[Fordel]

The outrage of 5 posts? 

[Tannhauser]

Well, that IS a significant percentage of the player base. 

[IainC]

Well, that IS a significant percentage of the player base. 

Just before the cluster of Glastonbury and Salisbury, the population on Glastonbury was down to around 20 people online at a time. The Hibs were winning routinely because they had a Bard who logged in regularly and none of the other realms had anyone who played a CC class.

[Fordel]

Nerf Bards! 



It's more then a little sad that the entirety of the DaoC active player-base couldn't even fill my WoW server at this point.

[Lantyssa]

We sometimes have more active guildies on than that... and we're not exactly large.