Schilling's Green Monster Games

[Draegan]

If it was UngSub or UnSgub, I don't think I would of noticed.  That and the color difference obviously.

[UnsGub]

UnSub and UnsGub?

I will claim old age.

http://www.shadowclan.org/catskills/history/history1.htm

[sidereal]

UnSub and UnsGub?

I will claim old age.

http://www.shadowclan.org/catskills/history/history1.htm

You mean seniority?  Claiming old age is probably not helpful to your cause.

[UnSub]

wtf?

UnSub and UnsGub?

What, you just noticed? 

On a skim, I get confused too - "when the hell did I write tha... oh, not me".

[JWIV]

38 Studios just bought Big Huge Games.     Most interesting is talking about using the BHG RTS/RPG engine in Copernicus.
 
Link and lazy quote below

http://www.38studios.com/news/press_show/22

38 STUDIOS ACQUIRES BIG HUGE GAMES
   
05/27/2009
— Leading RPG Studio Accelerates 38 Studios' Online Entertainment Experience  —

38 Studios (www.38studios.com), an entertainment and original IP creation company, today announced the acquisition of Big Huge Games (BHG) from publisher THQ Inc. The acquisition is a critical step in 38 Studios' strategy to deliver a broad range of entertainment products centered on its original fantasy IP, codenamed Copernicus. The purchase of Big Huge Games includes all of the company's proprietary IP, tools, technology, assets, and works-in-progress. Specific financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Big Huge Games was founded in 2000 by veteran game developers Brian Reynolds, Jason Coleman, Dave Inscore, and Tim Train. Award-winning lead designer Ken Rolston, a 25-year role-playing game designer and co-creator of Oblivion and Morrowind, is another vital and dynamic component in BHG's success. What's more, Big Huge Games has developed top-selling games including Rise of Nations®, and was built with the same talent that created Alpha Centauri, and Civilization II. Big Huge Games is currently developing an unnamed RPG title for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, and Windows PC.

“The acquisition of Big Huge Games will be tremendously beneficial to the growth, market position, financial stability, and long-term success of 38 Studios,” said Brett Close, CEO and President, 38 Studios. “BHG's cross-platform RTS/RPG engine will accelerate the realization of our Online Entertainment Experience™ for the Copernicus IP. The acquisition enables us to develop and deliver top-quality games in multiple genres that are based in a shared world, ultimately maximizing the value of our Copernicus MMOG and the intellectual property as a whole.”

“Big Huge Games and 38 Studios share a common vision — to deliver the most engaging, compelling, original experiences possible,” said Tim Train, CEO of Big Huge Games. “Joining the 38 Studios family allows us to continue translating our passions into great games.”

“It's always about team,” said 38 Studios Founder and Chairman Curt Schilling. “The highly regarded developers at BHG, including leading role-playing and real-time strategy design teams led by Ken Rolston, are a perfect complement to 38 Studios' staggering array of talent. Big Huge Games is a phenomenal team and, culturally, a natural fit.”

The Big Huge Games team will be integrated into 38 Studios but will remain based in Timonium, Maryland.

[WayAbvPar]

That sounds like a pretty good move. I have liked a lot of Brian Reynolds's work, and Rolston has some big credits. As long as someone beats the horrible Oblivion leveling system out of him.

[schild]

This whole thing just took the Shinkansen to weirdtown.

[Typhon]

How many Tims do you have to kill to get a decent amount of Timonium?

[Bzalthek]

A lot.  'cause they're tiny.

[Stormwaltz]

There's a Tim Golem in the room next to me.

Also, Brian Reynolds + Ken Rolston is love. The thing about Ken -- in the few times I've met him -- is that he's boiling with ideas and enthusiasm. He needs a more sober "design partner" to be his better judgment.

[Ingmar]

If they have Alpha Centauri people doing anything in the office that isn't finally giving me a successor game to that, then a crime against nature is being committed.

[sidereal]

If I can play Settlers of Catan in Copernicus, I'm there

[schild]

Brian Reynolds isn't at Big Huge anymore, and thus, he's not at 38 Studios.

[WayAbvPar]

Why you gotta piss in my Cheerios like dat?

What is he up to these days? Does Ingmar have him chained in his crawlspace to code Alpha Centauri II?

[schild]

I suppose there's a small chance Curt got him back but I find it incredibly unlikely. Brian excels when making an RTS or TBS. Far more than Just an RPG. And between God: The Game and <Untitled Project // This is Me Being Nice to Curt>, there wasn't really anything that hit all the right marks for him. He's of more use elsewhere anyway. With BHG basially shuttered as we know them and Ensemble shut down and Firaxis not really being an option, it's best Brian went on to better things (for himself).

I suppose I can say that this whole purchase reeks of buying a shortcut, but we'll see how Curt spins it.

Edit: None of that matters since I'm glad most of those guys are still working. That's the important part, right?

[WindupAtheist]

Copernicus is going to be Yet Another Everquest Plus Ultimately Inconsequential Twist that comes out, snags far fewer subs than original EQ in it's prime, and then shuffles along aimlessly while people repeat "You know 200k subscribers isn't bad! Yeah, after all it keeps the lights on!" to each other while deep down we all know that (except for Blizzard) this is a moribund genre that jumped the shark many years ago.

Calling it now. No I don't have any evidence. But you know I'm most likely right.

[Morfiend]

Copernicus is going to be Yet Another Everquest Plus Ultimately Inconsequential Twist that comes out, snags far fewer subs than original EQ in it's prime, and then shuffles along aimlessly while people repeat "You know 200k subscribers isn't bad! Yeah, after all it keeps the lights on!" to each other while deep down we all know that (except for Blizzard) this is a moribund genre that jumped the shark many years ago.

Calling it now. No I don't have any evidence. But you know I'm most likely right.

You know, thats what I used to think, but now, im not so sure. I think we are getting ready for another WoW type to blast on the scene, the only problem is no one seems to be developing anything with that potential. I guess "Hydra". Just look at how many boxes WAR and AoC sold. That right there tells us people are willing to try something. But it also tells us people are no longer willing to keep paying monthly to beta test a game.

I would say give it about 6 to 9 months and people are going to really start being burnt on WoW.

[Draegan]

This first MMO that can get the sales like WAR or AOC but sustain 70% or so retention rate will be part of the Million+ club after 6 months or so.  AOC and WAR have already proved that there around 800-1200 thousand people willing to be early adapters in switching MMOGs.

[Rasix]

I would say give it about 6 to 9 months and people are going to really start being burnt on WoW.

A few months after Icecrown will be the sweet spot for someone to release unless they're really slow in getting that out.  But I don't see any contenders stepping up quite that quickly. 

Edit: They haven't even announced Icecrown yet, so who knows just how far out that is. 

[Lantyssa]

Y'all are aware Grimwell told us today that Free Realms has two million accounts.  Yes it's free, but they've done it in a month.

[WindupAtheist]

free

Thus nobody cares.

[schild]

free

Thus nobody cares.

You're wrong, but that's OK.

[WindupAtheist]

The "Hey you guys having a discussion about subscription MMO numbers, Freegame Online has X billion accounts! Of course they're all free..." thing quit being new eons ago. But whatever.

[Lantyssa]

So did making money through paid subs...

[Pennilenko]

free

Thus nobody cares.

Free Realms is gonna be all money hats.

[tmp]

Y'all are aware Grimwell told us today that Free Realms has two million accounts.  Yes it's free, but they've done it in a month.

Well, signing up for a free game doesn't cost one much (just few minutes of time) As impressive as it is, it'd be more interesting to know how many of these accounts are (still) active.

[Venkman]

Free Realms registered accounts does not deserve any more attention here than the many other games with 50-100 times the amount of free registered users. 2 million in this short a time merely proves their marketing was effective. That is a nice win. But the part that truly matters long term (ARPU and total rev) is the one we're never likely to hear about except in rumor anyway.

[Lantyssa]

Y'all are missing my point.  Draegan said:

This first MMO that can get the sales like WAR or AOC but sustain 70% or so retention rate will be part of the Million+ club after 6 months or so.  AOC and WAR have already proved that there around 800-1200 thousand people willing to be early adapters in switching MMOGs.

There are a lot of people now interested in this market.  They're taking the time to make an account and actually check it out, and being free means they have a very low barrier to entry.

It is correct that we have no idea of the rate of converstion (or RMT), but they've passed the first hurdle of at least getting people to look at the game.  And I'm surprised you're blowing this off Darniaq, considering you'be been saying forever that the big games down the line will be different from those of the past.  We just got different and it's starting off strong...

Let's consider WAR and AoC.  Around a million box sales, most of which went to distributors.  Sub rates of maybe 30% and only declining.  One of those two games cost about 100 million to produce.  Hmmmm.

The markets aren't entirely the same, but if we compare these three games, I think we can pretty easily say one is doing things right and two have already peaked and are settling into their niche market.

Edit for readability.

[Draegan]

Well the one thing that's easy with Free Realms and that aids to registration count is that it really doesn't require you to download the game.   It all works off the website, which is pretty cool.

Hell my girlfriend who has never played a video game ever, made two characters for the hell of it one day just to humor me.

[Venkman]

It is correct that we have no idea of the rate of converstion (or RMT), but they've passed the first hurdle of at least getting people to look at the game.  And I'm surprised you're blowing this off Darniaq, considering you'be been saying forever that the big games down the line will be different from those of the past.  We just got different and it's starting off strong...

Not blowing it off at all. The unit of measure for success in this business model is different though. 2mil signups for a free title is merely what I said: a nice start. But for this type of game to be successful (roughly get 10% of people to pay anything and 5% to pay lots), you need a lot more people. Scores of millions, hundreds ideally. And for them to keep coming back.

FR has the right start. Honestly, I feel like this one has as much potential to fundamentally change the perception of browser-based mtx games as Club Penguin did for introducing how browser-based games could be done back then. And I've told that to a few folks who agree lately.

It's a solid stable game, it's full screen without the big upfront retail investment, it's got a lot more types of activities than anything else I can think of in this business model much less the AAA subscription ones, and it's not bogged down with a relatively huge licensing fee structure.

But, I'm curious if they'll keep this pace of new registrants (I think they can), whether they'll be able to monetize this enough (maybe) and keep people interested (depends on the pace of new content). This game probably cost more to make than the top three browser-based titles combined, so they're starting with a higher up front that needs paying down in an untraditional manner without a solid IP to easily draw people in.

And I still don't think we'll as players ever know for sure. SOE's business structure is varied enough, and this game's particular business different enough, that we'll probably never have a solid sense of ARPU and how that compares to other companies tracking earnings differently too

[gehrig38]

Can we officially change "Free to Play" to "Free to Start".

If anyone out there knows of a true free to play game not created for Intellivision, with actual 3D art that's really fun, let me know, otherwise it's Free to Start and anyone that says otherwise is lyin!

[tmp]

If anyone out there knows of a true free to play game not created for Intellivision, with actual 3D art that's really fun, let me know, otherwise it's Free to Start and anyone that says otherwise is lyin!

Pangya (Albatross 18 on western markets) is pretty much that or to even bigger degree, Audition. Of course one may scoff these are not MMOs in traditional sense but hey, suspect their players could hardly care less.

[Falconeer]

Points to Curt for mentioning Intellivision in a post. I am buying your game. Wait, is it free or what?

[Modern Angel]

Guys, I hear this game is free.

[UnSub]