While it is definitely none of my business caring about how much money is spent on marketing by MMO publishers, but I am still in awe of how Shanda Games, publisher of RIFT China, has reportedly spent an 8-figure sum…
ArcheAge – Publisher for North America and Europe announced
[Game website] Personally a surprise for me, the publisher for ArcheAge in North America and Europe has been announced to be Trion Worlds, currently of RIFT fame. This comes after the Russian server was announced just a few days back.…
Defiance – Open world co-op boss fights with tons of guns
[Beta signup] Launching this April together with a TV drama series, Defiance is aiming to take the sci-fi genre to the next level by merging the storyline of the series with that of the MMO version’s. Basically a 3rd person…
Defiance – Beta signups begin on cool promotional site
[Beta signup] Heard of the upcoming third-person online shooter, Defiance? Well, most people have no idea what that is despite the big tie-up with a live TV series. No matter, it is developed by Trion Worlds of RIFT fame, and…
RIFT – Developer announces workforce reduction
RIFT developer, Trion Worlds, earlier announced that the company went through a round of staff layoffs “in response to market conditions, product timelines and the natural evolution of our company”. It was estimated by various websites that around 30 to…
RIFT China – Weird event launched to give out Closed Beta keys
While I admire the almost no holds barred attitude the China MMO industry adopt when marketing products, a few of these campaigns can range from tasteless to pure outlandish. RIFT China’s publisher, Shanda Games, held an event ending last week…
End of Nations – Trion Worlds to continue game development
After it was revealed that End of Nations developer, Petroglyph Games, is laying off staff yesterday and the game indefinitely postponed, it seems that all was lost. But to clear the light, publisher Trion Worlds confirmed that the game has…
End of Nations – Developer reportedly cuts 30 employees
[Source] Woah, I was caught by surprise when reading through this piece of news. Originally announced to be postponed indefinitely to fix game issues, developer Petroglyph Games has reportedly laid off 30 employees from the End of Nations team. Initially…
RIFT Taiwan – Game goes F2P for first 40 levels
Following the footsteps of the Korean server, RIFT Taiwan has announced that the first 40 levels of the game will be totally free for everyone to play. RIFT Taiwan went into non-wipe beta in September, and officially launch in October.…
RIFT China – Protesters claiming unpaid wages
While RIFT celebrates its mega expansion in North America, the game is not doing too well in Asia, first Korea and now China. According to today’s local news, the 3rd party group which translated the game claimed publisher Shanda Games…
RIFT Korea – 49 levels of free gameplay to save title
RIFT Korea, in a supposed desperate attempt to save sliding player numbers, has announced that the game’s first 49 levels will Free-to-Play for everyone, with no content restriction starting from 20th November. It seems that the campaign held 4 months…
Defiance – New developer diary talks open world PvP goodness
[Game website] I was never a fan of open world PvP, and to some extent, I still am. The only exception now is PlanetSide 2, where I don’t get ganked while killing a PvE boss halfway. I sure hope Defiance…
Defiance booth – The game which got away
Why was Defiance “the game which got away”? Well, it is because the game ran into some technical error and my group never really got to play it. I was in the game for like 2 minutes, and Defiance is…
RIFT Korea – Free game time as popularity slides
Even before hitting the 6 month mark, the CJ Games is forced to begin a “Ascend Comeback Project” to seek quitters to join back the game.Here is how the campaign goes. For players who last logged in between 15th May…