Was browsing the web and ran across this gem today.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/09/markets-korea-stocks-idUSL4N0AE2UK20130109
The Pertinent Part:
"Online game developer NCsoft slid 4.5 percent to 147,500 won, after Morgan Stanley slashed its price target for the stock to 130,000 won from 375,000 won.
"We advise cutting losses on NCsoft - we see continued cannibalization of existing games and at best moderate success for new games in China," Morgan Stanley analyst Sam Min wrote in a research note on Wednesday."
Poor NCSoft...seems since they decided to cut out CoX they have been in a downward spiral...
Serves them right in my opinion.
:P
no argument here
And canibalization will continue as long as they keep doing ONLY fantasy themed games.
Quote from: Starsman on January 10, 2013, 10:03:19 PM
And canibalization will continue as long as they keep doing ONLY fantasy themed games.
Well, they have Wildstar Online (http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/) in the making, which appears to be space-opera flavored.
Quote from: Little Green Frog on January 10, 2013, 10:06:47 PM
Well, they have Wildstar Online (http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/) in the making, which appears to be space-opera flavored.
They also had Secret Project and it was canceled. Until it sees beta, I am skeptic about their commitment to Wildstar (not to mention allgameplay footage made it look like a WoW-like game, something that didnt work for Tabula Rasa.)
Quote from: Starsman on January 10, 2013, 10:13:30 PM
They also had Secret Project and it was canceled. Until it sees beta, I am skeptic about their commitment to Wildstar (not to mention allgameplay footage made it look like a WoW-like game, something that didnt work for Tabula Rasa.)
It's no surprise it appears as a WoW-like game, since Carbine Studios is founded by former Blizzard employees. Anyway, we'll have to wait and see what will come out of it.
Quote from: Little Green Frog on January 10, 2013, 10:18:51 PMAnyway, we'll have to wait and see if it will come out.
Modified that last line a bit. ;D
D'oh! :P
Anyone want fries to go with this serving of delicious schadenfreude? ;)
I know this is off subject but I just watched the trailer to Wildstar Online and it looks like it will be lots of fun. It's not taking itself too seriously.
Quote from: The Fifth Horseman on January 10, 2013, 10:33:05 PM
Anyone want fries to go with this serving of delicious schadenfreude? ;)
Well that explains today's dip.
It's still 24 of 39 analysts listed at Reuters have the stock as outperform, 13 buy, 1 sell and now 1 underperform. Is MS just being contrarian or did they hear something? The China income from B&S isn't suppose to arrive until 3Q and that quarterly report is all the way till next November. And depending when if there is a big kick in income, it may not show up fully in a report until a year from now.
Now the question is what will the other analysts do? They tend to have a flock mentality. Is MS just some crazy foreign analyst that don't get online gaming or are they just the first ones to take a step back and reevaluate the signs?
Quote from: scalebeast on January 10, 2013, 11:36:03 PM
I know this is off subject but I just watched the trailer to Wildstar Online and it looks like it will be lots of fun. It's not taking itself too seriously.
I may eat these words, but I am
extremely skeptical that Wildstar will ever actually launch. And it won't be because of Carbine's lack of will or ability to do so. I'm not being mean here, because I sincerely hope for the sake of the people who are employed by Carbine that I'm wrong, but I expect any time to read that that studio has been axed and Wildstar canceled. It has crossed my mind more than once that if we're successful in freeing the City of Heroes IP, we could be doing them a favor by allowing them to acquire the Wildstar IP before NCsoft puts it on the chopping block never to see the light of day.
In other news, it looks like more investment analysts are catching on to what we already knew.
I posted the following on NCSoft's facebook page:
Quote(A link to the news site in question, and then the following:)
"We advise cutting losses on NCsoft - we see continued cannibalization of existing games and at best moderate success for new games in China," Morgan Stanley analyst Sam Min wrote in a research note on Wednesday.
So - about that new direction you were so hot for that you killed the best Superhero MMO of all time?
How's that working out for ya?
(And BTW - is it just me, or does anyone else get horrendous, damn near lock your machine up lag when you visit their facebook page? It's REALLY bad!)
Quote from: TonyV on January 10, 2013, 11:56:42 PM
I may eat these words, but I am extremely skeptical that Wildstar will ever actually launch. And it won't be because of Carbine's lack of will or ability to do so. I'm not being mean here, because I sincerely hope for the sake of the people who are employed by Carbine that I'm wrong, but I expect any time to read that that studio has been axed and Wildstar canceled. It has crossed my mind more than once that if we're successful in freeing the City of Heroes IP, we could be doing them a favor by allowing them to acquire the Wildstar IP before NCsoft puts it on the chopping block never to see the light of day.
In other news, it looks like more investment analysts are catching on to what we already knew.
Problem now is the hype machine already has kicking in and Wildstar has appeared on a number of "Most Anticipated MMO for 2013" lists in the west. NCSoft has spent too much money not to try to get some of that back. If the "anime" look of the characters allows it to be even a moderate hit in Asia, all the better. You don't fund a studio for five years, show off your work in progress at all the major US game cons just to get gun shy at the very end.
Quote from: FatherXmas on January 11, 2013, 12:32:22 AM
Problem now is the hype machine already has kicking in and Wildstar has appeared on a number of "Most Anticipated MMO for 2013" lists in the west. NCSoft has spent too much money not to try to get some of that back. If the "anime" look of the characters allows it to be even a moderate hit in Asia, all the better. You don't fund a studio for five years, show off your work in progress at all the major US game cons just to get gun shy at the very end.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that almost exactly what they did with Tabula Rasa? I briefly played that game only to be disappointed when it was closed down.
always wanted to try TR just never got a chance to because was playing coh all the time.
Speaking of NC Soft games.... I'm probably one of the few who played/stuck with Auto Assault for a bit, though I wasn't a pro.
I was there, right up to the shutdown of that game.
By then, it was a complete ghost town though....
:-\
Quote from: beveri8469 on January 11, 2013, 12:38:31 AM
always wanted to try TR just never got a chance to because was playing coh all the time.
It got released and that makes all the difference in the world. Post release you have access to data such as subscription rates or player retention. From that you can extrapolate how successful the game will be in foreseeable future.
Before launch it is always a great mystery what happens and no amount of analytics and experience can help you predict with certainty whether your title will be successful or not.
Quote from: Ampithere on January 11, 2013, 12:36:33 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that almost exactly what they did with Tabula Rasa? I briefly played that game only to be disappointed when it was closed down.
Yes but TR was released. Released too soon but released. Tony is suggesting that Wildstar will die on the vine.
Quote from: FatherXmas on January 11, 2013, 01:10:14 AM
Yes but TR was released. Released too soon but released. Tony is suggesting that Wildstar will die on the vine.
Yes, I think that's what will happen. If it does launch, though, make no mistake: I don't think it will last long, probably a year or less. Again, I'm not saying that's what I'm
hoping, that's just what I think will happen. If you ask me what I
hope, it is that Carbine will be more successful than Paragon Studios was in rescuing the product of their efforts.
Quote from: TonyV on January 11, 2013, 02:08:02 AM
Yes, I think that's what will happen. If it does launch, though, make no mistake: I don't think it will last long, probably a year or less. Again, I'm not saying that's what I'm hoping, that's just what I think will happen. If you ask me what I hope, it is that Carbine will be more successful than Paragon Studios was in rescuing the product of their efforts.
I second this.
Originally I thought Wildstar might be interesting to check out, but that was three years or so ago and nothing on the official page really seemed to change since then. It almost seemed to me like it was a shelved project or possibly a low-priority one. Never really heard much about it anywhere else.
On a side note, I took a look real quick to see what the page looked like now. I'm getting a "page not found" error for both the official site and the beta sign up. Kinda makes me wonder...
Quote from: doctorlurkin on January 11, 2013, 02:29:29 AM
Originally I thought Wildstar might be interesting to check out, but that was three years or so ago and nothing on the official page really seemed to change since then. It almost seemed to me like it was a shelved project or possibly a low-priority one. Never really heard much about it anywhere else.
On a side note, I took a look real quick to see what the page looked like now. I'm getting a "page not found" error for both the official site and the beta sign up. Kinda makes me wonder...
http://www.wildstar-online.com/en/ works for me.
Your link worked for me, thank you. But it doesn't work from the ncsoft site linking to the same address. Odd, unless I'm missing something stupidly simple. Been known to happen.
Look guys I hate to say it but more people may end up in the unemployment line because of these jerks. They get these companies to build games build up the hype then suddenly pull the plugs. Finally MS and others are starting to see the trend and NC Soft is a BAD company to not only to work for, BUT to even do buisiness with. Heres a wiki link to some information about Arena Net the makers of Guildwars 1 & 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArenaNet heck guys even the Arena net Guys have LEFT NCSoft LOL I mean this is wild. Hope NC Soft WAKES UP Apologizes to US and the gaming comunity at large its shareholders then RESTARTS COX with a bang.
Peace yall
i'll be honest, NCsoft looks like its headed for a hard landing at the end of a death-spiral, but as for our continuing bad press against them (not that we really have any, but if we did), a phrase from one of the character in a stephen king adaptation said it best. "Give me what i want, and i'll go away."
Quote from: stingray7 on January 11, 2013, 06:06:17 PM
Heres a wiki link to some information about Arena Net the makers of Guildwars 1 & 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArenaNet heck guys even the Arena net Guys have LEFT NCSoft LOL I mean this is wild.
Not sure what you're seeing, but ArenaNet is still an NCsoft subsidiary.
Quote from: Aggelakis on January 11, 2013, 09:07:13 PM
Not sure what you're seeing, but ArenaNet is still an NCsoft subsidiary.
I think he means about Jeff Strain and Patrick Wyatt, Arena.net co-founders who left NCSoft back in 2009
The promlem for NC-Soft is that there is not much left now. They have Guild Wars where everyone is talking about that's it's so nice to play this game for free, so not many people will give them extra money there and it's bad also when the players find out that this game is absolutly boring and left the game. Then there is Linage 2 and... how old is this game? There can't be so many players left over there. Then we have B**bs and S**ts, the problem is here that this game is absolutly the same like many others you can play right now, like Tera for example or any other asia grider and now they proudly presents Wildstar, but who is really so mad in playing this game after all this mess when everyone knows that when this game is not running well, it will be axed no matter what's going on...
So I don't know where NC-Soft wants to take much money in the future. When you have the community against you then it's very hard to turn the table around, there are some other publishers out there where this was the same.
Quote from: Technerdoc on January 11, 2013, 09:31:38 PM
The promlem for NC-Soft is that there is not much left now. They have Guild Wars where everyone is talking about that's it's so nice to play this game for free, so not many people will give them extra money there and it's bad also when the players find out that this game is absolutly boring and left the game.
Both of these things are completely untrue and/or at best opinions.
The servers are still crowded and have high populations. Lots of people buy gems and items from the gem shop.
It may be your opinion that the game is boring, but I take exception to stating it like a fact, because clearly many people do not find it so. Many people found COH boring too.
Maybe, time will tell if this is enough to be profitable, we was thinking so too one time...
Quote from: Technerdoc on January 11, 2013, 09:51:28 PM
Maybe, time will tell if this is enough to be profitable, we was thinking so too one time...
Oh, I have no doubts WHATSOEVER that how much profit they may be making will mean nothing if NCSoft decides to axe Anet like they did Paragon. Paragon was something like 3% of their annual profit. It's absolutely stupid to close down something that's actively making you money. Anet isn't safe by a long shot until they get out of NCsoft :(
I don't think that ArenaNet have a problem right now, maybe in some years but not right now, but Wildstar will have a hard time when it's not running well. Maybe it is like Tony said and the game will be canceled, but we all know that NC-Soft have no problems to axe it after a year when there is not the money they wanted to see. No one cares about this few City of Heroes players from a game that was running 6 years. I read it in the comments from a mag: Players really seen a positive aspect "Hey, NC-Soft runs the game 6 years, that's a good age for an MMORPG" but when a game like Wildstar will axe afte a year maybe things are not that simple.
Quote from: Technerdoc on January 11, 2013, 09:31:38 PM
The promlem for NC-Soft is that there is not much left now. They have Guild Wars where everyone is talking about that's it's so nice to play this game for free, so not many people will give them extra money there and it's bad also when the players find out that this game is absolutly boring and left the game. Then there is Linage 2 and... how old is this game? There can't be so many players left over there. Then we have B**bs and S**ts, the problem is here that this game is absolutly the same like many others you can play right now, like Tera for example or any other asia grider and now they proudly presents Wildstar, but who is really so mad in playing this game after all this mess when everyone knows that when this game is not running well, it will be axed no matter what's going on...
So I don't know where NC-Soft wants to take much money in the future. When you have the community against you then it's very hard to turn the table around, there are some other publishers out there where this was the same.
While Lineage 2 was shut down in NA they still have servers in Europe as well as Asia. In the 3Q report L2 sales are down but it's been dropping for a while now. Lineage is still going strong and it's an even older game than either L2 or CoH. It had higher sales than the once high flying Aion or the new oiled up B&S. And it had higher sales in the 3rd quarter than CoH has had cumulatively since 4th quarter 2009 to closer.
It's easy to sit back an imagine why the stock price is in decline, but it's still considerably higher than where it was just a few years ago.
And you think that this little merry band of misfit toys is upsetting their apple cart is delusional. They have bigger problems than our whining over here in NA. Their growth in Korea has stagnated. Their major titles in Korea and Asia don't fly well in the west. They have yet to break into mainland China's market, a very large market, in a significant way. They are just starting to work on a mobile smartphone/tablet gaming which is being forecasted as the next big growth area. The Korean government is looking to crack down on gaming addiction by increasing the age range and hours people can play as well as a 1% levy on sales to fund gaming addiction clinics. Their founder/CEO/Director sold off a major chunk of his personal holdings in the company to a competitor, likely as collateral/hostage, for their insight into running F2P gaming as well as a joint project. They consistently miss sales projections, by a lot, just about every quarter for the last several years.
Their stock price was outrageously inflated for how the company was doing and finally it's coming down to where it should have been all this time. It's not because we are stamping our little feet and holding our breath and calling them poopy-heads.
Quote from: Feycat on January 11, 2013, 10:01:19 PM
Oh, I have no doubts WHATSOEVER that how much profit they may be making will mean nothing if NCSoft decides to axe Anet like they did Paragon. Paragon was something like 3% of their annual profit. It's absolutely stupid to close down something that's actively making you money. Anet isn't safe by a long shot until they get out of NCsoft :(
Actually a bit over 2% of their annual sales. We have no idea about profit.
I was wondering that on the European Site are only 4 games left. Guild Wars 1+2, Blade & Soul and Wildstar. Aion and Linage 2 are only on the US Site. What it the story behind this?
Quote from: Technerdoc on January 11, 2013, 11:44:07 PM
I was wondering that on the European Site are only 4 games left. Guild Wars 1+2, Blade & Soul and Wildstar. Aion and Linage 2 are only on the US Site. What it the story behind this?
That's interesting. It's in Europe. Here is a link to a
stats (http://aioninfo.com/) page. Maybe because Gameforge is running the game in Europe?