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WAR is over

mondoidmondoid Member Posts: 305 Arc User
edited September 2013 in Ten Forward
Like the title says Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (WAR) is shutting down on Dec 18th. Its not because it was an attempted WOW killer or that it was an EA owned game or that it had 20 servers at launch and then 2 at the end due to low population or that its owners stubbornly refused to join the F2P wagon which many players believed would have gotten it healthy again. No, it is being shutdown because the IP holder (Games Workshop) pulled the license, so legally it cannot continue.

Okay now you are asking "Why does this matter to me? I play Star Trek Online (STO)"

It matters because STO might suffer the same fate. World of ******** (WoW) is run by the same company as its IP holder, so it's immune to this.

All of Cryptic's games are the Intellectual Property (IP) of others, so they could all suffer the same fate!

I want a Dev or equivalent to answer this: When does the IP for STO end?

Based on the increasing success of the game what are the odds the CBS will keep renewing the license?
Post edited by mondoid on
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  • wildweasalwildweasal Member Posts: 1,053 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    sadly we wont know the answer to many of your questions until its time to renew the license ....i would guess that the license last 4 or 5 years so it is getting close i assume
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  • kojirohellfirekojirohellfire Member Posts: 1,606 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    Actually, Cryptic presently owns the IP for Champions (that's pretty much why that game is so neglected, no corporate license to answer to). As for STO, I wouldn't be too worried over it after what happened to the Warhammer game; Games Workshop is pretty much like that... fickle and prone to frequent outbursts.
  • starkaosstarkaos Member Posts: 11,556 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    You are mistaken in believing that Cryptic has any idea when their license will be pulled. Sure there is a contract between Cryptic and CBS that they have to renew, but that doesn't matter. What does matter is between Cryptic and PWE. If PWE decided to pull its support from STO, then most of the devs could be out of a job with no notice. This is what happened between NCSoft and Paragon Studios for City of Heroes. The devs were busy doing their finishing touches for Issue 24 and they get a call saying that they have been canned without any notice. Although, PWE seems to be really good with keeping their games running. PWE has 11 MMOs running with 2 MMOs cancelled while NCSoft has 7 MMOs running and 7 MMOs cancelled.
  • lianthelialianthelia Member Posts: 7,880 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    I know I would of played Warhammer if it were f2p, game just didn't really seem worth it to pay for...part of the reason I lost a lot of interest in ESO.
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  • khayuungkhayuung Member Posts: 1,876 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    Oh yeah, to be fair, there are A LOT of PWE games I wish they'd shut down, but 2 years after I left them in frustration, they are still there! So going by track record (and that PWE have been reeeaaally happy with STO) I'd say we're safe from them for now.

    CBS is the next other stumbling block. Once the final Star Trek movie comes out, who knows? If EA goes to them to make 'em an offer they can't refuse, we'd get SWG'd instantly. Though it would be interesting to see PWE and EA go head-to-head at negotiations because I foresee PWE not giving up their on-life-support-but-still-breathing golden goose just yet and so EA would have to be really interested in making that offer.

    Or things might just go completely left field and we have RIOT GAMES buying up the licence as they are the only major MMO player without a space-age MMO game.

    Speculations mainly, but this is where STO's relative obscurity is our boon: the game is popular enough to feel populated, but not a runaway success that we have to fear companies banging on CBS' door. The fact that the franchise is split between CBS and Paramount may lead to an interesting situation where there could be a PRIME Star Trek game and a JJTrek game which could be produced by anybody in the industry atm.

    Tl;dr: We're safe for 2 years at least.


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  • starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    ...Games Workshop is pretty much like that... fickle and prone to frequent outbursts.

    For some bizarre reason I now have this image in my head of Q appearing in front of Picard like he usually does, wearing a Games Workshop T-shirt.
    "Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
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  • khayuungkhayuung Member Posts: 1,876 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    starswordc wrote: »
    For some bizarre reason I now have this image in my head of Q appearing in front of Picard like he usually does, wearing a Games Workshop T-shirt.

    Also, for some reason, that Q looks like Matt Ward. :D


    "Last Engage! Magical Girl Origami-san" is in print! Now with three times more rainbows.

    Support the "Armored Unicorn" vehicle initiative today!

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  • xiaoping88xiaoping88 Member Posts: 1,493 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    khayuung wrote: »
    Also, for some reason, that Q looks like Matt Ward. :D

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  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    khayuung wrote: »
    Oh yeah, to be fair, there are A LOT of PWE games I wish they'd shut down, but 2 years after I left them in frustration, they are still there! So going by track record (and that PWE have been reeeaaally happy with STO) I'd say we're safe from them for now.

    CBS is the next other stumbling block. Once the final Star Trek movie comes out, who knows? If EA goes to them to make 'em an offer they can't refuse, we'd get SWG'd instantly. Though it would be interesting to see PWE and EA go head-to-head at negotiations because I foresee PWE not giving up their on-life-support-but-still-breathing golden goose just yet and so EA would have to be really interested in making that offer.

    Or things might just go completely left field and we have RIOT GAMES buying up the licence as they are the only major MMO player without a space-age MMO game.

    Speculations mainly, but this is where STO's relative obscurity is our boon: the game is popular enough to feel populated, but not a runaway success that we have to fear companies banging on CBS' door. The fact that the franchise is split between CBS and Paramount may lead to an interesting situation where there could be a PRIME Star Trek game and a JJTrek game which could be produced by anybody in the industry atm.

    Tl;dr: We're safe for 2 years at least.
    I dunno, what's to say that CBS can't license more than one? they've done dozens of games over the years with multiple developers, what's to say they can't continue?
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  • starkaosstarkaos Member Posts: 11,556 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    khayuung wrote: »
    CBS is the next other stumbling block. Once the final Star Trek movie comes out, who knows? If EA goes to them to make 'em an offer they can't refuse, we'd get SWG'd instantly. Though it would be interesting to see PWE and EA go head-to-head at negotiations because I foresee PWE not giving up their on-life-support-but-still-breathing golden goose just yet and so EA would have to be really interested in making that offer.

    We don't have to worry about the final Star Trek movie affecting us considering that Paramount owns the rights to the new movies. So EA could go to Paramount and see if they could create a MMO based on the JJ universe. So there could be two MMOs with one centered on the universe with the rich story, background, and characters and the other one centered around the JJ universe where there is not much story there.

    However, I don't see this happening. With the current universe pretty much shut off to TV series and movies, then STO can do pretty much what they want within reason. However, whoever gets a hold of the JJ universe after JJ will want to create new movies and/or TV series so they could create conflicting stories with a Star Trek MMO based on the JJ universe. For example, Star Trek 2023 features Cardassians with a particular type of ship, but the Star Trek MMO already introduced a very different style of ship and the Cardassians act completely different to the ones in the movie.
  • cgta1967cgta1967 Member Posts: 86 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    .

    doom?

    .
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  • rickeyredshirtrickeyredshirt Member Posts: 1,059 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    I dunno, what's to say that CBS can't license more than one? they've done dozens of games over the years with multiple developers, what's to say they can't continue?

    Yes, I agree. This has already happened with Gameforge's ST: Infinite Space. Although the game was scrapped after it was completed (couldn't find a co-publisher) it showed that we could have two ST games set in the prime universe on the landscape.

    cgta1967 wrote: »

    No.
  • neoakiraiineoakiraii Member Posts: 7,468 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    Oh my god, we're Dooooomed ahhhhhhhh
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  • captainrevo1captainrevo1 Member Posts: 3,948 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    mondoid wrote: »
    Like the title says Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (WAR) is shutting down on Dec 18th. Its not because it was an attempted WOW killer or that it was an EA owned game or that it had 20 servers at launch and then 2 at the end due to low population or that its owners stubbornly refused to join the F2P wagon which many players believed would have gotten it healthy again. No, it is being shutdown because the IP holder (Games Workshop) pulled the license, so legally it cannot continue.

    Okay now you are asking "Why does this matter to me? I play Star Trek Online (STO)"

    It matters because STO might suffer the same fate. World of ******** (WoW) is run by the same company as its IP holder, so it's immune to this.

    All of Cryptic's games are the Intellectual Property (IP) of others, so they could all suffer the same fate!

    I want a Dev or equivalent to answer this: When does the IP for STO end?

    Based on the increasing success of the game what are the odds the CBS will keep renewing the license?

    You can expect a squadron of pigs, flying in formation over your house before they tell you when the licence is up. thats not information they are going to publicly share.

    however while you are right in saying the licence was up for WAR, the reason they did not renew is highly likely linked to everything else you mentioned. it was badly managed and was not making loads of money.

    If STO is doing as well as they say, then CBS will most likely have no issues with renewing it. There is not a lot of other star trek projects going on for them right now so as long as they are seeing profits and no one makes them a better offer then STO will be fine.
  • assimilatedktarassimilatedktar Member Posts: 1,708 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    mondoid wrote: »
    No, it is being shutdown because the IP holder (Games Workshop) pulled the license, so legally it cannot continue.

    Important difference here: CBS consists of morons. GW is controlled by the most idiotic copyright-trolling '/&%faced \##holes they could find.
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  • syndonaisyndonai Member Posts: 348 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    This is nothing to worry about. GW have been like that for well over a decade.
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  • longasclongasc Member Posts: 490
    edited September 2013
    If you don't buy the Ar?Kif Tactical Carrier Warbird Retrofit today, STO is going to shut down for good on February 2nd 2015 when the license expires.
  • tejmashkttejmashkt Member Posts: 47 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    Wait are you saying Disney bought Games Workshop? :eek:

    That would explain a lot.
  • philipclaybergphilipclayberg Member Posts: 1,680
    edited September 2013
    "Bait and Switch" -- Foundry project, in development

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  • sampa4sampa4 Member Posts: 2 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    mondoid wrote: »
    Like the title says Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (WAR) is shutting down on Dec 18th. Its not because it was an attempted WOW killer or that it was an EA owned game or that it had 20 servers at launch and then 2 at the end due to low population or that its owners stubbornly refused to join the F2P wagon which many players believed would have gotten it healthy again. No, it is being shutdown because the IP holder (Games Workshop) pulled the license, so legally it cannot continue.

    Okay now you are asking "Why does this matter to me? I play Star Trek Online (STO)"

    It matters because STO might suffer the same fate. World of ******** (WoW) is run by the same company as its IP holder, so it's immune to this.

    All of Cryptic's games are the Intellectual Property (IP) of others, so they could all suffer the same fate!

    I want a Dev or equivalent to answer this: When does the IP for STO end?

    Based on the increasing success of the game what are the odds the CBS will keep renewing the license?

    In terms of when STO will be shut down to the same reason:

    I hope not for a LONG time, I just started playing STO almost a year ago!
  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    You can expect a squadron of pigs, flying in formation over your house before they tell you when the licence is up. thats not information they are going to publicly share.

    however while you are right in saying the licence was up for WAR, the reason they did not renew is highly likely linked to everything else you mentioned. it was badly managed and was not making loads of money.

    If STO is doing as well as they say, then CBS will most likely have no issues with renewing it. There is not a lot of other star trek projects going on for them right now so as long as they are seeing profits and no one makes them a better offer then STO will be fine.
    Also, it's bad PR to abruptly kill a game that isn't dying. A more likely scenario would be what Blizzard did with Diablo 2 after they decided to focus on newer games... Just stop updating it and wait for the players to eventually migrate out.
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  • kharonsoremankharonsoreman Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    There is a flaw in your assumption CBS would pull the license..

    They don't give a TRIBBLE about the IP or it's fans, so I doubt highly they would go through the effort of pulling it, Because IF they gave a TRIBBLE many of the pathetic things that have gone on with this game wouldn't have.

    Also if they gave a TRIBBLE we might have a new series on TV sometime before my generation ends..
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  • hevachhevach Member Posts: 2,777 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    Another flaw is that the license isn't being pulled unilaterally. EA is choosing not to spend money to renew the license. Which everybody should have expected a couple years ago when they said that investment in the game's long term continuation was scheduled to end.
  • hevachhevach Member Posts: 2,777 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    They have already yanked the license on FASA's Star Trek game when they decided that they were taking the IP (I.E. The Next Generation) in a new direction that conflicted with what FASA had under development for it's game.

    Paramount pulled that license 24 years ago, and over a creative control dispute. The situation led directly to the review system Paramount and now CBS (presumably Paramount's half of the franchise has a similar process, but has produced much less licensed material) have to make such a conflict impossible to begin with.
  • bluegeekbluegeek Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    Should I merge this with one of the other "Dooomm" threads, or send it to Ten Forward so you all can discuss Warhammer?

    I will say this... to those of you who choose to forecast doom for this game because you don't like certain things about it...

    It's not going to get you another Star Trek MMO. This is the one we have and if it fails what makes you think we'd get another one? ANY Star Trek game, for that matter?

    The doom and gloom forecasts do nothing to get what you want, except that they hurt the image of this game, potentially scare off new players, and hurt the chances of future Star Trek games from seeing the light of day.

    I'm not suggesting that you stop providing negative feedback about things you don't like. I'm suggesting that cheering for STO to crash and burn is not really in your best interests.
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  • kojirohellfirekojirohellfire Member Posts: 1,606 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    bluegeek wrote: »
    Should I merge this with one of the other "Dooomm" threads, or send it to Ten Forward so you all can discuss Warhammer?

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  • psychickittypsychickitty Member Posts: 167 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    Like the title says Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (WAR) is shutting down on Dec 18th. Its not because it was an attempted WOW killer or that it was an EA owned game or that it had 20 servers at launch and then 2 at the end due to low population or that its owners stubbornly refused to join the F2P wagon which many players believed would have gotten it healthy again. No, it is being shutdown because the IP holder (Games Workshop) pulled the license, so legally it cannot continue.

    Okay now you are asking "Why does this matter to me? I play Star Trek Online (STO)"

    It matters because STO might suffer the same fate. World of ******** (WoW) is run by the same company as its IP holder, so it's immune to this.

    All of Cryptic's games are the Intellectual Property (IP) of others, so they could all suffer the same fate!

    I want a Dev or equivalent to answer this: When does the IP for STO end?

    Based on the increasing success of the game what are the odds the CBS will keep renewing the license?

    That game isn't that good...I hate to say that....also the player base isn't there, and the game didn't have any revolutionary concepts or things in it....nor is it self supportive.

    City of heroes had the player base....had many concepts that where revolutionary and where constantly stolen by other game groups...(like wow for example)....and was self supportive.

    so if anything...city of heroes shows no game is safe.

    That war hammer game shows...that if you have a good idea and your game play is bad..people will not play it.

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  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    hevach wrote: »
    Paramount pulled that license 24 years ago, and over a creative control dispute. The situation led directly to the review system Paramount and now CBS (presumably Paramount's half of the franchise has a similar process, but has produced much less licensed material) have to make such a conflict impossible to begin with.
    Yeah, FASA took a few too many liberties with making up their own ideas....
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  • ambassadormolariambassadormolari Member Posts: 709 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    mondoid wrote: »
    Like the title says Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (WAR) is shutting down on Dec 18th. Its not because it was an attempted WOW killer or that it was an EA owned game or that it had 20 servers at launch and then 2 at the end due to low population or that its owners stubbornly refused to join the F2P wagon which many players believed would have gotten it healthy again. No, it is being shutdown because the IP holder (Games Workshop) pulled the license, so legally it cannot continue.

    Okay now you are asking "Why does this matter to me? I play Star Trek Online (STO)"

    It matters because STO might suffer the same fate. World of ******** (WoW) is run by the same company as its IP holder, so it's immune to this.

    All of Cryptic's games are the Intellectual Property (IP) of others, so they could all suffer the same fate!

    I want a Dev or equivalent to answer this: When does the IP for STO end?

    Based on the increasing success of the game what are the odds the CBS will keep renewing the license?

    As far as I can see, STO's chances aren't as bad as WAR's, for a number of reasons.

    First off, from what I heard, WAR had plenty of problems from the very onset. While it was drawing from a rich and already well-established universe, it was far too heavily oriented towards PvP, rather than any story-driven missions that exploredtook advantage of that universe. As far as I can see, STO has enough single player content (Episodes, Foundry Missions, STFs, etc) to engage players outside of PVP.

    There's also the fact that, sadly, WAR was frequently dismissed as a WOW clone-- I've heard a lot of Warhammer Fantasy enthusiasts admit that the game just felt like WOW with Warhammer skins stitched on. As far as I'm aware, while there are a few other "space adventure" MMOs out there (EVE, for example), what I've seen of them is still different enough from STO in gameplay style that there's little overlap. Plus, let's be honest, Trekkies are a much larger and more dedicated fan base than Warhammer Fantasy fans.

    Another problem is that WAR has been in decline for quite a while. It hit its peak in 2008, but then began suffering massive losses in players in the same year. As of 2011, it was just down to 3 servers. By contrast, I haven't heard any similar doom and gloom stories about STO (the loss of City of Heroes aside).

    At the end of the day, I think Games Workshop nixed WAR because it wasn't making nearly as many returns as they thought it would, and because they have plenty of other, more reliable, sources of revenue (ie, the actual Warhammer Fantasy/Warhammer 40,000 tabletop games, which still have an active and dedicated player base despite GW's awful business decisions). While the same can be said of CBS, I don't think STO has reached the same level of failure as WAR to be considered dead financial weight yet.
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  • awolzabrakawolzabrak Member Posts: 30 Arc User
    edited September 2013
    khayuung wrote: »

    CBS is the next other stumbling block. Once the final Star Trek movie comes out, who knows? If EA goes to them to make 'em an offer they can't refuse, we'd get SWG'd instantly.

    Damn... I miss SWG :(
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