General Discussion

Bah personally I'd say that Dark and Light was the biggest MMO disaster so far.

At least the people who paid for and played The Sims Online got a game. All the Dark and Light players got was some sort of 'pre-beta' build that was almost impossible to play. Half of the customers had alot of trouble cancelling their subscriptions when they realised what a terrible game they had purchased and were billed repeatedly by the Click-and-Buy crooks.

I see now that DnL has dropped Click and Buy and has updated their website (a once in a blue moon event). But still, for a game that generated alot of community hype, the end product was definately the biggest failure I have seen.

Originally posted by siftified

Bah personally I'd say that Dark and Light was the biggest MMO disaster so far.

 

At least the people who paid for and played The Sims Online got a game. All the Dark and Light players got was some sort of 'pre-beta' build that was almost impossible to play. Half of the customers had alot of trouble cancelling their subscriptions when they realised what a terrible game they had purchased and were billed repeatedly by the Click-and-Buy crooks.

 

I see now that DnL has dropped Click and Buy and has updated their website (a once in a blue moon event). But still, for a game that generated alot of community hype, the end product was definately the biggest failure I have seen.

Yeah I was hyped for DnL, and got a key to beta, and from the start I knew it wasn't going to be all that great. The fact that their dev team was quite small from what I kept hearing, and they were not experienced apparently (from what I heard a while ago), I tried to maintain a positive outlook, but the servers in beta could barely stay online for 2 hours at a time. DnL was the ultimate let down, cause they promised everything, and came out with nothing.

Originally posted by sempiternal

Originally posted by AgtSmith

You are a fool if you believe it takes or took anywhere near $300 million...don't be so quick to believe things some idiot media outlet prints or otherwise claims.

"Idiot media outlets," like CBS News and Fortune magazine?

AgtSmith, don't put yourself in the same boat as ianubisi.

You're quick to argue semantics with AgtSmith without defending the fundamental flaw in your argument.  TSO is a part of EA Online; EA Online is not TSO. Therefore, when they say the spent hundreds of millions on EA online, it does not mean they spent hundreds of millions on TSO.

Originally posted by ianubisi  

Do you even comprehend the statement above? "Hundreds of millions of dollars to build the EA Online division". That includes more than The Sims Online. That includes Ultima Online, the abortive UO2 (which was years in development), Motor City Online, Pogo, and numerous other titles.

Nowhere in this article does it provide validation for the claims you're making. There is no operating costs + development costs + marketing costs provided for The Sims Online. The "hundreds of millions" is a vague value applied to an entire area of their effort, which also includes the online efforts of their console games, etc...

Obviously you don't have the facts you're looking for. But hey, if you want to believe in the idea, go right ahead. There isn't much point in trying to convince you otherwise, you've completely drunk the koolaid here.

I suppose you conveniently forgot about the first, and most recent, reference from CBS News that clearly states $300 million was invested into The Sims Online? The second reference from Fortune, while it does not give an exact amount, it does state "hundreds of millions," which is proof that the CBS quote it is not merely a "$30 million" typo.

At this point, all you are trying to do is pull your foot out of your mouth.  The online division was an investment into The Sims Online with the expectation of millions of subscribers. The reason EA invested all that money was because they expected over a million subscribers to The Sims Online, not because of the crippled old Ultima Online that had not grown for years, and that likely saw very little if any of that money, not because of a soon to be canceled Motor City Online or other insignificant games, the articles clearly state that EA was expecting a million subscribers to The Sims Online, and that is why they invested $300 million.

Just because you are in disbelief, don't tell me that people should accept your opinions or interpretations, over two reputable news sources.

If you need to be burned more, then I will dig into the financial reports personally.

No, reading problem?  Is marketing the only aspect?  In fact, one of the articles clearly states that they created an online division and Sims community does it not?  Don't you think that cost some money?

Originally posted by sempiternal

No, reading problem?  Is marketing the only aspect?  In fact, one of the articles clearly states that they created an online division and Sims community does it not?  Don't you think that cost some money?