Admittedly, AoC was still content-less after 3 months following it's launch last year, as is Darkfall with statically grindtastic game-play.  And not too long after that, Age of Conan Producer and Game Director, Gaute Godager, bails probably because he see's it aint going as planned.  Now, his replacement, Craig Morrison, hasn't done much better with the reported substantial $ loss coming into this year.

Is Tasos out-performing Godager or Morrison in terms of game-play delivery for their target market, and ability to deliver a product that will garner a sustainable player-base?

Originally posted by Conq

Admittedly, AoC was still content-less after 3 months following it's launch last year, as is Darkfall with statically grindtastic game-play.  And not too long after that, Age of Conan Producer and Game Director, Gaute Godager, bails probably because he see's it aint going as planned.  Now, his replacement, Craig Morrison, hasn't done much better with the reported substantial $ loss coming into this year.

 

Is Tasos out-performing Godager or Morrison in terms of game-play delivery for their target market, and ability to deliver a product that will garner a sustainable player-base?

Gaute didn't bail, he was thrown out. The "resignation" was a nice face saving provided by Funcom so he wouldn't look like a total douche. Although he'd already accomplished that a long time ago with his involvement with AO. Founders ( i.e. co-owners ) of companies ( like Gaute ) don't just bail unless they're forced to.
 

In the case of Tasos, the rest of Aventurine is too stupid to get rid of him. Or they would have already.

AoC sold 800k copies, wanted to appeal to the mass (and compete with WoW), and had several dozen servers.

You cant compair AoC to Darkfall.  AoC was made to make money with.  Darkfall was (quote) "A product built for a "niche" market by developers who care more about making a game they want to play".

The only good that came from AoC was one statistic: The open PvP servers were more popular.  So at minimum, 500,000 players bought the game to play the hardcore side of it.  Yea, there is a market for a hardcore game like Darkfall.

Originally posted by -Zeno-

AoC sold 800k copies, wanted to appeal to the mass (and compete with WoW), and had several dozen servers.

You cant compair AoC to Darkfall.  AoC was made to make money with.  Darkfall was (quote) "A product built for a "niche" market by developers who care more about making a game they want to play".

The only good that came from AoC was one statistic: The open PvP servers were more popular.  So at minimum, 500,000 players bought the game to play the hardcore side of it.  Yea, there is a market for a hardcore game like Darkfall.

You cannot compare DF to AoC, in what aspects?  Just b/c someone said they are making a niche whatever does not really mean they have.  It only means they try to say something.

There are 500k ppl playing AoC hardcore?  Just b/c the popularity of open PvP servers?  That is a very long shot at conclusion.  How many ppl play AoC now, how many play it "hardcore".  What is hardcore?  Being on PvP server is hardcore?  How many active players on PvP server?  Fact is, the same person can create a character on both PvP and PvE server.  Having more characters created on a PvP server does not mean more active players online.  You need to clarify the figures.

And even if what you said ended up confirmed, that has nothing to do with DF.  AoC might confirm that there are people who want to play some PvP on AOC.  That does not mean they want a game like DF, or those 500k would be online in DF and not in AoC.  Revealed preference, these people choose AoC as a game and shunned DF.

Hardcore is just an empty word.  It is gameplay that matters, and from the looks of it, gameplay as provided in DF does not appeal.  Each game is unique, and each game is being assessed by each player in terms of gameplay.  "hardcore" "carebear" or other terms are just hot air you float around, it does not mean anything, and it is totally meaningless trying to group DF with AoC under the banner of "hardcore", pretending that DF is in the same league, simply because you call both hardcore.

800k people bought the game at release.  The open PVP servers were more popular.  Do the math.

Yes, 500k was a made up number, I should of used a percentage.  If its more popular, then its more than 50% of the player base.  500k is more than 50%.  Actually, less, if you count what was sold after the fact.  Now they are under 100k subs with the open PVP servers still more popular.

Darkfall could of done the same thing, but it started out as a catastrophe.  So they only have one directon to go, unless they self destruct.

I think Tasos should be forced to pay all the NA players' transfer fees and / or new client fees.

That's what I think...although it will never happen of course.

Craig Morrison has done much better than his predecessor, with a declining title stigma and less resources. AoC now is a playable, fun game, Of course, it has lots of issues yet, but it has progressed a lot from launch.

Originally posted by -Zeno-

800k people bought the game at release.  The open PVP servers were more popular.  Do the math.

Yes, 500k was a made up number, I should of used a percentage.  If its more popular, then its more than 50% of the player base.  500k is more than 50%.  Actually, less, if you count what was sold after the fact.  Now they are under 100k subs with the open PVP servers still more popular.

Darkfall could of done the same thing, but it started out as a catastrophe.  So they only have one directon to go, unless they self destruct.

AoC is hailed as a PvP game.  At high levels, PvP is supposed to be one of the major activities for AoC.  Naturally the game attracts quite some PvPers.  However, it still remains to be proven that 500k or whatever players actively PvP.  I do not have maths to do, b/c the figures you provided are incomplete, not wrong, just incomplete.  There are more alts created in PvP servers total, than the non PvP servers, but we still need to know how many of these alts are active (need a definition).  I am not saying you are wrong.  The information is incomplete.

DF started out as a catastrophe, yes, very sad for a game with such a strikingly remarkable conception.  Where are they heading?  I got the feeling they are dying.  Simple maths will tell that 3k or 6k or whatever thousand active subs x $15 each won't foot the bills for server maintenance and development team.  As for payment of the 10m euro Tasos admitted they drew down as loan for development, how long will it take 3k or 6k or whatever sub base to pay, 10m plus interest.

Self-destruct?  The way Tasos handle DF, its not far from suicidal.