Point is NCsoft lacks a long term vision or strategy . The fact they dismissed folks like the Garriott brothers and both Strain and Reid left them is indicating that ( those are "vision folks " ) . I disagree with th comparison with EA or SOE though. SOE has a tendency to offer near zero support ( to that  I agree ) but they don't cancel /shutdown MMO's that often. Same goes for EA ... NCsoft  strategy seems to consist of, chronologically  :

- market a new title very aggresively ,as if it's the biggest thing since invention of sliced bread ..

- promise testers and new players everything they're asking for ( i.e. the "blatant lie " strategy )

- launch game with minimal support apparatus in place ( saves $$$ )

-  after launch completely ignore your players ,but aim to maximize sales of accounts .

- ignore players leaving the game(s) in disgust and compensate for their departure with yet more sold boxes .

- suddenly realize the game is dying and try to finally correct the flaws in the game .

- realize the damage is done and no amount of tweaking /adding content will lure back those players .

- cancel game .

Originally posted by Tazlor

Originally posted by Aguitha

First time i hear about this game, serious.

exactly, they needed to advertise it more.

 

+1

NCSoft needs to go back to publishing HTML software and leave the MMOs to the serious developers.  Where most companies look at a struggling game and ask, 'How can we make this better and save the game?' like Turbine has done for example, NCSoft simply milks it for everything they can and then pulls the plug no matter how much potential the game has.  Games like Tabula Rasa could have survived and even become popular, profitable games with some work.  Reading through the comments here, it appears as though Exteel could have too with some added content, a change to the pay model, and some advertising, but to NCSoft, that would have taken some work and commitment to their game which is exactly what NCSoft lacks... commitment.

I'm shocked it even lasted this long.

Originally posted by LordAdder

NCSoft needs to go back to publishing software and leave the MMOs to the serious developers.  Where most companies look at a struggling game and ask, 'How can we make this better and save the game?' like Turbine has done for example, NCSoft simply milks it for everything they can and then pulls the plug no matter how much potential the game has.  Games like Tabula Rasa could have survived and even become popular, profitable games with some work.  Reading through the comments here, it appears as though Exteel could have too with some added content, a change to the pay model, and some advertising, but to NCSoft, that would have taken some work and commitment to their game which is exactly what NCSoft lacks... commitment.

I think NC suffers from being pulled in two different directions.

On one end you have the developers/creators who are, from what I understand, a bit artistic in their approach and on the other hand the hardline business guys.

If you look at some other Korean companies such as Hyundai, there are stories such as the Korean counterpart coming to the states for what seemed like a routine review of the facilities and with no warning, firing the upper management. And apparently not the first time they had done such a thing.

It seems that NC Soft can be just as mercenary in looking at its assets.

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by LordAdder

NCSoft needs to go back to publishing software and leave the MMOs to the serious developers.  Where most companies look at a struggling game and ask, 'How can we make this better and save the game?' like Turbine has done for example, NCSoft simply milks it for everything they can and then pulls the plug no matter how much potential the game has.  Games like Tabula Rasa could have survived and even become popular, profitable games with some work.  Reading through the comments here, it appears as though Exteel could have too with some added content, a change to the pay model, and some advertising, but to NCSoft, that would have taken some work and commitment to their game which is exactly what NCSoft lacks... commitment.

I think NC suffers from being pulled in two different directions.

On one end you have the developers/creators who are, from what I understand, a bit artistic in their approach and on the other hand the hardline business guys.

If you look at some other Korean companies such as Hyundai, there are stories such as the Korean counterpart coming to the states for what seemed like a routine review of the facilities and with no warning, firing the upper management. And apparently not the first time they had done such a thing.

It seems that NC Soft can be just as mercenary in looking at its assets.

Its not so much mercenary as it is short sighted. In fact its a perspective thats based on three month chunks of time.  In other words what have you done for us this quarter.  I've seen this corporate perspective many times before.  MMO's take years to develop, and then take time to smooth out operations and retain their player base.  Way too many publishers look at box sales as their big pay off, and if the game isn't an immediate massive hit, they start pulling resources (totally opposite of whats needed to make the game a long term success).

Then they can't understand why the game has problems with retention...<rolls eyes> After which, if they are like NCsoft, they pull the plug. This has become an established pattern with NCsoft, as this is the 4th game they have axed.

Let us also not forget the role that xenophobia plays in these matters.  I'm not familiar with exteels company, but all three games before it that got the axe, had non Korean developers. Anyone who has done much business in Asia knows that this can be a problem.

It doesn't surprise me. NCSoft has a bad track record when it come to continueing games. Look at Tabula Rasa it was a good game but they ended it. Instead of working on auto assualt they shut it down. So them shuting down a popular game comes as no surprise to me.

I played it ... but there just wasn't enough there to warrant sticking with it.   I have to admit I'm not a huge F2P person to begin with ... but this and Battlefield Heroes were two F2P that I stuck with for some time.

It was clear tho that the game wasn't going to make it ... it got down to (as it always does with F2P), the haves and the have-nots .... and the have-nots just couldn't compete.

Originally posted by Starbuck1771

So them shuting down a popular game comes as no surprise to me.

lol

Originally posted by mmorpgdooder

Originally posted by yureineko

I didn't even know there was a mech MMO. I woulda tried this a long time ago. : (

 

Dont worry there are more mech mmo's comming this/next year....

 

Really? like which ones? Perpetuum I wouldn't compare with Exteel, as its not as fast paced. Thats the main difference between eastern mecha and western mecha.

fun game, like dungeon runner (is that what it was called) again, though, just like DR, they should release the code to the public (for a price even) if they don't plan on ever running it again and allow people to run their own servers of it, but whatever, NCSoft are not known for intelligent business decisions.

Did anyone see the Loyalty rewards? Looks like they don't give you much choice but to go play Aion. But what is really puzzling is that $1-$100 range of cash spent on Exteel = 1 game time card and $100s or more is two! Aion and CoH month sub. Wha-what? I guess being loyal really pays off.