I'll assume whoever reviewed the game actually got to the level cap and saw most content and bugs.

There are certain things that probably need to be taken into account when reviewing.  Was the game polished on release? How buggy is the game? What's the value of the product relative to competition?  Is this game even worth a subscription?

As far as the 200K number.  None of the advertisements really sold the game very well.  It's a brand new IP and can't bank on existing fans.  Funcom has a terrible track record of releasing too early.  Why buy TSW when you can get GW2 and not pay a sub?  That's the main question.

This is a niche game, but I have to admit I believe one of the major errors funcom made besides releasing it waaaaay to close to GW2 & WoW's MoP expansion, was not broadly advertising it. I never even knew it existed until I got an e-mail from EA one day.  So I went over checked it out...very little info was given, no videos available on the site about it or game play, and I thought the prices were way to high.

Then I got a beta key and thought "hey why not i'm board, I'll give it a go for a few hours." the rest is history, I was hooked instently. I went and pre-ordered and have been playing ever since.

There is a HUGE niche player base for horror games. Otherwise games like the Resident Evil, Left 4 Dead, and Dead Space series would have never been as sucessfull as they were. TSW could have been amongst those if it had done just a few things diffrently

1) Been released in a better time slot. The release date was way to close to GW2 and Wow's MoP. Had it been released sooner or some time after it might have stood a better chance.

2) It was NOT advertised very well or very broadly. I mean I see WoW and Rift adverisments on buses around my home town! I never heard a peep about this game until receiving a random e-mail from EA....and then nothing....that was it.

3) The cost...as lothe as I am to admit it....I don't honestly think it was worth over $50 with a required continuing subscription fee. Had it been a bit cheaper it probably would have grabbed people's attention a little more.

And also to expand on #3, I don't know about you, but I rarely buy a physical copy of a game I can download. After purchesing the game online and then registering my key code, I can download the game as many times as I need to, and considering it only sold 200k copies (I'm I right in assumeing those were "physical" copies only?) making games available for download only is the future. And doing this might have freed up more funds for them to advertise the game better. Not only that but by eleminating the "physical copy" you possibly lower the cost of preducing the game therefore lowering the cost that players have to pay.

Originally posted by Rawiz
As long as FC is doing badly, I will be pleased. I hope to see more bad news.

wow you really dont like funcom do you.

The only reason why this game is going to hell is because of the downright stupid dev team from Funcom. You're probably wondering what I'm talking about, and I'll tell you that THE ONLY REASON why this game is going bad is because of the RETARDED STANDARD GENERIC PIECE OF SHIT COMBAT Funcom chose to go with. It doesn't matter if everthing is well done except the core of the game sucks so bad you feel the urge to rip of your balls. I really had my hopes for this game, but Funcom pretty much ruined it. Funcom is not listending to fans and therefore they'll have to pay the price, Funcom doesn't understand that they're not the ones who are going to play it. 

RIP Funcom who are soon going to become bankrupt. 

Originally posted by Theocritus
    I dont think you can blame marketing/advertising for TSWs failure....Alot of us have known about TSW for a couple years now....It all boils down to not making a very good game then overcharging for it.

I doubt that "alot of us" means a big number.

"alot of us" is a really small piece of the MMO market.

Personally I went from wow to AoC then back to WoW because my machine could not handle AoC.  But when I got a new machine, and since AoC was now F2P, I gave it another install, and was stunned how much better the game was on a newer machine, so it became my favorite for 17 month.  Guess I liked the mechanics and setting.

Also tried other stuff over the time.  Portal 2 (great), cataclysm, Rift, Tera, Diablo III, but got a bit of a MMO burnout I guess.  Another tree to kill, been there, done that.  But when TSW came out, I gave it a shoot, and never regretted that.  I liked everything from the dry whit in the voice acting to the mechanics and all, and it got a charm that makes me launch it instead of the rest (often higher rated stuff).  It deserved the score I thought, and more so.

Originally posted by MumboJumbo

The numbers are not absolute, there are at least a good number of players out of 200k that perhaps love the game. But evidently something is out of sorts? What?

In the review assum it was a classic:

• Graphics
• Presentation
• Music/Sounds
• Gameplay
• Longevity

TOTAL: 8.5

There should be a component for value.  Most MMO players want value for their money, especially when the game has a sub.  Ifnoring that factor in the review of an MMO is a bad idea.

Originally posted by rpgalon

Originally posted by Theocritus
    I dont think you can blame marketing/advertising for TSWs failure....Alot of us have known about TSW for a couple years now....It all boils down to not making a very good game then overcharging for it.

I doubt that "alot of us" means a big number.

"alot of us" is a really small piece of the MMO market.

About 1 mln accounts were created for beta events.  Yet only 200 thousand people bought game.

Thing is I know around 20 people (from small private forum who I am long-term member( who tried TSW beta and only 4 of them bought retail and I think only 2 still play.

Thing is most people I know just did not like the game.

Aside from having some % of more complex quest - TSW is very medium linear themepark with instance grind and arenas / pvp zone at the end.  Also alot of people were really turned off by combat and animations. + some people passed on it cause of double dipping with sub + cs thing.

A good game will always come out on top. Word of mouth will spread, friends will pull in friends and the game will slowly grow, even if it is not on the big radar.

You can put the blame wherever you want, and it will be false - if the game had been better, it would be reflected in its success.

I have not personally played TSW, and I would not even be attracted to it: Not another levelbased tab-target, holy-trinity quest-grinder, linear without freedom, and without a challenge. I cannot remember the last time I was seriously challenged in a WoW-clone, and I cannot imagine that I would be in TSW either.

Innovation is the name of the game, and TSW did not innovate enough.

  I will agree with the other posters and say marketing was terrible for this game, the only reason I found out about it was by accident. I then signed up for closed beta, been playing the game for nearly 5 months and horribly hooked.

 Some percieve this game as a themepark, but this is only to an extent, the sandbox is the skill wheel, I've devoted so many hours to that damn thing. And after 5 months still coming up with new builds.

 The game has a solid foundation to build on, and I can't wait to see it at it's maturity. Seems like they are going to go nuts on abilities, first with auxilery weapons, it's a wheel too, but adding mob abilities as well, holy crap I'm not done filling out my wheel yet! Player housing is also being added, I think the direction is headed for the sandbox, which will make me love the game even more.

 See the trouble with some people is they throw around the term fanboy too much, fanboy is a following of a series, final fantasy, Guild Wars, Everquest, ect.. The Secret World isn't a series, but there is a reason why it's players are so fiercly loyal to the game, an aspect which a lot of people overlook.

I predicted that this game would start declining fairly soon about 6 months before it released.  I also predicted it would never generate what Funcom hoped it would, that they would have layoffs and have to scale back staffing and production and that the game would never live up to its potential or hype.

Why?

I point you to Age of Conan.  Anyone who played that game could have told you the same.

In fact many of us did.  I remember being roundly criticized on the TSW forums for bagging on it.  Didnt matter that I had tons of experience with AoC at multiple levels and knew what I was talking about.  The blind fanboys couldnt be clued in.  Essentially Funcoms worst enemy is Funcom.  There is a perfectly good reason that the word FAILCOM exists in the urbandictionary folks.  You were warned.

I was actively involved in Age of Conan as a player, guild raid leader, beta tester, and even as a class advocate for the game.  I saw the demise of AoC from multiple levels.  It seemed to gain some great momentum during the Xpac and then again at the Free to Play launch - but it was not enough to overcome all the damge.  It became mired.  They rarely listened to the playerbase, and often too late when they did.  They only took sparing suggestions from the advocates, causing most of them to up and quit when we werent being listened to.  They took staff from AoC to put them on TSW.  And now look - they cant even support the staff they had on TSW.

I hate to say I told you so - but considering all the flak I got from the fanboys before the game launched im going to say it anyway.  I told you not to trust Funcom again.

I love the games concepts, i love the design.  Everything about the game itself seems very very cool.  If it had been in anyone elses hands other than Funcoms I would have been stoked.  Funcom destroyed Conan and it is going to Destroy TSW.  And maybe after TSW has the final nail in the coffin Funcom will implode on itself . 

A lot of hate i Know, but also well deserved.  I have no respect for a company who entices players to year long subscriptions in one game by promises of Beta access to their new upcoming game and then fails to deliver beta access.  I have no respect for a company that pulls its more talented staff from a game that loyal customers are still trying to support, so that it can hedge up a new game hoping it will perform better.  I have no respect for a company that rarely listens to its playerbase and yet prides itself on serving the players.

Again, theres a reason the word FAILCOM exists.  Now those who play TSW and hoped, and continue to hope...and will continue to hope for a year, maybe two while the game drags itself slowly along before an agonizing demise will understand why.  You'll see why Age of Conan failed and why those of us who played AoC warned you about TSW.

Funcom you have 3 months to do something big. There will be people look around this time. 

A PvP server would be a good start.

Originally posted by Tawn47

I haven't played TSW, so I cannot comment on the game itself except to say I can't see what the 'ahead of it's time' fuss is about.  It has skill based progression..  ok, cool.. but not a gamechanger IMO.  Anyway, ill put this down to my ignorance of the game.

I think there are 3 main reasons it hasn't done well.

1 - releasing close to GW2

2 - Box price, subscription and cash shop.  Seems excessive.

3 - Funcom.  Sorry, but some of us got burnt with AO.  Others got burnt with AOC.  It'd take a lot to restore any trust.

Well said here I choose #3 overall. Its my feelings exactly. I don't care to deal with Funcom anymore period,I personally believe they arent good makers of MMO's or any other game.

Originally posted by FURYBlakhart

I predicted that this game would start declining fairly soon about 6 months before it released.  I also predicted it would never generate what Funcom hoped it would, that they would have layoffs and have to scale back staffing and production and that the game would never live up to its potential or hype.

 

Why?

 

I point you to Age of Conan.  Anyone who played that game could have told you the same.

In fact many of us did.  I remember being roundly criticized on the TSW forums for bagging on it.  Didnt matter that I had tons of experience with AoC at multiple levels and knew what I was talking about.  The blind fanboys couldnt be clued in.  Essentially Funcoms worst enemy is Funcom.  There is a perfectly good reason that the word FAILCOM exists in the urbandictionary folks.  You were warned.

I was actively involved in Age of Conan as a player, guild raid leader, beta tester, and even as a class advocate for the game.  I saw the demise of AoC from multiple levels.  It seemed to gain some great momentum during the Xpac and then again at the Free to Play launch - but it was not enough to overcome all the damge.  It became mired.  They rarely listened to the playerbase, and often too late when they did.  They only took sparing suggestions from the advocates, causing most of them to up and quit when we werent being listened to.  They took staff from AoC to put them on TSW.  And now look - they cant even support the staff they had on TSW.

 

I hate to say I told you so - but considering all the flak I got from the fanboys before the game launched im going to say it anyway.  I told you not to trust Funcom again.

 

I love the games concepts, i love the design.  Everything about the game itself seems very very cool.  If it had been in anyone elses hands other than Funcoms I would have been stoked.  Funcom destroyed Conan and it is going to Destroy TSW.  And maybe after TSW has the final nail in the coffin Funcom will implode on itself . 

 

A lot of hate i Know, but also well deserved.  I have no respect for a company who entices players to year long subscriptions in one game by promises of Beta access to their new upcoming game and then fails to deliver beta access.  I have no respect for a company that pulls its more talented staff from a game that loyal customers are still trying to support, so that it can hedge up a new game hoping it will perform better.  I have no respect for a company that rarely listens to its playerbase and yet prides itself on serving the players.

Again, theres a reason the word FAILCOM exists.  Now those who play TSW and hoped, and continue to hope...and will continue to hope for a year, maybe two while the game drags itself slowly along before an agonizing demise will understand why.  You'll see why Age of Conan failed and why those of us who played AoC warned you about TSW.

This right here is prime example why I've been saying FC is shit.

Aside from the fact how they ignore all player feedback (AoC), they also release stuff no one wanted (Bori), claim it's awesome, lose huge amount of players. Claim PvP'rs wanted Bori (dig some deposits, true PvP right there!).

Release a "blood and glory" server which died in a month, because they failed to see that Khitai quests should also be gone.

Yet, after all this, Mr. Morrison, the game director, has his job, making monthly update posts that have less in them than George Bush's speeches. He obviously earns to have his job, after driving a 800k box sales game down to like 10k subs.

TSW as it is, will soon follow the same formulae. This is exactly what FC does. You will see your "monthly" updates wither down to quarterly and so on. First sign is already here, adding 2 weeks to 2nd(!!!) update, yet promising 3rd update will be in time, is typical Funcom. They couldn't even get the 2nd update done with a full crew, yet they say 3rd update will be in time. I'll be back here laughing after they fail to even deliver a working 2nd update.

Originally posted by bcbully

Funcom you have 3 months to do something big. There will be people look around this time. 

 

A PvP server would be a good start.

So, remember when you said TSW will have raids by the end of August? How did that go again bro? I think you even made a bet for it. It must suck to be disappointed all the time.

Edit: Oh I see, you removed the bet from your signature...how surprising!