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Shadowbane News - Breaking News: Wolfpack Closing
Posted by Dana Massey on Mar 28, 2006 | 43 comments in our forums
Wolfpack Studios - the developers of Shadowbane - is closing.
This according to sources at the development house who were recently informed that their jobs were being terminated. The last day for Wolfpack staff is May 15th.
Parent company UBISoft is said to instead be redirecting their company's focus to next-gen platforms.
At this time, there is no word on what this will mean for the future of Shadowbane itself. The game just hit its three-year anniversary and was recently offered free to all users.
In total, approximately 25 people at the Austin, TX studio have been left without work.
MMORPG.com will continue to bring you information as this story develops.
(Update 7:47PM EST: Sean Dahlberg, the Community Manager at Wolfpack, made the following post on his blog that confirms our original report. There have also been developer posts to a similar effect on the official Shadowbane forums.)
This is a sad day indeed. There was a lot of potential in the game, but it was never realized. When they made Shadowbane free, it made me think that they were going to be making a sequal or spirital successor to it, but it appears that's not the case.
This likely means the end of Shadowbane as well, as I doubt Ubi will continue funding a game when they've laid off the staff.
Very sad news. Wolfpack was by far my favorite team for what they were able to accomplish in SB. For years I had ran the hope they were working on another mmorpg.
These were developers who took the big chance of making a truly PvP world when no one else would. Granted it had flaws but overall I think they and the industry learned a lot from the venture and how to make the next even better.
Wonder if this means the total end of Wolfpack or if they will try to go to a new publisher. In any case, even if WP is at an end they have such talented people Im sure they will find tons of work.
I'm not really surprised or saddened by this news. (In my opinion) They took too long to design a game that was behind the times when it was released. While the game had some interesting ideas, it mainly catered to a minority of players, and just wasn't able to compete.
Definately not surprising since they all of a sudden decided to make their only product free for no apparent reason. It's hard not to expect something like this when the company just stops trying to make money from their product.
sad to see this.. played shadowbane when it first release for a couple months, does this mean shadowbane is done now too? err?
Poncho,
You will find players like this in all MMOs. I have not played one yet where things like this do not occur. Obviously, due to mechanics and features, the tactics they use change but I have yet to find an MMO without "Griefers". You had a bad experience. I had bad experiences in a variety of games. I remember the first time I was "PKed" in Ultima Online. It sucked. But I continued playing.
You stopped playing Shadowbane and I can understand you doing so and not saying you should give it another chance. But there are two things you should realize: (1) All MMOs have these kinds of players and (2) If Shadowbane goes away (and that is an if, I do not know what will happen with it), where do you think those players will go next?
That sucks. Now we'll have to deal with all the assholes from that game in other games.
Bummer. I had hoped for a sequel on a more modern engine.
I have to admit this is the only game where I've had to study and plan my class. i wont be able to find as much diversity with the titles on the market since they are all cookiecutter mmos.
Were else can i go after lvl 20 and hunt the smartest game on the planet exclusively if i so choose.
No where. Every other game has you grinding 60 lvls on mindless mobs that are always in the same damn area for ever that do the same attack every single time.
I only have what 70 years of real life time available and companies want me to burn 2-3 months doing mindless crap so i can get to the game i really want to play.
Thanks to wolfpack for breaking the mold and bring me an experience I've been craving since playing Ultima online and factioning. Where i can watch my city burn just as fast as i built it, sometimes faster then ive built it :)
Thank you.
And TY wolfpack for opening the doors and letting it go free to all.
Sad news indeed. I wish Liet and Ashen well.
/salute
Ashen..does that mean you're going too?
Sad to see it happen. I enjoyed the game very much, but it didnt keep pace with the new games that came out. Loved the design of SB and hope someone picks up those ideas and runs with it. Guess Ill venture into the Unknown like Roma Victor maybe.
Thanks and good luck Wolfpack.
I find it kinda sad that you guys are touting the game as a place to put all the griefers so the rest of us don't have to put up with them.
That speaks volumes.
What speaks volumes to me is the way some people are ready to roast marshmellows over others losing their jobs, simply because they dislike the idea of open PvP and mechanics in a video game.
I second that. I didn't care for Shadowbane either but I regret seeing it about to go. Even more so, I hate to see people lose their jobs. Heaven knows I've been in that position.
For some reason people seem to think that every game has to appeal to their personal tastes. If it doesn't then the game must suck. I think it boils down to a maturity issue. Oh, and if you are getting so worked up over hating a game that you celerate people you don't even know losing their jobs, then you should probably take a step back from the hobby for awhile. Take a break and get some fresh air or something. Keep in mind that we are talking about a game. Lets have some persective for the love of pete.
I think that makes my previous point pretty soundly.
It is sad that people lose their jobs, but that's just how it goes. I'm sure they will find good jobs at other gaming companies. They made a pretty good game and I can only imagine someone will pick them up.
until you read boards for any other MMO, then it's just another post. Which means those folks are already there. Or is there some Eden of discourse in MMO's where all treat one another with love care and respect that I missed?
I like that for the optimism, and it just seems like a good point to emphasize.
Damn!!! Dont pull the plug on Shadowbane!!!
I never followed SB as I had zero desire to play in a full PvP world.
It might be of some comfort to those who did play and care about the dev team that being in Austin means that they now have opportunity to work with Bioware in thier new Austin studio which was specifically created to produce an MMORPG.
Drev
I guess now this is a post i need to comment on too.
Played SB quite some time, quit, tested WOW, and returned to SB again. Nothing can match with the thrill of open PVP.
Cant really understand all the crybabys and carebears playing WOW and similar games. If you cant loose anything its not fun. So... Ashen & co i wish you good luck and i hope Ubi doesnt pull the plug on SB. You can be pretty proud of the game you created.
All the others... cry me a river!
:)
its to bad, while not a huge fan of the game, it was one of the few that made PvP interesting.
I hope Wolfpacks employees find success where ever they end up, hopefully they can get back into the MMO side of things.
As a shadowbane player of 3 years. It is sad news. Been playing MMO's for over 10+ years now. I can say without a doubt that Shadowbane was a truly unique game. It may not have the graphical flash or smooth coding that newers products have. It was a game hat was originally made by people who had little experience in the MMO realm. They did however have a hell of a concept.
The shadowbane experience is the truly open world PvP, and the strategic/political element the game brings with its ability to declare war and destroy your enemies cities. Fighting in Shadowbane had some of the most rewarding PvP experiences I have yet to see in MMo's. Instead of fighting in some instanced battleground, or just pvping in tourneyment games (gw) Sb had fighting for not just your pride but your land and your right to live in whatever terrority you wished.
For me Shadowbane is, was, and will always be freedom. The game truly let you do what you wish, being able to affect the entire server as a whole and shape its future. Instead of going though dungeons trying to figure out how to beat some boss mob, or going through instances where you have no other player inaction you had guilds meeting, fighting, and preparing on their next steps. The political aspect of the game combined with the PvP made for an always changing persistant world. How your guild acted, and fought could literally affect hundreds of player overnight. Causing alliances and grudges to form which in turn led to more PvP.
If you never played SB or only played at it buggy release you never got to fully appreciate what the game had to offer. If you enjoyed Player vs Player there is no other game out there that could offer on the same level what SB offered.
I can not put into words what my 3 years of Shadowbane has meant to me, because no words will do. I can say i have played almost every MMO on the market that offers PvP and none can fill the shoes that this game has made.
As far as people saying SB players are a--holes or whatever I could care less. Every mmo has it griefers, the difference was in SB you could fight back and had to fight back. The weak were cast aside, there is no safe place for the weak of heart to hide. If you wished to be good you had to fight the evils of the land. If getting pked, or looted, or griefed made you not like the game then go back to the single player games or single player with who chat rooms mmo's that are out there. SB forced players to interact with one other, something I can say most MMO's out there really don't try to accomplish.
Hope some company picks up SB, great game, always will be!
isnt shadowbane going to be free to play or will it completely shut down?
honestly once i heard the news that shadowbane was in trouble once i heard the news that shadowbane was going to be free to play.
well, when wolfpack shuts their doors someone is going to have to pay for the server upkeep to keep the game going at all. It's possible that someone could purchase the rights to the game but i would bet that they aren't going to do that and offer the game as a free service as well.
awhile back they had stated that it was going to go to a free play service much like anarchy online where you can play the basic game free but have to pay if you want to enjoy any of the expansions. I don't know if this is not going to happen now or what. if I had to guess, i'd say it won't . In fact, i'd say the game is probably just going to go away completly. anything can happen though.
Only true succesor to SB and even better is DARKFALL if it will be released only truely open pvp mmorpg to play.
So all who wanne play a FFA PVP MMORPG and dont wanne see carebears go to DARKFALL FORUMS it will be one of best FFA pvp mmorpgs ever released!!!!!!!!!!!!
With the anticipated death of Shadowbane, I find myself at a loss. I suppose that Eve is the closest I can come to the open pvp environment, but it's a poor substitute at best.
No game out there gave cause for guilds to grow closer. Threats against city and ally caused people to pull together like in SB. For example...any reason to have a guild in WoW? You can go through 59 levels without one and not even notice the loss.
Somewhat to my surprise, it's also the most political game out there. Smack talk on the forums can result in destruction of assets in game, and the maneuverings that I've seen made (or partially seen, the behind the scenes stuff will remain unknown to all uninvolved parties) are quite fascinating.
I'll never see anything like that again, I don't think, and that saddens me greatly.
IMO it was inevitable.
There is NO way a MMO game can survive catering to just a small, niche market as Open PvP.
It's just not possible.
When SB first came out, I knew this was going to happen. Full on open PvP? Yea riiight! It will attract and keep 10%, maybe 20% of the population compared to other MMO games, then go belly up. Thats what I said then, and it looks like I was proved right.
To those looking forward to another game taking its place, maybe one will pop up, but my prediction will be the same of what happened to SB.
Full and open PvP was not the reason for the problems that faced SB at launch. Technical issues had been the true problem, not the game design systems. Those that stuck with the game for 3 years I might add, not a short time, found that they did enjoy the environment that was created.
The industry and more importently, the genre can indeed market games to a niche playerbase. Something that WP has/had no control over.
Who knows what will happen to WP and SB, we are working hard for our fans to do all we can.
I am glad to see this and I wish more older MMOGs would shut down, as they are draining too many people from supporting new upcoming worthwhile MMOGs.
Nothing against Shadowbane per say, but it's outdated and outlived it's usefulness.
Sorry to see you go Wolfpack, you made a great game that will go down in MMO history and I wish you every success in the future!
ps. In response to the post above: there is very little or nothing to fill the shoes of Shadowbane currently, so I don't really understand your logic at all. A great game that is 10 years old still has a right to exist and be successful, and this success should be measured on the substance of the game and not the subscriber numbers...not everything is meant to be appeal to the masses
Well apparently the moderator swept through the grifing topic posters with a heavy hand. On the topic of griefing within Shadowbane and how that no doubt led to the games demise however, there certainly is room for factual comment. As was mentioned before , "griefers" exist in every game that has forced PvP and always will. I fully understand and agree that's true. However, no other game that I can think of had a /who and filter command that gave name, level and location of every player as soon as they logged in and locked those players out of save zone cities after a certain level that was set way too low for that player to defend himself. Don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what happened. Every high level "griefer" in game came spawning down on you within minutes of logging in unless you were in a safe player city (and you better stay there too). Not to mention the tells sent to port capable low levels to "Help! Please port me. " and as soon as you did they killed you. This is "fun"? Ya .. for the griefer it is. Oh .. excuse me .. was.
Whoa there pardner. The /who and filter could look up names, races, class, and level. Not a thing about location. If you weren't in their general area, or they didn't tell you/announce it, you had no idea where they were.
Also, in regards to safe zones, there is a safe zone city that you can bind to named Sea Dogs Rest with no level cap. Also, the level cap for the lower level safe zones was raised into the upper 40s, as far as I'm aware. You'll always have a safe place, be it a player city (kept safe by guards, though people can raid your town and kill the guards, pretty unlikely unless you've been doing things to make people angry) or a safezone to bind to/spawn at.
There is no way that people are aware of where you're at when you log in. I have no idea what you mean by "higher level players sweeping down on you as soon as you logged in" at all.
As for the tells sent to port capable low levels to "Help! Please port me. " there is nobody to blame for this one but yourself. Don't summon people you don't know if you're not in a safe zone, and don't accept summons that you aren't expecting. Just a little common sense on that one.
Sir, your "factual comment" had very little in the way of "fact" in it.
True enough, but non ever were, hmmm not to be rude, but shadowbane on release was a nightmare for those that remember and to this day was still a lag fest from hell. Only the true core stuck it out, heck I did for 2 years. However things change, thou I am wondering what UBI meant by "going to more popular genres" has anyone seen any good title that emphases pvp beyond sb or daoc? While UO originally had this concept, it's so out of date, I don't even count it. Point being, there are companies attempting this release and I know if one does come and is well done, it will be close as successful as WoW, not in the multi-millions to start, but I wouldn't doubt a million or more. There is a market for this, just most companies research departments are purly looking at WoW atm.
Hopefully this will change, one title that has some decent pvp being developed by a good crew will be warhammer, Thou again time will tell. As far as wolfpack, there time is done. No innovations or fixing broken things will do this to you no matter were you work for a publishing house.
We are still talking about SB? Shoot ...it had its good points. The griefer thing is way overblown in SB. I hope like the other poster that Warhammer out of Mythic studios (I think) will have the same kind of open ended conquest and tug of war between cities of players. Yes along with that comes criminals (griefers) but like in society get a clan together or a team and let the heads roll.
Thanks Shadowbane! R.I.P.