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Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising News - Gods & Heroes Canceled?

Posted by Jon Wood on Oct 09, 2007  | 37 comments in our forums

Warcry is running a story that Perpetual Entertainment, the company developing both Star Trek Online and Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, has new investors and that this brings the future of Gods & Heroes into question. The article asserts that the game has been canceled.

Neither the Gods & Heroes site, nor the Perpetual Entertainment website currently reflect any change or closure. MMORPG.com was unable to reach Perpetual Entertainment for confirmation of this story.  We will, of course, follow this story as it develops.

 

Read the original story here.

Read more Exclusive News...

 
 
Midaveg writes:

It may sound like a speculation due to its development team downsize and delay on release. But its very doubtful if the news is true.

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10/09/07 9:18:05 PM
 
m240gulf writes:

I have a hard time believing they are going to cancel Gods and Heroes.  It's going to be a money maker and for this new company taking over it is basically free money for them.  Although it is news like this might shrink it's potential player base before it even launches, so bad move on their part.

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10/09/07 9:30:06 PM
 
Alamor0 writes:

That seems rather absurd, seeing as they already have pre-orders for sale at stores.  I would think the cost and hassle of recalling and refunding would be unrewarding.

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10/09/07 9:32:48 PM
 
daylight01 writes:

i find this quite easy to believe,I was really looking forward to this game with the minion system and ofc the whole story setting but from all reports it is just a quest and combat game and just wont cut it with so many big titles comming next year.For ppl that say "what about the money they have spent on it"well with new investors comming in(which I think is maybe down to star trek online) they have probally said "hey we aint throwing good money after bad"i think it could be take it on the chin with the lost cash on GnH and they will try to make a huge hit with star trek.this is just my opinon ofc.

New Post Quote
10/09/07 9:44:36 PM
 
Muirin writes:

Something happned to Gods and Heroes.  The Closed beta forums are down.  Use to have sections for each class, bugs, help, server statis, ect...   Now all thoes are gone and we only have Client Info and Official Beta Announcements.  So far no news on their forums or official site.  But it doesnt look good.

New Post Quote
10/09/07 10:09:40 PM
 
Dabruuzer writes:

It's official. From the main page of the G&H site:

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears...

Loyal and faithful community members and Beta testers, thank you for your support help, and understanding during the Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising development process.

The development team established some very lofty and ambitious goals when the initial work was started on Gods & Heroes. Recently we took a step back to evaluate the competitive landscape, the game's current state, and the overall goals for our organization. And while we are truly proud of and pleased with what we have created in Gods & Heroes, we also realize that achieving the level of quality and polish that we are committed to will take a significant investment.

The Perpetual team is faced with a unique challenge of simultaneously developing both Gods & Heroes and Star Trek Online in addition to growing our Online Game Platform business. After assessing all of Perpetual's opportunities, we have made the decision to put the development of Gods & Heroes on indefinite hold.

I want to express my overwhelming gratitude to the community, engineers, designers, artists, animators, and the game services team for the support and effort that has gone into Gods & Heroes.

Moving forward, we're shifting our collective focus, resources and development efforts to Perpetual's Platform Services division and Star Trek Online, thereby ensuring that the game lives up to the high level of expectation set by the dedicated Star Trek fan base.

Again, I would personally like to thank all of the Gods & Heroes supporters who have been with us from the beginning. Hopefully, your continued support will be as valuable to our future endeavors as it was with Gods & Heroes..

Vade in pace,
Chris McKibbin

 

New Post Quote
10/09/07 10:11:13 PM
 
JonMichael writes:
Originally posted by Dabruuzer

It's official. From the main page of the G&H site:

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears...

Loyal and faithful community members and Beta testers, thank you for your support help, and understanding during the Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising development process.

The development team established some very lofty and ambitious goals when the initial work was started on Gods & Heroes. Recently we took a step back to evaluate the competitive landscape, the game's current state, and the overall goals for our organization. And while we are truly proud of and pleased with what we have created in Gods & Heroes, we also realize that achieving the level of quality and polish that we are committed to will take a significant investment.

The Perpetual team is faced with a unique challenge of simultaneously developing both Gods & Heroes and Star Trek Online in addition to growing our Online Game Platform business. After assessing all of Perpetual's opportunities, we have made the decision to put the development of Gods & Heroes on indefinite hold.

I want to express my overwhelming gratitude to the community, engineers, designers, artists, animators, and the game services team for the support and effort that has gone into Gods & Heroes.

Moving forward, we're shifting our collective focus, resources and development efforts to Perpetual's Platform Services division and Star Trek Online, thereby ensuring that the game lives up to the high level of expectation set by the dedicated Star Trek fan base.

Again, I would personally like to thank all of the Gods & Heroes supporters who have been with us from the beginning. Hopefully, your continued support will be as valuable to our future endeavors as it was with Gods & Heroes..

Vade in pace,
Chris McKibbin

 


Such a shame. :(

I really enjoyed playing this game and was looking forward to it's release.

 

New Post Quote
10/09/07 10:16:39 PM
 
Muirin writes:

I enjoyed the beta alot.  Only thing i dint like was the missing crafting system and no PvP.

New Post Quote
10/09/07 10:17:05 PM
 
hellshock writes:

damn..i actually enjoyed playing this one :(

 

 

 

 

anyone wanna buy my  pre orderkit ?:)

 

 

New Post Quote
10/09/07 10:23:33 PM
 
Darth_Pete writes:

I got in to beta last weekend and it was horrible..  no wonder they canceled it

New Post Quote
10/09/07 10:27:40 PM
 
soecabal writes:

SOE is on the label.  Any shock that the game is dead before it's released?

 

New Post Quote
10/09/07 10:46:53 PM
 
Cablespider writes:

Originally posted by Darth_Pete

I got in to beta last weekend and it was horrible..  no wonder they canceled it

Jeez, it wasn't that bad. In fact, I enjoyed it for what it was. Polished, no. Potential, yes.

New Post Quote
10/09/07 10:54:18 PM
 
Itanius writes:

 

Originally posted by Darth_Pete

I got in to beta last weekend and it was horrible..  no wonder they canceled it

 

While I was in beta, and also didn't like it, I realize that it was BETA TEST and they were doing their best with the limited resources at hand. 

 

I wish them good will and good luck in their development of Star Trek Online.

New Post Quote
10/09/07 11:22:33 PM
 
ColdSun writes:

How sad.  I thought the game was quite impressive.  It had its bugs but it seemed to be moving along.  I can verify this story is true though.  I have not been able to log in to a server and I checked the beta forums and the message above was definately posted.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 12:30:31 AM
 
Mordith writes:

While the game had potential, in my opinion it just was severely lacking in "something." I could never put my finger on it, but it was enough that I doubt I would have subscribed if it went live. Investors may have realized the same and decided to cut their losses (rather than pulling a VG).

New Post Quote
10/10/07 12:47:32 AM
 
isilwen writes:

that was huge disappointment it been cancelled i kind of dontl ike how soe kills games and never truly develop what is outside cookie cut mmo model.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 2:12:50 AM
 
Cutedge writes:

SOE had nothing to do with this cancellation. Not that SOE are saints but lets give credit where credit is due, or in this case not blame SOE for things they really had nothing to do with.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 2:16:32 AM
 
observer writes:

Oh no! The SOE curse is upon any who shall lay hands on it.

Come on...give me a break people.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 2:58:54 AM
 
grimfall writes:

It's really suprising, and almost refereshing to see a company understand the concept of sunk costs and apply it to a game which is so close to being completed.

My guess is that the first round of layoffs was a chance to give the development team time to create a proposal that showed they could make a profit going forward, and that the proposal was rejected or that they realized in creating it that they were not going to turn a profit.

Gods and Heroes is a fantasy MMORPG, and the market is just too crowded now.  Trying to release in the shadow of WoW , and fight for customers against well done games like EQ2 and LOTRO, then finally fighting for new sales against Conana and War, it just wasn't going to happen.  Look how quickly SotNW went to a free to play format.

Sci-Fi has room for another WoW.  If you're going to develop a fantasy MMORPG, better do time it with WoW's decline phase.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 4:00:36 AM
 
Trenyt writes:

This game had more holes then a block of swiss cheese , so im not surprised. I wasnt going to partake in this game anywho but as people before have said its a shame it went out in this fashion.

 

New Post Quote
10/10/07 4:05:14 AM
 
Terranah writes:

 I'm really shocked. 

So now that the game is canceled, is the NDA still in effect ? 

New Post Quote
10/10/07 4:13:23 AM
 
treysmooth writes:

The game was so far from being ready for prime time, this doesn't suprise me in the least.  I've been in beta for awhile now and there was just so much wrong with the game. 

The graphics were pretty good but the art design, especially on the characters was really weak.  The graphics design isn't something that would make or break the game for me but it was little things that killed it for  me.  The minion system reminded me of guild wars but not implemented as well.  The class choices were pretty limited which is a big negative.  I would prefer a skill based system but if you're going to go the class route at least give me variety. 

But the big thing that killed it for me was the total lack of stability in the client.  I mean I understand its beta but  I would start the game wanting to get sucked into the experience and 5 mins in, it would crash nearly every time I tried to play.  When it did run, it ran pretty well framerate wise but my god it was unstable.  I messed with settings but really didn't matter much.

I guess the lack of original features didn't really help either, I honestly think they made the right choice in cutting their losses I didn't see the game going anywhere even though I went in with semi high hopes for the game.

 

Peace

New Post Quote
10/10/07 4:14:38 AM
 
Obraik writes:

Lol, and here come the anti-SOE crowd

New Post Quote
10/10/07 4:22:14 AM
 
eric1000 writes:

Well I'm not one of the we hate SoE crowd, I am one of the we hate the swg side of SoE crowd but to balance that I play EQ2 at the moment.  I beta tested G&H and this cancellation comes as no surprise, the game was second rate and had more bugs to squash than rentokill.  Only recently many testers were unable to even get past the launcher and for a game so called close to release that was disasterous, showing just how bad the code actually was.

 

In the game itself there were more crashes than constructive playtime and when the game did run almost correctly it left a lot to be desired.  In short G&H was sub-standard and badly coded with not a hope in hell of competing with the big MMO's out there and I think PE came to realise this.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 4:37:18 AM
 
stratego2007 writes:

 

Originally posted by Obraik

Lol, and here come the anti-SOE crowd

Completely wrong: have been subscribed to VG and SWG this month , thinking about EQ2, probably my next MMO ! I'm NOT a SOE hater at all !

 

But this game is a fail and I STOPPED the beta 1 month ago because couldn't even beta test it: my char was stucked each meter, client crashed everytime and gameplay was poor. Decided to come back yesterday and try again, to help this project BUT  couldn't connect tried tried and tried again, no server...

NOW i can understand why...

Nothing has been told to BT, this is a SHAME.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 7:13:10 AM
 
Keogh writes:

 

Originally posted by Terranah

 I'm really shocked. 

So now that the game is canceled, is the NDA still in effect ? 


How can a non-existent game have an NDA in effect? I would say that any NDA that applied to G&H is now null and void because there is no game.

 Legally, according to the NDA, it will remain in effect until PE announces otherwise. They aren't about to do that.

All that they could do to you is ban you from closed beta for violating the NDA, but there is no closed beta any more.

 

 

New Post Quote
10/10/07 7:17:48 AM
 
Keogh writes:

Originally posted by Obraik

Lol, and here come the anti-SOE crowd

Wrong, SOE was smart and saw this train wreck coming and bailed as soon as they could.

This was all PE. So much for their "Rookie" entrance into the world of MMO's.

Someone needs to start an official "We hate PE" thread that can get a sticky.

 

New Post Quote
10/10/07 7:21:34 AM
 
Trenyt writes:

When even the 'rats' SOE jumped the sinking ship, you knew something was going wrong onboard

New Post Quote
10/10/07 7:24:25 AM
 
BriarFox writes:

I am glad to hear that a company will take the high road and drop a title if it is not going to be a quality product for a paying customer. 

I had questions about how this game was set up but it had many ideas that I liked.  I wish all fantasy mmorpgs made a character's relationship to a deity central, but I would have been more interested in a Norse or Celtic theme.  I think this is one content problem with G&H.

 

But this puts things into perspective.  As badly as Vanguard did at launch it was still in better shape than most games being released and SoE has to be given credit for rescuing games even if they helped to kill SWG (still not sure that Lucas didn't kill that one).  Blizzard has to earn points for how polished WoW was and LOTRs although thin is still a solid game.  D&L was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread and it was a true total disaster.  All of this makes me wonder about any title that has not yet been released.  Nothing is certain.

 

Getting a quality game out the door seems to be getting harder and I have come to the conclusion that looking forward to a title in development may be asking for a let down.  We need to be less harsh on the titles that are out and stop looking to games that are not yet here.

 

New Post Quote
10/10/07 7:25:54 AM
 
LordKyellan writes:

Since the game's been "put on indefinite hold" (which we all know means cancelled) I'm going to feel free to talk about it now.

I got into the beta test of Gods & Heroes. I found it to be mediocre at best. There was little originality in the gameplay, and the "minions" (who ran on the exact same track as the player... anyone who saw it knows, it was kinda creepy looking) didn't add much, if anything at all to it. The setting was sorta neat, and the first introduction to your patron had potential to be a lot cooler, but G&H just didn't have it.

I hope this causes Paramount or whoever owns the Star Trek license to yank it immediately. Perpetual, to me, has proven that they are the wrong people to be working on this massive game. We haven't had an even halfway-decent Star Trek game in years! Either pull the license, or please, please make sure that every person in management on that team is fired -- or alternately, set on fire.

There's some flaming for ya.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 7:25:59 AM
 
ajm563 writes:

This is truly sad.  I was really looking forward to this game.  It had combat that looked fun and the minions system sounded interesting.  I never got into the beta so I don't know what the game was like.  But, I am disappointed that this game won't be coming out.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 8:10:37 AM
 
Zorvan writes:
Originally posted by ajm563

This is truly sad.  I was really looking forward to this game.  It had combat that looked fun and the minions system sounded interesting.  I never got into the beta so I don't know what the game was like.  But, I am disappointed that this game won't be coming out.

Combat itself was standard WOW and everything before it fare. The minion system was highly over-rated and poorly thought out/implemented.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 8:24:58 AM
 
ajm563 writes:
Originally posted by Zorvan

Combat itself was standard WOW and everything before it fare. The minion system was highly over-rated and poorly thought out/implemented.


Which would explain why it was cancelled... I mean put on indefinite hold.  The minion system was probably the biggest selling point of the game.  I would still like to see a mythology based MMO though.  *Sigh* maybe one day.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 10:51:15 AM
 
tillamook writes:
Originally posted by Dabruuzer

It's official. From the main page of the G&H site:

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears...

Loyal and faithful community members and Beta testers, thank you for your support help, and understanding during the Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising development process.

The development team established some very lofty and ambitious goals when the initial work was started on Gods & Heroes. Recently we took a step back to evaluate the competitive landscape, the game's current state, and the overall goals for our organization. And while we are truly proud of and pleased with what we have created in Gods & Heroes, we also realize that achieving the level of quality and polish that we are committed to will take a significant investment.

The Perpetual team is faced with a unique challenge of simultaneously developing both Gods & Heroes and Star Trek Online in addition to growing our Online Game Platform business. After assessing all of Perpetual's opportunities, we have made the decision to put the development of Gods & Heroes on indefinite hold.

I want to express my overwhelming gratitude to the community, engineers, designers, artists, animators, and the game services team for the support and effort that has gone into Gods & Heroes.

Moving forward, we're shifting our collective focus, resources and development efforts to Perpetual's Platform Services division and Star Trek Online, thereby ensuring that the game lives up to the high level of expectation set by the dedicated Star Trek fan base.

Again, I would personally like to thank all of the Gods & Heroes supporters who have been with us from the beginning. Hopefully, your continued support will be as valuable to our future endeavors as it was with Gods & Heroes..

Vade in pace,
Chris McKibbin

 


If they were truly doing well as company they wouldn’t be laying people off, they would be moving them. Star Trek online is DOA as well, what they stated about the project was pure smokescreen. It should be more than obvious based on the data that’s been coming out about it, and how fast they jump on the defense over what’s being said about the project being DOA. It has more to do with the mismanagement of time, money and resources. Things just got out of hand over there. Also BioWare is not as pleased with the performance of the perpetual launcher platform as they were originally. As much as I dislike a lot of SOE’s tactics, this really has nothing to do with SOE. If anything SOE only attempted to rescue their butts.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 11:16:49 AM
 
WarpHunter writes:

Damn, I finally find an mmo I enjoyed and now it is cancelled... Well, hopefully AoC turns out to be a good game...

New Post Quote
10/10/07 11:17:19 AM
 
Zulika writes:

Bah!  I loved the storyline of this game.  I do not know if there is anything out there I want to play now or even look forward too. 

New Post Quote
10/10/07 7:35:12 PM
 
brezel writes:

i can understand if they cancel this game. you should dont forget they making star trek online ... the fans can only hope they made it better as gods and heroes.

New Post Quote
10/10/07 10:05:29 PM
 
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