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Star Trek Online News - Launching This February!
Posted by Michael Bitton on Nov 06, 2009 | 46 comments in our forums
Slobodan Simic of Fudzilla has picked up on the fact that Amazon.com has attached a release date to their pre-order listing of Star Trek Online, which is being listed as releasing on February 2nd, 2010.
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Generally, it's best to take retailer listed release dates (in the absence of an official announcement) with a grain of salt, but they are often pretty accurate when listed only a few months before a game's launch window. As it has been previously reported, Cryptic Studios and Atari have already confirmed the game will launch in early Q1 2010, and this date most certainly falls into the Q1 2010 timeframe.
Doing some digging around we discovered that GameStop is also listing their Star Trek Online release date at February 2nd, 2010, lending some credence to this rumor.
However, until Cryptic Studios either makes an official announcement or confirms this date to us we're cautioning that this story is still in the realm of speculation. We'll update this story if we receive any more information, so stay tuned!
UPDATE: Eurogamer has now confirmed with Atari and Cryptic Studios that Star Trek Online will indeed launch on February 2nd, 2009 in North America, and February 5th, 2009 in Europe. Set your calendars!
This happens almost with every game ever made. Sometimes they are right, most often many website just state the wrong release date, as often these release date where in fact initial release dates the gamecompany hoped on releasing their game , often given to certain websites several months if not years before the game can actualy be released.
I highly doubt the game will be able to make a release the second month of next year, if it will release I doubt the state of the game will be good or might be very limited which would go against everything Star Trek "can" be, just hope they will be able to proof me wrong.
Why is it studios in this genre are so optimistic when it comes to release dates? Especially since almost all of them end up pushing the release date back several months. More like a June or July time frame. They have a lot to do in this game yet.
I will be shocked if it releases in February and if it does you can expect an unfinished product.
If this game releases in February, Crytpic should close their doors now, and never make another mmo game again. From what I saw at the Eurogamer expo, only last week, the game is bloody shockingly bad. For such a huge IP, if this game even releases at February seriuos questions need to be asked how mediocre companies are allowed to get huge IP's such as this, along with the probably many millions of dollars of investment.
If February 2nd is indeed the release date, I'm simultaneously pleased and disappointed. I'm pleased because it will be a birthday present to myself and I'm disappointed because I know that there's no way it will be a solid product. I already have many misgivings about the game, and indeed I'm only going to try it because I'm a huge Trekkie, but launching just a few months after the start of closed beta doesn't sound promising.
Let's see, my post launch sub crash predictions for AoC and WAR were both about 100,000 players too high so taking that into account...Hm, I'm torn. This is a hard game for me to judge. I can't nail down my prediction. On one hand I see it having about 250,000, on the other hand I can see roughly 150,000 (keep in mind these are numbers for about 3-6 months after release). I guess I'll just have that window as my prediction: 150-250K.
Cryptic doesn't exist anymore. They were bought lock, stock and barrel by Atari and Atari will release on that date. CO needed more time but once they announced the date, it released. Look for STO to do the same and look for a major game changing patch either a week before release or on release day.
The February 2010 launch date has already entered the realms of worst-kept secret.
I would hope, bare minimum, they would spend six months in closed beta, with an additional two months or so of open beta (or focused test periods, or what-have-you). That puts it in the summer timeframe. I know they're all "Q1! Q1!" but unless the game is 90% or more done and pretty much perfect right now, there's no way they should ship it that early... unless they want it DOA.
They are not allowing much time for testing bugs. The closed beta just started. Didn't CO have over 6 months and it still had issues at launch Hopefully, that release date will get delayed.
Hmm not long to go then....
* Goes to transporter room and waits *
ME TOO!!!
Just as an aside, when is Cryptic's (or Atari's, rather) fiscal year Q1? The interview quote said, "Q1, but it it won't be in July", but I think their fiscal Q1 may be Apr-May-Jun... and well, June is still not July.
I think this date might be true. STO cant afford to not release this game well before TOR hits the shelves. They want at least six months of not competing with Bioware.
Inside the Amazon.com offices:
*tosses a dart at a calender*....aaaaand the release date for Star Trek is the....2nd of February. Ok whats next on the list. Starcraft 2 eh
*tosses a dart*
Engine bugs fixed in CO will automatically transferred to STO, as it uses the same MMO engine.
Most of the bugs you are referring to were content bugs, and will likely have little impact on STO :p
I really have a bad feeling about this game. What they've shown us so far just doesn't look all that fun or interesting. Does anyone know if they've talked in detail or shown videos of what traveling/exploring/finding new star systems and planets is like? I remember a while back they mentioned players could be the first to find and name planets/etc. THAT sounds interesting to me, atleast more than the generic war going involving the Klingons.
Atari is no doubt pushing it for release. They are one of those companies that have very little pride in putting out a quality product, they just want the money. If this game releases in February, it won't be ready. I've seen the demos, while it isn't't as bad as some people might make it sound, it isn't exactly thrilling either. There is definitely a lack of depth to the game combat, which just isn't justifiable because the combat isn't particularly exciting. Anyway, February would give it less time in beta than Champions Online had... and CO could have used a few more months to clean up issues and add content. You might be able to get away with something like that in a cape and spandex game with a no-name IP... but trying to do the same thing with an IP like Star Trek is going to make a lot of fans very mad.
Seems to me like they are relying on the IP alone to sell boxes. Which I have no doubts it will... but there are going to be a lot of upset people if the game isn't done justice.
I dont think this game will be any good til at lest 2012, they havent been workin on it that long , don't care if there using another games engine only a year or so workin on it means very little fetures. i can see it now ship combat will only be using 2 buttons and ground combat to=/
Febuary could be a realistic month.
Sure, the game might not have EVERYTHING in it by launch, but it's a MMO.
Just because the content is not complete dosn't mean that the engine is non-functional.
MMO's by default should grow with time, like a fine whiskey or wine.
But from experience from other companies that have created their own MMO engine (re-invented the wheel so to speak) it is always a shaky start.
STO uses the CO engine, CO have gotten all the "shaky start" bugs, STO will be perrrfect at launch ;) (I am hoping).
And please people, don't be so negative. But if you must be negative, please explain your reason. Saying "it's going to be bad" is no reason and no facts to base that statement on.
Live long and prosper. \\//,
Atari and Cryptic just don't care for longterm goals anymore.
CO was developed in less then 3 years. STO is developed in less then 3 years.
Just cheap, rushed development with minimal staff. Spend most on Marketing and hyping the shit out of their games.
Lure people into 6-month and Lifetime offers and then combined with as much possible box sales. It's all they go for and trying to make enough profit already with that alone.
Then they just bleed the people dry who sub, to cash further on it. Till everyone is left. Close up. Move on to next game.
So STO won't be any different in that regard. It's a huge IP and with that alone they gonna try cash in loads of box sales, lifetime and 6-month subs.
And that is the whole shame in all this. The Star Trek IP deserves so much better than this. /Facepalm
Cheers
I can't say that I trust this but I see why this is happening. For those people who claim the gameplay is pretty bad from playing the eurogamer demo; I think basing your opinions on that demo is not exactly right and I'm almost pretty sure the people in closed beta would agree considering they said the eurogamer demo was an earlier version of the combat. I don't believe they would show off the combat and keep talking about it if they didnt think it was good enough. I am skeptical but I am hopeful.
Come 1 Dec 2009, Atari and Cryptic may have no other legal choice but to ship it out the door to you on 2 Feb 2010. Because of the new FTC rules that go into effect on that date.
Cryptic apparently has no idea what they are doing when it comes to making MMOs. If they are releasing this game ALREADY after only picking up the IP from Perpetual LAST YEAR, the game could not possibly be anywhere near ready...
Why do so many developers seem to think it is okay to rush unfinished garbage MMOs to release!?!? Why can't they seem to learn from the mistakes of so many others?? One need only look to the most successful and popular MMORPG in history to see that you should never rush out a game before it is ready. WoW released with more than enough content to keep most players occupied and happy. I don't see how Cryptic could POSSIBLY have enough content prepared for a Feb. 2010 release...
Unless of course everything in the game is procedurally generated crap with no soul.
Geez you lot a negative bunch!!! Why????
You haven't even played it yet... you've only seen screenies and demo vids. All the Trekkies I've spoken with are so excited and can't wait to play. I even have several guildies in the closed beta, and tho they can't say anything, they can say it rocks!
I'm pretty certain that you lot of grumpy downers are in the minority. So, please get a life of your own and stop dragging others down with your negative posts.
As the old saying goes... "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"...
*edited for proper grammar*
Or we could show our displeasure and hopefully make them think twice about shipping out an undeveloped product.
Your way ends up with flowers and rainbows and happy times here on the forums... and a trash game.
The other way is more realistic and possibly gets us a good game. Unfortunately, all is not sunshine, happiness, and love in the gumdrop forums... oh poo.
You can keep your flowers and rainbows. This is a consumer driven market, the only way to improve things is to bitch about them. It sucks but that's the reality of it.
There are three obvious reasons why this game came together so quickly.
1.First of all it is a space game, there is less work to making a space game. Why, because its space, throw out an few dozen asteroids, some wierd looking gas and a giant planet, and wammo, there is your playfield.
2. they already had the game engine built. Half of an MMOs creation effort isin the engiene, they were able to skip that part and just work on content.
3.Speaking of content, they didn't have to create it out of thin air, the content was already there, they didnt have to think up anything, star trek already was thought of.
You take those three things into consideration and it explains how this game was able to be made so quickly, rest your worries.
Believe it or not, creating content is much quicker and easier than trying to adhere to content that spans over an absolute vast amount of sources.
nice cant wait the game looks to be a good change from all this fantasy elf/orc crap i been playing for 10 years kinda burned out, hope it turns out to be a fun game
They haven't spent enough time beta testing the game. I expect the same crap that happened with Champions to happen with STO. It's sad, because this game could make a killing if done right. Cryptic is very good at building up hype, but not delivering. So, I will check the game out and i hope that I am going to be surprised, but I'm not going to be get super excited. Nothing that Cryptic has done so far with Champions has made me think STO will be a hit.
I've been railing against STO's direction as much as anyone here, but I'm really starting to believe this isn't Cryptic's fault. This is the fault of Paramount and Atari -- companies that know **** all about MMO development. This insight on my part doesn't persuade me to buy STO, but it does lend pity to Cryptic for having its brand name sullied by its tyrannical overlords. I sense Cryptic is doing the best that they can with the time and money resources given them; unfortunately their best isn't good enough (from what I can tell thus far) for me sad to say.
Or you could post something CONSTRUCTIVE in the STO forums about where you think Cryptic is making some mistakes and OFFER some ideas on how it could be done better... at least that's what an adult would do.
If people agree with you or have other ideas, then you might create some momentum, and maybe, just maybe, change something for the good of STO.
But bitching, moaning, and proffering suppositions and assumptions doesn't really do anything worthwhile in the end... it all about how you say it, and the best place to say it. I, personally, would be surprised if the STO devs read forums in this corner of the world when they have tens of thousands of posters on the OFFICIAL forums... happy to be proven wrong tho...
Of course they read these forums. Short of word of mouth this site is the most prevalent form of advertisement the MMO community has.
The feedback in this thread is the most constructive feed-back any game company can get. Don't release the game until its ready. Just because its not packaged in ribbons and bows doesn't automatically delegate it to mindless complaints.
Yeah i agree 100% tired of games relseased not finished. Few years ago you could go to best buy look at pc games pick one that looked good go home play have fun or game sucked but at lest it was finshed and worked. Now your gambling 60$ on a pc game that you havent spent alot of time reading about or your standing looking at the game box IS the game even finshed!
Sto might come out working right but im going going to bet there is going to be very little content and fetures, so far i herd alot of it is just smashing 2 buttons, at lest wow i can roll my face across the keybored!
New FTC rules?
Any more info on this?
New FTC rules?
Any more info on this?
Kindly explain the connection, and why STO must ship... I fail to see it.
Cool story bro, too bad it's going to fail regardless of when it ships because Cryptic seems to think putting out as many MMOs as possible in a short amount of time will guarantee a large subscriber base.
BTW: This game is going to get ROCKED by SW:TOR when it comes out.
haha I laugh at all of you who said the game will come out in 2011. As expected you armchair game developers, you know nothing.
New FTC rules?
Any more info on this?
http://houchinlaw.com/?p=468 Maybe that’s a good thing for many consumers, because some marketers have been slimy with their marketing efforts. However, it’s safe to say that most marketers are honest and sincerely offer products and services designed to help their clients feel better or make money. Both will definitely be affected by the new Guidelines released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which take effect December 1st.
http://askjamesholmes.com/marketing/new-ftc-rules-for-internet-marketers-and-what-you-must-know The new FTC rules go into affect on December 1, 2009 and they will directly impact the design of your webpages, blog post, and sales pages. It really doesn’t matter if you are product creator and owner or an affiliate marketer, if you use endorsements or testimonials you must understand these changes and know how to market within the guidelines.
for more visit: http://www.ftc.gov/
I don't hold too much hope for this game releasing so soon. 4 months for testing sounds like another 6 months of patches and downtime for subscribers.
I was really excited about this title but the more time passes so does the excitement unfortunately. I'll be waiting for a bit after release to buy it. I'm a trek fanboy but not a big enough of one to want to pay beta test this one.
Feb..does seem a bit quick, I kinda figured it for Christmas sales 2010, Depending on how large the staff allot can get done by the release date, I just hope the bean counters are not the ones rushing them to release, the suits have ruined allot of games by pushing them out the door for box sales and not looking at the long term subscriptions that an mmo depends on for longevity.. :)
I think lots of mmo's mostly the old ones that are getting played out, will feel the power of the force, Bioware has big shoes to fill on this one, I hope it's good, but they could fall on their face also.. I see STO doing ok, it will have a nice niche market.. I think, only time will tell.. :)
I plan to give this game a try till SWTOR comes out. But I do have to agree that it is too soon to release this game. Closed beta for 4 months. Makes you wonder about open beta.....2 weeks? But we all need to wait and see how the game plays
I will certainly give the game a shot when it comes out because I am a mega-Trekkie. However, it seems obvious to me at this point that Cryptic is not taking the correct approach here. If they release the game in Feb., I guarantee it will be unfinished. No MMORPG can possibly be released in a polished state with so little time in its development,
And the argument someone raised about them releasing early because they didn't have to work on the engine design is rubbish. SWTOR is being developed on an engine that was already fully designed and ready before they began working on a single piece of content. They have since been painstakingly implementing the content since 2006. That means it will have at least FOUR YEARS of development on an already finished game engine.
On the other hand, Cryptic is pushing out STO after only picking up the IP last year. There is no possible way that this game will have anywhere even remotely close to the content or polish that you will find in SWTOR. And considering the way Champions was rushed out without Cryptic even having decided exactly what they wanted to do with the gameplay mechanics, I think that is very scary.
I have been watching this game for awhile. I am also a bit concerned about the date. Even if i believed that the back end of the game was fine; I still wonder if you can have enough content added in that time. Also, I see no room to address probs/issues brought up in closed and open beta. How can they possibly address what they learn by Feb when closed beta just started.
If Mythic behaves the same way they did with Champions Online, they will launch the game and patch it as if it was beta. They seem to have no problem with this approach so I would expect more of the same.
http://houchinlaw.com/?p=468 Maybe that’s a good thing for many consumers, because some marketers have been slimy with their marketing efforts. However, it’s safe to say that most marketers are honest and sincerely offer products and services designed to help their clients feel better or make money. Both will definitely be affected by the new Guidelines released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which take effect December 1st.
http://askjamesholmes.com/marketing/new-ftc-rules-for-internet-marketers-and-what-you-must-know The new FTC rules go into affect on December 1, 2009 and they will directly impact the design of your webpages, blog post, and sales pages. It really doesn’t matter if you are product creator and owner or an affiliate marketer, if you use endorsements or testimonials you must understand these changes and know how to market within the guidelines.
for more visit: http://www.ftc.gov/
Well that is good to see! Thanks for the links!!!
I gotta agree here. I'm looking forward to STO but with CO as a new Cryptic standard I'm worried what they'll do with this. Yeah obviously companies need the money but if they push another unfinished MMO out the door Cryptic will quickly become a joke. Take the time, do it right, and if they have absolutely great, but if they haven't this'll cost them more than waiting a few more months for a decent launch. Here's hoping for the best.