Anarchy Online, Funcom and the Potential Future of the IP

[Cratertina]

Ouch.

[Caloss2]

Oh.
http://www.funcom.com/investors/func...ategic_options

[Transform]

It's looks absolute funny when you see bunch of people still poking on other in game issues like multiboxing/rebalance...

Once must you realize that Funcom is in survival mode now. Funcom have "no time" nor resources for that...

Anyway, I've paid 6 of my accounts for year to give some finance support as I can(I don't even log once for last three weeks already).

To those AO hardcore fans, enjoy the last bit of this game as you can.

[Windguaerd]

http://www.vg247.com/2015/08/11/age-...m-up-for-sale/

This can be closer than ever

I wonder if they would be desperate enough to just sell AO itself.... 'cause if they were open to it, a smart dev would start a kickstarter (or whatever way to raise public funds) and buy the property. IMHO the game is worth less than 2 million usd, probably leaning more toward the 1.5-1.7mill mark.

With ALL the rights to the IP.... hell someone with some creative initiative could actually build a franchise out of it through different platforms. Android game for the phones, where you can build your own Notum field and upgrade the towers, get guards, etc... then play against other players... pretty much Notum Wars with a twist. Or the "Corporate Wars" where you control a fleet from your chosen hyper corporation againsdt other players (based on the storyline). A kid friendly "Save the Leet" game where you trick and distract the "bad hunters" so the player can save the cute leets. I mean... I'm confident that any AO fan could come up with a fun concept for a new AO inspired game... because the first thing that would be needed after acquiring the IP would be something which would generate cash within a short period of time (3 months).

Porting AO from the dysfunctional and outdated Dreamworld engine to an ACTUAL real up-to-date engine (like Unreal or Unity) would be too costly, it would require more money than it is worth as-is. That is why the franchise should build up the reputation on a different platform first to then cross promote from Android to PC when the time was right.

When would the time be right?.... well...

I don't think the traditional porting of the game from one engine to another applies in the case of AO. Most textures are low res, which means either they need to be retouched or altogether made from scratch. I don't think FC still has the MO CAP info from when the game was released to save on the cost of doing all the emote movements, fighting movements and actions that AO fans are used to. A few hours of MO CAP can go between 75K to 250K depending on how many cameras are being used, and the level of detail (general body movement, hand/fingers movements, facial expressions).

There needs to be not only a realistic budget, but someone SMART enough to seek and find SOLID solutions to challenges to get the project not only in line, but always under control (no "we screwed up, now we needs to start over... we just wasted 1000 hours of work... from 4 people... so actually 4000 hours lost, ooops!").

The game has suffered due to poor management and poor marketing. When AO was a cash cow, instead of strengthening the title and fixing problems, upgrading the system... the profits were used to create another game which did not meet expectations (and this formula was repeated a few times).

So... if the IP was purchased by someone, they need to be smart and build the franchise on a different platform at a low cost (compared to PC development costs) and encourage the AO Community to participate and be honest and open. Android I think would be the most cost effective to start with. For example:

"Hey, we just got the rights to AO, but to do it justice and release it proper (not like FC's 2001 disastrous launch) we'd need more money than we have, or could ask for without looking like dirty evil greedy corporate Omni-Tek executives. Instead we'll relaunch the franchise on Android with this cool game, we want you to be a part of the experience. We want this game to succeed and we'll focus on it until we feel that it's reached a point where it is so damn good that it will make not only enough profits to KEEP the game strong and fun for the long run but also help fund the return of AO. The game we're making is small, but it will have the spirit of AO in it, and it will be a foundation for the franchise. It's won't just be a little cash cow so we can go and rebuild AO... it will be an important cornerstone of the foundation of the franchise. Every AO related game released, regardless of platform (Android, PS4, XBox One, Wii-U, PC) will have a team of devs dedicated exclusively to each title as we move along on making the Franchise not only strong but reliable and stable. We'll face challenges, but we won't face them alone. You, the AO Community will be at our side, playing our games, letting us know what you love and dislike so we can create the best experience possible. Together, we can bring AO back to life, better than ever. Thank you for your support and we look forward to see you play our games! =D"

Yeah... like that.

Who would have the balls to do it? Sadly, I have no idea.

[Dollcet]

How about a Pen and Paper RPG ?
I did a pretty basic Version of that while i was in the Slammer , had to simplify the Implant/Cluster Combos and left out most Tradeskills but everything else was pretty easy.

[sultryvoltron]

The host honorable thing for FC to do is to commit Seppuku and release all licenses to AO, make it open source, and send the server-side character info to someone from the community who can setup a server.

The players have been taking care of the game for years with their subscriptions, let them continue to take care of it away from FC's bad business decisions.

[Windguaerd]

The host honorable thing for FC to do is to commit Seppuku and release all licenses to AO, make it open source, and send the server-side character info to someone from the community who can setup a server.

The players have been taking care of the game for years with their subscriptions, let them continue to take care of it away from FC's bad business decisions.

The Seppuku part... they already did that themselves, they killed the company. I don't see any chance for them to make AO open source, that would reveal their precious Dreamworld engine code which is so valuable to them, they've been holding on to it for many years... truth is that the code is worthless to any other company out there with engines which are far superior, easy to understand and code that are widely available. It would more viable for a person or group of people to attempt to buy the IP rather than the game itself for a clean new start. FC is likely to refuse any independent offer for the IP (unless it's at least 1.5mill USD I think) because they are trying to sell the entire company, not parts of it in any way. However if FC filed for bankruptcy and was shut down entirely (company closes doors, everyone is laid off, company ceases to exist legally) THEN if someone made an emulator or AO clone or AO inspired game (NOT with the Dreamworld engine ofc) then there would be NO COMPANY to sue against the new game/project.

The only thing FC cares about is money, it is the ONLY way to get them to consider letting go of the IP. I highly doubt they would make anything open source.

[haxi]

How much of the AO codebase is comprised of third party licensed code? They probably couldn't open source AO if they wanted to.

[Vinkera]

The host honorable thing for FC to do is to commit Seppuku and release all licenses to AO, make it open source, and send the server-side character info to someone from the community who can setup a server.

The players have been taking care of the game for years with their subscriptions, let them continue to take care of it away from FC's bad business decisions.

If they did, I have the means to do so, and would gladly.

[haxi]

How much of the AO codebase is comprised of third party licensed code? They probably couldn't open source AO if they wanted to.

I'll respond to my own post, since I knew I had seen this question arise before and actually be addressed by an AO developer that knows what they are talking about:

AO will never be open source. And that's not because Funcom wouldn't want it, but because they never could make it open source.

AO, like most games, uses a good amount of 3rd party libraries Funcom is paying licenses for. AO relies on these libraries to work and replacing them would take a considerable amount of time. For some of them there aren't even good enough open source alternatives available.

These libraries' licenses are not compatible with open source. Nor is Funcom permitted to distribute the source of these licenses.

Secondly there is the issue with how AO's toolchain works. AO's content is created using a series of tools specifically made for AO. These tools also were never designed to be used as stand-alone tools. They don't work outside of the office and especially don't work with multiple instances of these tools out there.

AO's tools assume and are build around a single development environment (their office network) and don't support the sort of remote collaboration and cherry picking of content/features you'd want of an open source project.

tl;dr AO can't be open source due to incompatible 3rd party licenses and incompatible toolchain

Source is from this discussion on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/anarchyonli...game_director/

[Esssch]

However if FC filed for bankruptcy and was shut down entirely (company closes doors, everyone is laid off, company ceases to exist legally) THEN if someone made an emulator or AO clone or AO inspired game (NOT with the Dreamworld engine ofc) then there would be NO COMPANY to sue against the new game/project.

That's not how that works.

[Tryptophy]

What I would really like to see is the lore go public domain so that people can just make spinoffs. The game as it stands is toast due to the age of its technology and the 3rd party libraries. A totally new game could be developed from scratch with less effort (and more importantly, far superior results) than modernizing the existing game. But not without the threat of copyright infringement.

I for one would LOVE to see mods of existing games done in the Rubi-Ka universe. I hear the new XCOM is going to be highly moddable...

[Lheann]

When the last quarterly results were released and Funcom made the open statements of having 12 months of viable operating cash left on hand I stated on the forums that it was the beginning of the end. So it seems just a quarter later things are even more dire than the last quarterly report indicated. Not surprised that LEGO game is flop.

On the LEGO Game
When it was released on mobile as F2P targeting 11-16 year olds as the primary target audience I knew it was doomed to fail. Not because I hate how FC manages game releases but because I own a mobile game development company and anyone with a brain that runs said type companies understands that 11-16 year olds have minimal to no purchasing power on mobile devices and even on PC and Web based games as well. F2P games do horrible inside this demographic when it comes to revenue generation. Yes they may do good on downloads and installs and even have high daily active user numbers but that is not revenue. Further server based games require hosting and the amount of traffic you have impacts your hosting cost. So those high daily active user numbers actually cost you more further reducing any profit you might be making. In short Funcom entered a market segment without understanding the dynamics of that sector and paid heavily for it.

On the LEGO Game relaunch
Once again Funcom failed to learn. The game still targeted 11-16 year olds as the primary target audience. Again that demographic has little to no purchasing power. Now the game has a purchase price and will require the child to get their parents to approve/purchase it or decide how to spend their iTunes gift card money. The game simply lacked the appeal compared to other free options. Trust me that parents will try to convince their child to find a free game they like instead of purchasing one for them. It is just how that demographic works. Now the server and hosting cost have to be covered by the same old formula of (new installs per month * revenue per install) >= support cost per month. To say it was a bad demographic to be targeting is an understatement.

On AO
Funcom has never been interested in selling the IP or even licensing the IP. Thank you for never contacting us back when we inquired by the way Funcom. It is a game I loved to play but the lack luster management of game and the total failure to update the game engine in a time frame remotely acceptable remains a clear indicator of the serious issues inside the company. AO uses the subscription renewals per month * prices of renewal >= support cost formula to determine profit/loss. The math is a bit more complex because of longer term renewals and how they impact revenue projection. Just leave it as Funcom does better when people are on month to month than on long term subscriptions because of the higher stable monthly revenue versus revenue spikes caused by longer term renewals.

On AoC and TSW
While both more modern they are in the same boat as AO. At some point they will need engine upgrades and the question has to be asked how hard will their upgrades be given the history of the AO upgrade.

On Open Sourcing any of the live MMO's or Selling just one off by itself
Been said already that the tools, third party software and development environment will not allow AO being opened sourced. It is safe to say that AoC and TSW share the same problems. Given the description of the live MMO's from the latest CEO interview I am willing to bet that uncoupling the three MMO's from each other (billing and support come to mine quickly) is nearly impossible. So any company that wanted one of the games is going to have to take all three to maintain the player base or go through the hassle of starting the game up ground zero and growing their own community. Not what I call a good risk at all.

Final Thoughts
Funcom has shown as a company that they lack management leadership at all levels. They lack proper funds management. They don't know how to launch a game properly, just see that the AO launch is still used as the defacto example of how to not launch a game. Funcom has also failed horribly in market segment and market demographic analysis as indicated by the double failed LEGO launch. Any company taking over or investing has their hands full and will need to consider replacing vast parts of the company's infrastructure. As the CEO said in the latest interview, Funcom's current market capitalization makes them appealing as a purchase target. In other words they are valued as cheap. This worries the most of anything I have seen. There is a company known for buying cheap game studios and ruining them. You might have heard of them. I am talking about EA. EA's history is buy the company strip the management, train their people under the existing development team and then finish cleaning house. Once they have full control and no "but the game lore is" people left EA has taken games towards profit generation at the cost of all other concerns. So right now I fear for the future of AO. You can rest assured that anything left undone at the time of a purchase will most likely never get finished or delayed for a very long time.

[Mastablasta]

Could you put out some examples of games EA ruined from the last ... 5 years?

[Wrangeline]

Could you put out some examples of games EA ruined from the last ... 5 years?

Dungeon Keeper for iOS/mobile https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpdoBwezFVA

To a lesser extent Sim City and maybe even Sims (by releasing a stripped down version of the already popular Sims games, so that they can resell 100 expansions containing the kind of content that Sims players already had in the older games). But the Sims thing is stretching it a bit. Sim City was easier to identify as "EA-manhandled". The always online lies, the undersized cities, the "everyone have their own lives and homes" lies and so on.

But anyway, Looking at the list of games they have published in the last 5 years, Dungeon Keeper is the one that sticks out as the most horrible example of EA kitten stomping a beloved franchise. EA isn't the top dog when it comes to bad practices in the gaming industry. Other companies have taken that distinction from them in the last few years.

[Mastablasta]

"All" mobile games are scandalous cashgrabs anyway, so I don't really think that's anything special

Sims was kinda like that from the first game though, and it's kind of like an MMO in that the original games grew so absurdly that there was no way to release a new one to explore new options without losing the content from the previous games... dunno.

Sim City was a scandal, and they suffered for it and tried to make amends. But those are stand-outs. EA released tons of games in the past 5ish years and most have been solid to good. Dunno, I don't really get the EA hate.

[Lheann]

Could you put out some examples of games EA ruined from the last ... 5 years?

EA's purchase of PopCap and Firemint game studios took all those properties from decent mobile games that did not hide content behind pay walls into games that are pure cash grabs. Sure the games are still decent but now they all suffer the "maximum goodness" is behind a paywall. These types of moves scare me if EA was to purchase the live MMO's all of which have in game stores. How long would it be before top gear, content, best experience was behind a paywall? Also I think Wrangle line answered this pretty good as well. This is the hate I have for EA.


More on how I see the business side of this:
However, I am considering the idea of the live games being bought from a business transaction point of view by any investor and have to ask what do they offer that could help that company make their money back and turn a profit? That translates into the following:
1. How little do I have to do keep the current user base and does current revenue fund this with cash to spare?
2. How much work & advertising do I need to do increase the player base by X percent and ensure game viability for say 3 more years?
3. How can I exploit the ingame store in a mobile like In-App Purchase method of generating revenue? What items have players complained greatly about getting in game due to excessive grind and what is the price threshold that would make them good sellers in the item store?

#1 and #2 are pure business and things every investor should be considering. It is #3 that we run into a big problem. Just using AO as an example: Clearly some form of Combined AI Armor would be a seller for some cash threshold. Most likely a no-drop version of it to promote you spending more cash per account. This is luxury item and generates spikey sells at best and would be accompanied by other things as well. So there is a lot of places to go with just this idea that could generate cash. Buy the Armor at QL25 and then buy upgraders per piece to raise it X number of levels. See how easy it would be turn a spikey revenue generator into a longer term revenue generator and all it takes is pissing off a few vocal purist folks in game. That is a place companies like EA excel as they don't care about the purist so much. How about 220/30/70 toons in full gear ready to play for some cash amount? I can see the advertising now: "Buy AO on Steam for 19.99 and get 1 fully leveled and geared character to start your exploration of Rubi-Ka with on first log in. Future fully ready toons can be purchased for $49.99 in the in game store." Maybe a token that cost $1.99 that you use to access a new endgame content location that drops the most uber gear in the game that has to be assembled? Oh you get one guaranteed item per run and there is 100 items total you need to collect. These are all things that have been done in other games that have got taken over. So while it might not be EA it could be someone else that believes in the same principles. The fact Funcom has not resorted to these tacts is at least one good thing about them.

Funcom has a market cap of $75.6 million USD as of closing yesterday. So it is safe to say that the live MMO's could be bought for much less or more precisely cheap. Last year the Live MMO's are reported as making 11.72 million USD for a profit of 4.09 million USD after expenses (from Annual report page 56 released May 1 2015). Generally speaking the selling of IP generally encompasses getting 2-3 years of revenue for the selling price. Given Funcom's current state 1-2 years of revenue might be sufficient to buy the properties. So a price of 12-36 million USD and the live MMO's could find a new home. That accounts for "must survive so sell low" to "we want the market reasonable valuation" to "we are greedy folks" negotiation positions.

Again I am looking at this in a pure business transaction sense and if I wanted to part with that much money right now I might consider it. But to make it viable and in the end a net profit for me I would have to forgo some principles and put in paywalls and cash for power items in the in game stores. I suspect the live MMO's could double their revenue over the first year with such moves even taking the losses in active accounts that would occur because so many people are on 6/12 month subs. Year 2 and 3 would be real challenges but if you spent 2 years of revenue to buy the game and your changes net that back in 1 year then year 2 and 3 are pure profit years after expenses. Shutting a game down when profit reaches zero would still be a viable option. So that is how I see the business side of things going forward. In short the game we love could become the game we hate. Let us all hope that does not come to pass.

[Mastablasta]

I would assume that it would be almost impossible to buy just one MMO the way they sauced it all up in eachother means you're going to have to buy all of it.

I don't really think you'd make more money by putting in more pay-walls than already exists in these games. TSW hides all of its content and new content behind paywalls, so that's done for. You can't increase prices in the games itemstores because they're already ludicrously high and the populations are nearly empty for all 3 of the games, compared to rival games, and as a result if you start to sell everything in the cashstore you'll cause enough ire for them to go belly up. No, that's a completely wrong way of thinking of how to make money off of these products, and the same one that has brought FC to the brink of ruin. Why you'd want to continue down that path, I can't imagine.

Especially since your reasoning for hating EA is them doing exactly what you just said you'd do if you were put in control here

[haxi]

FC already sells every yes drop phat in game via GRACE and using the player-base as the middle man.

[Windguaerd]

MMOFTW - The End or a New Beginning for Funcom? by MMORPG.com