Elder Scrolls Online – Ciaran Laval

Ok ok I thought hard about it but I simply can’t resist, back on March 29th 2014 I wrote :

The problem lies after launch, after people have tore through the content, when people are being asked to subscribe for a third, fourth and fifth month because that’s where many titles find themselves up a certain creek without a paddle.

The issue isn’t just about how good the game is, that’s only part of the battle. Another issue lies with retention and that’s where subscription only titles have struggled over the last few years, which is why so many of them end up turning free to play.

The Elder Scrolls Online faces a real struggle, history is not on its side but maybe, just maybe, it will be the chosen one and prosper, time will tell, but if I were placing bets, I’d bet that their subscription model will be radically different within 18 months.

Fast forward to today and an announcement regarding The Elder Scrolls Online : ESO Heads To Consoles June 9th. Heading to consoles isn’t the issue, although there is some unhappiness about the fact that console players won’t be able to play with PC players, however the really big news is :

In the latest and biggest Elder Scrolls game ever made, you can choose to adventure alone, quest with friends, or join an army of hundreds in epic player vs. player battles as you explore and discover the secrets of a persistent Tamriel. And with Tamriel Unlimited, coming to console on June 9th and PC/Mac on March 17th, 2015, you will no longer be required to pay a monthly game subscription to play ESO.

The official forums are a mixture of people saying “I told you so” and people saying “They’ve sold us out“. The reality of the situation is that you really did not have to be Nostradamus to see this coming.

Continue reading “Elder Scrolls Online To Ditch Subscription Model”

In this post I will review 2014 from a largely virtual world perspective for the months January to June. This is part 1 of 2 as part 2 is still a work in progress but will hopefully appear tomorrow. I’ll combine both posts into another post for easier future reference once they are both completed. These posts will miss lots of big and interesting stories because the nature of the beast demands some brevity. These post may well look longer than they actually are at first glance because of images and pictures. The aim of posts such as these are to give a brief overview of the year, rather than an in depth review. An in depth review is too long for a blog post, it may make for an interesting book.

Anyway, on with the show, as they say.

January

January started with a look back to 2013 and the number of private region losses. The scores on the door from Tyche Shepherd displayed a slow down on the number of regions leaving the Second Life grid, something that would continue during 2014.

2012 Net Private Region Losess – 2865 (12.0%)
2013 Net Private Region Losses – 1719 (8.2%)

The virtual world of Kitely moved to a different pricing model which largely did away with the pay by the minute options as these had not been popular.

Blackened Mirror poster should be here — The Blackened Mirror Poster

Season 2 of The Blackened Mirror was taking a mid-season break but would return by the end of January. The show was recorded in Second Life.

Linden Lab were Raising The Roof : The HTTP Project. This project, which had started in 2012 was aimed at improving HTTP communications to improve the end user experience. Linden Lab would continue working on improvements during the year.

Second Life users were getting frustrated by tax and account information requests from Linden Lab. They would continue to be frustrated by these requests throughout the year despite Linden Lab improving their communications and information on these issues.

Second Life got a mention in the comedy show, 2 Broke Girls.

Then came the storm to warm up many a chilly January evening, Cloud Party announced that they would be closing their virtual doors on February 21st.

This was quickly followed by even more news to warm up January, Aston Villa fan and Linden Lab CEO, Rod Humble, was leaving Linden Lab. This created a Twitter storm.

Continue reading “2014 Reviewed Part 1 : January To June”