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Over $100 million invested in Trion and its unusual distribution platform

Samuel Axon — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Business models, MMO industry, New titles, News items

Trion announced that it has managed to get another $70 million in invested funds, bringing the total amount to over $100 million. For reference: that's somewhere in the ballpark of the development cost Grand Theft Auto IV, and about half of what Blizzard has spent on World of Warcraft since its 2004 launch.

Trion is the company co-founded by EA alum Lars Buttler and Might and Magic creator Jon Van Caneghem, which announced that it'll be making a game in concert with The Sci-Fi Channel, as well as a fantasy console MMO we know little about.

We've talked a bit about Trion's plans and business model before, but here's a refresher: it is creating development tools for making games that will run completely server-side. The graphics will be drawn on the client, but everything else -- physics, game logic, etc., will occur on the server and be downloaded to the user's computer. This serves two important functions. It greatly reduces the minimum hardware specifications for games and it makes piracy extremely difficult. We're not going to say yet that it makes piracy impossible, because, well, "life finds a way."

Over $100 million invested in Trion and its unusual distribution platform originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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G4 claims the Trion/Sci-Fi project revolves around Stargate [UPDATED]

Akela Talamasca — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Sci-fi, MMO industry, News items, Rumors

While the rest of the MMO community is happily buzzing about what Trion World Network is working on in conjunction with the Sci-Fi Channel, G4's The Feed has come right out and said it: "A Stargate MMO developed by Trion World Network and the SciFi channel is going to be integrated with the Stargate series sometime in 2010."

Now, we're not out to immediately call shenanigans on G4, but our interview with Jon Van Caneghem doesn't mention any specific shows, and he should know, so ... where is G4 getting this information? A couple of the commenters for the post have noticed this as well, so we're glad it's not just us.

[UPDATE: Our own Mike Schramm, who conducted the interview with Mr. Van Caneghem, had confirmed that this will be a new IP, so that rules out Stargate completely.]

G4 claims the Trion/Sci-Fi project revolves around Stargate [UPDATED] originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively interviews Jon Van Caneghem about the SCI FI Channel MMO

Mike Schramm — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Business models, Game mechanics, Free-to-play, Massively Interviews

Trion World Network is quite a company -- without releasing a single game, they've put together millions of dollars in venture capital and compiled a staff list that's got team members from across the history of MMO games, from EverQuest and Ultima Online to World of Warcraft and City of Heroes.

This week, they sent waves through the MMO community by announcing that not only were they working on a fantasy MMO to be helmed by Jon Van Caneghem (original creator of the Might and Magic series of RPG strategy games and co-founder of the company along with Lars Buttler), but that they were forming a groundbreaking partnership with the SCI FI Channel to develop and publish and MMO to live alongside a television show. Finally, we had a small glimpse of just what Trion, with all of their money and experience, were up to.

To find out more, Massively sat down with Van Caneghem (a busy man since the news dropped on Monday) to chat about both the fantasy MMO and the SCI FI project, and what Trion's been working on since they formed. Van Caneghem told us why Trion wants to make a different kind of MMO, and how they'll balance an online game with a television series from the network that's running Battlestar Galactica. The interview starts right after you click the link below.

Continue reading Massively interviews Jon Van Caneghem about the SCI FI Channel MMO

Massively interviews Jon Van Caneghem about the SCI FI Channel MMO originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trion on their new distribution platform

Chris Chester — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles

When young, unproven companies make that first step of announcing new projects, as Trion did yesterday, there are typically scant few details for gamers to work with in trying to figure out what the company is going to be like. Fortunately, Trion bigwigs Lars Buttler and Jon Von Caneghem were willing to sit down for an interview yesterday to discuss what the focus of their new company is going to be with the development of the Sci Fi Channel project and the unnamed fantasy game.

Their big emphasis seemed to be on innovating the distribution model, removing the retail barrier for entry that may be keeping a lot of potential players from getting invested in serious MMO experiences. Along those lines, they also want to plug into social networking and let players feel they have a presence in the game world even when they're not sitting at their home PCs. Also interesting was their plans to centralize most of the "smart" elements of their games, like the physics calculations, server-side, reducing the hardware requirements for the player. They see their role as much as a platform provider for future MMOs as anything, but the proof is in the pudding, and their games are going to have to impress if they want to have any hopes of success.

Trion on their new distribution platform originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trion announces another project, coming to consoles

Chris Chester — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, MMO industry, New titles, Consoles

Despite predictions that this generation of consoles would herald in the first wave of successful console MMOs, we've really yet to see anything more than scattered chatter and a few announcements here and there. That's why we were excited to hear that Trion World Network, who we found out earlier today are also working on a project with the Sci Fi Channel, announced plans to bring a new fantasy MMO project to the Xbox 360 and PS3, in addition to a release on the PC.

Jon Van Caneghem, creator of the Might & Magic series, will be the creative force behind the game, which we still know precious little about at this point. The comments from Caneghem indicated that the as-yet-unnamed game will have a dynamic world that would change based on the actions of players. No word yet on the scale of the project, whether there will be cross-platform play, or whether there is some sort of development timetable. Very interesting news from a developer/publisher that is quickly finding a place on our MMO radar. And hey, they're hiring!

Trion announces another project, coming to consoles originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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