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Ask Massively: Artists I actually dislike edition

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, Opinion, Humor, Ask Massively, Miscellaneous

For whatever reason, Rob Liefeld has become a mini-meme on my more meta columns of the week. He's a bad artist, yes, but as I've mentioned in the past, I don't actively dislike him. There are many people far more deserving of dislike. Case in point: Pat Lee. I'm not going to explain in depth right here, but suffice to say that the man has history of hobbies like not paying his employees and taking credit for the work of others. And he's not a very good artist.

So let's move on from that meme, shall we? Great.

Of course, if I'm talking about mini-memes on Ask Massively, that must mean that it's time for this week's installment, yes? Yes. And this week, we're talking about the now almost ubiquitous case of the Kickstarter project. If you've got a question you'd like to see answered in a future installment of Ask Massively, leave it in the comments below or mail it to ask@massively.com. Questions may be edited slightly for clarity and/or brevity.

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Ask Massively: Artists I actually dislike edition originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 May 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Glitch entering beta stage

Jef Reahard — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Browser

According to a new post on its official website, Glitch is finally entering an official beta phase. What's Glitch? It's a browser-based side-scrolling MMO from Stewart Butterfield and Cal Henderson, better known as the co-founders of Flickr.

Glitch originally began its alpha testing phase a year ago, and Butterfield writes that while the developers didn't anticipate such a lengthy delay prior to the beginning of beta, the time has been well spent. "Hundreds of features have been added -- and nearly as many trimmed or re-thought -- thousands of pictures drawn and animations made, hundreds of thousands of lines of code written, all of it powered by support, feedback, patience, (and impatience!) from our testing community," Butterfield wrote.

He also mentions a substantial infusion of capital as well as the fact that Tiny Speck is hiring, so regardless of the delay, it seems as if the title -- and the company -- is building up a head of steam. Check out the full details at the official website (where you can also sign up to be a tester).

Glitch entering beta stage originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spacetime announces cross-platform mobile play, prepares to license game engine

Jef Reahard — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Mobile, Casual

Spacetime Studios, the makers of the wildly successful Pocket Legends MMO, has just announced a new influx of funding that will enable continued development on the Spacetime Engine and licensing of said development platform to other game makers beginning in 2011.

Gamasutra reports that Spacetime is also claiming an industry first for Pocket Legends in terms of the ability for players on Windows PC, Android, and iOS systems to play on the same shared servers. "Providing players, no matter where they are, with a single deep, seamless 3D MMO gaming experience on multiple devices has been a dream of ours since the company was founded. We feel we're at the forefront of a whole new market for MMO game developers," said Spacetime CEO Gary Gattis.

Spacetime announces cross-platform mobile play, prepares to license game engine originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexon iNitiative launching contest for new games

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Contests, Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items

Having a great idea for a video game goes hand-in-hand with playing them, and it goes double for MMOs. (Admit it, you have at least two that you keep locked up tight in your mind on the chance that Blizzard or Turbine or NCsoft come calling. It's okay.) But more often than not, those of us who specialize in playing and talking about making games never get beyond the idea stage. Making these things costs quite a bit of money, after all, and one lone game fan ranting about ideas isn't usually going to attract venture capital.

Nexon America wants to make life just a little bit easier for the indie game developers and aspiring developers out there. They've just launched the Nexon iNitiative to bring funding to smaller studios and independent games, with an open contest for submissions. The best idea gets a cool million dollars of invested money, as well as a chance at a Nexon publishing contract. So while it's not quite a private design studio to make your great MMO idea come to fruition, it's a great chance for small developers to get a big leg up. If you think you've got what it takes, check out the submission guidelines and get cracking!

Nexon iNitiative launching contest for new games originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All-star team gets funding for Ohai MMO

Shawn Schuster — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, New titles, Browser, Casual, Virtual worlds

What do you get when you mix former SOE developers, a Flash-based virtual goods environment and about 6 million dollars in capital funding? You get Ohai, a new project in development from such industry vets as Scott Hartsman, Blake Commagere and Don Neufeld.

Last fall, the folks at Ohai raised an undisclosed amount of financing (rumored to be $6 million) from August Capital and Rustic Canyon Partners for their new Flash-based MMO. Very little is known about the game, aside from tidbits here and there. Susan Wu, the company's CEO, recently told Virtual Worlds News that it will be a virtual goods focused business, and they're steering clear of the word "casual", in lieu of the much more appropriate term "accessible". Oh, and they're looking to spend a bit of that cash on some talented artists and programmers.

All-star team gets funding for Ohai MMO originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Big Fish Games snags $83 million for expansion

Shawn Schuster — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Browser

In what is touted as the the largest investment of venture capital for a U.S. online gaming company, Big Fish Games has recently secured $83.3 million in funding from VC firms Balderton Capital, General Catalyst Partners and Salmon River Capital. This is all in addition to the $8.7 million they received in 2005, making this developer one of the most heavily-funded out there.

You may remember in November of last year when Big Fish acquired MMO developer Thinglefin which was founded by Jeremy Friesen and Ryan O'Rourke, formerly of Monolith and Sony Online Entertainment. These industry vets have previously worked on The Matrix Online and Asheron's Call. This new MMO from Thinglefin is described as a free-to-play, browser-based MMO, and is currently still in development.

Big Fish Games snags $83 million for expansion originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Puzzle Pirates creators land a big sack of booty

Michael Zenke — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:00:00 EST

Filed under: Puzzle Pirates, Business models, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play

The Venture Beat site is reporting that Three Rings, the developer of the fantastic Puzzle Pirates and the unique microtransaction title Bang! Howdy!, landed a big chest of gold this past summer. I imagine the gold was given to them in the form of American currency, as the company negotiated for some $3.5 million in venture capital money. The site also notes that the company's unique virtual currency platform is enormously successful, with $4 million in revenue reported by the company for 2007.

Though the site's article on the investment is light on what that VC money will be used for, they do briefly discuss Three Rings' work on the Whirled platform: The success of [the virtual currency] model has helped propel the company to 30 employees and is planning its new social networking game world, Whirled, where users will be able to create their own avatars, games, rooms, music, and pets.

[Via Next Generation]

Puzzle Pirates creators land a big sack of booty originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IGG receives $4.5 mill in investment capital

Chris Chester — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Myth War Online, Business models, MMO industry, Tales of Pirates, Zu Online

Internet Gaming Gate (IGG to its friends), who you may recognize as the company behind such free to play MMOs as Myth War Online, Zu Online, and Tales of Pirates, has announced that they have received a new chunk of funding to the tune of $4.5 million USD from an investment capital firm to expand their operations. Having only launched in 2006, IGG has already put out an impressive number of titles and boasts a user base of over 3.5 million. If we had any doubts about the efficacy of the free MMO business model, this vote of confidence has to quell those doubts at least a little.

The funding was provided by IDG Technology Venture Investments, a subsidiary of the International Data Group, a body whose primary goal is to link Silicon Valley to the burgeoning Chinese technology market through the use of venture capital.

IGG receives $4.5 mill in investment capital originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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