Another new game for Jagex

[helring]

 

 

 Jagex, the developer of fantasy MMO Runescape, is working on a new first-person shooter called Block N Load.

The cartooney online multiplayer shooter is a combination of 5V5 team-based first-person action and strategic construction. Teams build defensive and offensive emplacements before attacking the enemy base. It looks a bit like Team Fortress 2 meets Minecraft.

 

Six heroes are available, including Cogwheel, a weapons-obsessed robot; Mexican ninja O.P Juan Shinobi; and Doctor Eliza Doolally, who likes chemistry.

 

Unlike previous Jagex games, Block N Load is not browser-based, is not free-to-play and is not an MMO.

 

You can put your name down for the beta, scheduled for winter 2014, over at the Block N Load website. A Steam release is planned for 2015.

 

from Eurogamer http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-11-20-runescape-dev-jagex-announces-5v5-fps-block-n-load?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialoomph

 

 

[Ambler]

Seems very similar to Ace of Spades... Still pretty interesting though. I'll try it out if it has Linux support :>

[Arceus]

Just wait until you see the upcoming Treasure Hunter promotions that are going to pay for this game <.<.  I guess it could be fun, might give it a try.

[Tim]

Might wanna move it to Off-Topics' Games section since it's not "Runescape" related. 

 

 

It's made by the guy who was behind Ace Of Spades in Jagex. He said the launch, reception and marketing of AoS was terrible and wanted a crack at making it again from scratch and doing it right. Dunno how PC Gamer got beta access since the website for it isn't even working.

[Blofeld]

I hope it works, because Jagex really needs to get some success outside of Runescape. From what I can judge, Transformers really doesn't seem to be doing so well so far, though it does seem to be stuck in perpetual Beta, or has it been properly released yet already? I really can't tell as when they first they released the Beta they marketed it a hell of a lot as if it was already a finished product and not a demo.

 

My big concern is they seem hell bent on copying the flavours of the moment, just tweaking them slightly currently:

 

• Transformers- trying to get in on the MOBA market
• Chronicle-repackaging Hearthstone 
• Block N Load-seems to be ripping off Minecraft far more than makes me comfortable

This lack of innovation and desperation to get a 'Twitch hit' seems to be their Achilles heel.

[Hajutze]

It looks like "Minecraft meets Lego". Should be fun.

[Fire_Hawk154]

Maybe they should invest some money in making F2P a little better and remove all those awkward "you have to be member for this, this and this" messages every 5 minites. They are too busy developing new things while all the old things are starving.

[Hajutze]

It'd be a retarded business decision not to develop new games.

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

It'd be a retarded business decision not to develop new games.

To play Devil's Advocate, Jagex's last few forays into new games mostly sputtered out.  So you could understand why both the RuneScape community and them have a bit of PTSD regarding any new game announcement from them.

 

This one shows promise, though.  Better yet, it's on Steam.  They stand a better chance with this one than they did their last few dozen games.

[Saradomin_Mage]

Ace of Spades was on Steam too, wasn't it? Wonder why they seem to be rehashing the same thing.

[Steph]

If it's more like tf2 and less like mc ik probably fall in love with it. We'll see

[SpliffSmoke]

Hmm, seems interesting, might check it out

[Paragon]

they should make me CEO. Ill clone a few runescape-like games and sit on my cash pile. Instead of having more treasure hunter to fund these failures.

[Golvellius]

Well they might beat blizzard to the punch with this new FPS/MOBA genre if they don't dink around in beta too long.

[Yoko Kurama]

I wish them well as developing more games is pretty much vital to their success and existence as a company (the RS golden goose will die some day...), but they don't exactly have any sort of good track record on these things. So yeah...

[essiw]

^People have been saying that RS will die some day for over 10 years now already. While it is logical that all things will die in the end, it doesn't mean that it will die before the company itself does. Also while RS can die, it is also probable that it will blossom more.

 

On the topic itself, this will be a game that I won't even try. As I don't like FPS at all (as I am a pacifist I just don't see the fun of shooting others, I find it boring).

[BattleThingz]

Booo, fix issues in rs before attempting another fail game.

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

Booo, fix issues in rs before attempting another fail game.

This only goes to further the point I made earlier.  But that aside...

 

 - Jagex has to face a real reality in which their game studio is only really known for a one-hit wonder and a lot of blunders.  This game has the potential to change that.

 - A game that big will always have issues to fix.  And "fix" is very subjective, depending on who you ask, and what you're asking.

[Yoko Kurama]

^People have been saying that RS will die some day for over 10 years now already. While it is logical that all things will die in the end, it doesn't mean that it will die before the company itself does. Also while RS can die, it is also probable that it will blossom more.

 

On the topic itself, this will be a game that I won't even try. As I don't like FPS at all (as I am a pacifist I just don't see the fun of shooting others, I find it boring).

 

That's just not how modern corporations/companies work. They will try to exist as long as it is possible, with or without RS. It's more than likely that RS will die before Jagex does.

 

As for the probability that Runescape will blossom more, I don't see how. Runescape is a very old game in its late phase. It hasn't blossomed for years. Its player base has stagnated and declined drastically for years. The game operates basically on a freemium model (unlike the past when it operated on a subscription model). Basically, it operates by micro transaction payments (SGS/ TH) - it extracts a lot of profit from a very small segment of players who are very hardcore and (relatively) wealthy in real life. In freemium models, a very very small minority of the player base generates most of the profits (often less than 1%).

 

It no longer uses a subscription model as its primary means of profit (though obviously they still do sell subscriptions, but they're a smaller part of Jagex's profits), that means they don't depend on constantly having newer players sign up, and then convincing them to buy subscriptions.  The numbers bear this out: free to play is practically deserted and Runescape no longer drawing newer players to the game like it used to. This leads to a contradiction where even though Runescape is perhaps more profitable than most of its years, it has less customers than in the past ( a pretty small part of the customer base that actually pays most of the bills - those who buy bonds/SGS). Well, these players will move on at some point in their life, and when they do, it will be over.

 

That's the problem with trying to run a huge company on the backs of a small segment of the customer base: if they leave, it could all crumble. With a larger customer base, you aren't so dependent on so few people, and your risk is dispersed across a large number of customers. After all, in the past when Jagex had 1 million subscribers with more cycling in each month,  it was very unlikely that they'd all simultaneously quit. But now that they depend on a few hundred or thousand people at most to buy bonds/spins/SGS hardcore, well it's not very unlikely at all that a few hundred/thousand people decide to quit the game.

[essiw]

^Runescape always had those problems. If you read a thread from 5 years ago you will see the same arguments. Except that they didn't rely on micro-transactions, they always had a problem attracting new players.

[Yoko Kurama]

^Runescape always had those problems. If you read a thread from 5 years ago you will see the same arguments. Except that they didn't rely on micro-transactions, they always had a problem attracting new players.

 

That's not even remotely true. Runescape was the largest free to player game in the world for years. It did not have a problem attracting new players to the game for most of its existence; in fact for most years, free-to-players outnumbered pay-to-players by 8-9 to 1. Now we have under 500,000 subscribers* (I think), and free players that number far less than that. At its peak, Runescape had 10 million free-to-players, and 1 million subscribers (in late 2007). Even controlling for bots, that's very significant.

 

I don't even see how one could possibly see the same arguments 5 years ago, when Jagex only made the most important change to their business/player base model like 3 years ago (in 2012).

 

 

*The last known figure was actually 440Kish, but I have decided to round it up.

[Arceus]

Are you including the players paying with bonds in your figures for free players?  Because those should count too, in a sense, and unless you know something I don't it would be virtually impossible to hunt that number down.

[Low Levelled]

Just silly to say Runescape is dying, and equally silly to say it will never die

[Yoko Kurama]

Are you including the players paying with bonds in your figures for free players?  Because those should count too, in a sense, and unless you know something I don't it would be virtually impossible to hunt that number down.

 

I am not sure what you mean, could you clarify, please?

[Arceus]

I'm just making the point that players paying with in-game money (bonds) or a good chunk of them are technically still playing for free, as in not spending any real life cash.  And it's harder to make a comparison with the ratio of free players to members when that option was not available until recently.