69 replies to this topic

[Clownwarlord]

OK last I heard and this was about 2 maybe 3 years ago that PGI had the license extended for them to keep working on MWO. I am talking about the license with Microsoft for the Mechwarrior video game rights. Anyone know because last I heard they as in PGI had the agreement extnded as far as 2020, but what does that mean? Will the game end, will PGI be allowed to continue work? Will the game servers just be turned off? Anyone have any answers? I heard that PGI basically is having the MW5 try and launch it on EPIC by December for the same reason because they will lose the license or something to that effect.

[Spheroid]

Pointless to ask. Barring a leak or a screwup that info will never be publicly released.

[Vanguard836]

Wouldn't worry about it too much, the license was otherwise just collecting dust before and not making a dime.

Edited by Vanguard836, 06 October 2019 - 07:20 AM.

[Unnatural Growth]

Spheroid, on 06 October 2019 - 06:30 AM, said:

Pointless to ask. Barring a leak or a screwup that info will never be publicly released.

This.

The only way we will know either way, if the license was extended is:

1. The game servers shut down = No. No it wasn't.

2. The game servers stay running, for now* = Yes. Yes it was.


*Except the same thing will happen when PGI finally pulls the plug on the game. We will go to log in one day, and the servers are down, and this time, they just never come back on again.


They will never willingly tell us this information. At least not the truth anyway. So look to Rule #1, and Rule #2*


Play as long as you want, or can. Then it's just "Thanks for the Fish".

[C E Dwyer]

Actually I believe they have to inform us of a shut down 30 days in advance

[WrathOfDeadguy]

...and we all know exactly how diligent any corporate entity is likely to be about disclosure requirements!

For the naive and ill-informed, that would be "ignore law until sued, pay token settlement, continue to ignore law."

[LordNothing]

im sure if pgi sends ms another box full of money they will extend it. the question is will pgi do that or spend it all on booze, booty and blow?

Edited by LordNothing, 06 October 2019 - 08:39 PM.

[General Solo]

Or a bigger boat

[Dee Eight]

Its a question that should be asked during the AMA today on discord.

[MechaBattler]

They asked. Russ declined to answer.

[Dee Eight]

Yep...which either means an outright no, or its a not yet. A yes would be simple to tell us. I was who asked in the AMA. I didn't ask for corporate details, fees, etc. Simple...has the license been renewed yet, yes or no ?

[Horseman]

Dee Eight, on 09 October 2019 - 11:46 PM, said:

Yep...which either means an outright no, or its a not yet. A yes would be simple to tell us. I was who asked in the AMA. I didn't ask for corporate details, fees, etc. Simple...has the license been renewed yet, yes or no ?

It's possible he's waiting to see how MW5 sells on launch before making that decision.

[Ajantise]

Maybe its for the best, that they lose a licence. Then maybe a big development studio will buy the franchise or make new game with a new engine.

Not this mess that is basically unchanged for 5 years, besides turning off 50% of engine graphic effects. The game looks worse than it did on launch.

Game-play is unbalanced, and maps are badly designed. Battle-tech deserves much better.

[John Bronco]

Ajantise, on 11 October 2019 - 09:02 PM, said:

Maybe its for the best, that they lose a licence. Then maybe a big development studio will buy the franchise or make new game with a new engine.

Not this mess that is basically unchanged for 5 years, besides turning off 50% of engine graphic effects. The game looks worse Battle-tech deserves much better.

Doubtable, and yes BT deserves slightly better, but really they need a full reboot on the lore and along with model/rules/multimedia support. It's actually pretty crazy that it's still limping on.

[CMDR Sunset Shimmer]

During the recent MW5 AmA russ was asked directly about this.

He went quiet for a moment, and kinda stumbled for a second before saying "this isn't the place/forum to discuss that at this time."

He seemed very unsure, hesitant, and then settled on the "safe" answer.

I'm under the assumption[yes not the best thing to be under I'm aware] that they have not secured the license beyond 2020, and everything likely rests on MW5 doing well.

[Koniving]

CMDR Sunset Shimmer, on 12 October 2019 - 05:08 AM, said:

I'm under the assumption[yes not the best thing to be under I'm aware] that they have not secured the license beyond 2020, and everything likely rests on MW5 doing well.

In one of the earliest AMAs he was also asked.
He gave the answer: "It depends on how well MW5 performs."

Between this and the admission that mech sales have dropped (much earlier in the year), there's a chance they are in hot water. Which PGI had been in before back when the original MW5 was in production alongside Smith and Tinker. At the time, according to Dev Blog 0 (google it under site: mwomercs.com ) after some time of working on it, Microsoft had set the restriction that it MUST release exclusively on the xbox system of the time... and they realized they wouldn't be getting the kind of financial return that they needed, and kept downgrading the project until nearly declaring bankruptcy.

From there, PGI tried again after porting a certain Duke Nukem game. Getting licensed with the help of publisher IGP, they set about MWO with a plan...which they barely if at all followed if you compare Dev Blog 1 through 5 with the final results. In 2014, there was a thing about how they needed to expand to survive, and thus Transverse... was a flop as it was eerily similar if simpler than Star Citizen (I don't think they realized Chris Roberts was licensing the Wing Commander series as Transverse) and lets be honest, no one thought PGI could pull through with it and actually get anywhere with MWO considering they still hadn't produced what was wanted. So they went MW5 instead. But, clearly its production has kept them busy. The engine problems with CryEngine, low number of hands, etc...etc.. Whatever the case, execution of faction warfare was severely mishandled. Solaris requires it to be fun to play 1 vs 1 or in small groups, but the fields are generic and when 'built' for quick kills, Solaris loses any actual thrill compared to a longer drawn out yet intense battle. The lack of any followup for that, too, really let the concept sink like a rock.

So basically any hope for anything rests on MW5. And while the epic game store guarantees a number of sales that if not actually happening would be paid out by Epic, many people pushed for their refunds which probably gave a bleak outlook to MW5's hopes.

I know personally once I have MW5, I'm likely to abandon MWO. Much like a Bethesda game, whatever it is lacking I can improve upon either personally or with the help of other modders. But MWO, like Fallout 76...is a cluster **** for which there is no hope because the players can't save it and the Developer really and truly doesn't know how because no matter what is done, someone will get pissed off.

It's kind of like Red Sabre... The most fun thing about that game is reading the reviews. The game has a lot of potential going for it, really the game just needs a few tweaks and changes to make it fun in addition to its already brutally difficult enemies only miss 1 out of 5 shots and instant 180* spin twitch shots.. But it is forever doomed because the developers just said "We tried but you didn't like it." Give me the ability to tweak the AI's settings and a couple of days of testing and at the very least it might get more than single star reviews.

Edit: After re-reading this, I realized IGP got auto-corrected to IGN. Fixed.

Edited by Koniving, 26 October 2019 - 01:01 AM.

[Wildstreak]

OZHomerOZ, on 07 October 2019 - 11:02 AM, said:

Or a bigger boat

(pic snipped)

Silly MechWarrior, don't you remember they prefer Islands in this community.



and Nerfhammers.

[General Solo]

Is a movable Island, allowing one to say, That was our position at the time
Now is another time and a new position.
Maintenance mode on the starboard bow.

Edited by OZHomerOZ, 13 October 2019 - 11:50 PM.

[Kotzi]

Well, MWO kinda left to die, and MW5 last scheme to get some money, accomplished by EPIC, because the lack of enthusiam and commitment is kinda foreboding. But thats just my conspiracy theory, share yours.

Edited by Kotzi, 14 October 2019 - 12:26 AM.

[Asmosis]

Koniving, on 12 October 2019 - 08:48 PM, said:

In one of the earliest AMAs he was also asked.
He gave the answer: "It depends on how well MW5 performs."

Between this and the admission that mech sales have dropped

I've often wondered over the years how selling mechs was going to be a sustainable revenue stream considering MWO does not have the standard power creep that almost all online games strive for to drive new content sales.

I can log on after not playing for 12 months, hop in a mech I've been using since closed beta with the weapons I used in closed beta and basically be just as effective now as I was then.

I'm not sure the cosmetics are overly well structured either.

Not to mention MW5 will cannibalise the MWO revenue for a few months, since people will buy that instead of spending what they normally would on MWO (especially the pre-order bonuses).