Quote Originally Posted by Preypacer View Post
If ARR is successful, and SE can show a complete turn around in the game's popularity and revenue down the road, I think it could definitely go a good ways to be used as "proof" that the investment can be worth it.

SE is in a unique position in that they are self-funded. They don't have a third-party Publisher breathing down their neck, dangling development checks over their heads and rushing them to "release sooner!". They are the publisher. SE did to themselves what other Publishers do with their developers with 1.0's release, and look where that got them. They underestimated how much players would take and pushed it out the door before it was ready. With no publisher involved, they had no one to blame but themselves - and they learned from it.

Publishers don't tend to learn, unfortunately. They make the same mistake with game after game after game. They think only in terms of "bottom line". When something doesn't work out as they want, they pull the plug and walk. Or they do the "change of revenue model to try and salvage the game" routine that's become fashionable over the past few years.

If SE can prove that going back to the drawing board and changing everything out can actually work and turn out to be well rewarded, I think you may see more Publishers and investors more willing to give developers a bit more rope. Probably not much more (again, they're forever looking at the bottom line), but maybe enough.

Think of it this way, even with EQ1's roaring success (at the time, it was a roaring success), many many developers, publishers and investors wouldn't touch MMOs with a 10 foot pole. It wasn't "proven enough" a gaming or revenue model for them. WoW comes along, attracts millions of players, makes tons of money, and all of a sudden, all the developers, publishers and investors were like, "Oh! MMOs! Of course! We want one of those, too!".

So, who knows?
Yes we are lucky SE is in such a unique situation. This situation may well be a catalyst that moves the genre forward. They seem to be using a lot of systems MMO fans can relate with and jump right in to, but once they hook these people there is no stopping SE from really doing things differently and driving the genre forward since they wont have to worry about yes's and no's from investors.