EA Predicted APB's Poor Reception
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
Such a pity for the workers at Realtime - I'm sure that some of them have talent which could be used to make a great game. Unfortunately, APB was not a good game.
MMO's are risky. Frankly, I think this was doomed from the start. First of all, what draw was there for people to go to APB? Unlike a Star-wars MMO or a Blizzard-game Based MMO, or a Star-trek MMO, there was no background to APB that would entice customers. If you are going to make an MMO, you better make DAMN SURE that there's a consumer base that is likely to be attracted to your product. As far as I can tell, APB did not have that base.
Yes, there's plenty of people that like GTA. But APB is not based on GTA, and has nothing to do with GTA except guns and cars, and both those elements are available in many non-MMO games.
Second of all, where was marketing? I use the internet a LOT, but I only heard about this game when people started posting reviews. I doubt many people even heard that the game existed until it was released.
If you don't market your game, how on earth will it sell? And an MMO MUST SELL. If it doesn't sell quickly, in big numbers, if it doesn't gain that critical mass quickly enough, then the few people that bought it will desert it after they realize that no-one else is picking it up.
Frankly, I think it's a bit silly for any company to enter the MMO market right now. I'm not saying that WoW is invincible or that Blizzard can't be beat (they clearly can, Blizzard is just a company after all, not a god), but that if you aren't willing to put a serious effort into it, you're done for.
For an MMO to succeed, you have to market it to all hell, for years, you have to put your face and your companies name in the media constantly, you need to get the hype factor rolling and you need to give people a reason to play.
If you are going to beat WoW, first of all, your game must be better and bigger than WoW, both mechanically, graphically and in terms of content. You aren't going to beat WoW any other way. You can't release a minnow and expect it to challenge a shark.
Although I feel sorry for the folks at RealTime, this project was always likely to fail, and their boss should have realized that.
MMO's are risky. Frankly, I think this was doomed from the start. First of all, what draw was there for people to go to APB? Unlike a Star-wars MMO or a Blizzard-game Based MMO, or a Star-trek MMO, there was no background to APB that would entice customers. If you are going to make an MMO, you better make DAMN SURE that there's a consumer base that is likely to be attracted to your product. As far as I can tell, APB did not have that base.
Yes, there's plenty of people that like GTA. But APB is not based on GTA, and has nothing to do with GTA except guns and cars, and both those elements are available in many non-MMO games.
Second of all, where was marketing? I use the internet a LOT, but I only heard about this game when people started posting reviews. I doubt many people even heard that the game existed until it was released.
If you don't market your game, how on earth will it sell? And an MMO MUST SELL. If it doesn't sell quickly, in big numbers, if it doesn't gain that critical mass quickly enough, then the few people that bought it will desert it after they realize that no-one else is picking it up.
Frankly, I think it's a bit silly for any company to enter the MMO market right now. I'm not saying that WoW is invincible or that Blizzard can't be beat (they clearly can, Blizzard is just a company after all, not a god), but that if you aren't willing to put a serious effort into it, you're done for.
For an MMO to succeed, you have to market it to all hell, for years, you have to put your face and your companies name in the media constantly, you need to get the hype factor rolling and you need to give people a reason to play.
If you are going to beat WoW, first of all, your game must be better and bigger than WoW, both mechanically, graphically and in terms of content. You aren't going to beat WoW any other way. You can't release a minnow and expect it to challenge a shark.
Although I feel sorry for the folks at RealTime, this project was always likely to fail, and their boss should have realized that.
GIJames said:
ummm what?
do you even know what apb stands for... ALL POINTS BULLITEN
the game revoles around the name apb a-dhur
Maybe they should have put more effort into the game part of the fucking game rather than pouring all their resources into having as many different articles of clothes as possible.
ok I'm an Australian, I play APB. I played during the beta and about 2 months after release and so on.
Really the only problem with the game is the sense of achievement when completing a mission. You don't really see much of a "award" when you finish the game besides the rather annoying win screen. There's no "ding" when you level...coz you don't really level, when you max a faction there's not much that happens. Sure you can argue that you get some $$ and maybe if you have been working on a faction a gun in the mail. But nothing really to make you want to keep playing.
I would also have to say if they had have at least given a short storyline for each faction, to show what their intentions are and what they are all about. Rather then just saying "there's a mission giver, have fun.".
I spend endless hours customizing my gear, modding my car and even creating and selling themes. And that's fucking great. Al tho there are a few small bugs in it.
I think that the major problem in game was the lack of community. Having server that only populate to 80 players is pretty fucking ghey. If they had have structured it a bit better say up to 200 players a server and have server worldwide...not just fucking NA and UK based, they may have picked up more players.
They also should have advertised a bit more. A lot of people didn't even know this game existed till the beta was nearly over.
I only hope that someone is willing to pick up the peices and make this F2P...as it fucking should be. F2P with microtrans.
I still play this every now and then, but it gets frustrating with all the hacks.
Really the only problem with the game is the sense of achievement when completing a mission. You don't really see much of a "award" when you finish the game besides the rather annoying win screen. There's no "ding" when you level...coz you don't really level, when you max a faction there's not much that happens. Sure you can argue that you get some $$ and maybe if you have been working on a faction a gun in the mail. But nothing really to make you want to keep playing.
I would also have to say if they had have at least given a short storyline for each faction, to show what their intentions are and what they are all about. Rather then just saying "there's a mission giver, have fun.".
I spend endless hours customizing my gear, modding my car and even creating and selling themes. And that's fucking great. Al tho there are a few small bugs in it.
I think that the major problem in game was the lack of community. Having server that only populate to 80 players is pretty fucking ghey. If they had have structured it a bit better say up to 200 players a server and have server worldwide...not just fucking NA and UK based, they may have picked up more players.
They also should have advertised a bit more. A lot of people didn't even know this game existed till the beta was nearly over.
I only hope that someone is willing to pick up the peices and make this F2P...as it fucking should be. F2P with microtrans.
I still play this every now and then, but it gets frustrating with all the hacks.
I really hope they don't give up on this. I was really looking foreword to playing it, now I just hope they release a sequel or re-release it with at least most of the problems fixed.
Are you serious? How much was it by the hour? Still that is a terrible idea. Especially when people do tend to skim things online and very well could miss something like the monthly fee. Regardless it was foolish not to go with the micro transaction at this point. There doesn't seem to be many people willing to pay a monthly fee for an mmo that isn't WOW or an established mmo anymore.cursedseishi said:
Anyone hope that parts of the game like the customisation will be reused and fed into the next wave of EA sports titles in the 'create a freaky looking gimp' mode?
As for the title, it didn't seem to bring over any of the qualities of the original game to me, so loses points there.
As for the title, it didn't seem to bring over any of the qualities of the original game to me, so loses points there.
MMO's are a very risky investment. They can rake in large money, but you have to give them LARGE appeal, which takes LOTS of money.
Frankly, after seeing how APB was done, its nobodys fault but the developers. They made the game thinking the Sandbox shooter MMO would work for them. And it could have, if they put an emphasis on GAMEPLAY and MECHANICS, which they didnt.
If your going to make an MMO, you need depth and fun. APB lacked both.
WoW seems to understand this. For what its worth, they have regular content updates, something to appeal to hardcore and non-core gamers, VARIETY, and balance (for the most part... fucking Paladins...).
MMO Players will usually stick to ONE MMO. We dont want to throw around $60 a month to play 4 MMO's. Most of our friends are usually one on MMO. If you want an MMO that can pull audiences, follow in WoWs footsteps (and accept the fact that you are not going to kill WoW, so accept competition).
The reason so many MMOs fail is because they try to be a WoW killer with an interesting premise. This tends to fail when the interesting premise just doesn't have good gameplay to back it up. If you copy WoW, your not going to win: WoW is more refined. Just a few tips for successful MMO's.
Frankly, after seeing how APB was done, its nobodys fault but the developers. They made the game thinking the Sandbox shooter MMO would work for them. And it could have, if they put an emphasis on GAMEPLAY and MECHANICS, which they didnt.
If your going to make an MMO, you need depth and fun. APB lacked both.
WoW seems to understand this. For what its worth, they have regular content updates, something to appeal to hardcore and non-core gamers, VARIETY, and balance (for the most part... fucking Paladins...).
MMO Players will usually stick to ONE MMO. We dont want to throw around $60 a month to play 4 MMO's. Most of our friends are usually one on MMO. If you want an MMO that can pull audiences, follow in WoWs footsteps (and accept the fact that you are not going to kill WoW, so accept competition).
The reason so many MMOs fail is because they try to be a WoW killer with an interesting premise. This tends to fail when the interesting premise just doesn't have good gameplay to back it up. If you copy WoW, your not going to win: WoW is more refined. Just a few tips for successful MMO's.
the game never really looked that good to begin with...coolman9899 said:
wasn't interested in it even before I realized it was PC only and not for consoles (tough luck for RealTime, losing the Crackdown series to another developer and all...not that the sequel changed anything really anyway)
You know something? You would have thought that Dev companies would have figured this out after Crimecraft flopped. Yeah, Crimecraft. Anyone remember that game? Of course not! Why? Cuz it sucked, was unbalanced, and was boring as all hell! Gang-based shooter MMOs don't work. Maybe Rockstar could pull one off. Or maybe Volition. GTA4 and Saint's Row have the gameplay down. Why not transfer that to an MMO. At least both dev team there have experience.
I decided to join my brother playing last night, it took 2 missions before the griefing started.
Mission was; Steal and deliver these two cars to this drop off point. But remember the Enforcers can see the location of the cars and drop off point too. So expect them to camp the cars and damage them till they're on fire, making it impossible to get anywhere. Why do the Enforcers know the exact location of the cars? Needless to say, we didn't win. Lots of missions feel like they're made in favor of Enforcers. Another example is Escape missions, you get an "escape bar" that you need to fill up before the time runs out. The enforcers need to take you out usually 8 times depending on the size of your team. The escape bar only slowly fills up as long as the Enforcers aren't shooting or ramming you, and you need to steer clear of any obstacles, or you get penalized (5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds depending on the crime, getting shot at by enforcers is a crime). Surely it would be more logical to give the enforcers a time limit to kill you x number of times.
Then there's the weapon balance, people with weapon mods will hand your ass to you and your inferior gear. Why did they make upgrades that permanently boosts weapons without any negative effects? It's like magnum ammo in Bad Company 2, everyone goddamn uses it cause the only minus about using it is it'll take up a slot.
Lastly, the players, the asshole to good player ratio is terrible. Most people don't say anything, over the in-game VoIP, or in the chats. And then there's people who aren't even in the same mission as you, ramming your car, trying to get you stuck, just to troll you. And this happens even with people from your own faction, wtf guys?
Fuck I hate APB, best grief machine of the year, at the same time I want to like it because the customization is so fun.
Mission was; Steal and deliver these two cars to this drop off point. But remember the Enforcers can see the location of the cars and drop off point too. So expect them to camp the cars and damage them till they're on fire, making it impossible to get anywhere. Why do the Enforcers know the exact location of the cars? Needless to say, we didn't win. Lots of missions feel like they're made in favor of Enforcers. Another example is Escape missions, you get an "escape bar" that you need to fill up before the time runs out. The enforcers need to take you out usually 8 times depending on the size of your team. The escape bar only slowly fills up as long as the Enforcers aren't shooting or ramming you, and you need to steer clear of any obstacles, or you get penalized (5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds depending on the crime, getting shot at by enforcers is a crime). Surely it would be more logical to give the enforcers a time limit to kill you x number of times.
Then there's the weapon balance, people with weapon mods will hand your ass to you and your inferior gear. Why did they make upgrades that permanently boosts weapons without any negative effects? It's like magnum ammo in Bad Company 2, everyone goddamn uses it cause the only minus about using it is it'll take up a slot.
Lastly, the players, the asshole to good player ratio is terrible. Most people don't say anything, over the in-game VoIP, or in the chats. And then there's people who aren't even in the same mission as you, ramming your car, trying to get you stuck, just to troll you. And this happens even with people from your own faction, wtf guys?
Fuck I hate APB, best grief machine of the year, at the same time I want to like it because the customization is so fun.
Well, not going "I told you so" afterwards might have helped... You trying to get your evil crown back EA? You've got a LONG way to go.Tom Goldman said: