Firefall is Officially Shutting Down Today

[ffronw]

Firefall is Officially Shutting Down Today

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1417/1417490.jpgJust in case you wondered what ever happened to Red 5 Studios' MMO shooter Firefall, it's shutting down for good today.

Firefall, the MMO shooter from Red 5 Studios, has had something of a tumultuous life. It began as a PvP-focused game, moved to PvE, and had plenty of drama surrounding it. Red 5 has seen layoffs, acquisitions, and more, but on Wednesday, the company announced that it was closing down the game effective today, July 7.

First announced in 2010, Firefall's mixture of shooter gameplay and MMO mechanics caught the eye of many in its early days, but the game's inconsistent nature and performance issues caused problems, and a move to free-to-play couldn't save it.

According to the closure announcement post [http://www.red5studios.com/2017/07/firefall-closure-announcement/], Red 5 is "currently developing a mobile version" of Firefall. It goes on to say that " all of Firefall's founders and players will be rewarded greatly in the new game." So if you're into mobile versions of MMO shooters, you should stay tuned for more news on that.

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[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

What I hate about the shutting down of MMORPGs is that now there worlds and chracters and gameplay is now lost.

They could have at least just make some offline god mode version of this game at least to preserve it so we don't miss anything.

 

[Worgen]

Shame, I played a bit of that and had some fun with it.

 

[laggyteabag]

I remember this being announced as a PvP game, and thinking it would be a TF2 type game.

Then the game kinda fell off the radar, and it reappeared suddenly, and I had a beta key. Can't say I played it much, though.

Player populations must've been extraordinarily low, if they just straight up killed the game they same day they announced the shutdown.

 

[gigastar]

Firefall had its last content update in January of 2016.

Since then the game has been undergoing heat death as MMOs that dont get content updates usually do.

I remember this being announced as a PvP game, and thinking it would be a TF2 type game.

Was it? I recall the announcement trailer featured a bunch of ARES shooting up some bugs.

Player populations must've been extraordinarily low, if they just straight up killed the game they same day they announced the shutdown.

I had a look at SteamSpy to see if i could cast any light on this, and i found that Firefall was down to less than 50 peak concurrent players daily (low point being 20) and less than 5000 players in a 2 week period.

Im guessing Red5 ran out of money again, and their new masters are making more cuts.

As for how relevant it is on Youtube and Twitch...

Peak on Twitch yesterday: 3 viewers, 2 channels
YouTube stats: 420 views and 16 comments for videos uploaded last week, 2 new videos uploaded yesterday.

 

[Imre Csete]

What I hate about the shutting down of MMORPGs is that now there worlds and chracters and gameplay is now lost.

Tell me about it, I have a Star Wars Galaxies trial disk (for Windows 2000/XP lol) included in a SW games collection sitting on my self.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Firefall is People's Exhibit A in the case that a fixation on "eSports" will destroy a game. The developers threw ideas against the wall just to see what would stick for that all-important crowd, leading to an absolutely incoherent development path and nonsensical changes, which drove off a lot of early players. By the time the company seemed to figure out what it wanted to do with the game, nobody really cared.

Game devs need to understand that, in the FPS realm, the eSports crowd wants exactly one thing: Small-squad gameplay in tiny, static arenas where the only skill that matters is the ability to put crosshairs over a head.

 

[WindKnight]

Firefall had its last content update in January of 2016.

Since then the game has been undergoing heat death as MMOs that dont get content updates usually do.

I remember this being announced as a PvP game, and thinking it would be a TF2 type game.

Was it? I recall the announcement trailer featured a bunch of ARES shooting up some bugs.

The guy in charge initially, Mark Kern, was very unfocused, and went off on tangents, would ignore the devs for ages, then come in and slag off their work, and then spent a lot of money on a promotional bus that never worked or went anywhere. Probably not the best start for the team and the game.

https://www.techinasia.com/firefall-mark-kern-sacked-the9-story

I liked what I played for a time, then realised that anything I crafted was inevitably gonna break permanently even if I put a crap-tonne of valuable resources into it, and went back to warframe (and smiled slyly when warframe brought in a game mode that aped firefalls resource gathering mechanic)

 

[gigastar]

Firefall had its last content update in January of 2016.

Since then the game has been undergoing heat death as MMOs that dont get content updates usually do.

I remember this being announced as a PvP game, and thinking it would be a TF2 type game.

Was it? I recall the announcement trailer featured a bunch of ARES shooting up some bugs.

The guy in charge initially, Mark Kern, was very unfocused, and went off on tangents, would ignore the devs for ages, then come in and slag off their work, and then spent a lot of money on a promotional bus that never worked or went anywhere. Probably not the best start for the team and the game.

https://www.techinasia.com/firefall-mark-kern-sacked-the9-story

I remember that guy. He wasnt initially in charge but he bought his way to creative director by essentially bankrolling the whole project for the first few years.

I liked what I played for a time, then realised that anything I crafted was inevitably gonna break permanently even if I put a crap-tonne of valuable resources into it, and went back to warframe (and smiled slyly when warframe brought in a game mode that aped firefalls resource gathering mechanic)

Ditto.

 

[Nuuu]

I remember playing it A LOT for a good while in beta (when it went PvE apparently, never knew it was once PvP).

It's kind of a shame. I feel like it was an MMO that had potential, but lacked actual content and proper ideas. I really enjoyed grouping up with people to do these big map events, exploring, or doing whatever, but eventually you realize there were only like 5 mission types and 3 large events.

I tried going back to it maybe 1 or 2 years after that initial beta playtest, and found that what I liked about the class/suit system was changed/removed and they really didn't add any significant content.

 

[Bindal]

And just earlier this week I thought about picking it up again. I had quite a good time back when I originally played it a bit (in 2014), even if my old PC could barely handle it.

Even remember one event where the Devs would participate and place some tower-spawners randomy in the map with the goal to kill the devs for a rare cosmetic reward. And that case, two of them had a rather silly idea and put one of these towers smack-dab in the middle of a Hub, right next to a spawn. Still have a screenshot of it:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=320040938
The blue thing on the left is the playerspawn - the giant tower is... well, the giant tower. It was a bit silly, to put it mildly.

Kinda sad to see it gone now.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

This is such a shame! I really loved it's combat, movement systems (Gliding! Motorcycles! Somewhat flying!) and huge events.
Even Yahtzee with his shitty Internet didn't burn it to the ground!

 

[drednoahl]

I used to play a lot, and did a lot of beta testing prior to the last update because I was worried by the direction that the devs were taking the game. Devs ignored all feedback, and some were openly hostile to any criticism of their work not just from myself. Well imo the devs reaped what they sowed.

For a time Firefall was a great game, but the beta testing I did for Firefall was just about the worst time I've had in my time gaming. I am not at all surprised to see it end this way.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Game devs need to understand that, in the FPS realm, the eSports crowd wants exactly one thing: Small-squad gameplay in tiny, static arenas where the only skill that matters is the ability to put crosshairs over a head.

I'd disagree. Look at the first Unreal Tournament. Had lots of out-of-control weapons but people still loved to play it competitively. Ultimately, it really comes down to this. If the game is truly FUN and has a PvP element that isn't totally broken, there will be an MLG scene for it, hands down.

 

[Bindal]

Game devs need to understand that, in the FPS realm, the eSports crowd wants exactly one thing: Small-squad gameplay in tiny, static arenas where the only skill that matters is the ability to put crosshairs over a head.

I'd disagree. Look at the first Unreal Tournament. Had lots of out-of-control weapons but people still loved to play it competitively.

Because it was still all about PERSONAL skill to mastering the weapons - so, basically, you just agreed with him.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Game devs need to understand that, in the FPS realm, the eSports crowd wants exactly one thing: Small-squad gameplay in tiny, static arenas where the only skill that matters is the ability to put crosshairs over a head.

I'd disagree. Look at the first Unreal Tournament. Had lots of out-of-control weapons but people still loved to play it competitively.

Because it was still all about PERSONAL skill to mastering the weapons - so, basically, you just agreed with him.

Actually, this makes no sense to me. The very POINT of an FPS is to shoot things in first person. Obviously shooter skill with the weapons is a requirement in ANY FPS. Especially PvP.

 

[Bindal]

Game devs need to understand that, in the FPS realm, the eSports crowd wants exactly one thing: Small-squad gameplay in tiny, static arenas where the only skill that matters is the ability to put crosshairs over a head.

I'd disagree. Look at the first Unreal Tournament. Had lots of out-of-control weapons but people still loved to play it competitively.

Because it was still all about PERSONAL skill to mastering the weapons - so, basically, you just agreed with him.

Actually, this makes no sense to me. The very POINT of an FPS is to shoot things in first person. Obviously shooter skill with the weapons is a requirement in ANY FPS. Especially PvP.

Clearly it doesn't.
Simply put, eSports players want games where the sole factor that differs for each player is their personal skill. Finding a weapon in the map that's always there? Everyone can do that, but the better player can do it faster and use that to their advantage. And trying to prevent the other player from getting some pick ups is also personal skill to have map control.

Most developers seem to think that stuff that looks flashy and affects gameplay via RNG, random loot, unlocks or stuff that gets you kills automatically is going to make it more attractive - when in fact that's the very thing making it less attractive for eSport.

You get now what the difference is?

 

[Bat Vader]

What I hate about the shutting down of MMORPGs is that now there worlds and chracters and gameplay is now lost.

They could have at least just make some offline god mode version of this game at least to preserve it so we don't miss anything.

I hope Bioware does this for Star Wars: The Old Republic. It's pretty much turned into a single player game and not making it offline when it's finally shutdown would in my opinion be depressing.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Clearly it doesn't.
Simply put, eSports players want games where the sole factor that differs for each player is their personal skill. Finding a weapon in the map that's always there? Everyone can do that, but the better player can do it faster and use that to their advantage. And trying to prevent the other player from getting some pick ups is also personal skill to have map control.

Most developers seem to think that stuff that looks flashy and affects gameplay via RNG, random loot, unlocks or stuff that gets you kills automatically is going to make it more attractive - when in fact that's the very thing making it less attractive for eSport.

You get now what the difference is?

Well, yeah. You're talking about unlockable grossly OP'd guns and uncontrollable RNG elements. Although the thing is, I would argue those elements actually make the game less fun for everyone and not just the MLG crowd.