Written by Derek Kessler on
Wednesday, 28 November 2007
Recently, Perpetual Entertainment cancelled development on the game Gods & Heroes to focus all of their attention on the MMORPG Star Trek Online. The last month, they filed to liquidate their assets (i.e. the owners want to cash out and are selling the company piecemeal). While we don't yet know who the new owners of Star Trek Online may be, we have learned that they apparently have already started to tinker with the warp core, and the news may not make you happy: STO is going casual.
Now what exactly does 'casual' mean? Right now, we've learned that the monthly subscription previously envisioned will be abandoned in favor of in-game purchases involving real money. While the acquisition of Perpetual has not resulted in any layoffs, apparently some of the development team are so upset with the new direction that they quit the company. The Korean game published Gravity Co. (creators of Ragnarok Online) had invested $9 million in Perpetual Entertainment. They filed with the SEC that the investment is presumed lost.
As a Star Trek fan who spends a good deal of time with Star Trek fans, I know that we're not a 'casual' bunch. We get invested (emotionally and finacially) in any number of things - especially Star Trek - and tendto take it seriously. Just look at any of the countless debates over various plot devices or character twists - Star Trek is something that we value. I was looking forward to Star Trek Online to be my first venture into the land of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, but now I'm not so sure. I suppose I'm going to need more details before I can really make up my mind.
Recently, Perpetual Entertainment cancelled development on the game Gods & Heroes to focus all of their attention on the MMORPG Star Trek Online. The last month, they filed to liquidate their assets (i.e. the owners want to cash out and are selling the company piecemeal). While we don't yet know who the new owners of Star Trek Online may be, we have learned that they apparently have already started to tinker with the warp core, and the news may not make you happy: STO is going casual.
