Earth Eternal May Not Be That Eternal

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Scott Jennings| 40 Comments

Grumbles the Cow, after being laid off, set the barn on fire.

Another new MMO doesn’t make it out the door, as Earth Eternal, a browser-based free to play MMO involving animals NOT FURRIES SHUT UP YOU, which had been in open beta since last October, sent out a letter no one likes writing.

I had to lay off all of our staff except for two people (one of which is me) on Friday, and it’s likely that by this time next week neither of us will be with Sparkplay any more either. The simple fact is that we’ve run out of money.

Matt Mihaly, Sparkplay’s soon-to-be-ex-CEO, went on to say that Earth Eternal itself was up for sale as of right… now.

We’re putting it up for auction today and are reasonably confident that someone will buy it and keep it running. There is, however, the chance that nobody will want to take on the cost of running it. If that happens, Earth Eternal will go down when our internet and hosting provider pulls the plug for non-payment. It’s hard to tell when that could happen, but it’ll certainly be here at least another week, at minimum.

So, yeah, remember how I’m always going on about how MMOs needed to be lean, innovative, and closely targeted to avoid the thundering hooves of the WoW juggernaut? Earth Eternal was pretty much all of the above. How much of their collapse is due to the still-very-much-in-recession-thank-you economy, and how much because online gamers are saying with their dollars, yeah, we actually don’t want to play anything that isn’t World of Warcraft? Both answers are more than a little troubling.

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  • http://geldonsgaming.blogspot.com geldonyetich

    Though I respect that any MMORPG developed by indies is going to be a labor of love, and they have my condolences that they’ve laid off all but the bare minimum people required to kick the server when it goes down and count the money they’re not making, I have to say that there exists nary a screen shot from Earth Eternal which does not creep me out in some way.

  • Stephane

    There are so many new MMOs nowadays that some are bound to go bankrupt. Especially in the F2P market, where a solid business model is needed. It’s a shame as it probably limits innovation but it’s a fact of this virtual ecosystem.

  • http://psychochild.org/ Brian ‘Psychochild’ Green

    My heart sank a bit when I read the news.  I feel for the people affected, and wish them the best.  Not a good thing to be jobless in this economy. :/

    I suspect that the problem is that EE wasn’t running quite as lean as it could have been.  As Matt said, the project was in development for four and a half years.  To put this in perspective, one of my recent gigs for a browser game company expected a project to go from initial concept to playable Beta in 8-9 months.  We’re talking about a 3D game using the Unity engine, too.  One could argue how realistic that is, but there’s a lot of room for slippage before you hit the four year mark.

    I think a smaller game absolutely needs to limit scope drastically.  Audiences are fickle, and putting all your eggs into one basket is risky.  It sounds like there was the additional complication that some deals fell through that they were planning on.  Such are the vagaries of business. :/

  • Neofit

    “How much of their collapse is due to the still-very-much-in-recession-thank-you economy, and how much because online gamers are saying with their dollars, yeah, we actually don’t want to play anything that isn’t World of Warcraft?”
    Maybe there is option 2b: “why should we play a lower quality WoW clone when we can play the original”?

  • Joe

    I’m sorry, I feel terrible for everyone affected by this, but if you look under the hood at the gameplay, they were basically making a straight DIKU.
    As WoW adds furry races, how much market is there for a furry reskin of the same old Diku mechanics?
     
    If developers are going to imitate something, they should imitate Asheron’s Call instead of EverQuest-style DIKU gameplay. They’ll at least be competing for a niche that’s not nearly so saturated.

  • Amaranthar

    It was different that WoW? It played like WoW, with level grind and zones and all.
    I’m sorry for Matt. But when are people going to recognize that if you make a level grind, you just made what players see as a “WoW clone”? And you won’t believe it yet, maybe next year, but WoW has an awful lot of players who are tired and bored with level grinds, and are looking for something different. Not Eve different, a full world to explore but with “more” than zoned and directed levels after levels and all the accessories in the same fashion.
    You guys seem to think that putting a different dressing on WoW makes it play different. Rift is claiming that Rifts make spawning different. SWTOR is claiming that adding cut scenes to quest dispensers makes their game different. It’s not. While those games may do ok if they aren’t incomplete and aren’t riddled with bugs, they certainly will not do what they hope they will. Because they are just another “WoW clone” to the players.
    A “different experience” does not equal substitutions, and it does not equate to expanding static tried-but-true—to-WoW systems with some new gimmick.
    The more I think about it, the more I think that the only way to get innovation in MMOs in game play is to wipe the current fraternity of stuck thinkers off the face of the industry and start all over. Which you all are doing a fine job of doing to yourselves.

  • Mark

    “Maybe there is option 2b: “why should we play a lower quality WoW clone when we can play the original”?”
     
    That’s what I wonder too? Or to rephrase it, why should I play any MMO if it’s not as entertaining as WoW? Different isn’t better. It’s just different. The most expensive part of playing an MMO isn’t the money it costs me, it’s the time.
     
    I keep looking for a different MMO — I’ve given Conan, Warhammer, Aion, and DDO good shots. There are lots of things to like about them. None of them are as enjoyable as WoW, though, and after a month in Aion or Warhammer or Conan, the excitement of playing something new has worn off.
     
    I feel for MMO developers. They really need to give me a better experience than WoW. It can be another DIKU or a different kind of MMO — that part doesn’t really matter to me — but the overall experience has to be better than WoW or else I’ll gravitate back to WoW eventually. And right now I’m unsubscribed from WoW, but I’d rather play no MMO than play something I don’t enjoy as much as WoW.

  • bonedead

    I hope all of those people land on their feet.

  • sleeper

    check out the package on that cow

  • http://wowpanda.blogspot.com/ wowpanda

    I feel terrible about this, this is another entrepreneur who took the risk, who provides jobs and contributes to our society.  Sometimes I feel the world is so unfair to them, when they are poor and struggling, no one cares, and when they have to lay off people, they are often ridiculed.   And the few who actually got rich, they will be taxed and taxed (they got taxed even before they got rich).
    I got a friend who opened a shop, works very hard (12 hours a day constantly), and has to straggle with all the red tapes.  He has to shutdown eventually.

  • wufiavelli

    Oddly it was the fact they choose animals which drove me away.  It was interesting but really appealing or catchy.  As much as i want innovations on the Tolkien ripoff fantasy niche being a killer cow was just a little far for me.
     
    Also i am wondering,  with all these MO,  DF,  and dawntide type games wanting to come out.  Home come non of them trying doing the browser thing to cut down costs.

  • Vetarnias

    In this context, I’m not sure it’s that fitting to say World of Warcraft is the culprit for yet another folding MMO, and one that never made it out of beta.

    Looking at that artwork, I’m not even sure EE went after the same demographic as WoW, and it differed even in business models. An ideal example of an MMO that went directly against WoW would be Warhammer Online: Whereas players looked to Mythic for a second Dark Age of Camelot (or so I read practically everywhere), they were offered a pale WoW clone that lacked its polish and had even less of an endgame.

    On the other hand, it’s become fashionable to compare every new MMO to WoW, regardless of whether it tries to compete directly against it, which annoys me to no end. Is Age of Conan a direct competitor because it is a fantasy MMO? Even worse, I saw something like Pirates of the Burning Sea being dragged through the same comparison, even though it’s not the same setting, and does not share the mechanics or endgame of WoW. Anyone who knew anything about PotBS usually called it “EVE Lite”, but the casual observer, or the one obsessed with subscription rates, would probably call EVE a loser anyway.

    The first glance I get of Earth Eternal isn’t one that recalls WoW, but some F2P title, maybe Free Realms with furries or something like that (and Geldon might be on to something about the artwork). But the real problem might be that I had never heard about this game until today. And it’s not as though it had been in open beta for six weeks; this game has been in open beta since October? Where was the word of mouth for this game?

    (By the way, it’s also sad to see Earth Eternal followed that disquieting recent trend of going into perpetual beta, “no, we’re not live!”, while having no qualms about taking players’ money.)

  • Hatch

    That game catered to a subset (furries) of a subset (gay) of a subset (gamers) of society. On the other hand if the animals could ride tractors I think it’s safe to say that balances out.
    Of course it was going under!
     

  • Peter S.

    It seems somehow relevant to mention I still have the full WISH install backed up on a corner of my hard drive…

    If anything, I think this is evidence of the market becoming saturated and new projects now needing a true hook to both pull people in and get them to spend.  Having played EE, it wasn’t very well differentiated from other MMOs in terms of either presentation or gameplay.  Its apparent innovation was the in-browser client, and that could be worth something significant as an asset apart from the game (doubly so if there’s anything patented or patentable in it), but it had few if any gameplay innovations.

    There was ultimately no answer to the question “Why here and not elsewhere?”  People may play even with that question for emergent reasons (i.e., “My friends are here.”) but they likely won’t spend nearly as much (meaning $).

  • Peter S.

    Also, completely aside, nice new color scheme.  :)

  • ethereal.wolf

    too many mmos, not enough consumers. and people are tired of the same old thing. i’d be interested in hearing how EE actually innovated in the gameplay department, not the art direction.

  • Mark

    I wonder if Cryptic doesn’t have the right business model for MMOs? Let me explain:
     
    There are so many MMOs out now, and more F2P MMOs coming out, that it’s easy for us MMO players to play for a month or two and leave a game. In fact, I’d say that’s the norm.
     
    I think Cryptic is looking at MMOs as being more like single player games from a revenue perspective. Instead of expecting an MMO will grab 500,000 subscribers, they hope it sells 500,000 copies and retains 100,000 subscribers. Then they crank out a new MMO 18 months later.
     
    Cryptic clearly sacrifices content for speed in bringing to market a new MMO. This is a business decision rather than a design decision. In the last year they’ve published Champions and Star Trek and have another MMO in development.
     
    The reality may be that unless you have a $100M budget, you can’t expect to hit a million subscribers. So maybe it’s better to have a new MMO every two years or so, sell a lot of boxes, and hold onto a trickle of subscribers.

  • Stephane
  • http://geldonsgaming.blogspot.com geldonyetich

    Aw, now Chronicles of Spellborn is actually a pity, because it had some novel gameplay mechanics to it.  It’s a pity that the implementation was rather slipshod when it came to spawn handling and the general retooled Unreal engine feel.

  • nerdgonebad

    I feel bad for all involved and hope the best for their next endeavors.
    I thought the website and art and everything looked really polished from what I saw, but overall the Art/Style direction (animals) doesn’t really rope me in.  I guess I’m just old-school and too old.  It did remind be a little bit of Dofus from the cutesy/animal aspect, excepting that Dofus is a wildly successful F2P MMO.  Couldn’t tell you why either not having tried it.  But they’ve (Dofus) done something right (maybe hybrid Habbo Hotel/mmm…the name escapes me, Ragnarok?/fantasy-mmo/somewhat 2D or Isometric perspective.  Seems to work well for a wide range of audiences (ages?).

  • http://www.killtenrats.com Zubon

    I was <a href=”http://www.killtenrats.com/category/earth-eternal/”>looking forward to</a> Earth Eternal as much as everyone, but I must concur on the “worse WoW” view.  Maybe it got better along the way, but I found my very limited time with it very familiar and very disappointing.
    My sympathies to those involved.

  • Fatbutt

    I can’t say I’ve ever heard of this game – but Chronicles of Spellborn’s demise is actually quite a shame… I only played it briefly during the beta, but it seemed to twist the formula in a lot of cool ways.

  • ethereal.wolf

    “Mark says:

    I wonder if Cryptic doesn’t have the right business model for MMOs? Let me explain:…..”

    You’re overlooking the fact that Cryptic is getting a reputation for releasing half baked games and many gamers are now leary of anything that comes from Cryptic. I doubt NWN MMO is going to sell well, based solely on Cryptic’s bad rep.

  • http://www.independentcreator.com Matt

    How are we blaming gamers’ tastes for the cancellation of an unreleased MMO?
     
    Blame gamers for not buying… something that wasn’t available for sale?
     

  • Batlin of Britian

    It’s the economy, stupid. No credit for small businesses; consumers not spending; yada yada yada.
     
    The Obama Recession is unending thanks to our clueless President and his corrupt congress.
     
    Vote them all out in November!

  • http://geldonsgaming.blogspot.com geldonyetich

    As if a primary reason we voted Obama in charge wasn’t because the economy was already in tatters under conservative rule.  Anywho, this could become a lovely political thread, but lets not, K?

  • Aufero

     

    Batlin of Britian: It’s the economy, stupid. No credit for small businesses; consumers not spending; yada yada yada.   The Obama Recession is unending thanks to our clueless President and his corrupt congress.   Vote them all out in November!

    Get your mental steering checked.  That sudden swerve into left field might indicate a busted tie rod.

    (Although “Obama kills killer cows” would make a great headline.)
     

  • Mordur

    the screenshot with this post seriously creeps me out

  • Freakazoid

    It probably doesn’t help that there are many like me who have never heard of this game.

    And yet I do still keep tabs on a tale in the desert, which started its fifth tale two days ago, has a second server, but has maybe 1000 paid subs total (much less near the end of a tale) and still manages to stay afloat with just teppy at the wheel and an occasional temp hire.

  • http://cnn.com ubvman

    I have never heard of the game until I read of it’s demise here. If its all playable when the project got into financial trouble; I dunno, how hard is it to take the game out of Beta, advertise by buying a few google ads on credit and have a fire sale on virtual goods to start earning revenue – like you know have a big sales push to earn some money to keep your employees and other overheads? Did they even try very hard to actually push out, sell and promote their game?
    If I read the news item right, its not a death of a released online game – its just a sad stillbirth end of a mismanaged and overly ambitious game project.

  • dartwick

    WOW is made to appeal to the general instincts/motivations of people and it is made very well(well managed with a huge budget).
     
    Thats hard to beat.
     
    I havent played WOW for years now. But I can see why it keeps winning.

  • Mark

    I think if you burn out on WoW, you might be burned out on MMOs in general. And after a break from WoW if you feel like playing an MMO again, there’s a very good chance you will return to WoW. WoW has a real headlock on MMOs right now.
     
    Not everyone’s like that, of course. I know many have sworn off WoW for good. I’m looking forward to Guild Wars 2, the Old Republic MMO, Warhammer 40k eventually, and even EQNext. Thing is, I don’t really expect any of them to hold my interest for more than 2-3 months. I think part of me doesn’t ever want to invest 500 hours in a new MMO. It’s like all the hours I put into WoW are money in the bank, so to speak. I don’t have to start over.

  • http://unsubject.wordpress.com UnSub

    The problem with a game like Earth Eternal is awareness: there are so many MMOs available that it is very hard for an indie to break through and develop the critical mass of players it needs to survive.
    Plus looking at it, it woud appear to be for kids. Kids games obvious can be successful, but I’m not sure EE was actually only meant to be targeting kids, or offered enough if kids was all EE was actually for.
    It isn’t about WoW, because WoW works on an entirely different scale. EE’s failure is about not reaching and attracting enough people for a game that is a bit different (and yes, difference is a barrier to getting players).

  • http://Website Ashendarei

    Man .. that is a creepy picture …

    Not “American McGee’s Alice” creepy, but “pedophile standing outside a playground” creepy.

  • http://Website Matt Mihaly

    We made many mistakes, but I wouldn’t want to blame it on the economy. Plenty of games companies are flourishing in this economy. We just weren’t one of them unfortunately.

  • http://Website Dblade

    It wasn’t that good of a game when I played. Ironically it lacked what I hear the developers were strong at: making compelling stories and lore. It felt too much like go to hub, do all quests, get pushed to next, with no reason why.
    This model can work-everyone is trashing the DIKUmud, but Fiesta Online is almost a carbon copy, but even more restricted, and it beats out most sub games in population. This one just didn’t.

  • http://Website VPellen

    “So, yeah, remember how I’m always going on about how MMOs needed to be lean, innovative, and closely targeted to avoid the thundering hooves of the WoW juggernaut? Earth Eternal was pretty much all of the above.”

    In the words of my fleet commander on the day I brought a hookbill to a nullsec roam, are you fucking shitting me?

    Okay look, I love Matt. I respect anybody who can make a living off of micropayment supported text MUDs. But “FTP Browser WoW: Furry Edition” was neither innovative nor closely targeted, and I wouldn’t call it lean without protest, either. For what it was, it wasn’t bad, but once I started to sense where it was going, I stopped playing.

    I’m guessing most other people did, too.

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  • http://Website Tat

    i played EE alot,spent money supporting it as well.in my time there i watched as game mods booted paying players from the game,and went on witch hunts LOOKING for people to bully,that cannot have helped SPM at all.
    they also limited thier market share to mainly “furry’s”,and pushed others out.
    i agree with “Hatch” sadly.
    last comment i have is,”paying players are so important to a games survival,treating them with disrespect and contempt only drives them away”..and EE was doing that through thier poor choice of game moderators!