Comments on: Why NCsoft Closed Tabula Rasa http://www.mmognation.com/2008/12/24/why-ncsoft-closed-tabula-rasa/ Wed, 25 May 2011 02:52:43 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: MMOG Nation » The Best of MMOG Nation 2008 http://www.mmognation.com/2008/12/24/why-ncsoft-closed-tabula-rasa/comment-page-1/#comment-165038 MMOG Nation » The Best of MMOG Nation 2008 Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:42:16 +0000 http://www.mmognation.com/?p=1573#comment-165038 [...] my visit to SOE Austin, and a bunch of conferences besides. I came to some realizations about why Tabula Rasa was closing down, and spoke again about the problem of bewildering content amounts in MMOs. Moria well and truly [...] [...] my visit to SOE Austin, and a bunch of conferences besides. I came to some realizations about why Tabula Rasa was closing down, and spoke again about the problem of bewildering content amounts in MMOs. Moria well and truly [...]

]]> By: Darniaq http://www.mmognation.com/2008/12/24/why-ncsoft-closed-tabula-rasa/comment-page-1/#comment-165024 Darniaq Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:34:21 +0000 http://www.mmognation.com/?p=1573#comment-165024 I personally feel TR was victim of inertia. The first version wasn't well enough received to continue it, but the amount of effort and ego that went into it needed to be assuaged. It would have looked bad for many people if on the heals of Destination not having much success with L1 and L2 in the U.S, they also closed down the one game the creator of the Ultima franchise itself had any hand in. After the reinvention of the game, it was all downhill. They never really hit their stride as far as I'm concerned. But it was allowed to continue because even at that point people didn't get the quantum shift that was WoW. They were comfortable with whatever success they got because "in a world without WoW", they would be "fine". Welp, there ain't no world without WoW. And as we've seen with a bunch of titles that have launched since 2004, being good enough to launch isn't good enough for sustainable success. And so goes TR. Onto this list it goes: http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=15095.0 I personally feel TR was victim of inertia. The first version wasn’t well enough received to continue it, but the amount of effort and ego that went into it needed to be assuaged. It would have looked bad for many people if on the heals of Destination not having much success with L1 and L2 in the U.S, they also closed down the one game the creator of the Ultima franchise itself had any hand in.

After the reinvention of the game, it was all downhill. They never really hit their stride as far as I’m concerned. But it was allowed to continue because even at that point people didn’t get the quantum shift that was WoW. They were comfortable with whatever success they got because “in a world without WoW”, they would be “fine”.

Welp, there ain’t no world without WoW. And as we’ve seen with a bunch of titles that have launched since 2004, being good enough to launch isn’t good enough for sustainable success.

And so goes TR. Onto this list it goes: http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=15095.0

]]> By: p@tsh@t http://www.mmognation.com/2008/12/24/why-ncsoft-closed-tabula-rasa/comment-page-1/#comment-165017 p@tsh@t Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:13:05 +0000 http://www.mmognation.com/?p=1573#comment-165017 Living on the inside of the evil corporate world, let me throw out one more possible piece of the puzzle-- the interplay of accounting rules and the global economy. NCSoft is a public company and they obviously overspent on RGTR. From what I've read, they effectively paid for 2 AAA titles and in the end got less than one. Investors are used to hearing bad news these days and are not unduly beating up companies' stock prices for dismal performance in light of current conditions. When there is a giant downdraft going on like now, many public companies will take the opportunity to sweep their financials clean of underperforming assets in order to leave them poised to report better performance in subsequent periods. Taking the charge off when the entire sector or ecomomy is being hit will not likely result in the company's being punished in market. Making the decision in 2008 to discontinue operations likely will allow NCSoft to take the hit in 2008. As a result, NCSoft will have a leaner balance sheet going forward and no earnings drag in 2009 and beyond related to the game which will allow NCSoft to show better performance in the future. Its not just companies like NCSoft either. I suspect you'll see many once in a lifetime balance sheet flushes reported across all industries. Living on the inside of the evil corporate world, let me throw out one more possible piece of the puzzle– the interplay of accounting rules and the global economy.

NCSoft is a public company and they obviously overspent on RGTR. From what I’ve read, they effectively paid for 2 AAA titles and in the end got less than one.

Investors are used to hearing bad news these days and are not unduly beating up companies’ stock prices for dismal performance in light of current conditions.

When there is a giant downdraft going on like now, many public companies will take the opportunity to sweep their financials clean of underperforming assets in order to leave them poised to report better performance in subsequent periods.

Taking the charge off when the entire sector or ecomomy is being hit will not likely result in the company’s being punished in market. Making the decision in 2008 to discontinue operations likely will allow NCSoft to take the hit in 2008.

As a result, NCSoft will have a leaner balance sheet going forward and no earnings drag in 2009 and beyond related to the game which will allow NCSoft to show better performance in the future.

Its not just companies like NCSoft either. I suspect you’ll see many once in a lifetime balance sheet flushes reported across all industries.

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