Firefall is down, is it for good?

is it for good?

  • Yes, there's no one there it's the end of the month why would they pay rent?

    Votes: 44 75.9%
  • No, it will come back online!

    Votes: 14 24.1%

  • Total voters
    58
  • Poll closed .
Status
Not open for further replies.

Adrian

Terraformer
Jul 26, 2016
43
66
18
37
Brasov
I played yesterday for a few hours. Haven't played in a while, but now since it looks it might shutdown at anytime, wanted to at least do some screenshots since i had none from the game. Took about 160, but still feel i need more lol. I am trying to get into the habit of taking screenshots and such from games i actually liked. I didn't used to do this, but i have gotten to a point where i am starting to forget old games.

Was so sad to see the game in such a bad state. I haven't done much actual playing since i was there to do ss, but thumping is ruined, crafting down, occasionally mobs disappearing, unlocks don't always work, i could not change facial appearance (it was updating and saving in new you terminal, but not updating in game), red beans market is down, some activities bugged. It really saddened me.
There seemed to be a good amount of ppl in Coral Forest, I haven't tried to go to other zones (Coral Forest it's my favorite zone so i only took ss from there up till now), but from what i read outside game those zones are down so i guess that explains the number of players there.
 

Rocket

Max Kahuna
Max Kahina
Jul 26, 2016
199
324
63
Australia
<Said some relevant stuff.>
I reckon The9 are now doing it deliberately. They were likely getting nothing from Steam sales any more, and this is now assured. Which means they pay ongoing costs for the server. Now matter how small they might be, costs are costs. So this is likely not by chance. The server instability is by design. They want to kill it without appearing to do so deliberately. It is called face.
 

Bl4ckhunter

Active Member
Jul 26, 2016
157
123
43
I reckon The9 are now doing it deliberately. They were likely getting nothing from Steam sales any more, and this is now assured. Which means they pay ongoing costs for the server. Now matter how small they might be, costs are costs. So this is likely not by chance. The server instability is by design. They want to kill it without appearing to do so deliberately. It is called face.
We're talking about an eastern company here, their "face" is just about the same of their bottom, what you're seeing is just what happens when you switch to underpowered servers to cut costs then fire the manteinence guys, the only reason the game is up is becouse the rent is prepaid and until the provider pulls the plug on them it will keep running.
 

Rocket

Max Kahuna
Max Kahina
Jul 26, 2016
199
324
63
Australia
... the only reason the game is up is because the rent is prepaid and until the provider pulls the plug on them it will keep running.
I started jumping back on again quite a few months back when it became clear that time was limited. I managed to get in early enough that I was able to change my email address for login before the last of Red5 disappeared. Another month and I reckon I would have been screwed.

Since then, I've seen things go down hill considerably. But I'm quite convinced that if we can keep a reasonable number of players logging in on a regular basis, we can keep them spending money on servers for some time to come. Otherwise, they would ahve killed it already. This is a case of who blinks first. Face will make sure it's not them, just as long as we can keep the server busy. Do not underestimate face. It's got nothing to do with what is real, and is the same reason they would never sell the IP. That will go to the grave.
 

Charon

Gate Maker
Jul 27, 2016
19
11
3
It's not intentional it's not about saving face. That's the dumbest argument that keeps getting thrown around.
With Firefall up they can try to find more investors or unload the IP. The textile company bought into it just 4 months ago with the game already in the shithole, but they still had something to show and it was a textile company not knowing what they were getting into.

So they'll keep as much up as they can to save money, not slowly screw up to save face.
Like not knowing when to cut losses saves face somehow.
 

Charon

Gate Maker
Jul 27, 2016
19
11
3
That textile company is owned by The9.
They were shuffling money around to show
the IP is worth something to possible potential
investors that don't know about it.
They traded r5 stock for textile stock, which is indeed shuffling but so it's easier to liquidate. Allowing them to save a bit more of their ass.
 

Rocket

Max Kahuna
Max Kahina
Jul 26, 2016
199
324
63
Australia
People are deluding themselves if they think there is IP to sell from Firefall, or that they might find more investors.

More investors requires a business model that works. Firefall didn't have one. It could have had one, but they threw away too many opportunities to include one. And if they try to revive it as is, they are still anchored to their obligations to the founders and anyone else who put money in already. The9 will not find an investor. They were an investor. The investor. That alone tells you all you need to know. If there was ever something worth investing in, it was the people that were Red5. They are gone now, and their knowledge of the game and it's engine with them.

Which leaves selling the IP for a fresh start with a new engine, free from prior obligations. But selling the IP for a fresh start requires an initial success you can build upon, something Firefall was not. Sure, it had potential, and many of us loved it for what it was or might have become, but it's far easier to start a new IP from scratch at this point. And not a lot of it was really all that novel. The mechanics of thumping, the Meld and the back story. That's pretty much it.
 

Charon

Gate Maker
Jul 27, 2016
19
11
3
Maybe you missed it we were already discussing they did manage to unload 48% of their shares on the 28th of april the deal was sign. Long after the game reached a terminal decline.

You think your intentional self destruction conspiracy is more logical than an attempt to reduce losses? Right I'm the one that's deluded.
 
Last edited:

Rocket

Max Kahuna
Max Kahina
Jul 26, 2016
199
324
63
Australia
Selling to yourself doesn't mean much.

EDIT: Interesting thing I did see today, was a thread on the FF forums showing a supposedly recent screenshot from within the game, with chat posts from an old Red5 employee account. An account going back to 2010. Chat posts from that account appear to suggest the game is still being worked on, somewhere. Personally, I'm not holding breath.
 

Charon

Gate Maker
Jul 27, 2016
19
11
3
They didn't sell it to themselves... L&A wasn't owned by the9.

L&A is actually facing a hostile takeover right now the9 vary well may of been a part of that opportunity for the aggressing company.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.