Dragon Empires [take a wild guess]ed

So there you have it:

Official Press Release wrote:

Dragon Empires development ceased due to technical issues.

Codemasters has taken the decision to cancel further development of Dragon Empires, the company's massively multiplayer online role playing project.

Dragon Empires received incredible support from its online community and won acclaim from PC and online media while in development. However, technical issues have resulted in the project's discontinuation.

Many of the game's development team, including programmers and artists, are being transferred to Codemasters' internal development studios to work on current and future titles.

The decision to close Dragon Empires' development does not impact on Codemasters' long-term ambitions in the massively multiplayer online gaming market and the company remains very active in evaluating future opportunities.

The Dragon Empires website and its popular community forums will remain live at www.codemasters.co.uk/dragonempires for the immediate future.

Well, this was one of the candidates in the recent (cynic's favourite!) "Predict which MMORPG will be cancelled next?" thread there was around the time Warhammer Online got canned. (Good thing that most people apparently have kept their jobs according to the PR.)

No huge surprise, I guess. Looked very pretty, but in the past year you never thought there was any progress.

Ouch, another one bites the dust.

You''re right though, Spunior, this isn''t exactly shocking. I''ve been receiving their newsletter for over a year, and there never seemed to be any notable progress. I hope the development team did all get transferred to other projects, because they really did want to make a great game.

I''m thinking Codemasters is about to go the way of Akklaim. First they push back Falshpoint 2, then they cancel one of their remaining major projects.

What''s left in the hopper for them?

Where is their revenue coming from?

First they push back Falshpoint 2, then they cancel one of their remaining major projects.

It''s not them pushing back OFP2, it''s Bohemia Interactive not being able to finish the Xbox version of OFP in time. I think it should have been out more than a year ago and received one delay after another. And they clearly said that working on the Xbox version is what is the reason for OFP2 getting pushed back once again. Yay!

What''s left in the hopper for them?

I surely hope Wartime Commander will be a great game. I doubt it''ll generate loads of cash for Codemaster though and it also should have been available by now according to the original release estimate.

Where is their revenue coming from?

You shouldn''t underestimate the sales performance of titles like the Colin McRae series or TOCA/Race Pro Driver in Europe. Plus a number of smaller licenses that probably sell quite well in the UK.

Yeah, like Spunior said, Codemasters makes a lot of their money in Europe. U.S. publishing is a fairly new venture for them and not, I think, a terribly big deal at this point. I know they release quite a few games in Europe that we never really hear about over here.

Here''s the predictions thread

Dragon Empires started strong with some out of this world environment screen shots. That stuff looked so good I used a lot of them for my wallpaper. When I saw the actual game at E3 I was stunned by how awful it actually looked in motion. My interest went from high to non-existent.

Dragon Empires started strong with some out of this world environment screen shots. That stuff looked so good I used a lot of them for my wallpaper. When I saw the actual game at E3 I was stunned by how awful it actually looked in motion. My interest went from high to non-existent.

I had the same experience. At E3 2002 and at E3 2003.

The next game up on the list will be? I''m guessing D&D Online.

Hey, I even mentioned Dragon empires in that ""who''s next"" thread. As to who''s next now? I''ve actually changed my mind about D&D online. I think it''s going to hang on for a while before it gets canned. It might even make it.

Currently it''s a toss up between Wish, Mourning, Tabula Rasa, and Vanguard. I think the latter two will be around for a while, but may die eventually. Wish is looking pretty shaky. Just how many betas are they going to have?

"Paladin" wrote:

Hey, I even mentioned Dragon empires in that ""who''s next"" thread. As to who''s next now? I''ve actually changed my mind about D&D online. I think it''s going to hang on for a while before it gets canned. It might even make it.

Currently it''s a toss up between Wish, Mourning, Tabula Rasa, and Vanguard. I think the latter two will be around for a while, but may die eventually. Wish is looking pretty shaky. Just how many betas are they going to have?

Tabual Rasa, since that''s the only one I''ve heard of.

Might as well add Guild Wars to the watch list, since NCSoft isn''t getting off its arse anytime soon.

The next game up on the list will be? I''m guessing D&D Online.

I think not. They''ve been rather prominent in the interview scene this month. Not that it''ll get released, but I doubt it gets cancelled before the likes of Wish or Mourning.

Tabula Rasa, I think, will get released, if for no other reason than it is Garriot''s pet project. Call it a hunch.
Vanguard, I think, has a better chance to make it to release than Wish or Mourning, assuming Brad and crew can keep the beancounters at MS convinced of their Midas touch. Sort of a similar situation to Garriot''s in the ""I''ve done this before, I know what I''m doing, trust me"" sort of way, without the thumbing-their-nose-at-their-former-employer part.

Of the 5, cancellation/delay order is predicted by the Ducki Lama as follows:
Mourning
Wish
Vanguard
D&DO
Tabula Rasa
(Really, though, it''s a ""I don''t have to run faster than the bear, just faster than you"" situation, so the first two are grouped/tied and the last 3 are grouped/tied, IMO.)

Currently it''s a toss up between Wish, Mourning, Tabula Rasa, and Vanguard. I think the latter two will be around for a while, but may die eventually.

I''ll tell you the one impression I got sitting down with a few of the Vanguard guys at E3. They''re shooting for a ""classic"" MMORPG experience which isn''t going to fly in this market anymore I don''t think. They''ll refocus and redesign or they will get kicked to the curb. That''s my prediction!

That''s too bad. I liked the original approach DE had to PvP and player politics. The only other game I know that is going in that direction is Dark and Light. It''s almost at beta 3, but still high on my cancellation list.

So, since almost every other MMORPG will go down the drain when EQ2 and WoW are out, which ones do you think still have a chance to reach release?

I think D&DO has good chances to be released. Twitch-based combats and small servers is unique enough to have it claim it''s own place. The franchise helps a lot too.

What is Mourning? I''ve never heard of it. I have forgotten about Wish too. I don''t think they''ll ever get a publisher and will either self-publish through EB Games or go down the tube.

If heard a high-pitched, mournful scream just now, it was me thinking it was Dragon Age that was cancelled for one awful moment.