Uru Multiplayer Version Closes

Uru is the latest installment of the pathbreaking graphics-intensive puzzle game Myst. Uru Live was supposed to be a massively multiplayer implementation of the basic Myst idea (beautiful scenery, deep mysteries, hard puzzles). It seems to me that the live service wasn't open for long at all, and in any case I never got the chance to explore it. But it didn't get enough subscribers, apparently - even though it was free - and now it will close. I wonder if anyone in the development community here knows what they were trying to do, and why it didn't work?

Comments

[Nicole Wyatt]

1.

Firstly, I don't think they gave it enough time. Myst games take a long time for a lot of people. I know for my part I intended to sign up for the online service when I finished the single player game.

Secondly, I don't think they marketed it well. It took me a bit to even figure out that it was a mmog type space, and not simply a "sign up for our community so we can spam you with product info" affair. And I am familiar with mmogs. My guess is since Myst attracted non-traditional gamers that most Uru purchasers had no clue what an mmog was.

[hunter]

2.

Supporting Nicole's comments: The original Uru Live plan was much more ambitious than the end result. My understanding is that Ubisoft started to get cold feet pre-launch (already burdened with Shadowbane's MMO risk) which caused Cyan to increasingly take on the financial risk.

[Tomasz Wozniak]

3.

Hello all! I'm new :)

Well - I agree with Nicole that URU was released on the market too early. MMOGs are still in their development stage and the market is not divided yet (and many major players are still developing new games). But it's rather strange - there's a kind of similiar MMOG "A Tale In The Desert" which has no violence and fighting at all - and it manages to stay on the market even without marketing.

They will, however use the content from online version of URU to create expansion pack for offline version.

More info here: http://www.eblong.com/zarf/uru/newfaq.html

[Helinar]

4.

Tomasz> But it's rather strange - there's a kind of similiar MMOG "A Tale In The Desert" which has no violence and fighting at all - and it manages to stay on the market even without marketing.

Thanks for the link, Tomasz, I found your thoughts well worth reading. A bunch of ex-Uru players did turn up in A Tale in the Desert this weekend. I hope they like it. I’d point out though that ATITD manages to stay afloat on a population of 1500 or so subscriptions. Probably lunch money to the execs at Ubisoft.

One critical feature of the Tale is that it has an end, and the end is nigh. This is distressing some people, who are disturbed by the loss that death entails. But is does mean that the Tale can restart with a modified rule set, an opportunity most MMORPGs don’t have. I’m hopeful the game can evolve into a more popular format over time. For the next Telling, the developers are aiming at a six month story, rather than the year of this first effort.

Even with time to evolve, I’m not so sure any one particular story based world can get large enough to satisfy the likes of Ubisoft. As you, and others point out, the bigger the world, the more citizens are just left hearing about events rather than participating in them. And that is a topic that has been much discussed already. At least now Uru Online and ATITD provide two contrasting case studies.

[chris]

5.

wow...I hadn't paid attention to the Myst worlds since I finished Myst and Riven years ago..then I saw this Uru game on the shelf the other day and I was like "Hey...this is kick ass." and tried in vain to explain to my wife why these games rock...but I'm glad I decided to look for a better price on line, because now I came across this site and heard this news...boohoo..before I even got to start...guess I won't buy it now...