Sandbox Interactive joins Stillfront

    • Korn wrote:

      Equart wrote:

      @Korn Everything he said - sounds cool and promising , especially this part - "if you want to get as much money as you can in short term and leave - we probably the wrong choice."

      Anyway im a bit sceptical , but I will support you guys until you add P2W elements , hope it will never happen :evil:
      Congrats you guys with good deal, and have a good holiday! 2021 will be hard but very exciting year for everyone!

      Stay safe guys!
      Adding "p2w" elements to Albion would almost certainly make Albion less profitable as a business. There are actually quite a few MMORPGs who tried that and went straight downhill from there. It would be business suicide to alienate our player base just for a quick buck. So it's not just that we do not like p2w and pinky-promise not to do this, it just does not make any sense on top of that.
      Albion has always been built in close collaboration with the community. A fair and solid business model is part of that. That's also why our business numbers are so strong and keep growing. There is absolutely no reason to change this. The fact that we have such a loyal player base was actually explicitly mentioned by Stillfront in their press conference on the acquisition.
      Congratulations to @Korn on his promotion to forum propaganda manager


      to me Albion growing more population isnt a good thing, the game was the best when the population was lower - gathering was better could atleast make a few 100k before gankers chased you out
      no cluster q
      the world is just too small for the player base as is
      could use a doubling of the world map right now
      what happens when they add a lot more people ?
      server instability - rubberbanding in huge fights
      gonna be dope

      The post was edited 1 time, last by bmizzle ().

    • I'm personally leaning towards believing there reasoning from @Korn - Albion would simply wouldn't be the game we all enjoy, if they started introducing p2w elements that would allow that "quick buck".

      I think worry is understandable, however. We really just have to wait how this turns out, while placating the crowd with reason. And Korn does that well, I think.

      Good luck with the marketing, hopefully Albion grows even more, allowing not only the game, but the infrastructure behind it grow a lot.
      Developer by day, gatherer by night.

    • AS SOME OF YOU KNOW ALBION IS COPY OF EVE ONLINE SO
      ROBIN SAID SOMETHING IN LAST VIDEO ABOUT CHANGES TO DESTINY BOARD - SKILL INJECTORS? AKA FAME INJECTORS
      AND "LEGENDARY ITEMS" - FIT GOOD TO HYPERNET RAFLES.

      TL;DR THIS GAME IS GOING TO TRUE P2W EXPERIENCE AND CALL IT QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS.
      ALL OF YOU WHO CONGRATS THEM READ YOUR COMENTS AGAIN AFTER 6 MONTHS :)))

      PS. stillfront.com/en/featured-games/ SCROLL DOWN XDDDD

      The post was edited 3 times, last by lmao100 ().

    • PVE server ... coming soon

      Regional servers ... coming soon

      999 T8 ore ... add to cart
      999 T8 fibre ... add to cart
      999 T8 wood ... add to cart
      999 T8 stone ... add to cart
      999 T8 hide ... add to cart
      10,000 focus ... add to cart
      10,000 gathering fame tome ... add to cart
      10,000 crafting fame ... add to cart
      10,000 focus ... add to cart
      Additional island .. add to cart
      Additional inventory slots .. add to cart
      +100 guild membership ... add to cart

      ... all coming soon when the suits look at the numbers ...
      Midgard
      T8 Fibre, Ore, Hide, Wood & Stone Gatherer
      T8 Gathering Gear Crafter
      T8 Bags & Capes Crafter

    • @lmao100 We have no plans for "skill injectors" or purchasing LP for gold or anything like that

      @Midgard We have no plans for any of the things you mention either :) Also, our numbers are strong precisely because we do things as we do them. That's why Stillfront decided to join forces with us. We are good at what we do, with strong underlying growth. Nobody has any plans to change that or risk that by doing crazy stuff to the business model that nobody wants and that also do not make any business sense.

    • For many years now, I have felt that the publisher developer player relationship just doesnt work. No matter how much you may try to say "stillfront is different" I have seen this so many times now that I have become very cynical. There is only a single instance I can think of where a game being bought by a publisher/ big parent company did not result in its creators quickly losing of control of the product, decline in core values, or decline in quality in 25 years of gaming, and that was because for many many years the parent company who bought the creators company did not put immense preassure to push destructive monetization strategies on the products that company made. Things have tanked pretty rapidly for these products in the past few years because now the parent company is putting immense pressure to generate not just profit but increasing profit quarter over quarter by any means necessary.

      Publishers don't care about us as players, they don't care about you as developers. The only thing they care about is generating an increasing amount of money at any cost. Nothing anyone says will convince me otherwise. Prove me wrong with actions, I really like this game and I don't want to see it destroyed or your company lose it's soul.

      The post was edited 2 times, last by Gnomead ().

    • Gnomead wrote:

      For many years now, I have felt that the publisher developer player relationship just doesnt work. No matter how much you may try to say "stillfront is different" I have seen this so many times now that I have become very cynical. There is only a single instance I can think of where a game being bought by a publisher did not result in its creators quickly losing of control of the product, decline in core values, or decline in quality in 25 years of gaming, and that is when a card game called Magic:The Gathering was bought by Hasbro. The reason that instance was different was because for the longest time, Hasbro didnt put a ton of pressure on that product to not just make money but make increasing amounts of money every, single quarter,. They let it be, and the game thrived, and the moment they started putting more pressure on it to squeeze more and more and more money out of it's players every quarter to satisfy shareholders, the game has suffered and the core values of the company who makes it have declined immensely.

      Publishers don't care about us as players, they don't care about you as developers. The only thing they care about is generating an increasing amount of money at any cost. Nothing anyone says will convince me otherwise. Prove me wrong with actions, I really like this game and I don't want to see it destroyed or your company lose it's soul.
      Stillfront is not a publisher though. I think the best way to describe them is as a group of largely independent game studios that help each other out where it makes sense. (in our case, that would mostly be marketing)

      A typical publisher will have hundreds of people and centralize a lot of the aspects of their games, such as customer support, localisation and monetization (where the bad things often happen).

      In contract to that, Stillfront only has 14 people centrally and is very hands-off on how their game studios are run. See this interview with Stillfront's COO for some background information.

    • Korn wrote:

      Gnomead wrote:

      For many years now, I have felt that the publisher developer player relationship just doesnt work. No matter how much you may try to say "stillfront is different" I have seen this so many times now that I have become very cynical. There is only a single instance I can think of where a game being bought by a publisher did not result in its creators quickly losing of control of the product, decline in core values, or decline in quality in 25 years of gaming, and that is when a card game called Magic:The Gathering was bought by Hasbro. The reason that instance was different was because for the longest time, Hasbro didnt put a ton of pressure on that product to not just make money but make increasing amounts of money every, single quarter,. They let it be, and the game thrived, and the moment they started putting more pressure on it to squeeze more and more and more money out of it's players every quarter to satisfy shareholders, the game has suffered and the core values of the company who makes it have declined immensely.

      Publishers don't care about us as players, they don't care about you as developers. The only thing they care about is generating an increasing amount of money at any cost. Nothing anyone says will convince me otherwise. Prove me wrong with actions, I really like this game and I don't want to see it destroyed or your company lose it's soul.
      Stillfront is not a publisher though. I think the best way to describe them is as a group of largely independent game studios that help each other out where it makes sense. (in our case, that would mostly be marketing)
      A typical publisher will have hundreds of people and centralize a lot of the aspects of their games, such as customer support, localisation and monetization (where the bad things often happen).

      In contract to that, Stillfront only has 14 people centrally and is very hands-off on how their game studios are run. See this interview with Stillfront's COO for some background information.
      Being hands off is the key for this kind of thing working. As long as they aren't pushing SBI to not just generate profit but an increasing amount of profit every quarter, you wont be forced to do things that would damage the game and your company. Generating profit is good, it's what companies are supposed to do. I'm really good at macro economics myself, and understand things on a deeper level than most people I would say. The issue comes when you have a parent company who puts the shareholder first and not their products first, in this case, the shareholders only care about seeing the price of their shares go up, or the amount of their dividends go up. They don't care really about things like having a sustainable business model that doesn't cannibalize the longevity of products for short term gains. As long as the contract you entered in with is not and does not become like that, The game is safe, and sbi is not in any danger of losing control of the development process.

      For me, what really makes you guys different from the rest of the industry is that not only do you listen to your players, but you involve us in your plans and are very transparent with things. This is something I can really get behind and believe in. Albion is an excellent game, and the way you treat the community, though I may disagree with some of the changes that are made at times, is industry leading and the constant communication with us as players breeds a lot of good will. I really hope that none of this changes.

    • Gnomead wrote:

      Being hands off is the key for this kind of thing working. As long as they aren't pushing SBI to not just generate profit but an increasing amount of profit every quarter, you wont be forced to do things that would damage the game and your company. Generating profit is good, it's what companies are supposed to do. I'm really good at macro economics myself, and understand things on a deeper level than most people I would say. The issue comes when you have a parent company who puts the shareholder first and not their products first, in this case, the shareholders only care about seeing the price of their shares go up, or the amount of their dividends go up. They don't care really about things like having a sustainable business model that doesn't cannibalize the longevity of products for short term gains. As long as the contract you entered in with is not and does not become like that, The game is safe, and sbi is not in any danger of losing control of the development process.
      For me, what really makes you guys different from the rest of the industry is that not only do you listen to your players, but you involve us in your plans and are very transparent with things. This is something I can really get behind and believe in. Albion is an excellent game, and the way you treat the community, though I may disagree with some of the changes that are made at times, is industry leading and the constant communication with us as players breeds a lot of good will. I really hope that none of this changes.

      Albion Online has always been made for the long term - we have stated this over and over, even when the game with still in alpha and beta. We want the game still be be successful in 2030 and beyond.

      Even if you look at this purely from a business/investor's point of view, such an outcome is far better than to crash and burn the game by just trying to grab extra cash for a few months. Especially in the MMORPG space, smart investors are very very aware of the long potential lifetime of games and would much prefer games such as Old School Runescape (20+ years) or Eve Online (15+ years) over titles such as Arch Age.

    • Stillfront advertises that it has bought an interactive company, and wants to get an investment from that company. Investors are trying to make more profits, are you trying to deceive us? Or is it naive?

      They mainly run ETF in the niche sector. So the average fee is also expensive. They seek profit. Because English is short, I can only write this much, but it is a company that will become f2w.

      The post was edited 2 times, last by Nongmin ().

    • Here's a REAL question Eltharyon because to be honest you guys can SAY what ever you want technically.. Sure SBI may be in charge of development etc.. and continue to keep things the way they are or on track with the road-map and so forth but sadly at the end of the day you guys SOLD your company.. like.. that's it.. you BELONG to Stillfront so what's stopping them from saying NAH you guys are gonna do this instead..

      Was there ANY sort of clause put into the contract for you guys owning the rights to the game still and if something should happen later down the road can you guys split off from Stillfront or do anything about this? If not then I give it 6 months to a year before this game goes to shit...

      @Eltharyon & @Korn

      Please just spare me the time now.. because seriously if there's nothing in the contract that you guys can't part ways later down the line should things get out of hand then we might as well just quit now.. no sense in putting more time or money into your game if it's gonna go down the shitter due to shitty p2w or what ever else Stillfront decides to do with the game.. because again at the end of the day Stillfront owns the righta now so if they say you gotta do something then you gotta do it lol.. I'm just so sick and tired of this.. like I finally found a good game and a company that's independent and then you guys go sell it to some shitty mobile company that has games that are massively pay to win.. so it's only a matter of time before Albion gets there too..

      The post was edited 6 times, last by Dimmizer ().

    • Korn wrote:

      @lmao100 We have no plans for "skill injectors" or purchasing LP for gold or anything like that

      @Midgard We have no plans for any of the things you mention either :) Also, our numbers are strong precisely because we do things as we do them. That's why Stillfront decided to join forces with us. We are good at what we do, with strong underlying growth. Nobody has any plans to change that or risk that by doing crazy stuff to the business model that nobody wants and that also do not make any business sense.
      ... of course YOU don't have any plans.. but it's not your game unless there's some kind of rules or clause in the contract with Stillfront that specifically states that they have no power over the development of the game otherwise Stillfront could be like YOOOO DO THIS IT WOULD MAKE SO MUCH MONEY!

      and Stillfront saying they won't do crazy changes or try to do hostile take over or something is bullshit.. I've seen this exact thing happen with so many games why is Stillfront any different? What makes Stillfront's word worth any salt?