The Secret World’s Combat Animations Suck

A major criticism of Funcom’s The Secret World MMO has been its awful combat animations. For instance, from Eurogamer’s review http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-13-the-secret-world-review:

Poor sound effects and badly-timed animations can take a lot of the blame for the weak, feedback-free feel of the combat.

Another quote from TenTonHammer’s review http://www.tentonhammer.com/reviews/the-secret-world:

The one thing that has dogged The Secret World from the moment people saw their first glimpse of actual in-game combat is character animations; they looked stiff, stilted and, in a word, retro

And finally, G4TV’s take http://www.g4tv.com/games/pc/46075/the-secret-world/review/:

The first thing I noticed when I started The Secret World was just how weak it looked. The graphics consistently fail to impress, even on the highest setting. There are also a number of animation issues, even this late into the beta (every time my character jumped down more than a single story, her knee would clip through her face). All of these visual problems cast a pall over the rest of the game, making it even less palatable.

Well today I decided I would try my hand at getting on the moneymaking bandwagon that is youtube’s AdSense program by recording snippets of my gameplay footage. It was only natural that as a first test of my video recording software that I would take a video of Funcom’s shockingly grotesque combat animations.

For your viewing pleasure and amusement I present a sample of Funcom’s The Secret World’s infamous combat animations:

This is simply me spamming the hammer AOE resource builder “Ground Pound.” Observe how the arm bone is spasming during the animation. No, I did not go specifically looking for a broken animation. This was simply the builder I had in my hotbar when I logged in today to try out my video recording software and I noticed the oddity on observing the animation closely. In general all combat animations are just as weak.

The success of The Secret World’s B2P conversion: a back-of-the-napkin calculation

Here are the facts we know.

• The latest press release concerning The Secret World’s B2P conversion (made in December 12, 2012) has stated that, since the conversion was made the title has sold over 70,000 units or nearly a 30 percent rise in total sales, and a 400% increase in player activity.

What does this represent financially? I present a back-of-the-napkin calculation of the success of TSW’s B2P conversion.

1. After going B2P, The Secret World was being sold for $30US if bought digitally and direct from Funcom’s store. However, Amazon and a number of other sellers were running a heavily hyped promotion giving away the game for $15US (regarded as them offloading their $15 30-day game time licenses following B2P), and TSW became Amazon’s top seller (The Secret World on sale at Amazon right now and #1 in game best sellers).
2. Shortly after release, it was announced in August that TSW had moved 200K units. At that time the box price had yet to be discounted and was being sold for $50US.
3. Let’s look at the figures we’ve been given. One month after the conversion, Funcom has sold 70,000 copies. As a 30% rise in overall sales, the number of boxes sold prior to the conversion was x*0.3=70k, x=70k/0.3=233.3k. This is only slightly higher than the number of subscribers at launch, 200k, so almost all of the pre-B2P box sales were made at the original non-discounted $50 price. Assuming that all of the original subscribers and new B2P adopters returned, this would mean a total of 233.3k+70k=303.33k active players. Given player activity increased by 400%, this provides an estimate for the number of subscribers pre-B2P: 303.33k/400%=76k minus a few tens of thousands if not all of the original players returned.
4. Being generous, let’s assume not everyone was aware of the Amazon sale and the average B2P sales price lay somewhere between $15-$30: say midway, $22.50.

As a percentage of the overall box revenue generated by TSW, the B2P conversion has contributed:

• 70k*22.5/(70k*22.5+233.3k*50)=11.9% to box revenue over all time.

However, when factoring in subs this percentage drops significantly. Assuming that each initial adopter subscribed on average an additional 3 months (accounting for quitters), the percentage of overall revenue (box + subs) the B2P conversion has contributed is:

• 70k*22.5/(70k*22.5+233.3k*50+233.3k*3*15)=6.7% to revenue over all time.

However, now that TSW has gone B2P, it has lost its subscription income. Pre-B2P, when TSW was doing badly enough to warrant conversion it was making with 76k subscribers:

• 76k*$15 = $1.14M/month = 72% of the income generated by B2P sales in a month since conversion = $1.57M = 70k*$22.5

The number of new B2P sales is unsustainable however. As shown by the fact that the number of launch players (200k) plateaued immediately after release, B2P box sales should be expected to sharply drop off this and later months. The audience for a grindy, boring, always online, performance hungry, modern day puzzle adventure game is just that limited and reaching saturation.

So congratulations Funcom, you have truly jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. The press release 30% increase in sales seen should be seen for what it is, a one-time mere 6-11% increase in revenue. This is a disaster. Deep discounting and steam sales work because they produce sales 2-10+x the ordinary volume, outweighing the revenue that would be generated with a static sales price and volume. For example “2D dungeon crawler The Binding of Isaac, for example, saw sales multiply by five when it was marked down by 50 percent [on Steam], and once it hit the front page as a temporary “Flash Deal” (for 75 percent off), sales multiplied by sixty.” 30% is nothing.

Congratulations. Your B2P conversion has been an unqualified success (sarcastic). In one month, you have just barely managed to exceed the income that was being generated from monthly subs pre-model and which will not sharply drop off as box sales are a one-time purchase only.

Note: item shop transactions have not been factored in. However, we would like to believe people are not so stupid as to buy overpriced bind-to-character vanity clothes and that the cash shop’s overall contribution to revenue is negligible.

No wonder the company is continuing to close studios and lay off staff. Goodbye Funcom!

Funcom in freefall: news roundup

10 Jan 2012:
Funcom confirms closures, restructuring of company
Unknown number of layoffs, Montreal studio gutted, B2P TSW sells 70,000 copies (30% of overall box sales)

It’s unclear how many have been laid off, but Funcom says the moves are necessary to become stronger going forward

After a source tipped off GamesIndustry International that Funcom may be closing its Montreal office today, we’ve learned that the MMO publisher is in the midst of a total restructuring, which “will involve cost reductions through the closure and the consolidation of offices with the goal of creating a stronger unified organization that can take full advantage of the exciting opportunities that face the games industry as it steps into 2013 and beyond.”

A representative for Funcom confirmed to us that the Montreal office will be affected but not closed down entirely. “The Montreal office is part of the restructuring process and will be affected, but our goal is for the studio to continue to exist although in a different form than today. As we’re currently in the middle of this process we can’t go into further details right now, but we will update the market once the process has been completed,” the spokesperson told GamesIndustry International.

…

The stock notice also offered the most up-to-date data on Funcom’s re-launch of The Secret World. The company stated that after dropping subscriptions and switching to a buy-to-play business model in December 2012, activity levels in the game have actually jumped up 400 percent. Funcom claims that “original players have returned joined by thousands of new players.” The Secret World has managed to sell over 70,000 units in the last four weeks alone, which Funcom noted is nearly a 30 percent rise in total sale

An unverified forum source states “As far as I’ve found out, the studio is being closed effectively with a small amount of the team being moved to the Raleigh, NC studio to continue running Conan, TSW, etc.”

Funcom employees tweet about fears for job security, portfolio revisions

Funcom is dead: blog renovation in progress

Funcom is dead. The Secret World’s B2P conversion was not a success, losing its sub income and gaining only a 30% increase in box sales (or ~70,000 units at $15, the Amazon promotional price at the time), and necessitating further company restructuring (http://www.cisionwire.com/funcom-n-v-ob/r/funcom-announces-restructuring-of-the-company,e350215). Funcom’s stock price is still in the toilet and wild rumors are being circulated: a possible company merger or sale, more layoffs (as if 70% was not enough), 30 devs remaining over all Funcom’s 3 MMOs (Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, The Secret World). Funcom is no longer an AAA studio or a studio of any import – it’s next title is planned to be a LEGO MMO.

The latest news in the ingame front only reinforce this gloomy perception. Lack of budget and loss of key personnel are showing in new updates to TSW being pushed out with little to no apparent testing/QA, and Funcom doesn’t have the resources to release hotfixes either. After the seasonal End of Days Christmas event (the disastrous immersion-breaking exploit-a-thon that it was, which spawned high-level mobs on new players anywhere they might go) was switched off, some quest givers and vendors are now game-breakingly permanently stuck in combat (pictured). This means they cannot be interacted with to buy or sell items, or get quests. Even the Illuminati faction leader is affected by this, meaning new players cannot finish the intro,complete the main storyline or unlock higher tier areas.

NPCs stuck in combat mode.

Just imagine if this happened in WoW and players logged in only to find they couldn’t interact with vendors or quest givers. What hope do Funcom have of adding new content or fixing anything, when they don’t even have a handle on the basic foundational MMO 101 issues? The game, the studio has no hope, no future. I have a betting pool running with my TSW guild (who have universally left the game) to see how long until The Secret World dies. It’s not necessary that The Secret World actually be shut down – it is very cheap to run MMOs in maintenance mode and will be necessary to recoup any money from the financial disaster it has sparked. Among us we have decided that any of the following qualify for a payout: the head designer, Joel Bylos, leaving ; the promised Tokyo zone not seeing the light of day before Q2 2013.

This leaves me in a quandary. This blog was started to cover Funcom’s MMO titles, but has ended up outlasting the now terminally ill company. The Secret World, Age of Conan are games without a future, and there is no future blogging about them. I have given up on them. As of now, I have withdrawn all of my assets from The Secret World. I have sold my account for a satisfactory amount – preying on the buyer’s desire for now unobtainable early-access bonus items and being able to jump straight to endgame content. Happily, the title of this blog “The Entity” is so all-encompassing that it could cover any topic or game I so desire. The coming weeks will see a re-design of this blog as I find a new topic, a new MMO.

Learning to say Yes

This is a wondrous age we live in. No matter what your beliefs are, yours are always right. There is always some webresource out there on the internet that will support your views, some news channel (Fox, Russia Today) or commentator that you find syncs up with your world view and some forum sub-community of freaks ready to accept you as one of their own. Type a search phrase into google and you will find that global warming exists and is false, Obama is a Christian and Muslim and that The Secret World both sucks and is the best game ever made. Given that their opinion is supported by others, what use is voicing the contrary view even if it is correct? Being negative gets you nowhere. Web 2.0 has given all the tools for people to live cocooned in their own parallel universe and ignore, delete and block any dissent. Weight of opinion no longer matters, when that opinion can simply be erased with the press of a button. If you want your voice to be heard, you must say Yes!

Christmas spirit

What right do I have to criticize? What right do I have to say which MMO is good or bad? Real people with kids and dreams are working on those MMOs, relying on the money they bring in to keep themselves fed and out of the cold. What good can pointing out the problems a game has bring? A customer doesn’t come into the shop not expecting to buy. What harm is there getting him to buy a game made by a studio in obvious distress, rather than from fat developers who have no need of his money? He was going to spend his cash either way.

I have received a Scrooge-like epiphany this Christmas. It is said that writing reveals yourself to you. Re-reading my old posts, I have seen myself and what I saw, I did not like. I have been hateful, negative, black, evil. In this economic downturn I was a murderer, whether I knew it or not. By criticizing The Secret World and turning away potential new players, who knows how many developers I played a part in laying off? How many programmers did I evict from their homes, how many coders had to sell their most precious family heirlooms to stay out of the gutter or keep their mother in hospital?

I was arrogant. I never questioned whether I was right to criticize. Do I have a degree in game design? The developers do, and they should know the ins and outs of the game they have been working on for so many years. Who am I to think I know better than the game designer? I am nothing.

My New Year’s resolution for 2013 is to only report the good aspects of games I cover. No more being negative. Writing and reading a blog should be a cheerful, happy experience. I want to help people and developers, not hurt their chances, and readers should be glad to try new things. In that vein here then are my belated picks for the top 3 games of 2012:

1. The Secret World
2. The War Z
3. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Recommend me a MMO

I was asked recently by a friend to help him decide which MMO to buy. Here’s the advice I gave:

There’s not much to discuss, really. There are only two traditional fantasy MMOs worth a damn any more, WoW and Rift, so take your pick. Then there are a few other MMOs with non-conventional gameplay or settings, but are high quality, getting good support from their devs and have a stable population base, such as EVE Online and Guild Wars 2. I don’t consider lobby-based games like World of Tanks or LoL as MMOs.

The rest of the so-called MMOs out are dead, failed WoW clones or what could have been good single player, co-op or multiplayer games, except they added a ton of grind, microtransactions and made the game mechanics that much clunkier to make you invest a lot of time and pay ongoing amounts for it: e.g. DCUO, Planetside 2, LOTRO, The Secret World, SWTOR. Play them if you are interested in the setting as a single-player game, but generally speaking a similar retail release game will blow them out of the water in terms of gameplay: e.g. Alan Wake vs The Secret World, Mass Effect / KOTOR2 vs SWTOR.

So here are your choices:
WoW, Rift, EvE Online, Guild Wars 2
Buyer beware anything else.