Zen Of Design

The design and business of gaming from the perspective of an experienced developer

Month: May 2009

Eve’s Slow Burn

May 28, 2009 /

Don’t look now, but Eve has 300K subscribers. This number puts it above the peak of several luminaries, including UO, SWG, DAoC, and LOTRO (and closing in fast in EQ2). Not bad for a game where even it’s hardcore players admit its kind of like playing a spreadsheet.

One thing that’s always been striking about Eve’s success is how different it’s growth curve looks compared to the other games. UO, EQ2, etc all had big early peaks, followed by long, slow declines. By comparison, Eve started small, then grew very gradually, with that pace slowly accelerating. Continue reading

Duke Nukem Never

May 7, 2009 /

On the UO2 team, we used to joke that Ultima: Ascension was taking as long to ship as Duke Nukem Forever. Of course, in that time, Richard not only shipped Ascension, but then took a year off, shipped Tabula Rasa and took a side jaunt into space.

Of course, now all such comparisons are moot, as 3D Realms has closed and Duke Nukem Forever will apparently never see the light of day.

The best eulogy is, of course, the list. (Scroll to the end of the page)

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