Ckdamascus; while it's true that online (be it multiplayer or MMO) it's king now (even Call of Duty or Halo are bought for it's online modes), it's not that false that single player it's a minority.
It's more correct to call it..."diverse" (in terms that there are too many people in it and they are a little..."tired" from all the junk games that there are now.
Most games now are simple commodities (in the sense of sold to the masses) so they have a weak singleplayer or one that get's old very quick so they tend to be overlooked by "hardcore" gamers but if the thing has a strong multiplayer, they it's pure money.
KB has a strong singleplayer but has lacked multiplayer (even now the editor doesn't allow it). And it's developed by a company that doesn't have a history of big hits at worldwide scale nor it's of the most played genre (hack'n slash, RPG or FPS) so it lacks that massive appeal the others have.
Is the game that niche? I wouldn't say so. I would say that more that it has been very bad marketed to a wider audience (how many people you know knows this game?). Plus the game has some mechanics (lots and lots of text, no voices, slow start, extremely long duration, and some mistranslations) that doesn't appeal to that many people.
Now do we know of much money the Katauri or 1C have made from KB? If it was a lot, they would have continued but if they went the MMO way I assume they haven't made that much (of course this has some trouble because MMO are way more expensive than non-MMO games, so they would have need to win a lot of dought or they got a big publisher or partner)
Now, can we blame them for going that way? If they don't have success yes. If they do no. Katauri are part of 1C (I think) so they also have some orders from above to do what's more profitable.
Now I believe they are going that way (MMO and hack'n slash) because we're seeing a revival of the genre (was never dead but it has come more alive now) from various titles: Titan Quest (sadly Iron Lore has closed but are now formed as a new company that's developing a new game), Sacred (the II was not good and the company got sold; I think the new publisher is going to try Sacred 3), Torchlight (from the guys that had mythos until they went bankrupt because of Hell Gate London) and more importantly: DIABLO III (no need for presentations). And this one is probably gonna come in 2012 (the same date as Royal Quest), so while I don't think 1C or Katauri are gonna be competition (or they would be ripped off), I think they are gonna try for "complementation": As when you get tired of playing one, the other is similar yet has something new and you don't need to learn how to play it (no learning curve).
Are we at the end Ckdamascus? Let’s do a little history on what’s happened recently: HMMV had 3 games (expansion included) that didn’t made a huge impression, they had a spin off in DS and PSP plus there is now HMM Online and the next game (Heroes VI) is going to try and get the winning formula again. Disciples III, well I haven’t played it but seems nobody liked it. Another big name? Not that I can’t think of (maybe someone has some other game?). And of course KB, AP and CW.
So at the end, none of the above have done a “revival” per se of the genre. Now why was it?...multiplayer (MMO Online doesn’t count). That severely limits the market and the interest of the public as the genre is limited to people who love more slow paced and thinking thank heavy action. Think of how many people follows professional chess vs people that follows professional soccer, basketball, tennis, etc. So without it, the player is only limited to play against the computer (and we know how much we like to B**** against the AI).
Now if they did the correct thing going MMO, only time will tell.
p.S: Sorry for the long message.
EDIT:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nike-it
Royal Quest will have Diablo style gameplay. And about payment, it definitely won't be free .
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Now i don't know how they are gonna compete against the massive amount of free MMO that will be available in 2012.