Perhaps the most startling piece of MMO news that fell out of Google Reader when I shook it down for last weeks news, was this one:
Saga of Ryzom: Important Information
And
Saga of Ryzom: The Latest Update On The Ongoing Situation
As of writing, this is the last thing we’ve heard through the official channel of the Ryzom main site, although I’m sure things will develop. As far as I understand it, the basics are that Nevrax, a French company whose one and only product seems to be Saga of Ryzom, is going into receivership. I’m not quite sure what the American business equivalent is – Chapter 11? Something like that, but the upshot it they’re out of money, and can’t afford to pay their bills. The lawyers will now move in, carve the company up, sell off anything they can for whatever anyone will pay, and then dish out the proceeds to whichever creditors scream the loudest. I only play a Lawyer on TV, mind you.
Despite this typical process, we are assured that Saga of Ryzom itself, will continue unaffected, with not only support, but development also, which I find hard to believe, frankly, but then this whole affair does somewhat beggar belief.
I’ve played SoR twice now, for two weeks each time, once during the beta, and once on a free trial offer. I have a review here, but basically, I liked it. I just didn’t really have the time to take on another MMO back then. Many other people liked it too – the game was consistently in the top five player-rated MMO titles at MMORPG.com, and I’d never really heard a bad thing said about it – no critics panning it, no scandals, no monumental WTF??? news items…nothing.
Still, you can’t argue with bankruptcy.
- Step 1 – Spend money building an MMO
- Step 2 – Earn more money than you spent in Step 1 by getting lots of people to pay you to play your MMO, preferably monthly recurring
- Step 3 – Profit!
I’m no economist, but clearly Nevrax have been having problems with the ever-elusive Step 2, and despite everyone liking Ryzom, and like me, appreciating it exists and then going off to play-n-pay WoW instead, in terms of actual bums-on-seats, SoR must, by definition, have been something of a failure. A shame, and somewhat startling; a few news posts down (15th Nov), they’re talking excitedly about adding HDR-style Bloom effects to the graphics engine, and of course the revolutionary ‘Ryzom Ring’ MMO module construction kit hasn’t been out that long. It all gave the impression of a plucky young game going places, and making a lot of friends along the way, and I feel a bit guilty for not actually having subscribed at all. Still, there must have been a reason why I, and so many others, didn’t. A sense of guilt is not enough of a reason to 'donate' $9.95 a month to someone, other than a registered charity, that is.
So is this an obituary? Well, the future is unclear, but may not necessarily mean extinction. They say that various other companies and/or individuals are interested in taking over management of the game, which could be a reprieve, or could merely drive the nails into the coffin. (Interesting developments there, I note…). Many folks seem to hold great belief that "Open Source Will Make It All Better!", which makes me giggle. History is littered with old PC games whose source code is now free to download and use, yet remains largely absent of fine examples of derivative work. I know the community of Ryzom always appeared to be cohesive and driven, but I can’t see them spontaneously turning into a unified, well-disciplined and self-managing software development and maintenance team overnight somehow. I may be wrong.
Anyway, Ryzom is practically open-source already:
NeL Wiki
That’s right – Nevrax have already open-sourced the engine behind Ryzom, and it looks to have been free-for-all since at least 2004, possibly much earlier. Surely the ultimate expression of the Ryzom Ring! Build one yourself! Perhaps they should have been selling their engine, rather than giving it away...it might have helped them avoid this current fate?
So Ryzom now exists in that precarious twilight zone between Business-As-Usual, and Bankruptcy-Heat-Death, where the accounts are free only because no-one is sure who should be taking the money anymore. “Life is tough on Atys”, the website tells us, and evidently, in Paris too.
They still have free-trial download and sign up on the main webpage, so if you are all all interested, now is probably a good time to have a look, while you still can:
Saga of Ryzom: Free Trial
Still, having said all that, I am reminded of the defiantly hardcore Shadowbane, which went through an almost identical set of events many months ago, and yet emerged largely unscathed, and still seems to be going strong today. It’s a crazy world! Crazy I tell ya! As for Ryzom, watch that space…
Edit: Ah, looks like the campaign is underway: The Free Ryzom Campaign. A noble endeavour, certainly, but just remember - you can only speak if you are holding the Conch Shell!