CitiesXL going MM-No

[Lydon]

Sigh...


-----



Dear Mayors,


First of all we want to thank you for your support since Cities XL was released in October of last year, and as far back as October 2007 for some of you.


In early 2007 we decided to be those who would make a new offer to City Builder games fans. Right from the start Cities XL has always been an innovative project regarding its online dimension. Of course, trying something new always comes with a risk.


Three months after the launch we have to admit that the subscription rate is lower than what we expected and therefore the Planet Offer is not sustainable. Not enough players decided to subscribe.


Therefore, it is with deep regret that we decided to put an end to the Planet Offer as of March 8th 2010. It will no longer be possible to subscribe to the game starting Monday February 1st 2010.


Nevertheless the Cities XL adventure goes on! Cities XL will evolve into a fully single player game. As soon as march the Bus will be added for free in the solo game. At the same time we also keep on working on new content and new features to keep on improving Cities XL.


We do realize that some of you were real fans of the Planet Offer, and loved to be able to visit other player's cities and trade tokens between players. There are simply not enough of us.


Thank you again for your understanding and support.
- The Monte Cristo team

[Strategist01]

Yeah...Oh well. I'll just stick to SC4 then. I actually prefer it, as there is enough custom content out there to completely replace the game 5x over, which is brilliant, and MonteCristo didn't allow any customization of the game that was not approved by them...

[tpex]

was it paid subscription?

[Sockmonkey]

was it paid subscription?

Yes it was, you could play single player mode, but had to fork out a bit to be able to visit other peoples cities etc. The price was a bit hefty with our exchange rate.

[tpex]

Yes it was, you could play single player mode, but had to fork out a bit to be able to visit other peoples cities etc. The price was a bit hefty with our exchange rate.

well there you go, what idiots, you can't go and charge for something people have never experienced before and expect lots of people to sign up

[Lydon]

well there you go, what idiots, you can't go and charge for something people have never experienced before and expect lots of people to sign up

How so?

I know the only reason I wanted to sign up was BECAUSE I'd never experienced it before and have enjoyed single-player city simulations immensely in the past.

If I had a credit I would have happily forked over the cash to give it a try.

[tpex]

How so?

I know the only reason I wanted to sign up was BECAUSE I'd never experienced it before and have enjoyed single-player city simulations immensely in the past.

If I had a credit I would have happily forked over the cash to give it a try.

Maybe you, but I don't believe people in general would, 1st, its a type of game play thats never been done before, 2nd its from an unknown publisher (could be read as not well known as well) and 3rd (AFAIK) its costs more then WOW to suscribe, Lets look at one of the biggest MMOs around WOW, before it was guild wars, that introduced the game type to people, 2nd it was made by Blizzard, so the greedy buggers could charge for it. all in all, IMO I don't think it had much going for it, even tho I would have given it a try

[Lydon]

Maybe you, but I don't believe people in general would, 1st, its a type of game play thats never been done before, 2nd its from an unknown publisher (could be read as not well known as well) and 3rd (AFAIK) its costs more then WOW to suscribe, Lets look at one of the biggest MMOs around WOW, before it was guild wars, that introduced the game type to people, 2nd it was made by Blizzard, so the greedy buggers could charge for it. all in all, IMO I don't think it had much going for it, even tho I would have given it a try

But why? It's not hugely different to other types of gameplay. It's simply a city builder with a multiplayer feature. I know the large majority of MMO players that I know are sick of the same old same old.

Furthermore, the publisher isn't unknown. They've delved into quite a few similar games in the past...City Life being one of the most recognisable of the lot.

And World of Warcraft was released before Guild Wars. Neither of them introduced the world to the genre. They have been the most popular, but Ultima Online and Everquest are two examples of pioneers of the genre. Both of those charged players to play them. By the time World of Warcraft came along, MMO's were nothing new.

I think the reason it went under is not because of any of the reasons you mentioned. I think it's because they didn't advertise it near well enough. The only reason I know about it is because I saw a topic about it on an architecture forum.

[Sockmonkey]

I think the reason it went under is not because of any of the reasons you mentioned. I think it's because they didn't advertise it near well enough. The only reason I know about it is because I saw a topic about it on an architecture forum.

Same here, if you didnt mention the game, I would never have known about it. Also the need to have a CC was a big negative - you couldnt just walk into a gaming store/online store and pick up a gaming card.