Champions Online pushes release date back
by Krystalle Voecks 
May 16th 2009 at 2:30PM
Filed under: Super-hero, Launches, New titles, News items, Champions Online
According to Bill Roper, Design Director and Executive Producer for the project: "It is critically important for an MMO to be as good as it possibly can be at launch. Through our constant dialogue with our vocal and supportive community of beta testers, we quickly realized that in order to implement certain features that we all considered important the development of Champions Online would require more time. So that's what we're going to give it. Cryptic has a proven track record of releasing solid games and we want to maintain that with Champions Online." Frankly, we're thrilled that Cryptic is opting to take more time to polish the game to a mirror shine first. We also hope that this heralds a new mindset from all MMO companies; don't release until it is done.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jargo said on 2:44PM 5-16-2009
Very smart decision on Cryptic part. The importance of releasing a stable client and a polished game cannot be overstated, especially with the mmo market getting so crowded.
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Box said on 2:47PM 5-16-2009
Couldn't see that one coming.
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Havok said on 3:03PM 5-16-2009
When can an MMO be considered "done," precisely? CoH/V is still releasing new content. WAR is releasing new content and patching in fixes over 6 months after release. WoW is patching constantly. EQ is still patching. When is done? Regardless of when it comes out, it's going to need fixing. Get in the core components and then release.
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Falconer52 said on 5:19PM 5-16-2009
WAR was far from done when they launched it, 2 classes were simply taken out because they didn't have time to figure them out and there game was riddled with bugs and imbalances. it sold over 1m copies and I believe but only 300k still remain. Just if Mythic was owned by someone other than EA...
I'm hoping all games learn from EA Mythic's mistakes
~Falc
soadsam said on 3:04PM 5-16-2009
typical... i wish companies would ALL keep their mouths shut until they were 100% sure the game was ready for release. dont even tell us anything about the game just randomly release it to the world :P
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Skypp said on 3:20PM 5-16-2009
Let me translate this for you.
" in order to implement certain features that we all considered important the development of Champions Online" means
"our microtransaction system isn't done yet"
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Russell Clarke said on 5:20PM 5-16-2009
Damn, I'd pay to see that feature...oh
Greeen said on 3:21PM 5-16-2009
Well, I am glad they decided to this if they deem it necessary. Admittedly a bit dissappointed, but if it gives for a better game/stability then I'll prefer it this way.
@Havok: I disagree. it all depends on why - e.g. if server stability is bad, you definetly don't want to launch. Just think of how it hit AoC. Well, there were other issues which people pointed out in beta, no1 listened, it was launched, and *bang*, most of beta critiques became reason for people to quit.
Of course you can try something else, like WAR, where "simply" two classes were left out at launch and added later.
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Utterance said on 3:27PM 5-16-2009
I wasn't impressed with the closed beta and thankfully I turned myself off to this game a while ago before having to hear this.
By the way, this is actually the second delay for the game. Before they announced the July 14th release date they simply said it was coming out in Q2 of 2009 or Spring of 2009 which both will have passed after this month. They should have just kept their mouths shut and made one delay to September 1st instead of getting everybody hyped about July 14th and then changing their minds.
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Utterance said on 8:41AM 5-18-2009
Edit: ...both will have passed after JUNE.
Excuse me.
ScytheNoire said on 3:37PM 5-16-2009
It will probably get delayed again, and until I hear more about it's price structure, it's on hold for me. Not interested in a game that does microtransactions and has a monthly fee. One or the other, not both.
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Sam said on 4:11PM 5-16-2009
@Greeen
I'll agree with that. There's a big difference between "good to launch" and "the beta ended three months after launch." MMO's cost too much to start life off poorly, especially since they might not recover from it.
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Russell Clarke said on 5:23PM 5-16-2009
It's a balance between cost of starting poorly, and cost of not starting soon enough. Always a tough call. I hope they get it right, because I am looking forward to many years of wearing virtual spandex!
Sam said on 5:25PM 5-16-2009
I think the cost of starting poorly is too high in this case, given COH has their incoming expansion, and DCUO isn't that far off (allegedly). I'm glad I'm not the one having to make the decision, though!
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The Platypus said on 6:02PM 5-16-2009
Good choice on Cryptic's part. It's a really good game, but it's not great yet... and it could be, with a little more percolatin' time.
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Brian! said on 6:30PM 5-16-2009
Good that they are making it better. Bad because I would like to be playing it. Annoying not to get into the beta when I applied within the first hour you could apply.
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Cicadymn said on 8:24PM 5-16-2009
One thing Mythic did right before release, they always released some good news along with the bad news. (Even though some people don't consider this bad news. In a way it's not, but even though they did this with WAR)
I wish Cryptic would do the same. "Hey we're delaying the game, but check out all these new videos/new info on powers/video explaining how power changing works/estimated date on open beta/etc."
Though this could just be a well calculated plan to help keep hype down. Hype murdered WAR. Either way, I'm still really looking forward to more info and reviews.
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Yahree said on 10:24PM 5-16-2009
It doesn't matter how far they push it back. It'll still come out in what should be considered a beta form. I don't know everything but I really haven't heard of an mmo that didn't have problems at launch. Usually fairly big problems.
"Don't release until it's done." Always seems great in theory but if you take it literally WOW still wouldn't have been released.
I say release when it's enjoyable.
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.jpg said on 11:29PM 5-16-2009
in this case i don't think they would release then
Green Don said on 12:55AM 5-17-2009
huh, they must have felt the pressure from City of Heroes new Architect release and their announced 'Going Rouge" expansion. They probably saw that and the planned features and crapped their pants to try and match it.
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