spellborn-nv posts

The Chronicles of Spellborn to be re-developed as free to play, bankruptcy issues loom

by James Egan Jun 30th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, MMO industry, The Chronicles of Spellborn, News items, Free-to-play, Chronicles of Spellborn

The Chronicles of Spellborn only launched a few months ago, but they've already announced that they're going to "re-develop" the game as a free-to-play title. Acclaim Games stated on Monday: "The development is planned to carry into 2010 and will include several enhancements and changes to the current game. The enhancements and development of the new model will be carried through a joint venture between Spellborn NV and the development studio of Frogster Asia Co. Ltd based in Seoul, the Korean studio bringing its expertise in the field of free-to-play and micro-transactions."

Once this re-development is complete The Chronicles of Spellborn will cease to be a subscription game and will switch over to the free-to-play model. We're not sure if there will be any further development on TCOS as it exists now, but a post on the game's EU forums by community manager Kelas stated, "For now, the servers and system (subscription) will remain the way it is. There are still people available for running the daily work and systems."

Tags: acclaim, acclaim-games, business-models, f2p, free-to-play, frogster, kelas, microtransactions, mmo-industry, selachii, spellborn-bv, spellborn-nv, tcos, the-chronicles-of-spellborn

The Chronicles of Spellborn interview explains game's unique aspects

by James Egan Mar 1st 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Classes, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, PvP, The Chronicles of Spellborn, PvE, Races

The Chronicles of Spellborn is a game we've been hearing more about lately. We recently noticed an interview by Nolvadex at the Italian gaming site Gamesource with The Chronicles of Spellborn's lead community manager Pierre-Yves "Mirage" Deslandes.

Mirage discusses a relatively smooth European launch for the title and some of the complexities of their publishing deals, insofar as they affect the European market. The challenges of balancing PvE and PvP content in the game comes up, and Mirage also addresses why The Chronicles of Spellborn shipped without an auction house, stressing that a marketplace is indeed on the way. In terms of building upon the game's combat systems, Netherlands-based developer Spellborn NV doesn't plan to make any major changes to the game's combat system, which Mirage states is the trademark and backbone of The Chronicles of Spellborn. Adding greater depth to what's presently offered instead of simply adding more races and classes to the game is clearly a priority for the developers.

Tags: auction-house, business-models, classes, combat, community-manager, europe, fantasy, gamesource, interviews, marketplace, microtransactions, mirage, mmo-industry, nolvadex, pierre-yves-deslandes, pve, pvp, races, spellborn-nv, subscriptions, tcos, the-chronicles-of-spellborn

More beta screenshots from Chronicles of Spellborn

by Brenda Holloway May 19th 2008 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game mechanics, New titles, Chronicles of Spellborn

The team at Spellborn NV continues to entice with its latest screenshots from its closed beta for The Chronicles of Spellborn. These depict various cities and other places on the Shards of Parliament and Quarterstone, as well as some of the creatures who will be more than glad to help you test your skill at bleeding. After looking at the new screenshots, forum regulars wondered if the landscapes are too empty and flat when compared to World of Warcraft's lush richness.

Spellborn NV recently showed the game at the RPC Münster role-playing convention, where players reportedly loved the character creation system and combat systems best. Similarly to NCSoft's City of Heroes, the gear and outfits worn by Spellborn characters don't affect the gameplay -- you can look however you wish and still fight at your best. The Spellborn combat system is similar to first person shooters and Age of Conan in that you don't target anything specifically; if something is in range of your attacks, it will be hit. It also is uniquely based on a grid on which you arrange your possible attacks that moves to allow you to use different sets of all your abilities as the fight moves on, adding a "deck building" element to battle.

No news on the identity of the publisher with whom they signed a letter of intent to publish the game in North America, or whether we will still see The Chronicles of Spellborn this year. In a year that has seen Age of Conan and will likely see Warhammer Online and the next World of Warcraft expansion, Spellborn will have to work doubly hard to get a share of gamers' time and money.

Gallery: Chronicles of Spellborn [Beta]