Fallen Earth is, for me, a first: the first time I’ve ever gotten really sucked into a small niche MMORPG developed by an indie dev team. And it’s weird to be here.
Usually I’m wallowing in the deep end with the big boys: Cryptic, Blizzard, FunCom, Turbine, SOE, etc. Their strategy for MMOs is reflective of their hefty budgets: hype big, release big, stay big. They’re like a blockbuster movie that knows it has to be HUGE the first weekend to be anything at all, so efforts are poured into making the most massive initial splash possible.
Indie MMOs don’t have the wallets for that sort of thing — they hype and promote as best they can, but their strategy is to release solid, and gradually grow over time. Some would say that Fallen Earth’s advantage is that they don’t have overly high expectations to meet, but instead have the luxury of being a pleasant surprise that overreaches any assumptions that might be out there.
In any case, FE’s tearing up the sales charts on Steam and Direct2Drive, topping even Champions in terms of sales through these venues. It certainly won’t be announcing a million subscribers in the near… anytime ever, but there are several positive factors that some friends and I agree on for this game:
- It weathered one of the busiest MMO launch months in history, and held its own superbly.
- It’s winning a lot of bloggers over, who (like myself) are being pretty vocal in promoting the title.
- Until (or if ever) the Fallout MMO comes out, it doesn’t look as if it will have any direct competition in this types of post-apocalyptic setting.
- There’s no major MMO releases on the near future horizon, which gives it time to grow without any additional “ooh new shinies!” competition.
- For all its roughness, bugs and issues, Icarus Studios has been relentlessly pushing out patches and fixes on a near-daily basis, vastly improving the game in even the few weeks I’ve been playing.
I think the best hope for Fallen Earth, as it has been said, is that it will model EVE Online’s growth with a steady increase in subscribers (and revenue), and be one of those titles that doesn’t play ball on the major league level, but wins over a throng of adoring fans as it does its own thing over in a different venue.
Basing your business model on EVE is a great idea. EVE devs are a happy and good humoured bunch and I’m guessing that comes from a gradual rise in fame and fortune which has not severed their ties to a humble beggining.
Fallen Earth looks like a bit of OK. I’ll maybe have a look at some point this year…
I’ve been getting really hyped over FE for a few weeks now, thanks in no small part to you. I don’t have a whole lot of free time to currently invest in an MMO, but I’ll be looking to grab it later on this month, when I have some time off.
Keep hyping this game, and supporting the underdogs.
Do you know if they’ve released a free demo yet? I’d be willing to give it a second shot at some point, but I’m not paying money on the hope that it’s improved since I last visited.
I’d try it, but I looked at the screenshots and it doesn’t look visually nice to me.
I’m being completely serious.
I wish you would stop with the FE talk already!!!
I raid in EQ2 and have been playing Champions Online on the side. But, having been a huge fan of Wasteland and Fallout, this Fallen Earth talk is driving me nuts! My wife will leave me if I pickup a third MMO to play. I don’t really want to drop either of the others but FE sure sounds like a good diversion.
Dang, what to do, what to do. Thanks.
I played it for a bit in beta, it’s certainly unique and interesting.
Still ended up in Aion though.
WASTELAND!!!! Where’s my commodore 64, I want to boot it up NOW! LOL!
Dang it Syp. I may have to go pick FE up tonight now.
I don’t know that the graphic style appeals to me at all… it certainly seems like it might get depressing. At the same time, the game itself sounds like something fun and different… so at the very least it should definitely be worth the $50.
There’s another plus to Fallen Earth that I think will affect their future:
Their maps are constructed from topographical data.
That’s a great way around the time-consuming process most MMORPGs have in creating zones. Sure, they still have to populate the area with objects and mobs, but as a few people have noted: Post-Apocalyptic Arizona doesn’t look that much different than present-day Arizona.
I’m guessing they may be quicker to add content (or at least explorable terrain) than other games.
Starting to peak my interest a little I must say
Any reviews out there?
I want to try it, however being as I play in UK I’ve heard they tend to patch in my peak play time. Any UK players care to confirm this?
Nice blog btw
SYP….
I DL’ed FE last night.
Good call.
It was pretty cool even for my wife because she is from Arizona, so when I said I could go to Kingman she freaked out, lol.
Rock on, Adam!
I’ve had no trouble with patch times being a UK player, anyway they’ll become less common as bugs are ironed out. I’m mainly a LOTRO player but would recommend giving FE a go.
Hi
Just wanted to say thanks for your recent supportive blog posts about Fallen Earth. I’m the marketing manager for the game and I see this blog pop up in my clips almost every week. Just wanted to give props where it was due. Thanks for supporting us.
-Circatrix
@ Circatrix – You’re welcome! You guys wouldn’t get the support if you didn’t have a great game here.