Thoughts on Wurm's Future

[BDCKoolaid 106]

This began as a comment on another one of the threads addressing the recent announcements and the future of our beloved game, but it quickly became so long winded that I thought it deserved a thread all it's own. I appreciate everyone taking the time to read and offering their thoughts to the thread as well.

 

 

On 7/27/2023 at 8:03 AM, Stargrace said:

 

 

This here. 

I'm concerned about this. I'm rarely ever 'concerned' about Wurm. I embrace change, I tell people to roll with it, I wait it out to see how things go before making those calls. 

Now I'm concerned. 

I've refrained from posting on the forums about any of this mess since it first started occurring with Krister posting his first official forum address, but I feel as though now is an appropriate time.

 

Stargrace's comment here perfectly echoes my sentiment. I have always been very pro-change when it comes to Wurm updates, and I almost always take the side opposite of those with extremely long history with the game who oppose any and all changes to it. That being said, even I have reached a point where I know this is going nowhere good. I've been saying to myself since the very first Krister address that this was the beginning of the end of this beautiful game I have come to know and love, and with every new announcement and update, I become more and more certain of it.

 

Our beloved new CEO knows nothing of the community that keeps this game running, and is approaching the process of adjusting, adding, updating, and tweaking with reckless aggression with no pause to observe the consequences each decision has on the ecosystem as a whole. I'm certain this is due to pressure from behind the curtain to make this game profitable quickly, presumably to avoid some other more immediate apocalyptic death scenario where the game is just scrapped altogether.

 

What's the most concerning to me, unfortunately, is the added and then subsequently removed announcement heading involving Wurm Unlimited. I find it very telling that *something* has been planned for it, even if Krister is not yet ready to formally declare those intentions. What's so angering about this betrayal of intentions to me is that it was a huge letdown and bad faith decision for the developers to stop pushing updates to WU. I can hardly think of any real reason they would need to do that beyond just a blatant attempt to drive players back to the monthly subscription model of the online clusters. Turns out the things players genuinely enjoy don't overlap much with Corporate's profitability goals. but now that the lemons have turned to lemonade, and the WU servers are preserved from all this Krister madness and it finally becomes a good thing for us players that they completely abandoned WU, suddenly they're interested in bringing WU "back into the fold," once again turning our lemonade back into lemons.

 

This just perfectly illustrates the selfish disregard for the players these corporations are trying to milk so aggressively, and it leaves a very sour taste in my mouth. I'm surprised to see myself writing these words, but I'm quickly reaching a point that I've heard echoed by other players here in the comments where I don't have any faith in the future of this game in any capacity, and I most certainly do not feel comfortable investing any more of my time or money into this game with the direction it's heading.

 

And as an aside, I want to make my opinion very clear on this: I've seen enough sunrises in my short life to know that when a CEO comes onto a public announcement and claims that FOUR senior staff members with exceptionally long tenures in those roles and an immense and obvious passion for the work they do all suddenly abdicate their position at the same time, for reasons that he is unwilling to disclose, it most certainly is not benign, and it most certainly IS due to something very alarming going on behind the scenes that we should all be concerned about.

 

Aside #2: On the flipside of the coin, if they do shut us down, I think WO would make an excellent candidate for one of those reverse engineered private server games that you see older games being revived as. I've learned that when you totally take the profit incentive out and let it be purely a passion project, you find some of the highest quality games I have ever had the pleasure of playing, and I would love to see Wurm get the opportunity to experience that some day.

 

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this opinion piece, and if you've made it this far, please do leave your thoughts and opinions for our consideration.

[Locath 533]

13 minutes ago, BDCKoolaid said:

I find it very telling that *something* has been planned for it, even if Krister is not yet ready to formally declare those intentions.

If you pay attention to who reacts to which responses, you can easily gather that the staff was not aware of any changes being planned for WU.

This was just another post full of corporate management talk to calm people down, using buzzwords and terms from several of the hottest topics. It indicates that he doesn't know what he's talking about, just pumps out lines of text which customers might relate to. When pointed out, removes the bits which are an obvious lie and leaves the rest of the lies in place since those can only be disproved in few months time, at which point there will be a new drama people will be preoccupied with so he will get away with it again.

[Syhl 215]

Nothing to add really i think we are many with those feelings, i was always far to comment our game management on forums or on Discord channels but i surprise myself doing it for the last days / weeks since Krister showed up.

 

I'm really worryied about Wurm Online future and for the same reason i didn't started again from the beginning at NFI / Steam launch, i won't start from the beginning on a WU server or private WO server IF official clusters would be down.

(Except if we could transfer our official characters and their skills without assets/stuff but at least their skills to a new fan WU server ?)

 

I won't repeat here why i'm feeling worryied and pessimistic about Wurm Online future (i already did on other threads / discord) but i would like to ask a question: If the game company gives up with WO one day, do you think they would try to sell it to another game company OR they will just close it ?

Edited July 28, 2023 by Syhl

[Coach 196]

I am not concerned about wurm. I am concerned about the people who play wurm.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Coach

[BDCKoolaid 106]

19 minutes ago, Locath said:

If you pay attention to who reacts to which responses, you can easily gather that the staff was not aware of any changes being planned for WU.

This was just another post full of corporate management talk to calm people down, using buzzwords and terms from several of the hottest topics. It indicates that he doesn't know what he's talking about, just pumps out lines of text which customers might relate to. When pointed out, removes the bits which are an obvious lie and leaves the rest of the lies in place since those can only be disproved in few months time, at which point there will be a new drama people will be preoccupied with so he will get away with it again.

 

This is a fair point and very likely. I would much rather it be just lies and BS and they continue to leave WU to rest in peace. Currently, I like it very much over there, as it's insulated from the chaos going on here, and in theory atleast, it will continue to live on for quite some time with no issue as long as it is left untampered with.

[Cipacadrinho 390]

Guys Wurm has been getting hardly any content for years and years to the point where single dev games easily outpace it but now "we are concerned".

 

To me is simple: if you have devs that don't release content is the same as not having any devs: no content being made.

 

Obviously there are devs that work hard and should be kept then trim out the ones that don't have much to show for since by not doing anything they made themselves not only expandable but a weight on a limited resources game.

[Beewolf 254]

16 minutes ago, Syhl said:

I won't repeat here why i'm feeling worryied and pessimistic about Wurm Online future (i already did on other threads / discord) but i would like to ask a question: If the game company gives up with WO one day, do you think they would try to sell it to another game company OR they will just close it ?

 

Krister worked in an Business Consulting Company as an employee until february 2023 when he entered GCG.

GCG sold mobile games other than Wurm.

Thats the lowest level of the gaming branche combined with cluelessness.

They will fuddle around with Wurm until its not making any profit anymore and try to sell it.

Only the wurmgods know what will happen then.

 

 

 

[elentari 2,660]

Probably the most important thing Krister needs to understand is around 80% or even more than than of players are 35 years of age or higher. And also pretty intelligent. Corporate - marketing speak will not get you anywhere with this crowd.

 

Many here have worked in IT, Marketing, Business, Law, Statistics, etc and they can spot ###### a mile away. 

 

The only way to manage such a community and demographic is transparency and plain honesty, no flowery speeches, no ######, just straight up truth.

 

That's all I know about my +10 years in wurm. 

[Reverent 284]

A siginificant amount of revenue is derived from Wurm. GCC needed to portray itself as a growth company to garner investment. Now that the revenue producing product ( wurm) is trending sideways at best, the stock has tanked. Krister must remain positive in the field of negativity, because his skin is in the game and its all he can do.

 

Should GCC become no longer viable as a whole, the assets are always sold out to recover as much as possible.

 

Tldr: wurm and hype is all GCC has.

 

 

[Spolmit 627]

From what I can see from these forums including the reactions from several very senior ex-members of the team I would use a medical analogy and suggest that Wurm appears- at the moment- to be in intensive care.

 

I remain hopeful- why?

 

Many folk here are- as Elentari writes above- intelligent people who I believe will be determined to see Wurm. survive and hopefully thrive. They will give their support if they are listened to and not treated as idiots.

 

I also believe and trust that those remaining on the development team and our volunteer stars will work to also bring Wurm out of intensive care and back home to us. 

 

Krister- now before I get savaged by the community, I simply have to say that if after these last few days he does not see or understand our absolute support for Wurm then he never will! These recent decisions have confused, angered and saddened most of our community. I would say / hope that there is still time for him to help Wurm succeed, I know some of the decisions regarding senior staff will not be able to be undone but hopefully he will listen to other highly experienced members of the team and follow their advice more than has possibly happened in recent days / weeks.

 

As a community we have to realise that Krister has a job to do, if he fails then it will be his head on the line. If he succeeds then we will surely all gain.

 

I hope he realises now that our community can be pretty savage at times. I would like to suggest that most of that is due to the love most of us have for the game. Wurm is not your average game- I think Krister needs to demonstrate that he understands that. He hopefully by now should realise that your typical Wurm player is not your typical game player.

 

I apologise to Krister for 'telling' him what he should do but I honestly want him to do well as if he does then Wurm will be secure and we can all go back to our deeds and forget about the forums for a long time!

 

It is sometimes difficult to be positive and there are times- like these- when being positive is going to draw barbed comments from many directions but let us try to draw breath and wait for a detailed official response which I really hope will be given out soon.

 

So yes- hopeful that this storm will be ridden out and we can all enjoy Wurm for many years to go after all I have still got so much that I want to do!

[ChampagneDragon 974]

Following the path of other small games bought out by vulture capital groups:

 

Introduce storefront selling cosmetics. Realize microtransactions make money. Increase offerings. Introduce more items, worth more because functionally they do more. Make p2w. Milk cash cow. Close doors (servers)

 

that is what I see in Wurm's future.

[Tor 531]

Wurm is getting sold probably if gcg doesn't manage to milk the playerbase as much as they wish. Or it's been prepared to be sold this whole time. Really hope jagex buy it.

At this point we are better of at gamigo (but not really) or another similar company that gcg is trying to emulate so hard and even fail at that.

All i hope is that no one gets banned in the game in the process for having opinion and speaking their mind here on the forum, discord youtube or wherever else.

 

 

[Rihanna 35]

I think Wurm has the best future if it is sold to an active player that wants the game to grow and does not have an financial interest beyond not losing money.

[Chakron 1,025]

24 minutes ago, Rihanna said:

I think Wurm has the best future if it is sold to an active player that wants the game to grow and does not have an financial interest beyond not losing money.

 

He won't sell Wurm, it's the only profitable business they have. But writing quarterly reports and using business speak regarding Wurm is kind of like proclaiming yourself the king of an elementary school playground.

[Rihanna 35]

6 minutes ago, Chakron said:

 

He won't sell Wurm, it's the only profitable business they have. But writing quarterly reports and using business speak regarding Wurm is kind of like proclaiming yourself the king of an elementary school playground.

That is on doability. But do you disagree with the statement itself?

[Chakron 1,025]

oh no that makes sense, but only if that person actually exists. but I doubt buying Wurm is a straightforward thing legally by any means. and we're talking $500,000 minimum probably? which to be fair this is an older community full of bored people, so someone could probably manage that.

[Rihanna 35]

Buy all shares of Code Club AB, done.

[Rihanna 35]

They were sold a few years ago for around 300,000 USD. I think the value is lower today with all that has happened. At the time the game was making money, Krister now mentioned it is losing money.

[Chakron 1,025]

3 minutes ago, Rihanna said:

They were sold a few years ago for around 300,000 USD. I think the value is lower today with all that has happened. At the time the game was making money, Krister now mentioned it is losing money.

 

haha holy crap it was only $355k. Krister sell me wurm thanks

[Bearclaws 44]

If you want something new and better change it, you my not see eye to eye with what ppl are doing or the changes being made but thats ok.

I do know something, whatever the team was doing in the past 3 years hasn't been working at all.

The update we have got was pathetic,they made the game worse my opinion.

All the ppl from steam has quit the game are 85% of them has, whoever was making the updates and trying to make

wurm better at the time it didn't work!

Sometimes let it play out, see how it goes at the end of the day i dont think they can mess it up worse than what we have got in the last 3 years.

.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Bearclaws

[Lisimba 779]

8 hours ago, Bearclaws said:

Sometimes let it play out, see how it goes at the end of the day i dont think they can mess it up worse than what we have got in the last 3 years.

 

No, they absolutely can. We still have a game right now, after all.

[Zahnweh 51]

12 hours ago, ChampagneDragon said:

Following the path of other small games bought out by vulture capital groups:

 

Introduce storefront selling cosmetics. Realize microtransactions make money. Increase offerings. Introduce more items, worth more because functionally they do more. Make p2w. Milk cash cow. Close doors (servers)

 

that is what I see in Wurm's future.

 

Steam was supposed to be the real ticket to getting Wurm out there.  I mean, if done right and given the necessary attention and care, it would have boosted our numbers even a little, but no one seemed to actually give the Steam release of Wurm what it really needed.  Cash shops are just to appease investors who want to see Wurm demonstrate some method of earning money through its community.  I mean, at the end of the day, Kirster cares more about them than us.  Microtransactions might keep us in maintenance mode though, but giving us a greater future beyond life support is reliant on a number of key things falling in place.  Mind you, I don't know what goes into making an MMO, what they're able to get away with, and what they need to be successful.  The best I have is what I've seen with other MMOs that are either dead, dying, or in MM.  I have no hope or faith in this game though, that sucks to say outloud, but it is what it is.  The friends I've made are what keep me around, but I don't know how long they'll stick around. 

[Zundy 99]

Imagine if Wurm was actually purchased by the playerbase as a cooperative. Really makes you think.

[DannyUK 212]

My thoughts on Unlimited is it will never be updated, it is a shame because I used to play it on Sklotopilis, best server on there in my opinion and they do a very good job with it. I understand why they won't update it though because they want more people coming into Wurm Online so it makes sense. What I don't get is why they released Unlimited in the first place, we should all be playing together not splitting the players between them.

 

I think if they updated the graphics of Wurm it would draw a lot of younger players in, whether that can be done is another question. Once they update the game they need a massive push on promoting it on Steam and other places because most people haven't even heard of the game.

 

After reflecting on the events over the past few days I still have hope for Wurm for them to turn it around. We are going through a rough patch and I'm hoping they steady the ship, bring in people required to work on the game to improve it. Everyone has to be going in the same direction, it is no good everyone fighting with each other behind the scenes, it will get us nowhere. To players who play Wurm stick with it, I've read some saying they will leave, well that certainly will have a negative effect on the game. We are not at the point of no return, the game still continues and I will stick with it. 

[elentari 2,660]

If I have a bakery and also a restaurant in two different places, It makes zero sense to close the bakery just to focus on the restaurant if both bring in profit. 

 

I can also supply the restaurant from the bakery with fresh bread and breadsticks, etc. 

 

Personally I see the move to abandon WU one of the worst decisions possible, simply due to how many mods could have been leveraged and implemented in WO. Imagine people coding mods for WU and with a bit of tweaking and balancing we could have so much more content in Wurm Online.