I like the fact that he/they address some real questions, like netease - pretty much SEMC said that they asked them after explaining the situation, netease refused (reasoning why is pretty clear).
Also EVIL engine will not be released as expected, so no new heroes or skins or anything really (like bug fixing, etc.) - most likely they will just implement a way on the servers to enter values for things = balancing. For me that was pretty clear from the start as project spellfire and most likely other games in the future will use that engine. Even if it didn’t, I still think they would not open source it. So yeah, there is that for the more optimistic people how magically someone will fix the game or develop it beyond balancing, maybe gamemode variables and hopefully API of some sort.
Another point is that SEMC will keep some form of control and communication even after all the stages, atleast I understood it that way. He touched also briefly the potential return of VG fully under SEMC wing or partially via new content by them, basically said unlikely and that’s ok, honest answer.
Thanks for posting this summary. As has so often been the case, I think they’re basing their choices more on unrealistic hope rather than a realistic assessment of the situation.
The question at the top of my mind right now is this:
If Project Spellfire is the company’s future and is nearing release, as they’ve implied, why are they taking their eye off the ball at this point in time? Shouldn’t they be laser focused on finishing and shipping the game/platform on which their future depends?
Kinda unrelated, but this would be a reaaally good time to release more information on Project Spellfire. All eyes are currently on them with the “shutdown” of VG’s servers, so I assume there’s extra publicity right now. Also I think it would help provide some form of closure or hopes of moving on?
At least we can get to say “so Vainglory had to die to make way for this really interesting game, huh?” But so far we have no idea what Project Spellfire / Catalyst Black is supposed to be besides that it’s not an Auto-Chess game. Like at least reveal the genre of the game, SEMC
EDIT: Would also like to add how much of an unfortunate reality it is that they are finally doing Dev Updates again now that VG is dead. I hope we get to see that level of communication like weekly dev streams, etc. with Project Spellfire
Not to get my hopes high but Im already imagining how @HipsterSkaarf 's community voting poll could be a part of the balancing decisions on said server.
Yeah, 5v5 was not the big problem. It actually caused a big resurgence in the game. Yeah I love 3v3 and it’s more unique, but if VG had never gone 5v5 it would have died so much sooner.
This Google Trends graph mirrors what those of us who were running API services were seeing as well: there was a big jump in activity around the release of 5v5 (the two spikes I circled on the graph correspond to the announcement of 5v5 at Worlds 2017 and its release in February 2018) followed by a steep drop off. As you can see, the overall shape of the curve was not changed at all by 5v5. If I graphed API calls via my Discord bot, it would look the same.
The only place where your assertion might be true is in China, for which none of us had accurate data. (And neither does Google.) But outside of that region, 5v5 changed nothing.
This, and given how many VG friends I knew quit around 5vs5 release as SEMC ruined 3vs3 from 2.9 onwards - I am sure that the game would had have a lot more players rn if SEMC invested the resources into 3vs3 polishing, keeping toned down e-sports with reasonable expenses instead of 5 stars hotels and generally developed further 3vs3. Ofc changing their monetisation so there are skins that you can still get free, but roflmao better looking skins for money and money only… with honest communication why to the community instead of lies or silence.
Instead they developed standard 5vs5 map and throw all VG into it without considering how everything they created so far is for 3vs3 and exactly halcyon map… why they could not have different balance in the two game modes? Because when they created VG they did it so it would be on one map and one map only with one values. Not get me started about the wasted resources on the PC port.
I am almost certain that the game was going to be even still profitable (even if so slightly) if they invested in 3vs3 polishing it further + changed they monetisation so not everything can be get for free. And that the player base was going to be smaller than the “strong years”, but stable on a level of dedicated and passioned players + obviously times more than now.
Ofc this is my opinion and can’t know for sure, but no matter the fine details, given how bad 5vs5 flop and the resources poured into it (and the PC port) - I am atleast almost certain that the game was going to be in a lot better place than it’s now (basically dead).
So normal VG servers are shut down now?
I felt like the game was just having a revival (due to the virus) I was having like only 5 seconds queue times it was great
I will look it from their perspective for a moment. I really do feel that VG started to cost a lot to maintain in the last half a year given how small the player base become with tendency for even lower numbers rapidly.
So I kinda can understand their desire to stop supporting the game in the current worlds situation, HOWEVER it was totally absurd and unprofessional way to do so in the way they did it (if SEMC are completely honest and in the end it will not turn out rogue wanted to give the game back to SEMC sooner than presented to us). So tweeting how the game was not only not making money, but cost so much to maintain doesn’t change the fact how they acted.
P.S. I am pretty sure SEMC could keep the game inhouse and just for a period of time tweak a little bit the balance values to keep it fresh without introducing new content. The most obvious motivation for their move is that the game maintenance is absurdly high vs the income and freezing the game without new content will worsen the situation.
btw, you know what’s the most sad thing about all this? I just fired up mobile legends after like 4-5 months off the game… it’s massively improved in all regards: new UI, new smoother animations ingame, better graphics, new HD variant of the map with a lot more details, new content into the game, a lot faster loading into a match, better end game statistics (for example now it says how many of the player base you beat with MVP, etc)… it’s improved in all regards noticeably and this is just for 4 months.
This Google Trends graph mirrors what those of us who were running API services were seeing as well: there was a big jump in activity around the release of 5v5 (the two spikes I circled on the graph correspond to the announcement of 5v5 at Worlds 2017 and its release in February 2018) followed by a steep drop off. As you can see, the overall shape of the curve was not changed at all by 5v5. If I graphed API calls via my Discord bot, it would look the same.
