Joymax, a Korean MMO developer and publisher, has always been supported in the English market by Silkroad Online, in my opinion one of the biggest successful MMORPGs years back and even now with the number of players still attracted to it. When I first started the game, it was the most beautiful MMORPG I laid my eyes on, even with an ancient PC. However, Joymax’s other games, Darkeden and Deco Online, did not fair as well and both games are set to be terminated.
Now, these 2 games have stopped attracting players, this I can understand. But with the recent buyout by WeMade Entertainment, I was thinking that the developer will now have their works moved under the WeMade English MMO portal, while they concentrate on developing games like the rumored Silkroad Online 2. Instead, they have gotten more “new” games to publish, including Karma Online and Special Force, both being online shooters (MMOFPS). This business dealing has really irked me from an outsider point of view.
Both of the games are not exactly new, with some of the latest online shooters market already published by MMOFPS specialist, Ijji, the English MMO portal of Korean giant NHN Corp. No, I am serious, with quite a number of quality online shooters already out in the English market, why bring out old titles to try and snatch market share?
From my point of view, online gamers nowadays are smart enough to do some basic research of their own, and it won’t be long before they find out they are playing games which are 3-4 years old. The online shooters Ijji has are some of the latest, each with a different theme, better and more realistic graphics which modern gamers crave and older system can run. Karma Online and Special Force are both still based on the age old human Vs human war zone, and Karma Online could only come up with 2 features on their teaser website (below). Who are they trying to kid?
Anyway, enough of my ranting. Companies should look more at the business strategies of Nexon. Yes even if you hate the company, Nexon first started the side-scroller wave with MapleStory, followed by action side-scroller with Dungeon Fighter Online, and more recently kick-started the action 3D MMORPG with Mabinogi Heroes (Vindictus). Why are companies like Joymax which is trying to revive itself tossing money on old titles? I understand that many companies out there are doing the same thing, but I really hope to understand what they are trying to achieve with these decisions.