I’m sure it hasn’t escaped anyone’s notice that we haven’t resumed development or posted any news in quite some time. The truth is, we experienced some uenxpected financial difficulties at the end of last year, and while we expected to have them solved quickly, this did not happen. In fact, as it stands right now we do not have the money to continue developing Dawntide.
We’re still working on finding new investors, but this will take time. In the meanwhile, we have officially stopped all development. We hope to be able to resume it in the not too distant future, but as of right now we cannot say when that will be or whether it indeed happen at all.
The website will remain online and we will update it should our financial status change. I apologize for taking so long to post this announcement, but up until now we were genuinely expecting development to resume in February.
frankl9407
You should tell us before, you wasted my time, it is not enjoyable
GMPathy
The simple fact is Wiz was still in negotiations up until VERY recently, and with more than one outcome and possible source of funding, making statements prematurely could have impacted on negotiations with existing partners.
While I am sure nobody is happy with the current situation there was no point where Wiz was deliberately trying to deceive anyone, and is continuing to look for avenues to persue to keep the project running. While I am very disappointed that things have taken this avenue I will continue to monitor the forums, regardless of activity levels.
While I cannot say what the future holds, I am hopeful that something can be salvaged from the project for the sake of the Dev team. They have worked very hard and invested a great deal in the last few years and for that I am grateful on a personal level.
I have met some great people throughout the beta process both on the dev side and the players that have taken part. To name everyone that has contributed would take too long, and I am glad to have met each and every one of you.
I hope this is not the end, or a goodbye, and should anyone need to contact me I am always available for any reason. I will check the forums and my PM’s daily as usual and my email address is still active (gmpathy@gmail.com) if anyone would like to contact me for any reason.
I wish the players fun and enjoyment in their gaming and I hope to remain in contact with at least some of the people I have met in the last few years.
catnips
Damn there are times I hate being right so much
TinkerTot
And so the devs lie again, I figured as much after the October release dilemma. I will just like to state for the record WAI has permanently changed my faith of small indie companies capabilities of creating decent games. I also will not be looking forward to any other attempts to revive DT unless its by a new company with dependable staff, and I will not be trying any other games WAI fails at developing in the future.
Congratulations WAI You may just be able to lie yourself out of buisness, and someday i hope Wiz grow up and get rid of that big ego.
jimmyquinella
Sorry to hear, keep working on it…you never know what will happen.
ScamperNZ
Sucks to hear, wasted 4GB~ downloading this game while it was down, which is $8 here, or $5 US. I understand though why you couldn’t update us until now, just sucks that I didn’t even get to try it, but that’s the least of your worries.
halldorr
Maybe you guys should try using sites like Kickstarter…see if you can raise some funds.
rbodenmann
Very sad.
davan101
i would donate a couple of quid using a donation site but the question is could they get enough money through funding like that?
Quelaag
why not pair up with another mmo group?
LordWiese
damn, this sucks, hope you guys can get some more funding, good luck to you….gunna miss this game…….
stereoled
Please consider Kickstarter, that would be perhaps the only reasonable and realistic way to actually get enough money to get this somewhere
niburu
Good luck to you.
eraslt
and if everything is over maybe devs could share your source? :)
eraslt
*game source
LordWiese
only idiots would do that……
aut0br0
Make a campaign on http://www.kickstarter.com. Seriously, go do it now. Your community can CHOOSE how much they donate to this and I will pitch this wherever I can. Your fans are loyal and will spread the word.
aut0br0
1) Make a kickstarter campaign
2) Active forum users will bombard major gaming publications, gaming journalists, and twitter users with information about this game and their kickstarter campaign
3) Keep bombarding everyone/thing with this information until an article is run about this game
4) Use that article to persuade other publications to run an article on it
5) Use this information to fuel the kickstarter campaign
6) ???
7) Profit
timordo
how much money you need to share?
dubzio
Logicically I would suggest that the developers integrate a donation system into the website, there is 250 people that have liked this on facebook and probably double/triple that would be willing to donate $10 – $20 some more some less. I draw your attention to free projects for Ultima Online (like RUNuo) they receive thousands in donations each year. Further, some of the player run shards receive thousands in donations.
Here are my suggestions:
Donation system on website
Start back up the old server to generate more player interest, to get people into the sandbox cause.
Integrate a donation system on the website;
Be honest open and frank about how much you need to continue to develop – set a target for you guys to keep developing – dont set a pie in the sky, just the minimum – disclose this amount;
Maybe look at open sourcing the project.
You’ve got a great game model here, you developers have just lost motivation and because of this lost motivation which has lead you to stop thinking clearly. The internet has a pool of wealth and resources that can easily be tapped into.
I’d be happy to fork over $20 to see you guys back at it. 500 peeps x $20 = 3 – 4 months work? = upgrades as outlined in December?
Say that we would want to see a return on our investment – this would be through fortnightly updates (at minimum).
ksungjune
Personally, I have no reason to rush. I will just wait till things get solved. Dawntide is the only game that draws my serious attention at this moment anyway. (I checked all other similar games.) I will just play LoL once or twice a day until Dawntide is ready. haha. I want to offer an (unnecessay probably) advice : Make sure the investors understand there are minimum number of stable, fixed demand in Dawntide’s uniqueness. I am very confident that Dawntide is even unique among very similar games like MO, DFO UO, Archage, Xyson, Wurm (those last two are total fails.) You must logically prove why Dawntide has unique attractiveness compared with those semi-fail(MO,DFO), old(UO), unproven,impure,point-lost(Archage),unfinished and amature(Xyson, Wurm) games. I couldn’t have direct experience in Dawntide gameplay but with the data I gathered about Dawntide, you guys are the only chance to be second UO and you shouldn’t compromise the path due to any reason including finance and consumer demand. That’s why Sony failed and Apple won the game. For a game like this, there shouldn’t be a nego. It will ruin the whole purpose of its existence. Anyway, I will wait. I am in no rush.
crook
Good luck. Hope You will revive your dreams. Anyway wish you a peace & joy at home.
Divayith
Very disappointing.
Elindor
Any thoughts on just “releasing” where its at, taking reduced sub rate ($8/mo?) and using that to keep it slowly developing in the background?
Just a thought – hate to see a good chance for a decent sandbox fantasy mmo to go down the drain…
bsmerek136
lol @ everyone suggesting a donation site…if they couldn’t raise enough money in their attempt to ‘sell’ lifetime subscriptions, what makes you think they’ll make enough money from tiny donations here and there?
Kerbox
Well this was bad news. I found out about this game like a day after the servers closed down so I was never able to even try it…
hoolash
I’m not sure how many folks are within the community but an option of consideration could be a low value monthly fee. I’d gladly support a potential up and comer during Beta.
Bill
It’s nice to see some positive comments in response to this news, its been a very frustrating few months for us (the team).
The suggestion of a Kickstarter fund is good, but sadly it is only available to US citizens, as most of our team are EU based and the company itself is registered in Denmark, I’m not sure if this is a viable option. There are international alternatives to KS, and they might be an option, but sadly I think it depends on the business situation with WAI (something the team have little involvement in, besides Wiz).
Again it’s good to see some positive comments, thanks guys.
To those of you posting hateful, angry crap… well, have fun with that! Try funding and developing a project of this size, then come back and tell us how you’re doing.
Brunan
This is very sad. I downloaded the game about a day after the server’s went down :(
Can someone please tell me how to Uninstall the game from my System? It doesn’t appear in the ‘Uninstall A Program’ list
catnips
C: drive or drive its on,- games- dawntide
LordWiese
Hope you can get some funding bill, was the best mmo I ever played :(
Fossil
I think DT has tons of potential. I had a lot of fun exploring and trying things out in beta. I wish you guys the best of luck.
Divayith
I can’t believe it’s gone, will I ever have a home quite like North Vynn again?
Kithor
I missed the beta, but it looks like the game had/has a lot of potential, I watch all of these types of MMOs and was looking forward to this one. Best of luck finding new funding.
Kerbox
Yes it sounded to me like this game has great potential. Keep hope alive and good luck finding new funding.
humerox
Have you guys looked into the Hero Engine? You’d have to start from scratch I’m sure, but they host the servers on HeroCloud and handle all the bandwidth, publishing etc. 30% after the game starts making money doesn’t seem like such a bad deal for all that imo.
http://www.heroengine.com/
Shodex2
Why is it that every time I find a real sandbox MMO, it gets shut down just before I can play it.
kubey
+1
Moop
Wait dawntide is dead? or in a hiatus?
GMPathy
At this stage funding is still being investigated, but with no current finance to support staffing the project has been stopped. The plan is obviously to try and restart in the future but at this point in time nothing is certain.
timordo
R:I:P dawntide
Leoknight20
Really, you people are so negative. Dawntide will get funding, even if its a year from now. there are thousands of ways to get funding. In my eyes this game will grow regardless of donations. investors read forums like this to see if a game is even worth their time so slandering the Dev team is stupid and childish. show your support or leave. that’s all i can say Best luck Dev team.
Elindor
I am gonna second my own post – put it back up for a small sub fee? I bet there a lot of people (including myself) that would pay $5-8/mo throughout development!
Not sure if that would be enough or not, but this market is open to stuff like that I think – we know that a good sandbox game is gonna come from a smaller dev team and thats gonna mean its gonna have financing hardships…I think most gamers in this sub-genre understand that and are willing to help those teams out rather than insisting on a 100% polished game before they start paying something for it. As long as the dev team is honest about progress and keeps people posted (which you guys seem to do).
catnips
guys monthy fees wont add up to buying lunch for the devs, when game went down was MAYBE 2 people in the game and before it was announced even that it was going down, was MAYBE on a good day 10, the fact of the matter is when game is down alot want to try it, but when they do, if they last a week thats amazing.
Notice a few things, the old timers are hard on the devs, with good reason.
we been there and done that to many times.
The idea of the game ( as I have said many times ) is wonderful
The ideas added to that in last 2 years, a few have been ok to good, but mostly have been horrable.
And because these devs are unable unwilling or simply incapable of admitting mistakes you get stuck with these ideas.
IF they ever learn that the base idea was good, and how to be humble and admit when they have been wrong, Iam a ferm beliver this game could be a block buster, untill then its gonn sit on the shelf, what a shame.
TheInternetMan
Well I’m rather glad I got to explore a good portion of the world before it went down. Maybe Dawntide is a sign most gamers really don’t want (or don’t care about) an open world town building sandbox MMORPGs. What’s mostly surprising about the comments is the negativity. Don’t hit a man when he’s down, it’s rude.
LordWiese
I dont agree with that, its more of the unfinished side of things internetman, many of the features that brought people ingame in the first place were never there, like siege warfare, pvp, naval combat. Lack of a tutorial, us vets often forget that this game pisses people off at first since its not like the rest. As much as new players love the idea of the game when they first log in, they just cant figure things out on their own very well.
ghuton
Fuck the Themeparks – The cancer of mmorpgs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fossil
Cancer may be a good description of the problem. The market is filled with so many cheap and simple games. When the industry considers Facebook as the ‘in’ platform you know it’s gone to hell. I fear the only thing we will get in the future is more recycled FPS’s and angry bird apps.
catnips
or wow clones, or was that included in the angey bird thing? people dont want to think for themselves, they want the game to do it for them. or maybe they cant think for themselves, not sure wich.
Soviet_Union
dammit i just found out about this game
Saragus
Sad days for all of us. Speaking of mindless players, there was a simple little helpful feature in AION that had me mad as a hornet. Everyone else thought it was no big deal but it took a lot from the game for me.
I am an archer….I am running low on ammunition. A voice pops in my head and says “You have 100 arrows remaining!” I was flipped out. Who is this guy in my head! Get out of my thoughts! It made me mad due to the fact if I am an archer and I rely on ammunition and I allow myself to deplete my ammunition and start slapping enemies with a bow and die then that is my damn fault! Now I no longer need to worry about when I am low on arrows due to the magical voice in my head reminding me that I need to resupply soon.
Just one more form of micromanagement taken out of the game due to players being lazy and not wanting to think. Sad about DawnTide was hoping for the next Asheron’s Call experience out of this. All my clan who went to the Old Republic didn’t last long, they are back playing EQ1, NWN1, and me I am about to just pack it in and head home to AC.
I will peak in from time to time in hopes something changes lates yall.
crook
Dawntide has a potential – admit it, trust in yourselves, and find sponsor.
please)
p.s. good luck
DestyX
Do what MO and DF did..release it now and charge people monthly fee’s..and payment for the game, your loyal followers will be happy to pay aslong as you give them what they need..it has kept Df and MO on their feet for this long and id say DT is in heaps better shape than themn at this stage..OPEN up your servers now and let your community help you..
catnips
lol umm guys not sure what part of ” there was at best only a handful of loyal players” you guys dont seem to grasp. Dont think the devs could all buy lunch at Mc Barfles on the income.
The idea of the game drew folks like flys to poop, but once in it, it was more like snot on a door knob, no one wanted to touch it.
Now granted, I believe with just a few improvments or even putting somethings back to how it was, that could change.
I was there for over 2 years, I saw what people liked and what they didnt like, but the devs did not listen to the the players that hung around, they listened to the ones on the fourms and on IRC ( ones that didnt even play the game ) and only dug thier hole deeper and deeper, what a pity. Maybe they will learn from this, but I have said that in the past, and they have not learned a thing, they keep right on doing it. lol
Iam now starting to believe this is nothing more than VAPORWARE and again what a pity.
yamisniper
have you ever thought about trying to use donations?
yamisniper
and open sourcing it
astrob0y
To bad to hear guys! As others had said- you should try to do as dubble fine or the wasteland 2 guys did :)
Hope for the best.
halakai
R.I.P dawntide 2 march 2012 “we ran out of money”
halakai
sorry for being negative, but it’s annoying to see another great looking sandbox game being blasted out of existance.
antonslavik2
Why not talk to Rolf Jansson The CEO of Code Club AB and the Maker of wurm online and see if he would like to work with you guys on making this game.
GMPathy
Wiz is still looking into future funding, however, no updates will be published unless solid information can be provided as giving mixed messages or rumour is not good for anyone. Should more information become available Wiz will post a new update here.
Thecowlord
Just keep clear of Cryptic. Those folks break to much stuff.
ghuton
Goodbye Dawntide… :(
Roflwaffle
This game sounded AMAZINg but now im either gonna have 2 pay or ignore it…R.I.P my sanity.
frankl9407
It is May now. The game is dead
pipipipi
This website will save you: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects?filter_category=Gaming
Kickstarter does not allow anyone outside U.S., but this one is for everyone :)
Just DO it !! I belive in You and in this great(est) game! :)
Torbenslein
So I made an account an I hope I can reach someone.
I know how to manage your Money problems.
Try it here.
http://www.kickstarter.com/
A lot of good MMO’s started there already and everyone gets a chance.
Taycorn
I hope Dawntide will come out at any point in the future, but it looks like it won’t be. I had fun people. R.I.P Dawntide
tang
damm.. I wanna back to my cave! )
+1 to kickstarter
Kerbox
If there was a way to donate to this game I would.
timordo
someone deleted my post so no one survived!
GMPathy
I was responsible for the removal of your “SPAM” post as it served no purpose other than to make me scroll another page down to check latest posts. Even though there is little activity in the news section, it does not mean that there is nobody paying attention or indeed working behind the scenes. I have been in communication with Wiz throughout this period and hopefully some more information will be available to the community soon.
HTH
Pathy
timordo
it was not me!
DarkZenith
*Sigh* Another failed MMO to add to the rest. It’s a shame, but not unexpected if you don’t have secure financial backing from the outset.
timordo
I agree
timordo
=(=(=(=(=(
Rubbissh
a kickstarter sounds like a good idea.
IrelandsLad
Any updates on this?
eraslt
anything new on the front?
Setari
Man this sucks, came back after not playing in beta for a couple years and now I see this. This was a really nice game when I played. Hopefully you guys can get a kickstarter page going or something. Maybe Steam Greenlight?
Kerbox
It has been one year to this day since this project was announced dead. Sad day. I think a lot of us still cling on to hope that some good news would come forth about this game. I sure wish that. This game sounded like it had great potential.
freelander
have u thought about player donations to help a lot off developers are doin it