Buy Rift, Save a PandaSep 26th, 2012 at 6:00 AM by Jarimor

Trion Worlds retaliates with hilarious Rift: Storm Legion promotion.

Trion Worlds cannot be described as shy in terms of promoting their highly successful game Rift.

In fact, it wasn't that long ago they were poking sticks at the 800ib gorilla in the room with their "We're not in Azeroth anymore" campaign.

Now they're highlighting their upcoming Storm Legion expansion with an animal with high visibility for gamers at the moment: the panda.

Screenshot

Having a bit of fun to sell your game is a refreshing take on some of the overwrought marketing used in recent launches. Included below is the offer itself, be sure to read the fine print...

"During the week of 9/26 - 10/3, we're donating $1 to Pandas International for every copy of Storm Legion pre-ordered through StormLegion.com.

Join us in the battle for the Infinity Gate and wield four new Souls against Crucia's ancient legion while fighting for a charitable cause.

To preview your donations in action, visit http://www.pandasinternational.org

 

Trion Worlds, Inc. will donate US$1.00 to Pandas International for each copy of Storm Legion that is pre-ordered through StormLegion.com, worldwide (excluding Alabama, Massachusetts, and South Carolina, even though we really wish they'd let us), between 12:00am PDT September 26, 2012 through 11:59pm PDT October 3, 2012, up to a maximum amount of US$10,000.00. Know why we have to do that? Maine. Weird, right? We don't know what they have against Pandas, or why $10,000 is a magical number, either. This contribution is not tax deductible, but it would be pretty awesome if it were. Pandas International is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization located at P.O. Box 620335, Littleton, Colorado 80162, whose mission is to ensure the preservation and propagation of the endangered Giant Panda."

                                                                                              Scott "Jarimor" Hawkes, Editor in Chief

Tags: News, RIFT

Comments

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Oh cute, another "lolWoW" promotion. Yawn.
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# Sep 26 2012 at 6:26 AM Rating: Decent
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6 posts
Okay. I like Rift as a game, probably as much as some of your 'reporters'. I'm subbed to it, I've got two 50's, I've been in and out through ID and poked Maelforge with a stick.

But Zam. Guys. I don't like it so much to describe it as "highly successful" anymore (unless you want to explain the semantics that up until the last 5 years an MMO company that didn't go bankrupt within 6 months of game launch was considered insanely successful and WoW was just an anomoly). Just stop.

Trion has refused to release sub numbers for Rift all year, and the last official numbers for it was 245,000 subs and trending downwards in subscription numbers. Back in January of 2012, there were about 8 full servers during peak hours. Now? Maybe 5 or 6. (see: mmodata.net 1m-150k bracket graphs)

I love Rift but spamming out pseudo-news advertising that it's smashing WoW's *** in or something does NOTHING for the severe cognitive dissonance between what the game wants to be and where it's actually at right now in terms of enjoyable features and ability to draw in new subscribers. The attitudes pushed forward from Trion's official sources (CMs and advertisers) does not seem too terribly interested in engaging in serious discussions other than a "respond to silly questions" Reddit thread and just general showcasing... and campaigns that are either extremely EVONY-inspired (the three-way you've always wanted!) or are more interested in mocking other games on the market instead of trying to show off new content in a discernible way.

What I'm getting at is please, please please help encourage the fan community around Rift to start expecting, then demanding more of Trion to deliver on the "AAA features" that they had sworn would Blizzard a run for it's money. A game averaging less than 300,000 subscribers is about as noticeable to WoW as a fly on the butt of an elephant, and if Trion is more interested in just thumbing their nose at their competitors than actually trying to compete, there's serious problems going on here.

Edited, Sep 26th 2012 8:29am by Contay
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Oh cute, another
QuoteReply
# Sep 28 2012 at 9:40 AM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1592345416947
18 posts
Contay wrote:
Okay. I like Rift as a game, probably as much as some of your 'reporters'. I'm subbed to it, I've got two 50's, I've been in and out through ID and poked Maelforge with a stick.

But Zam. Guys. I don't like it so much to describe it as "highly successful" anymore (unless you want to explain the semantics that up until the last 5 years an MMO company that didn't go bankrupt within 6 months of game launch was considered insanely successful and WoW was just an anomoly). Just stop.

Trion has refused to release sub numbers for Rift all year, and the last official numbers for it was 245,000 subs and trending downwards in subscription numbers. Back in January of 2012, there were about 8 full servers during peak hours. Now? Maybe 5 or 6. (see: mmodata.net 1m-150k bracket graphs)

I love Rift but spamming out pseudo-news advertising that it's smashing WoW's *** in or something does NOTHING for the severe cognitive dissonance between what the game wants to be and where it's actually at right now in terms of enjoyable features and ability to draw in new subscribers. The attitudes pushed forward from Trion's official sources (CMs and advertisers) does not seem too terribly interested in engaging in serious discussions other than a "respond to silly questions" Reddit thread and just general showcasing... and campaigns that are either extremely EVONY-inspired (the three-way you've always wanted!) or are more interested in mocking other games on the market instead of trying to show off new content in a discernible way.

What I'm getting at is please, please please help encourage the fan community around Rift to start expecting, then demanding more of Trion to deliver on the "AAA features" that they had sworn would Blizzard a run for it's money. A game averaging less than 300,000 subscribers is about as noticeable to WoW as a fly on the butt of an elephant, and if Trion is more interested in just thumbing their nose at their competitors than actually trying to compete, there's serious problems going on here.

Edited, Sep 26th 2012 8:29am by Contay



I think that you miss the mark claiming that an MMO's success or failure depends on how it measures up to WoW. Rift is very successful and a truly great title. This is independent of WoW's success. Why does it fail because it doesn't have as many players as WoW? Isn't that like saying Football fails because Cricket has more people that watch and play it?

"...more of Trion to deliver on the "AAA features" that they had sworn would Blizzard a run for it's money. A game averaging less than 300,000 subscribers is about as noticeable to WoW as a fly on the butt of an elephant,..."

Anyway in waiting for Storm Legion, I started a WoW account. So far I've been playing for about a week and have a few toons of various levels. This to say, I'm amazed that WoW has as many players as it does. The only reasons that I can think of for WoW to be so successful in today's gaming market have to do with Pavlov and Kool-aid.

Seriously, Rift beats WoW on so many levels it's amazing that WoW still exists. Graphics, Gameplay, Innovation, User friendliness, etc. The only area that I think Rift has a substantial deficiency as compared to WoW is the area of Lore. WoW's lore is decades old and is a very engaging part of the game and the Warcraft Franchise in general.

So, help me understand...

What areas do you feel Rift lags so far behind WoW in that's it's a detriment to the game's success?
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Oh cute, another "lolWoW" promotion. Yawn.
QuoteReply
# Sep 26 2012 at 8:52 AM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1593375138934
1 post
Contay wrote:
Okay. I like Rift as a game, probably as much as some of your 'reporters'. I'm subbed to it, I've got two 50's, I've been in and out through ID and poked Maelforge with a stick.

But Zam. Guys. I don't like it so much to describe it as "highly successful" anymore (unless you want to explain the semantics that up until the last 5 years an MMO company that didn't go bankrupt within 6 months of game launch was considered insanely successful and WoW was just an anomoly). Just stop.

Trion has refused to release sub numbers for Rift all year, and the last official numbers for it was 245,000 subs and trending downwards in subscription numbers. Back in January of 2012, there were about 8 full servers during peak hours. Now? Maybe 5 or 6. (see: mmodata.net 1m-150k bracket graphs)

I love Rift but spamming out pseudo-news advertising that it's smashing WoW's *** in or something does NOTHING for the severe cognitive dissonance between what the game wants to be and where it's actually at right now in terms of enjoyable features and ability to draw in new subscribers. The attitudes pushed forward from Trion's official sources (CMs and advertisers) does not seem too terribly interested in engaging in serious discussions other than a "respond to silly questions" Reddit thread and just general showcasing... and campaigns that are either extremely EVONY-inspired (the three-way you've always wanted!) or are more interested in mocking other games on the market instead of trying to show off new content in a discernible way.

What I'm getting at is please, please please help encourage the fan community around Rift to start expecting, then demanding more of Trion to deliver on the "AAA features" that they had sworn would Blizzard a run for it's money. A game averaging less than 300,000 subscribers is about as noticeable to WoW as a fly on the butt of an elephant, and if Trion is more interested in just thumbing their nose at their competitors than actually trying to compete, there's serious problems going on here.

Edited, Sep 26th 2012 8:29am by Contay





MMO Data lool u know that the its Dead and totaly bullsh*t right ?
i agree with u that rift will never get the numbers like wow, but no game will ever get numbers like that.
300k is mh maybe correct who know, i can be 500-600k. if u check the facebook likes u count ~350k liks for rift, wow has ~5mio likes but 11mio players
so if u do the math with the facebook likes rift got about 500-700k players.

so whos right now ? they guy form MMO Data ? or the math.

no one knows, as far the the player enjoy rift its 100% successful. as long as trion is able to earn money with it and make the players happy its 200% successful.

since day one some guys say it will fail and is going f2p soon.. soon is 18 Month now. And with the new expansion u can add 12month without any problems.


Edited, Sep 26th 2012 10:54am by dsagasga
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Oh cute, another "lolWoW" promotion. Yawn.
QuoteReply
# Sep 26 2012 at 7:54 AM Rating: Excellent
__DEL__1633306631779
Scholar
36 posts
Quote:
and campaigns that are either extremely EVONY-inspired (the three-way you've always wanted!) or are more interested in mocking other games on the market instead of trying to show off new content in a discernible way.

Just as a note - Trion are definitely showcasing the new content in their upcoming expansion, giving us a guided tour of some of the new features. Rest assured though, we'll be digging much more into these as soon as we can get our hands on them.

I do agree with Jarimor though - comparing any game's success in relation to WoW isn't really meaningful. Instead, it's better to ask if the game stands up on it's own - does it offer a unique experience, is it fun to play and does it represent good value? If we tried applying the yardstick of relativity in other media, we'd only class Avatar, Harry Potter and Friends as ever being successful, and ignore a large amount of money making but not massively popular media. That doesn't make sense to me.
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Oh cute, another "lolWoW" promotion. Yawn.
QuoteReply
# Sep 26 2012 at 7:33 AM Rating: Decent
__DEL__1638146159920
Scholar
*
75 posts
Hey Contay,
Thanks for your comment.
I don't think Rift is trying to compete with WoW for dominance of the MMO market. That would be somewhat futile.
The success as I mentioned it is from generating $100 million in revenue in the past year and being close to launching an expansion which has a lot of very positive vibes from those who have played it.
Measuring success on a WoW level is, for me, a grave mistake.
I see EVE Online as an incredibly successful game (steady subscribers built slowly over time generating well over $300 million in revenue for CCP), and of course it doesn't compare to WoW's subscriber base.
But I don't think most games should try to. I think more companies that looked to stake a corner of the market and produce quality that generated revenue on a long term basis would be much healthier than trying to do a "Hollywood Opening Weekend" strategy where if you don't have millions of subscribers and a huge launch you're dusted.
We cannot assume anything about the health of Rift's business without knowing their overheads and their profit margin, but from what is discernible, Rift certainly appears to be going along quite nicely.
I think Trion's marketing for Storm Legion, up until this obvious stunt piece, has been very focused on the content of the expansion -- some pretty superb trailers, livestream reveals etc
If you are dissatisfied with the content of the game then that is a discussion that merits more input and I would be interested to know what you think are the specific flaws with Rift and what is missing from Storm Legion?
But I see Rift as a very successful game that has a lot of respect in the industry, hence my wording. On that point, until I see a concrete reason, we will have to agree to disagree.
Thanks again.

Edited, Sep 26th 2012 9:36am by Jarimor
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