Rumor: Cryptic Studios Picking Up Star Trek MMO

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Cryptic Studios, developers of the successful MMORPG series City of Heroes (PC), confirmed that the company has been interviewing employees of P2 Entertainment, reports TrekMovie.com.

Though the studio would not confirm if it is currently handling the development of Star Trek Online (PC), Cryptic's tapping of P2 employees seats the studio as the most likely candidate to continue the project. P2 Entertainment was revealed yesterday to have ceased development on the title, transferring the license to an unknown developer.

Rumors of Cryptic's involvement began with a story published this morning on w00tstudios. The company was previously known to be working on the superhero MMO Marvel Universe Online (PC, X360), though rumors strongly suggest the project has been scrapped, with Cryptic refusing to comment one way or another.

Both Cryptic and P2 were reached for comment, but have not responded as of this writing.

From The Chatty
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    January 15, 2008 3:15 PM

    How is this supposed to make $? I mean i liked it when I was a kid but I don't think hardly any kids nowadays like trek or even really know about it. Whats their customer focus on this? late 20s mid 30s nerds? thats a pretty small market share.

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      January 15, 2008 3:19 PM

      [deleted]

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      January 15, 2008 3:22 PM

      The majority of gamers are in their 20's and 30's. I don't have an article to site, but i'm pretty confident in my numbers based on things i've read!

    • spl legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      January 15, 2008 3:27 PM

      I don't have numbers, but I know when I go to Best Buy most of the kiddos are in the console section, while adults in the listed age group are often in the PC section (though we stray into the console section these days to)

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        January 15, 2008 6:31 PM

        Adults straying into the console section should be shot right then and there.

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      January 15, 2008 4:56 PM

      All depends on how much it costs to produce doesn't it?

      Almost everything is scalable and that scalability can relate to money.

      For example, they could spend $10 million on the Star Trek MMO. Limit your character interactions to portraits. Outsource the portraits to contract employees - no health insurance/benefits, office space, equipment to carry. Since you don't have any characters, you could get away with one animator for effects. A few artists to do ships. Outsource the music, maybe a few space stations, concept art, etc. Who knows - maybe the game isn't about questing. Maybe they just make a sandbox MMO with planets and stations you can take over with your ships. Then the players create the entertainment just by being in the world with each other. Now you don't need an army of content creators.

      Do some creative marketing and get the license holder to work out a deal with syndicate stations to roll in advertising for the game during Star Trek reruns.

      Sure it won't be as tight as an MMO that spent $50 million but then it isn't going to attract the crowds that $50 million can buy is it? So it might actually make money.

      Look at EVE or DaoC or shit, Club Penguin, Maid Marion, Runequest, Ashen Empires, Maple Story, Ragnorok Online, Puzzle Pirates, etc. They didn't have huge teams or budgets and did ok.




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      January 15, 2008 6:30 PM

      Do kids even play MMOs?

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      January 15, 2008 8:22 PM

      Wow are you serious? star trek is one of the biggest if not the biggest SCIFI IP in existence. And with a new movie coming out this year its going to be pretty big again especially for new audiences.

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        January 15, 2008 9:13 PM

        Exactly and it's not even that important if it has a huge fanbase or not, it's that it is a hugely recognisable IP.

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      January 16, 2008 9:23 AM

      Lots of gamers also like some form of Trek. If done right this is an automatic money maker around the globe.

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