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The End of Ntreev?
The revelation came to me with the announcement of OGPlanet's Albatross 18 closure. But wait, isn't this an Ntreev blog? What does OGPlanet have to do with that?
Everything.
Recently, an old Kirameki member thought it would be good to revive the TO guild for old times sake. I asked him to post a thread in the guild forum to try and spark interest. Through the course of this thread, a very interesting post came up alleged to have been written by Aleister D. D. Gilgrim. Gilgrim was the much loved artist of Megalo Life and I've even spoken to him fairly recently (though not about any of this). It's no secret that the company has been lagging to handle basic functions such as support. Within the last few months their maintenance and patch cycles have gone from weekly - to bi-weekly - and now they're on their 3rd week without a maintenance.
A couple of weeks back, they announced their promotion of "Player Mods". I thought it was a cute ploy to show they were in touch with the community but upon further inspection it may be a desperate cry for help. Back up 6 months or so. A number of us noticed that the Ntreev forums weren't being moderated well and volunteered to moderate the boards free of charge. We were met with stiff opposition citing policy against non-Ntreev employees and forum moderation. So was this recent move by Ntreev an attempt to get in touch with their community or to stave off imminent disaster?
Next, we have the Fantasia server failure. From what I can gather on the Ntreev forums, the server was down for almost 6 hours. Usually companies have on-call disaster recovery techs to deal with things like this, right? I mean, after all that server should provide them with at least 25% of their TO revenue, right?
Events have gone unpaid. When I last lurked the forums, a Halloween event cooperation with MMOsite from 2007 was still unresolved. A mutual colleague in the MMO industry told me "Ntreev is having some problems". Was the disappearance of GM_Nero just because he got a better job? Where did GM_Mobius go?
Support requests have gone unanswered. Some users report in excess of 1 year wait times for support issues. Compare this with companies such as OGPlanet and NHN USA Inc - both of which I've opened support tickets with and received responses within 6 hours.
Actually, through posting the blog I came to an astonishing realization. I believe Aleister D. D. Gilgrim may have been GM_Mobius. They both had a light hearted sense of humor and were very pleasant people. I talked to Mobius quite a few times in game and I've had email correspondence with Gilgrim. Gilgrim's alleged note stated he wore multiple hats within the company - many of which he could not speak. So, when Gilgrim bid his farewell, Mobius disappeared into the oblivion unannounced. Could these two have indeed been the same person? Could he not have been at liberty to announce his departure as GM_Mobius? I guess we'll never know.
But wait, you opened this with OGPlanet's Albatross 18. What's the connection?
The developer. Albatross 18 (aka Pangya) is developed by Ntreev. Could it actually be that Ntreev itself is failing and that it's subsidiary is just suffering because of it? Could it be that Ntreev USA's irresponsibility is causing the downfall of the parent company?
I give Trickster Online at most 9 months from this post. I predict that within 9 months, Ntreev USA will have closed the doors on Trickster Online. Will it be picked up by another publisher like NHN USA, who scooped up the failing Lunia from TFT and turned it around for success? Only time will tell.
The views expressed in this blog represent the personal views of the author and are not in any way reflective of Gavist Media LLC or MyMMOGames.net
Everything.
Recently, an old Kirameki member thought it would be good to revive the TO guild for old times sake. I asked him to post a thread in the guild forum to try and spark interest. Through the course of this thread, a very interesting post came up alleged to have been written by Aleister D. D. Gilgrim. Gilgrim was the much loved artist of Megalo Life and I've even spoken to him fairly recently (though not about any of this). It's no secret that the company has been lagging to handle basic functions such as support. Within the last few months their maintenance and patch cycles have gone from weekly - to bi-weekly - and now they're on their 3rd week without a maintenance.
A couple of weeks back, they announced their promotion of "Player Mods". I thought it was a cute ploy to show they were in touch with the community but upon further inspection it may be a desperate cry for help. Back up 6 months or so. A number of us noticed that the Ntreev forums weren't being moderated well and volunteered to moderate the boards free of charge. We were met with stiff opposition citing policy against non-Ntreev employees and forum moderation. So was this recent move by Ntreev an attempt to get in touch with their community or to stave off imminent disaster?
Next, we have the Fantasia server failure. From what I can gather on the Ntreev forums, the server was down for almost 6 hours. Usually companies have on-call disaster recovery techs to deal with things like this, right? I mean, after all that server should provide them with at least 25% of their TO revenue, right?
Events have gone unpaid. When I last lurked the forums, a Halloween event cooperation with MMOsite from 2007 was still unresolved. A mutual colleague in the MMO industry told me "Ntreev is having some problems". Was the disappearance of GM_Nero just because he got a better job? Where did GM_Mobius go?
Support requests have gone unanswered. Some users report in excess of 1 year wait times for support issues. Compare this with companies such as OGPlanet and NHN USA Inc - both of which I've opened support tickets with and received responses within 6 hours.
Actually, through posting the blog I came to an astonishing realization. I believe Aleister D. D. Gilgrim may have been GM_Mobius. They both had a light hearted sense of humor and were very pleasant people. I talked to Mobius quite a few times in game and I've had email correspondence with Gilgrim. Gilgrim's alleged note stated he wore multiple hats within the company - many of which he could not speak. So, when Gilgrim bid his farewell, Mobius disappeared into the oblivion unannounced. Could these two have indeed been the same person? Could he not have been at liberty to announce his departure as GM_Mobius? I guess we'll never know.
But wait, you opened this with OGPlanet's Albatross 18. What's the connection?
The developer. Albatross 18 (aka Pangya) is developed by Ntreev. Could it actually be that Ntreev itself is failing and that it's subsidiary is just suffering because of it? Could it be that Ntreev USA's irresponsibility is causing the downfall of the parent company?
I give Trickster Online at most 9 months from this post. I predict that within 9 months, Ntreev USA will have closed the doors on Trickster Online. Will it be picked up by another publisher like NHN USA, who scooped up the failing Lunia from TFT and turned it around for success? Only time will tell.
The views expressed in this blog represent the personal views of the author and are not in any way reflective of Gavist Media LLC or MyMMOGames.net
Tags: albatross 18, aleister d. d. gilgrim, gm_mobius, gm_nero, ijji, kirameki, lunia, nhn usa, ntreev, ogplanet, trickster online
Total Comments 39
Comments
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The only reason I don't want Ntreev to die just yet is because of Husky Express.
...Oh wait, that's a nexon game. Oh well, tough luck, Ntreev USA :x
P/S - WTF PLAYER MODS?Posted 02-10-2009 at 05:56 PM by Kotarou
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We'll see if they die - My diagnosis is terminal greed with a life expectancy of 9 months.Posted 02-10-2009 at 05:58 PM by NoeJeko
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Epic. I'd read Gilgrim's thoughts on NtreevUSA, but I would have never made any sort of connection to Mobius. Now that you mention it, it does seem to fit into a lot of things.
This.. wow. Really.Posted 02-10-2009 at 05:58 PM by Kusuriuri
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D: its a sad thing to see and read about this. I personally love TO, but see the company in such a state is very...disheartening. I had assumed the lack of updates for 3 weeks was so that the poppuri event would be longer. You don't suppose it is the same way in other country branches of nTreev? Though if the Korean nTreev is doing well, I don't see how they would give up TO and GC to a different company not affiliated with them. Perhaps a complete overhaul and maybe even closing the English branch for a while until they would get proper management and processes running smoothly. The theory, GM_Mobuis=Aleister, is very interesting indeed.Posted 02-10-2009 at 06:15 PM by bahboh
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It's a conspiracy! D8Posted 02-10-2009 at 06:21 PM by Kowiz
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this makes me really sadPosted 02-10-2009 at 06:25 PM by PedroRomero
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Wow thats very interesting. I'm gonna have to remember this 9 months from now =oPosted 02-10-2009 at 06:31 PM by CountBlood
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This kind of makes me sad too..Posted 02-10-2009 at 06:47 PM by Sandrie 
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;w;
*hugs her sheepie lots before TO explodes*
9 months... just in time for a baby. /random
Well, this kinda sucks, but I'm not surprised. It was a good run (in the beginning).Posted 02-10-2009 at 06:49 PM by Yume
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Well, we can just hope that when (if) it happens, the game will be picked up by a responsible publisher. One that's actually in touch with their community and cares about their players (aka customers).Posted 02-10-2009 at 06:50 PM by NoeJeko
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Lol @ Yume
Well... if it does get picked up by a more responsible (Oh please god, yes) publisher, that could be the baby xD?Posted 02-10-2009 at 07:06 PM by Kusuriuri
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Mind - censor -
Well it would explain a large amount of thoughts I have had about Ntreev.
But wouldn't dropping an entire server extend Trickster's lifetime slightly more than that...?
@Veil If only we had more ijji's. Such a great company ;-;Posted 02-10-2009 at 07:21 PM by Sanichi
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This makes me sad, I was thinking of picking up Trickster as a side game for when I can't play LaTale =<
Good luck to Ntreev, hope it doesn't immediately crash and burn x-x"Posted 02-10-2009 at 11:48 PM by Kukiko
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I was actually thinking of starting to play Trickster again. This is kinda sad. :[Posted 02-11-2009 at 02:05 AM by LaTale
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It will probably fail, but its gonna be picked up by nexon or ijji. ;OPosted 02-11-2009 at 06:14 PM by YummyNew
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nexon.....? >_>
anyway, i think it would be more wise if ntreev, went through some major restructuring and refocusing before they threw the towel :/Posted 02-11-2009 at 06:59 PM by bahboh
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I think they're too far gone to restructure. Public opinion isn't very high right now, heh.Posted 02-12-2009 at 10:48 AM by NoeJeko
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I'm going to blog about this on my blog and the CM blog, thanks for the inspiration...Posted 02-12-2009 at 12:08 PM by Tardar
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Agreed @ Paul
As it stands now, theres really nothing NtreevUSA can do to save the game. Theyve twisted it into some unrecognizable form of what it once was.
They refused to listen to the players that cared. They continued to do as they've been doing. And now it'll be their own undoing.Posted 02-12-2009 at 03:34 PM by Kusuriuri
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Not only are they lacking resources to manage their own games, but they just announced the acquisition of Pangya. It makes sense from the standpoint that NtreevSoft developed the game, but they can't even properly manage the games they have.Posted 02-12-2009 at 06:38 PM by NoeJeko
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