Could this be the end?

Written by Genjuro

Thursday, 01 November 2007

People are already counting down the end of days but I wouldn’t be so rest assured. The way I see it, Ojom’s departure is a blessing rather than a curse, as we’ll be seeing some much needed and long overdue changes. Ladies and gentlemen, you are all currently witnessing a FoM revolution, right before your very eyes.

For those of you who started playing on or after June 2005, Face of Mankind was independently funded and operated by Duplex Systems prior to that date and Ojom only got involved when DPS figured that it was time to convert their players into potential income.

The game will continue to thrive without Ojom’s financial support just like it did in the past and besides, FoM is better off without their support altogether, since it also entailed them having negative influence on the design of the game which, at first, were simply adaptable changes, but over time, they just became a burden to the community.

As everyone should be aware of by now, DPS will be making an announcement on the future of FoM within the coming weeks before the end of November. Duplex aka Marko mentioned that we would definitely be surprised, but what exactly could surprise the community? Surprises usually implicate the exact opposite of what you would expect. I have reason to conclude that Duplex should or will simply be offering FoM for free.

By reverting back to F2P, it allows the community to build itself back up again, which automatically gives the game more exposure by word of mouth and a positive outlook on the future, a la early ‘05 beta hype.

Some are saying that the surprise could be a new publisher, but could they have struck a deal within 2 weeks?

Duplex has been consistently working on FoM for at least 5 years, I doubt they’d enjoy seeing their hard work be wasted and forgotten. Marko has shown an unprecedented level of passion for his digital creation and would most likely not let it go unexperienced and unseen.

It was reported that a mysterious new project similar to FoM was in the works one year ago in an MMORPG.com interview with Duplex. Perhaps FoM has been milked for all its worth and greater focus is being shifted over to the new project, so why not just capture the hearts of the community by providing them with free service for an old game in the meantime until the new project overshadows it?

According to Zordax, the amount earned from subscriptions weren’t even enough to cover server costs and without Ojom, who’s going to handle billing and accounts?

If you add up the pieces of the puzzle, it appears to display a vivid picture. Hopefully, I’m not wrong.

Genjuro aka Sroek

Read more at: http://www.fomplanet.com/blog/?p=8.