The NASDAQ is down about 10% with most signs pointing to an upcoming bear market. The bitcoin bubble popped which is great since it seems to have not hurt any other markets (besides NVIDIA). In fact the decreasing amount of power being dedicated to bitcoin are a positive for energy prices. And we all get cheaper graphics cards. Bitcoin was the peak of "irrational exuberance."
All of the gaming companies are headed south though, and this tends to affect the development of big budget games. We will maybe see the closing of a major gaming company in the next year. DDO is owned privately by Daybreak games mongols---but this doesn't mean that the investors for DDO aren't aware of the bigger picture. (Tinfoil hat on.) I hope we're a front for Russian money laundering because then we'll stay open. (Tinfoil hat off.)
The release of this limited time "Season Pass" looks like Standing Stone Games needs an extra $300,000 for the expansion development RIGHT NOW. The release of the pre-order package for Ravenloft was in March of 2018. The goods were redeemable on October 17, 2018 and the expansion launched on December 7th of 2018. (There was a caveat that it might release even up to a month later.) Sharn has hinted to be released by this spring; however, we haven't gotten a pre-order yet. The pre-order for Ravenloft came out 10 months before Ravenloft lauched. A trailer launched that March (however primitive) and we still don't have a trailer.
Typically DDO releases a small F2P pack before a content drought leading up to a major expansion. (Look back at the dark times before MOTU, the 3 quest pre-release for Shadowfell, and the skipped update period before Ravenloft.) For this reason, Sharn looks to be the NEXT THING.
I really expected to see the Pre-orders for Sharn drop with the release of this F2P teaser pack. Instead we got a poorly thought out plea for money. We haven't seen Tiefling on Lammania and we probably won't for a few more months. (Steelstar is the only one doing enhancement trees AFAIK.) If previous content droughts are accurate then we shouldn't expect to see the release of Sharn for another 4-5 months. This puts the release of Sharn in April or May. Unfortunately the bear market might affect us. If SSG fucks up with Sharn then our investor will likely "close shop" as we head into the next recession. The lack of a release of Pre-orders, as well as any visual teaser, does not bode will for us power-gaming retards.
On the bright side, it appears that LOTRO's legendary servers were a hit. LOTRO was even getting positive press from World of Warcraft streamers following the flop of their latest expansion, Battle for Azeroth. At least in the short-term we should be able to ride on their coat-tails for a while longer---even if SSG fucks ourselves over with a low-quality Sharn release. What are your thoughts on this?
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Good more general video on the gaming market if you're looking for a slow look through stuff: