Pirates Online Closing 8/20/2013

Status
Not open for further replies.
King Arrguy said:
The worse part is, that Disney has fell now. Whenever I ask my friend if Disney channel is any good now, he laughs. Any good, original, unrecycled movies that they have are usually stale and boring. This is yet another one of their dumb ideas that will come back to haunt them. Like sending out their singing stars halfway to rehab... All I can say is, it is rather selfish of them to play us on this neverending record that leads nowhere.
Click to expand...

Disney is reaaaaaaally in some deep trouble from what I can gather. Everything Disney is known for is failing (well, everything except the amusement parks, but I can see that coming in the next 10 or 15 years. I mean, $6 for a bottle of water? C'mon). Their TV stations are filled with terrible shows, old movies that encourage people to change the channel when they come on. Their online games are all being cut back for Club Penguin.

I honestly don't see why they have to drop everything else and focus on Club Penguin. It was run by a private company up until 2 or 3 years ago when Disney bought them out! It survived long enough without being tainted by Disney, so why is it suddenly worth annihilating their whole MMOG department for one game? Does Disney seriously think everyone from the closed games will just all flock to Club Penguin? They made some pretty good money in membership payments on POTCO, I think on Toontown, and I have absolutely no clue on Pixie Hollow. BUT, they are playing a very dangerous game. Disney is throwing away everything, three (I think) pretty good sources of income, just to gamble on the success of a game that I can almost guarantee will be closed within the next 10 years.


Oh, and the puns that I made in this post.... NOT intended :facepalm:
 
It's been said that when something shocking happens, it might be best to wait a short time before reacting to it publicly. Right now, I've seen the full gambit of emotions from many fellow pirates. Many are experiencing sadness and loss at the potential separation from online friends and a familiar setting. Some are angry or hurt, feeling that this day could have been avoided had only something been different. There's also a melancholy feeling of perhaps being lost or directionless without the routine that has been so engrained for so long.

If you're like me, you've gone through these feelings in regards to Pirates Online even before this announcement was made. We knew this day would come, but did it have to be now?

To say this time has impacted my life, is a gross understatement. We old salts have witnessed young pirates grow up, pirates become long-time friends, some became more than friends, and even some little pirates were brought into this world over the last 6 years.

There will be people who do not see how a player can become so attached to a game. What they don't understand is that it's not necessarily the game, but those who play it we're attached to. Critically, Pirates Online was never a premier MMO, even back in 2006. It wasn't about the latest options, newest features, etc. otherwise the seas would have been emptied a long time back. Game play was secondary to the social aspects. I play a couple of current MMOs that struggle with being a welcome social atmosphere. So in that respect, Disney got it right.

I could be bitter, but I've had my spit and vinegar moments in the past. Right now, I'm grateful. Thankful for meeting so many great people, some I will always remember and keep in touch with. Thankful for the inspiration. This game helped me to create one of my screenplays which I'm actively pursuing to turn into a graphic novel sometime early next year. Thankful for the chance to lead. Next to just playing the game, some of my favorite times came as the head of the Elite Thievery Co. and as facilitator of the Brethren Guild Alliance as well as being an Admin of the Pirates Online Wikia.

Now, onward to the next adventure. Bring us that horizon.


Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: You think she'll hold together?
Zoë: She's torn up plenty, but she'll fly true.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Could be bumpy.
Zoë: Always is.
 
David Ironeagle said:
I honestly don't see why they have to drop everything else and focus on Club Penguin. It was run by a private company up until 2 or 3 years ago when Disney bought them out! It survived long enough without being tainted by Disney, so why is it suddenly worth annihilating their whole MMOG department for one game?
Click to expand...

Disney is in a layoff mode. They cut around 200 video developer jobs in 2011 because video games overall were losing money for Disney. After buying out Star Wars, they closed a very successful Lucas Arts studio in April 2013. Their main mission seems to be to buy out the rights and then lease those rights to other companies. That way they get profits with almost no ongoing investment in personnel etc.
 
Noooooooooo!! There closing! :facepalm: Now what's going to happen to the Forums! There are so many great people, to close this will be terrible! D:
 
Some supporters of SAVE POTCO
screenshot_2013-08-21_15-40-24.jpg
 
Well... I know that I will never support any of Disney's games, movies, or anything ever again in the future... And I know it won't help, but I'm probably gonna call them up soon and give them a "rough time" to say the least... Almost 6 years of hard work, hundreds of dollars, and a large chunk of my childhood... right down the drain... Love you too Disney <3
 
Gastro said:
As I speak right now, I am learning JavaScript. If the game's closing down, then I'm gonna learn how to make a new one. One that has original ideas, but will still be a pirate game...(this may take a while. :p)

Also, Disney, why did you throw in Double Gold and Double Plunder? It's all gonna disappear, anyway. Why not just throw in Double Rep while you're at it? :mad:

That's it, for every day until POTCO ends, I will be on. Well, maybe except for September 13th. (My birthday, having it at a place far away) It's been fun while it lasted.

What's running through my head right now, as I attempt to learn:


The game may die, but the friendships all of us have made never will.

No, POTCO won't die, either. We'll make sure of that.
Click to expand...
I wish you luck, but do you realize the cost/effort/skill required to make an mmo?

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/170991
 
This game is easily one of the worst games ever made, yet I love it. I don't know why, if you compare it to other MMOs this game is complete garbage. It excels in one area though. The "social aspect", other games lack it. The thing is about POTCO, is that everyone knows each other. A game like WoW, you will probably never meet the same person twice in the game. Which eliminates social activities by a lot. Don't get me wrong, you can still have fun social times in those games, but POTCO betters it.

I'm not even really sad the "game" is ending. I'm more sad about that I will never see my 290 friends ever again. I'll never get to sail with them, pvp glitch, and whatever we do together. I'll never get to sit in Abassa again. I'll never get to do any of that anymore. It's ending.

It's crazy to think that just a few days ago; I was just thinking about the EITC and the new weapons...
 
What was the point in giving us new weapons a few days ago just to throw in the stupidish announcement that they are closing the game down, in my opinion it was a waste of time, but club penguin is useless I know that cause I tried it and went back to potco, the mobile apps - now come on not everybody has an apple iphone or blackberry or even an Ipod, come on Disney get your facts right, lets fight this closure to the end lets make disney realize that the closure of potco will see disney lose more money than they would save.
 
I emailed them asking if they will ever re-release a new and improved POTCO and this was the response:

Ahoy there,

Thank you for writing in.

The Walt Disney Company is committed to offering high-quality, entertaining play experiences in both online virtual worlds and mobile apps. At this time, we are shifting our development focus towards other online and mobile play experiences.

We deeply appreciate your loyal support and hearty enthusiasm for Pirates Online, and sincerely hope you will continue to enjoy the large variety of online and mobile play experiences Disney offers – with more to come soon!

For further details and questions on billing, please visit the Pirates Online Closing FAQs here:

http://piratesonline.go.com/closing-faq

Amanda
Pirates of the Caribbean Online Member Services
ElizaCreststeel said:
It's been said that when something shocking happens, it might be best to wait a short time before reacting to it publicly. Right now, I've seen the full gambit of emotions from many fellow pirates. Many are experiencing sadness and loss at the potential separation from online friends and a familiar setting. Some are angry or hurt, feeling that this day could have been avoided had only something been different. There's also a melancholy feeling of perhaps being lost or directionless without the routine that has been so engrained for so long.

If you're like me, you've gone through these feelings in regards to Pirates Online even before this announcement was made. We knew this day would come, but did it have to be now?

To say this time has impacted my life, is a gross understatement. We old salts have witnessed young pirates grow up, pirates become long-time friends, some became more than friends, and even some little pirates were brought into this world over the last 6 years.

There will be people who do not see how a player can become so attached to a game. What they don't understand is that it's not necessarily the game, but those who play it we're attached to. Critically, Pirates Online was never a premier MMO, even back in 2006. It wasn't about the latest options, newest features, etc. otherwise the seas would have been emptied a long time back. Game play was secondary to the social aspects. I play a couple of current MMOs that struggle with being a welcome social atmosphere. So in that respect, Disney got it right.

I could be bitter, but I've had my spit and vinegar moments in the past. Right now, I'm grateful. Thankful for meeting so many great people, some I will always remember and keep in touch with. Thankful for the inspiration. This game helped me to create one of my screenplays which I'm actively pursuing to turn into a graphic novel sometime early next year. Thankful for the chance to lead. Next to just playing the game, some of my favorite times came as the head of the Elite Thievery Co. and as facilitator of the Brethren Guild Alliance as well as being an Admin of the Pirates Online Wikia.

Now, onward to the next adventure. Bring us that horizon.


Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: You think she'll hold together?
Zoë: She's torn up plenty, but she'll fly true.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Could be bumpy.
Zoë: Always is.
Click to expand...
Well said Eliza!!! It's tough to say goodbye to the game, I'm so sad but also realize it couldn't keep going the way it was, they were either going to heed the requests of players to revamp it or just do what we feared they would most likely do, shut the game down......:( I'll certainly be playing the game more in the next few weeks but as I found last night, doing the quests for my lower level pirate seemed fruitless given that it will all be deleted in 4 weeks so I took out my mastered pirate and just went sailing. Heavy sigh....
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This didn't really surprise me since I think all of us could tell that the game was declining the past year or so at a quick rate. There's no one in test server since no content has been released, and this was an unusually long time for the game to go without an update. But with closing servers, game cards becoming more of a quest to find, and lack of content that had staying power, it's not hard to see that it's been cut. This is why I went on hiatus. I found it unnecessary to pay for something that wasn't rolling out interesting content anymore. I knew that this day would come - I've always questioned in the past "How will it all end?" and it seems Disney decided for us.

It's sad to see it end, since it's what started me to make Pirates Online videos, make friends, and use up spare money I had for membership.:) I still have one unused game card, so I guess I'll just keep it as a souvenir. As this game is ending, college begins for me next week. So for me, it’s like a part of my childhood is going away to make room for me growing up, becoming an adult, etc. Above all, these past few years on Potco has been great, from forgetting to hit the ‘record’ button on Fraps for the 'Irish Pride', and ‘Pirates and the Sea’ clips, to going solo on a flag ship and forgetting that I’m on Test and that enemies are a little harder to defeat. Thanks for those good times Pirates Online.
 
Kelly O'Kidd said:
I emailed them asking if they will ever re-release a new and improved POTCO...
Click to expand...
At the moment, they are "blindsided" by Disney Infinity's POTC version as this is the only version where their (Caribbean) interests lie. At some point, they even plan to launch a mobile version of Disney Infinity.

I am glad you emailed them and asked the tough question but, it's plain to see that those responsible for DIMG's fate are unequivocally brainwashed.
 
I just did a little research to check out reasons for killing potco and other Disney "worlds". From an article in USA Today earlier this month:

"Disney's interactive entertainment unit continues to struggle. Revenue during the quarter fell 7% and the group posted a loss of $58 million. The lack of new video game hardware until later this year is a depressant on the industry."

That is a projected loss of well over 200 million for the year. Although the loss includes all video games and not just potco, (some of the loss is even development of infinity) it would take a lot of pirates to make Disney Interactive come close to breaking even. With only 5000 playing daily including the basic access players, our community was just too small to make it in the corporate world.
 
According to Siri on my iPhone this is how many hits Club Penguin gets daily Iknow this is off topic but wow
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    214.9 KB · Views: 121
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top