If I was maintaining some Sovs, I’d probably think twice too. The lack of updates/events/info this year, def doesn’t help with customer confidence. We can all speculate if it’s a lack of time, interest, sales or a combo of those. James said it was time. Phil says it’s funds and the overall outlook/performance.
If the game exists, I’ll play it until it doesn’t. If we all were to avoid playing games we like because they might reach the end of their life one day, then there would be no games to play. They will all end at some point.
It would be nice if we could look into the future to see what happens, but we cannot.
I mean they are sustaining the game when it’s not really bringing in a profit. While it is a rather bleak outlook, if there wasn’t any hope, I guess they would’ve already pulled the plug?
I know its selfish, but I wana know if the game will be “unplayable” or if it all goes away with the public servers? Like…what about our multi month sovereigns? As much as I dont want to, i could play boundless solo.
Solo boundless is still boundless
I am not wanting or asking for financials all I am wanting is some input in this conversation in regards to the community willing to help.
I am probably one of the most positive people on this forum and all I want is to see things succeed and the game continue. I will continue to play the game regardless of communication or not it is not something that I personally need, but it is what many of the community wants and to be blunt something the community deserves at this point.
All that said, I am a huge proponent for Boundless and I have had many PMs with others that agree and disagree with my point of view and my positive outlook. One thing that is true among all the people who agree or disagree with me is their concerns for the community losing so many members.
All I want to do is help like so many others here… it’s not too hard to give some acknowledgment if there is some way those of us that can help in any way can actually help.
I’ll keep playing while I can regardless, but I’d much prefer to know that my efforts both in-game and out are going towards something that is actually open to help from the community that makes it what it is.
Yep, I’m going to keep playing - I love the game and find it so relaxing. If it is the case they go down, I hope we get enough lead time to maybe plan/agree on a private server we’ll all go to, maybe pool funding perhaps (TBH, I won’t play single player or on a small server, as much as I love it, as the hooks for me revolve around the community… I don’t know at this point if I’d even commit to playing on an agreed on private server, though as I said before, I’d donate cash to it, at least to help get it started, as a gift to the community). But yeah, the rentals, ugh… well, if I let them go then things turn around, I can have fun rolling new ones I guess.
SE is sustaining the servers - and Phil’s wording did not sound at all encouraging on how long they will continue to do so. They’re not going to put any more money into advertising it or anything. Though Turbulenz may still be taking a loss here even then, true.
Another question then would be, would Turbulenz, after SE ends it’s funding there, possibly sustain it themselves even at a loss?
Yeah, I meant SE is taking a loss with the permanent servers already and they haven’t gotten their invested funds back ether, so why keep the lights on? There must be some hope left for Boundless to make profits in the future. At least that’s my take on it
Then again Turbulenz having had to take that Larian deal is also a sign that Boundless wasn’t sustaining them as a studio… edit: or maybe it was just a deal too good to refuse.
edit2: Just wanted to add that I have no hard feelings ether way. Gotta do what’s best for the studio and its employees
I hope there is some hope… but Phil’s wording made it sound like they’ve been trying various things to try to recoup, but nothing has worked, and (my reading into it) it will be coming to an end. He said they won’t consider any more marketing. The hope for the public servers here is in this quote -
“but if at least it was break-even vs running costs, that would be a way to maintain the current status”
This is why I think it is fair now to start asking James for more info. True, any game can go Poof any time, and often there is no warning, but here, we’ve got a pretty dang dire one. James does not owe us anything, but, I think the ethical thing to do if he knows now for sure they will not be making any attempts to make up the shortfall or to sustain it themselves after SE stops, to let us know. Not just for those of us putting money into GC and rentals, but also, if planning long term projects and all.
Maybe they can renegotiate. Maybe they’re all just done at this point.
On the flipside, if SE decides to cut lose, maybe that will free things up for James to make some needed changes or sign with a fresh new publisher that is eager.
I read it like they have already accepted that they would not recoup their initial expenditures but the lights could be left on if they could just stop the monthly losses
That is definitely something I’ve thought about too… it is a great game already, just needs a group willing to support until ready for a true push. I mean, could you imagine if Hello Games were willing to take it on? So many NMS fans bought The Last Campfire because it WAS HG, despite being a very different game. Here, there is actually a ton of overlap. One Sean tweet, we’d go 10x our base overnight. At least.
… Can’t help but put that wishful thinking out there!
Here too, but the stopping the monthly losses is entirely in the hands of Turbulenz. SE accepted they won’t get their investment back, but the support of running to the game will be coming to an end at some point here… so the ball is now in their court. That’s why I’m asking now to see if James - now that Phil put this out there - can give us some info on their plans on their side now. Perhaps it is still up in the air for them, or they are planning something they can’t talk about. But if they do know 100% this is it on the public servers, it would be good to know.
Hypothetically, could someone (a normal person) fund this game themselves? Or do you have to be a company or something to invest in a game to allow further development of said game?
Just wondering for personal curiosity at this point
I guess that could fall under silent partner, angel investor, or a private investor. it would all depend upon the parties involved and the existing contracts. There are probably agreements as to how revenue has to be split or used.
Without knowing what anybody’s plans are for the future, I do have one more suggestion. This update is fairly significant. That coupled with plans to add Titans, dungeons, blueprints, & new character races… could be given a name like The New Boundless Metaverse and they could start a new crowdfunding campaign for it. They probably aren’t interested in doing that though.
Just to be clear, because I don’t want to panic people, if there was no alternative but to stop funding the servers at a loss and they would be shut down, we would absolutely give notice on that. And ideally try to find a way that something could be saved for the players.
The reason I’m jumping in now isn’t because anything is necessarily imminent, but just because folks were raising the question (fairly) of whether SE could/should/would do anything, and it’s in that spirit that I’m adding to the dialogue.
If it is the case they go down, I hope we get enough lead time to maybe plan/agree on a private server we’ll all go to, maybe pool funding perhaps (TBH, I won’t play single player or on a small server, as much as I love it, as the hooks for me revolve around the community… I don’t know at this point if I’d even commit to playing on an agreed on private server, though as I said before, I’d donate cash to it, at least to help get it started, as a gift to the community). But yeah, the rentals, ugh… well, if I let them go then things turn around, I can have fun rolling new ones I guess. 
They’re not going to put any more money into advertising it or anything. Though Turbulenz may still be taking a loss here even then, true.
So many NMS fans bought The Last Campfire because it WAS HG, despite being a very different game. Here, there is actually a ton of overlap. One Sean tweet, we’d go 10x our base overnight. At least.