Posted in General

How ironic that less than two months after writing that Pathfinder Online was “down, but not out,” that the game languishes near death.

PFO has long been a contentious subject. My writings on it before could be described as “skeptically hopeful.” PFO has always seemed like a longshot to me, but the playerbase and I wanted it to succeed. However, if everyone got exactly what he wanted, the average lottery payout would be $5, and the average MMORPG server population would be 30 because there’d be so many “perfect” games on the market. Some MMOs must die that others can live, and PFO is one of those that must die.

In an address on Goblinworks, Lisa Stevens, the CEO of Paizo, revealed some troubling things, one of which was Ryan Dancey’s departure from Goblinworks. More pointedly, he has resigned “for personal reasons.” I will not speculate on those reasons, but he was (as I understand it) the mastermind behind Pathfinder Online. His work with CCP Games influenced his desire to create a fantasy version of Eve Online. In spite of this, Dancey remains “a major shareholder and has a strong desire to see Pathfinder Online succeed,” and is working as a pro bono consultant on the game.

His sudden departure leaves the property in the hands of Lisa Stevens, who has been appointed Acting CEO. With this move, the Goblinworks office has been closed, though the game is still struggling along.

Sadly, Paizo has laid off the majority of Goblinworks staff. There are only three employees left. PFO subscriptions pay their salaries. As subscriptions drop, these people will inevitably be downsized out of existence (or suffer such extreme pay decreases that they are forced to relegate PFO to a part-time hobby). According to Stevens, Goblinworks acquired only 25% of the needed funding “to finish the game and bring it to Open Enrollment.” To compensate for this, Stevens says Paizo is “shopping Pathfinder Online to a number of other game publishers” in the hopes that someone will fund the game to completion. Although she claims that there are “quite a few companies coming out of the woodwork” to discuss PFO with them, one wonders what direction those publishers will take with the game. Assuming a company buys the rights to the game, Pathfinder Online may ultimately resemble a World of Warcraft clone with a Pathfinder skin. There are worse outcomes than Pathfinder-skinned-WoW—I would probably give it a month or two of play—but I can’t see the game drawing much of a subscriber base.

Despite this shocking news, there is a glimmer of hope for the Pathfinder Eve Online. With Dancey’s consultation, the Pathfinder IP, a strong buyer, and the devoted fanbase, we could see a PFO renaissance. It is improbable, but it is not impossible. While a sad day for everyone involved—Paizo, Goblinworks, the employees who were laid off, and the players—I have an unvanquished hope that Paizo will manage to this off.

Here’s hoping that Paizo can pull a rabbit out of their hat.