During last week’s activity report we spoke of a relaunch for Darkfall. We had talked about major changes to the game in the past using various internal terms such as Darkfall 2010 and Darkfall Arena. So let me explain a bit more about this:

We started with the changes we had in mind for Darkfall, from all the lessons learned since the game went live and in the process we delivered 3 expansions, and more than 60 updates. About a year ago, we decided that we should branch out development and build a new game out of the one we had. This was in order to better implement the major changes we had in mind.It is not a sequel, it’s version 2.0. It’s a very ambitious project, and it’s the product of more than 2 years of lessons learned and evolving the game, and a full year of development with a much larger team than we had for Darkfall. No aspect of the game has been left untouched. It’s very much a new game, but at the same time it’s the next chapter to the game we’re currently playing.

There were concerns about wipes: We’ve considered wipes on various levels, however these are important decisions because while this is like a new game, it’s still the continuation of the current one. Also, the way things will work in the new version, it would not be as necessary to wipe, but wiping would also not be as drastic as it would be in the current version. This is a topic we’ll open up for discussion after we’ve given you more information on the new version of the game, so you can understand all the parameters involved.

There were also questions about having to pay for the relaunch version, and the answer is no if you’ve already bought Darkfall. Active subscribers will have priority in playtesting and in a developer interaction group about the new game. They will also participate in the major events that conclude the first chapter of Darkfall. The ending of the first chapter is the reason we’re bringing the relaunch version of the siege system to the current version. We expect quite a few people that have taken a break from the game to return for the exciting ending of the first chapter and the beginning of the new version.

About an ETA for this, as I mentioned in the last activity report, we’ll know more in August. As far as development goes, the major tasks are almost concluded, however there’s quite a bit of internal testing, balancing and polishing left.

I hope this clears things up a bit more, we’ll follow up with more details on the new version, as these become available.

Thank you for reading.