OM Nightbringer: Game Cancelled
As I'm sure you've all seen by now, Solmare has announced the end of service for Nightbringer, with it joining the original Obey Me game in being retired.
Much like the og game, NB will continue to recycle events for the foreseeable future, but this time the end of the game has been announced ahead of this break, rather than long after recycled events had continued.
I do think this announcement at least is a sign of Solmare learning from their mistake - the backlash against NB because of the feeling of being mislead while the original game was stagnating was a big impact on the lack of success NB achieved.
Nightbringer: Underperforming
NB failed to bring across all the players of the original game, which itself had been boosted hugely by the pandemic. In many ways OM was ahead of the game in the mobile gaming boom, with a large international fandom. That fandom did not migrate to the new game in a sizeable number, nor did the game attract new players due to the confusing premise.
At the present date, NB earns nearly $200k per month. At the time of NB launching, the original OM earned $500k per month - ie when it was already in its abandoned state.
At present, the original OM still gets half as many downloads as NB does per month.
Given that the expenditure on NB is higher due to multiple costly mechanics (that were not well received and so became underutilised anyway) it's easy to see that not only did NB fail to capitalise on OMs success, it may also have failed to match it to this very day.
What I do think the ongoing success (and past earnings) of the original game proves though is that the franchise, the IP, the idea that is Obey Me still has vast potential.
It's always very hard to predict these things as there is what is logical, what is possible, and what Solmare will actually do - and these three things have rarely been in alignment!
Anime, merchandise, audio, and meet ups all have the potential for revenue but it is a fixed revenue. An ongoing mobile game can generate far more income both directly and by stimulating these additional revenue streams.
NB had a ton of mechanics thrown at it, which weren't particularly well thought out. And more recently, Love and Deepspace has definitely had its foot on the neck of NB and likely the financial backing. A game that shows how 3D can be implented well, and make a huge profit by doing so with a fandom that feel largely as if they get their money's worth.
I happily paid for VIP for the original OM because I felt I was getting my money's worth. And truly, if they focused on plot and characters rather than experimental mechanics and a complete game category change (from battle to rhythm), NB could have done a lot better than it did through fandom support alone.
But I think OM has the potential to be a truly massive game if Solmare can actually capitalise on what they have. The idea, the setting, the characters are all very strong and incredibly marketable - more so than NB made any of it.
If Solmare take the time to build a game that is a true rival to the top games on mobile, and not just a cheap knockoff, they could be onto a massive hit.
But building a game like that takes time and takes resources. It involves no VAs for a considerable amount of dev time. It involves paying for good writers, and increasing the spend on visual artists. It involves making no promises now or rushing anything out.
The fandom for OM is still here. Those who didn't migrate to NB are largely still here, playing other games in similar genres. The potential is HUGE.
Will Solmare capitalise on that rather than chase experimental cheap options? Who knows.
I've said this time and time again but Solmare is not a small company. It is a subsidiary of one of the largest and most profitable telecommunication companies in the world. The annual revenue of NPP is in the many trillions of dollars.
This is not a case of needing to shame those who didn't spend money on a gambling game - no such case ever exists!
Customers reward good service and good products by buying them. NB was simply not good enough for the same number of people to buy in as they did with the original OM.
If Solmare wants a more profitable game, they have to do the work to provide that. Hopefully, that's what they plan to do!
Yeah, possibly. They may be planning to squeeze out the last pennies from the IP via merchandise and 3D ventures. Or they might be planning to go solely into anime. Either would spell the death of the franchise.
They may also be making a game, but if they are I don't expect them to spell it out at this point, as many games don't make it through development. So even if that is their plan, it could still be the end.
I do give them credit for announcing the end of service this time, as they didn't do that for the original Obey Me and it left a lot of paying customers feeling like they'd been ripped off (because they had). I hope this is a sign of them learning lessons from NB, as there are many lessons to be learned.
If they come back with a great game, without the cheap silly mechanics, with a focus on story and characters, that can rival the experience of the top games in the genre...
The fandom will meet it. Many newcomers will play. And people will pay for what they feel is worth it, if the f2p is also worth it. Hell, I'll even write theories for it!
People want to romance demons, man. Do it well, and make serious bank, and revive the fandom.
The ball is in Solmare's court.
