20-11-2010, 06:31 PM
In the Beginning
The tcos.com domain has been registered on August 4th, 2002, according to DomainTools. The earliest records on Web Archive’s Internet Wayback Machine show that sometime between March 23rd, 2004 and November 23rd, 2005 the tcos.com domain had already been put to good use.
Developing a MMORPG is a monumental task, so it is safe to assume work on Spellborn began in 2003-2004, and quietly marched on until they almost had a beta build, in July 2005, when the first screenshots surfaced. The first closed beta event went live on the last day of November, that same year. At least three closed betas followed and the game was finally released on November 27th, 2008. The approximate budget for this game was €10 million.
This is where things have started to (publicly) go downhill. While three years in development since announcing a game is nothing unheard of, three closed betas in three years, with no release in sight, meant something went wrong.
Development
While Spellborn was owned and paid for by Dutch company Spellborn NV, developing it was the job another Dutch company, Khaeon (now known as Khaeon Gamestudio). According to their own site, they “provided expertise, game concept, core gameplay and overall technical and visual designâ€. They basically created Spellborn out of nothing.
In 2007, Spellborn NV created the wholly owned subsidiary Spellborn Works BV and tasked it with continuing the development of the game. Most Khaeon people involved with the game transferred to this new company, but a small minority went on with their Khaeon contracts. Khaeon says they continued to “provide additional development services from 2007 to 2009â€.
However, a source inside Khaeon told me that they parted ways with Spellborn NV on bad terms and had no involvement with the game after 2007. The source did not want to provide further details on the matter, but he implied there was some serious friction between the two companies. In the gaming industry, this usually means one thing: money - but that's just me speculating. Either way, the Spellborn Works BV studio was created.
One of the game’s publishers, Frogster, was briefly involved in the game’s development, as they mention in a 2008 press release – their Korean programmers rewrote the networking code of the game:
Shortly before the launch, Spellborn NV said that the game will have had sort of an unlimited free trial – characters will have had a level cap and will have been allowed to freely explore one area of the game with no time limits, more or less like the Warhammer Online trial.
Publishing Deals
On July 27th, 2006, Spellborn NV announced that German game publisher Frogster Interactive AG bought the publishing rights for TCoS in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France.
On September 5th, 2006, Spellborn NV announced that Frogster Interactive AG bought the publishing rights for Korea, along with sublicensing rights for other Asian territories.
On September 21st, 2006, Spellborn NV announced that Mindscape bought the publishing rights for TCoS in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Benelux.
On December 19th, 2006, Frogster Interactive AG announced that they have sublicensed publishing rights for Korea to Frogster Asia Co. Ltd. At the moment of this announcement, at least 50% of this Asian company was owned by Frogster Interactive AG.
On April 11th, 2008, Spellborn NV and Frogster Interactive AG announced that they have received a letter of intent from an unnamed US publisher who was interested in publishing the game. They had also agreed to delay the game in order to allow the US publisher to properly market it.
On August 19th, 2008, Frogster Interactive AG announced that they had found a US publisher for Spellborn. Spellborn NV has signed a contract with this publisher and sold it the rights to publish TCoS in the US. The publisher was Acclaim Games Inc.
The above list of press releases reveals some important information:
Game Release(s)
Initially, Acclaim, Mindscape and Frogster releases were to take place at the same time, on November 27th, 2008. Frogster launched in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on the agreed date, and one week later in France.
Mindscape initially invoked messing up some retail boxes and released in the week following November 27th.
One week before the agreed launch date, Acclaim said they needed more time, so they pushed the release date to “January 2009â€. In Janyary, however, they released a closed beta. Acclaim finally released the game on April 23rd, 2009 – the January 2009 deadline was missed. It is worth noting that between the time when they signed up as a publisher for the game and the actual release, Acclaim also acquired publishing rights for other territories, like South America, but most importantly, UK.
During these troubled times, two versions of the game existed. Frogster’s version was up and running, yet for five months gamers in the UK, USA and other countries were greeted by an IP block when trying to access the game. The IP block continued after Acclaim released their version.
Downfall
Two months after the North American launch, on June 30th, 2009, Frogster dropped the bomb: FREE-TO-PLAY-VERSION OF THE CHRONICLES OF SPELLBORN SCHEDULED FOR RELEASE IN 2010. Basically, Frogster’s Asian subsidiary along with Spellborn NV were to jointly develop a free-to-play, microtransaction-based version of the game. The existing Acclaim and Frogster versions were to continue using the subscription service until the free-to-play version would have been ready.
The same day Spellborn Works – the studio that developed TCoS after Khaeon left – went bankrupt.
Free to Play Era
Frogster closed their servers one month following the free-to-play announcement and offered free character transfers to Acclaim’s US servers.
Starting August 14th, 2009 Acclaim offered the subscription version of the game for free, “until the microtransaction-based version is readyâ€.
Frogster hoped to continue developing the game, using their Korean subsidiary. They have hoped to sublicense the game throughout Asia, as we can tell from a 2008 press release:
While talks with the Chinese went nowhere, Frogster managed to sublicense the game to Japanese web-portal Excite. Using the free-to-play version created by the Korean Frogster studio, Excite had a Spellborn open beta for a while – with IP block and everything – but shut down the game a few months later, citing lack of interest from the playerbase and low income generated by the item shop.
Meanwhile, Acclaim showed no interest in the game – they just kept the two remaining servers on life support, but even that was troublesome. At one point in time, the servers were more offline than online, as if they were cardboard boxes under someone’s desk and everyone in the Acclaim’s office has forgotten about them. In the final days, characters level 10+ could not access the game world anymore because of a bug that appeared in the authentication system. Players pleaded with Acclaim to fix the bug, only to be ignored.
And then Facebook game makers Playdom bought Acclaim. They, too, ignored the players’ messages. On July 27th, The Walt Disney Company bought Playdom. One month later, all Acclaim servers were shut down, including Spellborn’s last remaining two realms. Everything Acclaim ceased to exist.
On May 28th, Frogster announced the layoff of its Korean workforce involved with the free-to-play version of the game, because they could not reach an agreement with Spellborn NV about TCoS:
Translation:
As of November 20th, 2010, all references of TCoS being in development are gone from Frogster’s sites and no TCoS server is online.
Thanks to CowMooFlage & Selachii for the feedback. Last edited on April 1st, 2012.
The tcos.com domain has been registered on August 4th, 2002, according to DomainTools. The earliest records on Web Archive’s Internet Wayback Machine show that sometime between March 23rd, 2004 and November 23rd, 2005 the tcos.com domain had already been put to good use.
Developing a MMORPG is a monumental task, so it is safe to assume work on Spellborn began in 2003-2004, and quietly marched on until they almost had a beta build, in July 2005, when the first screenshots surfaced. The first closed beta event went live on the last day of November, that same year. At least three closed betas followed and the game was finally released on November 27th, 2008. The approximate budget for this game was €10 million.
This is where things have started to (publicly) go downhill. While three years in development since announcing a game is nothing unheard of, three closed betas in three years, with no release in sight, meant something went wrong.
Development
While Spellborn was owned and paid for by Dutch company Spellborn NV, developing it was the job another Dutch company, Khaeon (now known as Khaeon Gamestudio). According to their own site, they “provided expertise, game concept, core gameplay and overall technical and visual designâ€. They basically created Spellborn out of nothing.
In 2007, Spellborn NV created the wholly owned subsidiary Spellborn Works BV and tasked it with continuing the development of the game. Most Khaeon people involved with the game transferred to this new company, but a small minority went on with their Khaeon contracts. Khaeon says they continued to “provide additional development services from 2007 to 2009â€.
However, a source inside Khaeon told me that they parted ways with Spellborn NV on bad terms and had no involvement with the game after 2007. The source did not want to provide further details on the matter, but he implied there was some serious friction between the two companies. In the gaming industry, this usually means one thing: money - but that's just me speculating. Either way, the Spellborn Works BV studio was created.
One of the game’s publishers, Frogster, was briefly involved in the game’s development, as they mention in a 2008 press release – their Korean programmers rewrote the networking code of the game:
Quote:[…] The real-time 3D-world’s high complex program and network code which was produced within the last four years - lastly with the support of Korean Frogster team members – […] proves to be very reliable in live operation. […]
Shortly before the launch, Spellborn NV said that the game will have had sort of an unlimited free trial – characters will have had a level cap and will have been allowed to freely explore one area of the game with no time limits, more or less like the Warhammer Online trial.
Publishing Deals
On July 27th, 2006, Spellborn NV announced that German game publisher Frogster Interactive AG bought the publishing rights for TCoS in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France.
On September 5th, 2006, Spellborn NV announced that Frogster Interactive AG bought the publishing rights for Korea, along with sublicensing rights for other Asian territories.
On September 21st, 2006, Spellborn NV announced that Mindscape bought the publishing rights for TCoS in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Benelux.
On December 19th, 2006, Frogster Interactive AG announced that they have sublicensed publishing rights for Korea to Frogster Asia Co. Ltd. At the moment of this announcement, at least 50% of this Asian company was owned by Frogster Interactive AG.
On April 11th, 2008, Spellborn NV and Frogster Interactive AG announced that they have received a letter of intent from an unnamed US publisher who was interested in publishing the game. They had also agreed to delay the game in order to allow the US publisher to properly market it.
On August 19th, 2008, Frogster Interactive AG announced that they had found a US publisher for Spellborn. Spellborn NV has signed a contract with this publisher and sold it the rights to publish TCoS in the US. The publisher was Acclaim Games Inc.
The above list of press releases reveals some important information:
- Acclaim approached Spellborn and asked for a US publishing deal. Four months later a contract was signed.
- Frogster boasts about it and they go as far as claiming that they were the ones to find a US publisher.
- Mindscape bought the publishing rights for Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxemburg – collectively known as Benelux, while Acclaim bought the rights for US only.
- Frogster had big plans for the game in Asia where they believed it will prove to be a success; they wanted to become a big player in the Spellborn world, the middleman between Spellborn NV and the Asian publishers who will have licensed the game from them.
Game Release(s)
Initially, Acclaim, Mindscape and Frogster releases were to take place at the same time, on November 27th, 2008. Frogster launched in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on the agreed date, and one week later in France.
Mindscape initially invoked messing up some retail boxes and released in the week following November 27th.
One week before the agreed launch date, Acclaim said they needed more time, so they pushed the release date to “January 2009â€. In Janyary, however, they released a closed beta. Acclaim finally released the game on April 23rd, 2009 – the January 2009 deadline was missed. It is worth noting that between the time when they signed up as a publisher for the game and the actual release, Acclaim also acquired publishing rights for other territories, like South America, but most importantly, UK.
During these troubled times, two versions of the game existed. Frogster’s version was up and running, yet for five months gamers in the UK, USA and other countries were greeted by an IP block when trying to access the game. The IP block continued after Acclaim released their version.
Downfall
Two months after the North American launch, on June 30th, 2009, Frogster dropped the bomb: FREE-TO-PLAY-VERSION OF THE CHRONICLES OF SPELLBORN SCHEDULED FOR RELEASE IN 2010. Basically, Frogster’s Asian subsidiary along with Spellborn NV were to jointly develop a free-to-play, microtransaction-based version of the game. The existing Acclaim and Frogster versions were to continue using the subscription service until the free-to-play version would have been ready.
The same day Spellborn Works – the studio that developed TCoS after Khaeon left – went bankrupt.
Free to Play Era
Frogster closed their servers one month following the free-to-play announcement and offered free character transfers to Acclaim’s US servers.
Starting August 14th, 2009 Acclaim offered the subscription version of the game for free, “until the microtransaction-based version is readyâ€.
Frogster hoped to continue developing the game, using their Korean subsidiary. They have hoped to sublicense the game throughout Asia, as we can tell from a 2008 press release:
Quote:[…] Frogster also holds the exploitation rights of ‘The Chronicles of Spellborn’ for Asia which is by far the biggest submarket for this new entertainment segment and where it shall be launched in 2009. Thereby, Frogster considers the proof of a technically successful launch in Germany very useful for the talks with Chinese online game publishers about a sub license in China. […]
While talks with the Chinese went nowhere, Frogster managed to sublicense the game to Japanese web-portal Excite. Using the free-to-play version created by the Korean Frogster studio, Excite had a Spellborn open beta for a while – with IP block and everything – but shut down the game a few months later, citing lack of interest from the playerbase and low income generated by the item shop.
Meanwhile, Acclaim showed no interest in the game – they just kept the two remaining servers on life support, but even that was troublesome. At one point in time, the servers were more offline than online, as if they were cardboard boxes under someone’s desk and everyone in the Acclaim’s office has forgotten about them. In the final days, characters level 10+ could not access the game world anymore because of a bug that appeared in the authentication system. Players pleaded with Acclaim to fix the bug, only to be ignored.
And then Facebook game makers Playdom bought Acclaim. They, too, ignored the players’ messages. On July 27th, The Walt Disney Company bought Playdom. One month later, all Acclaim servers were shut down, including Spellborn’s last remaining two realms. Everything Acclaim ceased to exist.
On May 28th, Frogster announced the layoff of its Korean workforce involved with the free-to-play version of the game, because they could not reach an agreement with Spellborn NV about TCoS:
Quote:[…] The 64% Frogster subsidiary Frogster Asia Co. Ltd. could yet again not reach an agreement on further cooperation with the Dutch licensor Spellborn NV regarding the intended enhancements and publishing of the free to play version of the MMO Game ‘The Chronicles of Spellborn’ in Asia and is thus forced to close down the development studio and to dismiss all staff who dealt with the free to play version by order of Spellborn NV. Herefrom arises an extraordinary negative P&L effect for the subsidiary which will have a negative impact to the group result in a small to medium six digit Euro amount. The Frogster Interactive management had informed the public several times before about the uncertain outcome of the ongoing talks. On the other side, Frogster Interactive will reclaim the paid prepayments for the product of a seven-digit Euro amount while it is unknown whether the developer could make such a payment. The company has already fully written off all prepayments on Frogster’s balance sheet regarding the game so that no noteworthy negative impacts from the balance sheet are impending.[…]
Translation:
Quote:Frogster Interactive AG paid something between 1 and 9 million dollars in advance for a free-to-play version of TCoS to Frogster Asia Co. Ltd.
Frogster Asia had failed to “reach an agreement†(read: money) with Spellborn NV, thus the Korean developers involved with the free-to-play TCoS version had been laid off.
Frogster Interactive does not really know whether the Korean subsidiary can cough up this money back or not.
As of November 20th, 2010, all references of TCoS being in development are gone from Frogster’s sites and no TCoS server is online.
Thanks to CowMooFlage & Selachii for the feedback. Last edited on April 1st, 2012.
![[Image: default_smile.png]](https://www.spellborn.org/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png)
![[Image: default_wink.png]](https://www.spellborn.org/uploads/default_wink.png)
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