There is a long held belief that if you want to announce something, but want the story to get mostly buried or ignored, you do so after the markets have closed on a Friday before a holiday weekend.
And so we have the news from Daybreak, posted to their forums (a further attempt to bury the story?) at 15:48 Pacific time yesterday, that their long in early access title Landmark will go live on June 10, 2016.
I don’t know why they decided to announce this during a time frame that is often a black hole for news. Was this intentional or just another of those oh-so-familiar SOE/Daybreak gaffes we have come to know over the years?
Furthermore, I am uncertain as to why they want it to finally be available on a Friday. Companies in the US generally ship things like this on a Tuesday so their team doesn’t have to work all weekend to handle the inevitable rash of issues which pop up during any transition to a live product.
And, of course, it is going live coincident with the Warcraft movie, though given the reviews that has been getting, I am not sure that will draw of much of the little attention Landmark can expect. I suppose we can at least credit Daybreak with their previous statement that Landmark would launch this spring. The conspiracy of calendar makers here in the US has declared that summer starts on June 20th this year, that being the date of the summer solstice and all.
The announcement itself doesn’t have much new to add outside of dates. We knew about the change from a Free to Play cash shop model to a Buy to Play cash shop model and even the $9.99 price. Here is the bulk of the statement from Daybreak, quoted for posterity.
We’ve been building to this moment for quite some time and we’re happy to announce it’s almost here! Landmark will officially launch on Friday, June 10th.
If you have been participating in the Alpha and Closed Beta of Landmark as a Trailblazer, an Explorer, or a Settler Founder’s Pack holder, you will have automatic access to Landmark at launch. For those who played on a shareable beta key, or those who have not ventured into the game yet, it will be available for USD $9.99 on launch day.
For the committed Trailblazers* among you, don’t forget you have an additional 48-hour head start to scope out and stake your claim on your favorite build sites. The Trailblazer Head Start is scheduled for Wednesday, June 8th at 10AM Pacific.
The last day to purchase any of the Landmark Founder’s Packs is Monday, June 6th at 10AM PDT. Don’t miss YOUR chance to pick up any of these packs or the special perks that are parts of any of those packages.
Also for our Trailblazers who spent this development process making your mark in game, now make your mark by adding your name to the Landmark credits! In order for your name to be displayed in our list, you must opt-in. To add your name to the Landmark credits, please click here. Don’t miss out! You have until 11:59PM Pacific on Thursday, June 30, 2016.
I’ve already hashed out a bit of what I feel is problematic about the game previously, (claims, entropy, horrible neighbors, and the removal of PvP for a start), though I haven’t otherwise dug into the huge list of changes they made a while back. And I probably won’t bother any time soon. The game has never really interested me, except through its connection to another Daybreak title.
Landmark is all that is left of EverQuest Next, the tool that was supposed to help players create the game. I will be interested to see how people will react to the game after launch and how much traction it gets after having spent so much time available as an early access title.
Here is where I would generally link to all the other people who have written about a given event so you can get more than my rather limited point of view. We shall see how many such posts bubble up. As of my writing this, there is exactly one.
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