Fear not, butchers and sand-rakers – Tribes: Ascend isn’t going anywhere.
There’s been a lot of vocal disappointment from Tribes: Ascend players lately. Developer Hi-Rez announced last week that there would be no more content updates to the free-to-play shooter, which many interpreted as the sealing of the game’s coffin. In response to this, Hi-Rez’s Todd Harris has explained the rationale behind the decision. The way he sees it, there’s no need to keep updating the game because it’s functionally complete – now it’s time for gamers to dig in and enjoy the finished product.
“Since launch, we added 54 new weapons,” Harris points out. “We added a new game mode, a new leveling system, custom servers, server browser, shielded base assets, 29 new maps – all free – and all that in a brief period of time. We also added an option for people to pay one price and get all the weapons … You can get all the gameplay elements for the price of a normal game. It’s fairly complete in its content.”
Much of the confusion seems to be a result of that unique business strategy. In contrast to other free-to-play FPS games like Team Fortress 2 that rely on constant development to keep things fresh, Tribes: Ascend is essentially a boxed product that you can buy a la carte. There’s more than enough content to last, especially with a level editor on the way, and by recognizing that the game is as good as it’s going to get, Hi-Rez can devote most of their staff to creating new games.
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun
