Over this summer, we’ve been getting tips suggesting that the Tad Williams Otherland MMORPG was in serious trouble, as first it went dark on Steam and then it returned, silently, with an 8GB patch. Drago Entertainment did not respond to requests for a comment then, or perhaps it could not if it didn’t control its press relations, but either way it’s finally posted something to its Facebook page today, and although it doesn’t address the Steam outage directly, it’s definitely good news going forward.
The studio explains that it was originally brought on as the developer by the investors who own the game in the wake of the RealU studio’s closure, but it was hamstrung by the publisher, who you’ll recall was Gamigo, though Drago doesn’t name names.
“Shortly after the soft launch of Otherland as a free-to-play game in September 2016, the publisher decided to hold back on most releases and information in preparation for a major relaunch planned for June this year,” Drago says. “The game not being relaunched as planned has seen the investors sit down with the publisher to voice their concerns and to keep a long story short, it has been decided that the investors will continue Otherland on their own.”
“From now on, we as developers have full creative control over the project and will also take over support and community management immediately and being free to decide which direction to take. Additionally, DRAGO acquired a stake in Otherland further distancing us from the previous ‘developer for hire’ position allowing us to not only be even more motivated, but also have a voice in future decisions regarding Otherland together with the investors.”
Consequently, Drago says, it will now “return to the community” for discussion and outlining of next steps. In the meantime, that 8GB patch turns out to be the real deal, with major updates to customization, class overhauls, performance, crafting, and the world, with loads of quality-of-life fixes to boot.
