My previous posts on TL can be found here:
http://chinese-net-gaming-stock.blogspot.com/2007/04/sohu-tl-final-closed-beta.html
http://chinese-net-gaming-stock.blogspot.com/2007/04/sohu-tl-game-status.html
http://chinese-net-gaming-stock.blogspot.com/2007/03/sohu-tl-open-beta-soon.html
Also, for much more detailed coverage on TL, the following blog site seems to do a better job than I can: http://intelligentlyinvest.blogspot.com/
Anyway, let me get to the point.
I was going to report on the horrible news on TX2 of Netease. It is not a minor course correction. Adding another phase of open beta usually mean another 1 to 2 months of open beta.
But it is going to be a lot worse than that!
I was going to go through the game progress on all of Netease’s games. But with the Sohu’s latest earning conference call, I will just spend two days on Sohu’s TL.
On 4/4/2007, TL went into the final stages of “closed beta”. But since it allows anybody to play and the player stats would not be erased, it is really an “open beta” except in name only.
On 4/4/2007, Wednesday, it starts out with 15 servers, it adds 16 more servers later on. It has a total of 31 servers.
On 4/5/2007, Thursday, it adds 3 new servers, It has a total of 34 servers.
On 4/6/2007, Friday, it adds 8 new servers. It has a total of 42 servers.
On 4/7/2007, Saturday, it adds 6 new servers. It has a total of 48 servers.
On 4/9/2007, Monday, it adds 4 new servers. It has a total of 52 servers.
On 4/10/2007, Tuesday, it adds 6 new servers. It has a total of 58 servers.
On 4/11/2007, Wednesday, it adds 4 new servers. It has a total of 62 servers.
On 4/12/2007, Thursday, it adds 2 new servers. It has a total of 64 servers.
On 4/13/2007, Friday, it adds 5 new servers. It has a total of 69 servers.
On 4/14/2007, Saturday, it adds 5 new servers. It has a total of 74 servers.
On 4/15/2007, Sunday, it adds 2 new servers. It has a total of 76 servers.
On 4/16/2007, Monday, it adds 3 new servers. It has a total of 79 servers.
On 4/17/2007, Tuesday, it adds 2 new servers. It has a total of 81 servers.
On 4/18/2007, Wednesday, it adds 4 new servers. It has a total of 85 servers.
On 4/20/2007, Friday, it adds 1 new server. It has a total of 86 servers.
On 4/21/2007, Saturday, it adds 2 new servers. It has a total of 88 servers.
On 4/24/2007, Tuesday, it adds 2 new servers. It has a total of 90 servers.
On 4/25/2007, Wednesday, it adds 2 new servers. It has a total of 92 servers.
On 4/27/2007, Friday, it adds 5 new servers. It has a total of 97 servers.
On 4/30/2007, Monday, it adds 4 new servers. It has a total of 101 servers.
On 5/1/2007, Tuesday, it adds 2 new servers. It has a total of 103 servers.
As can be seen, it has even more success than what I expected. (and I was expecting very good success). It hits a little rough spot on 4/18/2007, the date that NCTY’s SUN went into open beta. But it seems to start growing again.
The game is developed by the Firefox branch of the company. It takes about 100 developers 3 years and about 100 million RMB to make.
At this point, the server can hold 5200 players. Therefore, I would estimate that TL had already achieved a PCU of 450k.
Also, it is official now, TL will be a free-to-play game. See the link:
http://tl.sohu.com/20070410/n249329243.shtml
As I mentioned, it spells good things about TL. TL can’t compete with the likes of TX2 or WOW. But as a free-to-play game, it is going to be a very successful game.
A new trailer had come out (right click, save as): http://files.sohu.com/tlbb/tlbb_trailer.avi
From the movie, it is clear that the graphic is nothing to brag about. If TL is successful (and I predict it will), it is another confirmation that game-play features are much more important than eye-candy.
On 5/9/2007, TL will go into open beta. See the following link:
http://tl.sohu.com/20070424/n249651653.shtml
I will talk about why I think TL will be a very success game tomorrow.
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