14 DAY TRIAL // Tabula Rasa is still going strong despite the rumors the MMOG is in so much financial trouble that its developer NCsoft has no other option but to shut it down and disband the Austin studio that created the game. NCsoft has hit back and described the news as wildly inaccurate and in no way based upon facts, going so far as to trash the reporter that broke the news.
It all began when a reporter from the Korea Times claimed he had been listening to a conference call between NCsoft's chief financial officer Lee Jae-ho and some worried investors. Among the topics discussed during the conference was the fact that NCsoft had sunk so much money into MMOG Tabula Rasa, reportedly around 100 million dollars, that it was considering cutting staff at its Austin studio and pulling support for the game to cut its losses. To get a sense of scale, it is worth remembering that so far Tabula Rasa has generated around 5 million dollars in sales revenue and failed to make a critical impact on the MMOG market.
NCsoft community manager Amy Crider has rebuffed all the accusations levered at Tabula Rasa. She says that the reporter in question is known for the way he distorts information and claimed that he had produced news briefs from several NCsoft news conferences he never even attended. As such, all of his statements should be double checked before printing. While officials from NCsoft have declined to comment until now, the company line is that Tabula Rasa will continue to receive support and will even get a Japan launch latter this year, as proof that the game is successful.
The strange part of the story is that there seems to be a recording of that all-important conference call available on-line. However, it is so big that no one managed to download and listen to it. Also it is mainly in the always popular Korean language. Until someone manages to make sense of that alleged conference call, we won't know more about the subject.