Wildmage wrote:

Idk what the rules are on mentioning something like this, but for those of you who don’t know, Ubisoft just had multiple disastrous video game launches in the past few years. Losing millions of dollars kind of disastrous. They’ve cut lots of major departments. It’s big news in the video-game world.

I’m wondering if there has been significant cut to the budget of Howrse as well as significant pressure on Howrse from a struggling Ubisoft to either turn the game into a cash cow or to milk it for every penny while running it on a shoestring budget. It would explain a lot of things, like the constant offers, unbalanced events where some people like me get three divines for free while others get screwed over so FOMO pushes them to spend real-world currency for passes so they can get the end prize, parts of the game remain broken for years while new divines get churned out like once every two weeks, and more things I probably just can’t think of at this moment.

And if this is the case, maybe they literally don’t have the budget to code for anything special, even for a 20th Anniversary, just the ability to turn on the Star rain and other things. Maybe they did really try to push for us to get something else and failed. (If that’s the case, I wish they’d just SAY SO, but they’re probably muzzled on that point. It is interesting that they’ve left this topic open for us to just constantly whine and complain, tho.)

This feels like the end phase of a franchise, the “searching in the couch cushions for pocket change” stage where they nickel-and-dime you right to the very last day. Which is concerning, if true.

paco1225 wrote:


Not justifying their lack of communication, but IF they don't have the funds compared to 5yrs ago, it would make sense that this bday celebration was a bit lackluster

Argorok wrote:


I am not going to pretend to know how much it costs to run these things, but I don't think it's much to ask for them to be honest with us and just tell us if nothing else is planned.

Argorok wrote:

My main issue is the fact they hyped this up for months and then barely did anything for it. I've personally taken a step back from spending now because of the way this was handled and continues to be handled. It's a shame, as the communication actually saw some improvements, yet now it's gone back to the old pattern of keeping us in the dark.

I am not going to pretend to know how much it costs to run these things, but I don't think it's much to ask for them to be honest with us and just tell us if nothing else is planned.

Hiram Farmer wrote:

here's a copy/paste of my response this morning:

I'm guessing your NON response is a response. and you are doing NOTHING more for the anniversary. you know what would be nice. Be HONEST with your players. Either tell them we screwed up and have zip zilch nada NOTHING planned. sorry you don't like it. or actually do something. This isn't going to be forgotten. So respond about it. instead of ignoring it. that's not fair to your faithful players. All they want is you to show that you care and appreciate all they have given YOU for 20 years.

Remember you have players that have been with you since almost day 1. 20 YEARS. how many other games your company runs are even remotely that popular. have been around for even remotely that long. all you care about is getting your players to spend more and more and more and more money to make YOU more money.

Wildmage wrote:

It’s a very common problem in the entertainment industry that has only gotten worse in the past quarter-century, sadly. A focus on the 100m dash over the marathon.

Crookedstar915 wrote:

I think the "extra" planned was likely the UFOs. I can't imagine it'd take almost a month to create an avatar banner, so I think that was probably just an idea that never came to fruition, or something. I don't think we're getting that at this point. The fact that they aren't giving any ETA really does seem like they wanted to do something but were told they can't and don't really want to break the bad news to us cause people are annoyed.

Ah well. It's Howrse, so bombing events and disappointing the playerbase isn't uncommon, I've *been* here this whole time and I know the first rule of the game is lower your expectations. I don't even think it's the devs fault at this point, I do think they're probably limited on how many non-sales stuff they're able to do.

Happy 20 years, anyways. Genuinely, I do love the game and hope it sticks around a while longer.