Exoborne – Sharkmob Tries Live-Service Again
Sharkmob has been there, tried that, and has failed miserably at live-service gaming. The studio is turning its engines again with a view on Exoborne, an attempt that could change the tide. However, at the same time, this could be the last nail in its tomb.
A popular proverb says history repeats itself. Sharkmob is a studio founded by various industry professionals including The Division and Hitman series creators. A few years ago, the studio rolled out Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodhunt. A 3rd-person battle royale, emphasizing unique vampire powers unlike its peers. The game crumbled just over a year after its release.
Ignoring the proverb, the studio has returned with Exoborne, a sci-fi extraction shooter that borrows heavily from Bloodhunt. Undeniably, the game also adds some fresh ideas and a neat extreme weather component.
Sharkmob Gambles With Exoborne
One of the most significant changes in strategy is a shift to a premium model. Bloodhunt was free-to-play but Exoborne will be a premium game, sold for an upfront price. Glancing over at Apex Legends‘ recent battle. this might not be the ideal time to test this model. Martin Hultberg, CMCO at Sharkmob, provided several merits for the approach.
“I’m going to talk about my perspective – there are probably good arguments as well from other developers. There are a couple of reasons. One, what we discovered from Bloodhunt was that Bloodhunt was a free-to-play game. That made it ripe for cheaters. You could ban someone and they’d come back again and again and again. If it’s premium then you have to pay a bit to get it, so if we ban you it hurts. So you lose a lot of cheaters being premium.
One of the Shortcomings of Bloodhunt was the lack of content. Although Sharkmob worked on several seasons at once, a timely delivery never happened. This is one challenge Exoborne must overcome if it wishes to survive in this killer genre.
