Meteor Games, the games studio recently established by NeoPets founders Adam Powell and Donna Williams, has launched a website for its upcoming MMO, Twin Skies. The game will be targeted at children aged 8-18, aiming squarely for the gap between the likes of Club Penguin and World of Warcraft. The MMO is to feature 3D graphics, as well as a series of casual mini-games, existing outside the MMO itself, but which will ‘actually change the MMO world itself’.
The premise is set out:
Over a hundred years ago a ship carrying thousands of human refugees came to the end of its twenty-year voyage through the cosmos. As it closed in on its destination there was a terrible accident on board, and it was forced to divert and crash-land on the smaller planet.
Some who managed to escape in time ended up on the larger, greener planet. They suddenly found themselves surrounded by strange creatures, magic the likes of which they’ve never seen, and amazing cities built by the native civilizations and races.
Forever separated, and now with no way to leave their new home, these humans forged their own destinies in amazing new lands. The twin planet in the sky a constant reminder of the friends and family each left behind.
It is interesting that they are leaning towards the subscription model for the site, as opposed to advertising. Given the target market, which has little disposable income and little ability to spend on the web given the lack of a credit card, this is a bold decision which may make adoption difficult. Further, it is a model which is increasingly failing for Second Life, as its numbers of paid users plummet. Meteor will, however, take comfort from the success of WoW, which is following the subscription model.
Meteor is aiming for a launch in 2009, and is no doubt hoping to replicate the enormous success of NeoPets, which now enjoys over 48 million users, although of a different age group to that targeted by Twin Skies.
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