NCsoft Sweeps Tabula Rasa Under the Rug

In their latest earnings report, NCsoft has apparently chosen to follow the time-honored “pretend I never got involved with that creepy artificially enhanced embarrassment, and maybe it’ll all just go away” strategy. I’ve got news for them: It didn’t work for David Hasselhoff’s herpes and it won’t work for the Tabula Rasa debacle either.

The ailing MMO, from Ultima creator (and space tourist) Richard “Lord British” Garriot, blends FPS and RPG characteristics to create a sci-fi universe that, in the end, is about as visually appealing as the aforementioned venereal disease. The game play might be awesome, but it’s just not a place where you’d want to spend much time. Maybe that’s why, in the eight months since its much-hyped release, its community has declined to the point that, as massively.com reported, it merited just two minor and unfavorable mentions in a report that referred liberally to its sexier stepsisters, Lineage II and Guild Wars.

When NCsoft’s first quarter earnings report does mention Tabula Rasa, it’s not exactly inspiring. RGTR (Richard Garriot’s Tabula Rasa, easily the least catchy acronym this side of AWGTHTGTTSA- no, I did not make that up), is fast following in the footsteps of scrapped NCsoft MMO, Auto Assault. In Q1, sales dropped 63% from the previous quarter, while other major NCsoft offerings held steady with sales figures dwarfing RGTR.

NCsoft’s CFO, Lee Jae-Ho, confirmed this lack luster performance, saying “We are not making any profit, I shall admit, from this Tabula Rasa operation,” in the NCsoft Q1 earnings call. NCsoft remains optimistic, but is not releasing any numbers that might justify even a halfway rosy outlook for the title.

It’s possible that RGTR’s no-show in the latest financials is just a momentary pause while Lord British and friends get their act together, and the game will be as popular as Hasselhoff’s rock band in Germany… but, I wouldn’t bet the farm just yet.