VMK RUMOR : Not New

[Imagineer_Tech]

While I won't get my hopes up and wait for the people who will tell me to move on. I found this little rumor on another forum site.

"While Virtual Magical Kingdom was managed by two companies, One had quit the game, Due to the lack of profit.
While Disney believed that charging for such games would not be right, The other company believed otherwise.
Disney, Who owned most of the rights to VMK, Did not delete the game data base, Or any character information.
Disney has searched for another company to partner with, Due to the need of continuesly working members, One has been found, Upon which believes in fairness.
Virtual Magical Kingdom will return in the next few months, Hopefully by September or October of 2008, Or the New Year of 2009 if planning does not proceed in a timely fashion.
All characers/information will be returned to the state upon which they where the day Vmk shut down."

Brought me another ounce of hope.

 

[disvaclub92]

While Disney believed that charging for such games would not be right, The other company believed otherwise.

I know you want that little ounce of hope. But one quote that actually makes me ill and shows the finality is this one. If Disney felt that way, the comment below would have never been said.

“It never achieved scale,” Steve Wadsworth, president of the Walt Disney Internet Group, said in response to questions last month at the EconSM conference. “It was promotional. There was no business model attached to it. It had a small but passionate audience.”

 

[Imagineer_Tech]

I know you want that little ounce of hope. But one quote that actually makes me ill and shows the finality is this one. If Disney felt that way, the comment below would have never been said.

I honestly have a few choice words for him at this very moment. That comment hurt, it hurt real bad.

 

[aengus]

Not only what dis pointed out. Sulake made profit, the customer was Disney. We in turn were Disney's customers.

Sulake would like nothing more than a nice big fat contract with Disney.

 

[Goofy05]

I only had to see all those typos to know this rumor was just that, some sick person's idea of fun. Sorry, dude. I don't think vmk will be back anytime soon.

 

[CelebrationNM]

I don't think even Barack Obama's Hope and Change could bring VMK back.

 

[Imagineer_Tech]

Sorry guys, I just miss VMK alot. I was willing to believe anything.

 

[CelebrationNM]

Sorry guys, I just miss VMK alot. I was willing to believe anything.

Don't apologize...I don't blame you for a second!

 

[Imagineer_Tech]

Well just throwing this out there. As much as I don't even believe myself maybe the 3rd birthday suprise was a close of vmk and overhaul of the kingdom?

 

[CelebrationNM]

Well, maybe.

I'm sure you know this, since your title has Imagineering in it, but part of the creative process at Disney is brainstorming lots of new possibilities (and thinking of even the craziest ideas!) and then doing several things:

• Making a list of all the reasons each possibility is the best idea in the world.

• Making a list of all the reasons each possibility is the stupidest idea in the world.

If you do those things when you come up with something new, you won't hinder your creative thinking process and you'll be able to approach each possibility realistically.

Coming up with all of these ideas is good, but be sure to think about it from all sides.

 

[Evoulie]

From VMK.com:

VMK launched as a part of the Disneyland 50th Celebration and is now closed. Disney.com continues to create experiences to amaze our guests and we hope that all of our VMK friends will continue to join us.

Recently we've received inquiries asking if VMK is reopening - there are no plans to reopen VMK in any form.

Ev

 

[Imagineer_Tech]

"Recently we've received inquiries asking if VMK is reopening - there are no plans to reopen VMK in any form." I bolded a key phrase. No plans doesn't mean they won't make any in the future. Disney could quite possibly "make plans" tomorrow. Disney could "make plans" in a year. It doesn't mean vmk is dead.

From my other thread.

 

[Jasonbobdude]

“It never achieved scale,” Steve Wadsworth, president of the Walt Disney Internet Group, said in response to questions last month at the EconSM conference. “It was promotional. There was no business model attached to it. It had a small but passionate audience.”

If he thinks VMK had no business model attatched to it, then it proves they haven't heard about Virtual Family Kingdom yet. That place has no organization, it seems like it's already falling apart and losing members. I think VMK was very well organized compared to what VFK is showing us it could have been...

Also, maybe it would have had a larger audience if they would have done commercials for it like they have done for POTCO and ToonTown?

 

[gymnastgirlflips]

Well, the only reason they have those commercials is because they get money for those games. I cant believe how much they charge you, im not sure how much they do for toontown, but pirates is ten dollars a month. My brother had it for a month, and I think it is really dumb because after you get all of those cooler items, you cant use them after you stop paying. Same for club penguin too...

 

[Babypandaroo]

ITA with you gym. I played on club penguin also but after a while i totally lost interest. Hardly anyone i knew was on there not to mention they ask you to pay once you start playing it and nothing on there is free. no clothes no pins zip. I unregistered from club penguin and they begged me to come back and play. I wrote to them and told them i wasn't paying for it and that i would rather play vmk. I am now playing potco right now but im now loosing interest. Too much lag and there is hardly much i can do in the game unless i pay some money to get unlimited access which is too much money right now. We are in the middle of an economy crisis here and disney needs to realize that. They need to get it thought their small minds that $9.95 is too much money. I wish they would bring back vmk too. If they really wanted to make some money why didn't they make vmk pay to play as well? It just doesn't make sense. I think they were just looking for a way out of it and pirates seemed to be the only option. they get people interested in pirates and close vmk in the process

 

[Anne Bonny]

While I won't get my hopes up and wait for the people who will tell me to move on. I found this little rumor on another forum site.

"While Virtual Magical Kingdom was managed by two companies, One had quit the game, Due to the lack of profit.
While Disney believed that charging for such games would not be right, The other company believed otherwise.
Disney, Who owned most of the rights to VMK, Did not delete the game data base, Or any character information.
Disney has searched for another company to partner with, Due to the need of continuesly working members, One has been found, Upon which believes in fairness.
Virtual Magical Kingdom will return in the next few months, Hopefully by September or October of 2008, Or the New Year of 2009 if planning does not proceed in a timely fashion.
All characers/information will be returned to the state upon which they where the day Vmk shut down."

Brought me another ounce of hope.

Where did you get that source from? I just wanna see it for my own eyes.

“It never achieved scale,” Steve Wadsworth, president of the Walt Disney Internet Group, said in response to questions last month at the EconSM conference. “It was promotional. There was no business model attached to it. It had a small but passionate audience.”

He called us a SMALL AUDIENCE?!?! HOW DARE HE!!!! HOW IN THE WORLD IS THOUSANDS OF PLAYERS SMALL?!?!?! Oh that's just infuriating... GRRRRRRR!!!

 

[vmkfan13]

He called us a SMALL AUDIENCE?!?! HOW DARE HE!!!! HOW IN THE WORLD IS THOUSANDS OF PLAYERS SMALL?!?!?! Oh that's just infuriating... GRRRRRRR!!!

1. Don't believe in any of those dumb rumors..
2. VMK had a small population of less than 25 thousand regulars (logins everyday). I'm glad they closed the game before it reached it's peak.

 

[Anne Bonny]

Uh, I'm not. I thought this move was one of the dumbest things Disney could do, and that's coming from someone that works at The Disney Store. They should have just advertised the heck out of it like they did for the other games if they were struggling for money. I could see VMK being advertised on Disney365 or inside a Disney Store. And I don't think 25,000 is a number to be laughed at either.

Seeing all the devastated kids when they heard the news was absolutely heartbreaking...I don't think I've ever seen so many sad kids at once.

 

[vmkfan13]

Uh, I'm not. I thought this move was one of the dumbest things Disney could do, and that's coming from someone that works at The Disney Store. They should have just advertised the heck out of it like they did for the other games if they were struggling for money. I could see VMK being advertised on Disney365 or inside a Disney Store. And I don't think 25,000 is a number to be laughed at either.

Seeing all the devastated kids when they heard the news was absolutely heartbreaking...I don't think I've ever seen so many sad kids at once.

25,000 isn't a strong number considering how much (we think) they spent on the game.

As for the kids, I don't think Disney should just take them on some emotional rollercoaster by opening the game again. It's not just kids who were devastated; Disney probably doesn't care how many people they upset, they knew how everyone would react.

 

[Disneychick74]

The decision to close VMK could NOT possibly been due to money. The reason I say this is because since VMK's close my family and I have moved on to Webkinz. In our family alone we have about 100 of them (for all 4 of us)
the average Webkinz is $10 you do the math, this is ONE family of webkinz addicts, we have bought FULL boxes of the trading cards to get the codes and charms, body sprays, plastic figures and clothing for the real pets which also ALL come with codes.
I would say in the past 3 months our family has spent about 1K on Webkinz and other merchandise. Excessive? yea a bit but it is fun, the whole family plays even our 3 year old.

My point is this. If Disney came out with things to sell that gave codes (other than the pins and the ever exclusive resort trip for Stitch hat)
They could have done stuffed animals and clothing, sell it online, sell it in the Disney store, we would have all bought it.
Webkinz also just started a VIRTUAL store where you can buy exclusive things for your pets and something new comes out every Sat most things are between $1.50 and $10.

The merchandising possibilities for VMK were ENDLESS selling things in an online store would have done 2 things, 1) generated revenue for the game and 2) evened the playing field a bit. I mean back in the day if you could have gone to VMK.com and bought a stitch hat for $5 you would have. There would have also been alot less scamming that way.

So the theroy that VMK closed because of $$ is crazy, if anyone knows how to make a buck it is DISNEY they own half the world. What I think happened is that Saluke and Disney had a contract disagreement and Saluke pulled out. Saluke owned the programming and Disney owns it's name and nothing more so..no more VMK.

As awesome as it would be to hope for a return, and trust me I hope alllll the time. I just don't see it happening. BTW I miss you all!