Since its launch, I’ve been playing Tower of Fantasy and have yet to miss a day. Initially, I was drawn to the game’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi fantasy themes and was enthralled with the idea of acasual open-world MMOthat didn’t contain a punishing gacha system.
When I first heard ofthe news of a possible reboot, I was both shocked and appalled but ultimately felt betrayed.Tower of Fantasy’s player base has been dwindlingevery month, resulting in regional server merges as a quick fix. Queues have become unbearable for the more challenging content — and now, with the idea of a reboot in the mix,people have become unmotivated to grind the game. TheMMO foundation of Tower of Fantasy is on shaky ground, and therumor of a rebootcould send the game to an early grave. The hundreds of hours I’ve poured into Tower of Fantasy could be rendered meaningless, which sure would make me unlikely to return.
Hotta’s statement on the reboot rumors
Rumors started circulating whenTower of Fantasy passed around a co-creation retrospective plan questionnaireto its CN audience (on BiliBili), asking players for feedback about changes they’d like to see in Tower of Fantasy. A week later,the team announced a “retroactive” serverakin to a reboot server. Maps and design elements will be added or deleted inside this “retroactive” server. It essentially boils down to being a glorified sandbox mode used to create and implement new ideas that stick. Players will also likely have the choice to join this “retroactive” server or remain on servers that host Tower of Fantasy classic (current game) — where more server splits would only damage the player population, the last thing Tower of Fantasy needs.
On December 1st, the Tower of Fantasy server management team released a public statementto disclose that no changes were happening in global, implying that any rumors discussed by the Aida Pioneers (registered content creators) should be taken with a grain of salt. But of course, Tower of Fantasy Global has always followed the CN version regarding the structure of simulacrum releases and map expansions. So why wouldn’t a “retroactive” server not be in the cards for global?
How the rumor of a global reboot is hurting the game
Even withHotta sending out several messages centered around damage controlto ease fears over these whispered reboot rumors, there’s still plenty of skepticism concerning the game. Players often pay hundreds of dollars for cosmetics and simulacrums; any generated distrust will result in players spending less or not at all. I, for one, will never put a cent down on a game that may soon reboot, and the current news of a reset has only reinforced this stance.
When a game stops generating revenue, resulting in servers that are no longer worth maintaining, a game enters what’s known as maintenance mode. Soon after, the publisher will inevitablyannounce an end-of-service datefor the game. So even with a"promise" of having Tower of Fantasy run for a decade, the game doesn’t gain immunity to maintenance mode, which will happen if players stop supporting the game.
A reboot won’t save Tower of Fantasy
Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to love Tower of Fantasy, it has too many technical problems that need addressing. The game feels barely playable on mobile, even if you own atop-end gaming phone; quests are riddled with bugs, there’s an awkward forced-skip option for the story, and still, to this day, the developers don’t know how to solve the iffy controller support (the PlayStation version is absolutely jank because of this), all knotted together with a horrendous UI. None of these problems have been addressed — and a reboot only sweeps these issues under the rug instead of solving them. Hotta must restore faith in the current game if it wishes to retain the current playerbase.
Hotta neads to address the core problem
The truth isTower of Fantasy is a middling gachathat has failed to press harder on its MMO roots; the game is strictlydriven by power creepwith repetitive end-game systems. In its current state, Tower of Fantasy has little to offer, and with the existing systems in place, it is nowhere near new-player friendly. People have argued that a reboot could help Tower of Fantasy refocus as an MMO, but an MMO doesn’t thrive unless a community trusts the developers. Unfortunately, not every failed MMO title will have a miracle worker on the staff like Final Fantasy found inYoshi-P (Naoki Yoshida).
So if Tower of Fantasy actually goes through with this reboot or reset, it willonly split the player baseand enforce distrust amongst the developers. Hotta fails to recognize that the problem was never about repetitious end-game systems; it was always due to the technical difficulties that never got corrected, coupled with the awful writing that killed the game’s immersion. The way to push forward is to fix the terrible coding that is breaking the game and possibly consider hiring new writers. A reboot will only ensure a death sentence.
