Albion Online Addresses Concerns Over New European Server’s Effect On Player Populations
The opening of a new server region is usually a relatively benign affair, until it’s not. In the case of Albion Online, western players are currently up in arms over the recent announcement of a separate European and MENA server opening next month which they believe will draw players away from the Albion West server (soon to be renamed Albion Americas) much like the Albion East server (soon to be Albion Asia) did when it launched last year.
Developer Sandbox Interactive, however, was quick to reassure players that the PvP sandbox MMORPG’s anticipated growth will “easily offset” any significant population changes if the launch of Albion East was any indication.
“Prior to the launch of Albion East, around 20% of playtime on Albion West was from Asia,” Sandbox Interactive recounts. “Right around its launch, Albion East significantly overtook Albion West in population due to all the hype, and surprisingly, even the West server gained some players as a side effect of the Albion East hype and all the marketing that went with it.”
“When things settled down a few months later, Albion East stabilized at a level somewhat below the West server. Nowadays, West is actually more active than it was before the Asian server was launched,” the studio continued.
“Now, with regards to a European Albion server, note that the population of Albion West currently consists mostly of players from the US/Canada, South America, and of course Europe. While the current European share of players on West is higher than the previous Asian players share was prior to the launch of East, keep in mind that a larger number of European players will stay on West, since the pressure to change servers due to a high ping is not as significant as it was for Asian players on West, where players regularly had to deal with 300+ ms.”
Furthermore, Sandbox Interactive says that it understands that many European players who are already playing on Albion West will want to make the jump to Albion Europe but will be hindered by the fact that they’ll have to start from scratch. While they might allow account and character transfers in the future, they won’t be doing so until at least 18 months after Albion Europe opens its doors and the in-game economy has stabilized.
That being said, the team is currently working to make unlocked skins available game-wide instead of being bound to the server region where they were originally acquired. The skins likely won’t be available on launch day though as they want to avoid having newbies running around with elite skins fresh off the character creation screen. They’re also looking into improving and standardizing event timers so as not to put players from other regions at a disadvantage regardless of what server or time zone they’re playing in.
Closed beta testing for Albion Europe begins on April 3, followed by open beta testing on April 10 in preparation for its official launch on April 29. Founder’s pack owners will also be able to get in ahead of everyone else starting on April 24.
