Franchise server issues since update

[Skalea]

Still, from a business perspective, it would make sense for a gaming company to treat the holiday period as a special period for bugs and other issues with their game.

There is a winter sale, new players are probably coming in and existing players have more free time. Now more than ever you do not want to put off people or lose goodwill.

At least that's how I would see it.

 

[Moorwiesen]

It was indeed a very unreasonable timing to release a new update that introduced new mechanics (like the giftshop bug breaking the savefiles). Of course they wanted to keep the rythm of releasing packs, but knowing a longer holiday period coming up, they would have been better off just not doing it. A lot - I am A LOT - of new players post about not being able to play. A LOT of "older" players post about franchise issues. I don't even want to imagine the faces of some that got the game as a gift and want to get into franchise mode for one or another reason and it keeps bugging out. The support will be flooded with requests for help, complains and whatnots. Whoever comes back after holidays first will already be knee deep in issues. But it is the first time (I remember) where it went this bad. In all those years of frequent updates and new dlc, I think that is still a pretty good picture. Just new(er) players will not be impressed by that fact and us "oldies" stick around anyways.

 

[Captain Callum]

Still, from a business perspective, it would make sense for a gaming company to treat the holiday period as a special period for bugs and other issues with their game.

There is a winter sale, new players are probably coming in and existing players have more free time. Now more than ever you do not want to put off people or lose goodwill.

At least that's how I would see it.

It's more of how we view receiving annual holidays in the UK more than anything, it's more than encouraged to give staff their time off.

 

[KellyL]

I wonder how many refunds were requested. I'm sure lots of new customers don't care about why Frontier wasn't fixing the problems, they only care that they spent money on a game that isn't working and isn't being fixed. Maybe some of those customers will re-purchase later, but I'm sure Frontier has lost a bit of money and goodwill.

 

[jcp011c]

I wonder how many refunds were requested. I'm sure lots of new customers don't care about why Frontier wasn't fixing the problems, they only care that they spent money on a game that isn't working and isn't being fixed. Maybe some of those customers will re-purchase later, but I'm sure Frontier has lost a bit of money and goodwill.

Yeah, it's really unfortunately too because if Frontier is counting on new sales of the base game/already released packs bringing in the majority of profile - which has likely always been the case - this has the potential to really hurt them. I know if I got a new game I wasn't familiar with, bought it, it didn't really work, I would likely request a refund.

Counter point to that though - perhaps many new players would be playing in Career and Sandbox mode at first, which shouldn't affect how the game plays. There's a possibility that some players may not even be aware there's an issue.

 

[KellyL]

Yeah, it's really unfortunately too because if Frontier is counting on new sales of the base game/already released packs bringing in the majority of profile - which has likely always been the case - this has the potential to really hurt them. I know if I got a new game I wasn't familiar with, bought it, it didn't really work, I would likely request a refund.

Counter point to that though - perhaps many new players would be playing in Career and Sandbox mode at first, which shouldn't affect how the game plays. There's a possibility that some players may not even be aware there's an issue.

Ahh, that's a good thought!

 

[Artistaparker]

I just came here to say I'm sad the servers have been acting up for a while. I know this game doesn't have a huge audience, but a lot of us do enjoy it and appreciate what Frontier has done. I know I can play in sandbox but it's not as fun. I like to have multiple zoos so when there is a community challenge I can participate for fun. I bought all the expacs and think about one day not being able to enjoy them in franchise mode because they will inevitably close it. I wish it was different but I guess this is just what I have to accept for liking an obscur and challenging game. Sandbox mode in any game never appealed to me becuase I like some soft of challenge, even if it's small. I usually just want to make more money in my new zoo than my last and create something cool. Anyway, I hope they fix it soon. If it's really just holiday time they gave off to families then fine, but say it - say the servers will be down for a bit, then fixed and better than before.

 

[jcp011c]

I just came here to say I'm sad the servers have been acting up for a while. I know this game doesn't have a huge audience, but a lot of us do enjoy it and appreciate what Frontier has done. I know I can play in sandbox but it's not as fun. I like to have multiple zoos so when there is a community challenge I can participate for fun. I bought all the expacs and think about one day not being able to enjoy them in franchise mode because they will inevitably close it. I wish it was different but I guess this is just what I have to accept for liking an obscur and challenging game. Sandbox mode in any game never appealed to me becuase I like some soft of challenge, even if it's small. I usually just want to make more money in my new zoo than my last and create something cool. Anyway, I hope they fix it soon. If it's really just holiday time they gave off to families then fine, but say it - say the servers will be down for a bit, then fixed and better than before.

I can understand where you're coming from with the eventual inevitable closing of the franchise serves. Hopefully not for a long long time, even after actual official support ends. Many games that are quite old still have servers up and running, even if there's barely anyone using them. Granted I don't know cost breakdown but I can't imagine it's too expensive to do compared to most game cost for the developer. If support ends in 2024 I'd hope we'd have at least 3 years of continued servers.

I don't know if I'd call this an obscure game. Zoo simulators are niche but it's also the highest profile zoo simulator out there, with mostly positive reviews.

Suggestion for your thoughts on Sandbox, you can set a money and CC amount to start out those zoos. I'm going to definitely do that at some point. Maybe start out with a little more than $40,000 but still limited. You can also set pretty much all options to mirror what they would be in franchise. Animal welfare on, guest welfare on, death, sickness, etc. Sandbox doesn't have to be easy/unlimited everything. That may be the default but it can definitely be adjusted.

 

[Xrystal]

Yeah, it's really unfortunately too because if Frontier is counting on new sales of the base game/already released packs bringing in the majority of profile - which has likely always been the case - this has the potential to really hurt them. I know if I got a new game I wasn't familiar with, bought it, it didn't really work, I would likely request a refund.

Counter point to that though - perhaps many new players would be playing in Career and Sandbox mode at first, which shouldn't affect how the game plays. There's a possibility that some players may not even be aware there's an issue.

My mums not a new player as such, like me she played Zoo Tycoon in the past so she's had the base game since at least release - I was in the beta.
She logs into franchise enough to get the conservation credits - I suggested that to her while she learns the ropes in sandbox and career mode.

She played career mode yesterday and it was a pleasant feel to be able to play longer than 5 minutes without a disconnect. I've already told her about the franchise issues so she's gonna concentrate on sandbox and see if she can grab some of those nice new animals she grabbed from the dlcs on sale.

My first play through after release was career mode and challenge mode. I haven't even touched sandbox. So fingers crossed most new players are on the less buggy portions of the game and are likely to have fun and stay and monitor chat to see whats up when they do jump in and hit issues.

 

[jcp011c]

Trying something a little different with the disconnects. Where I read them here or Steam discussions, not sure. But when you got to the main menu you can still save, and the "resume" button is greyed out. Or the franchise disconnected error pops up. I hit escape. Things carried on as normal, nothing missing. Granted this is on a small zoo and I'm a bit weary to open up my larger zoos at all.

It's just interesting. I haven't been hit with missing animals but the trade market has taken a huge hit because of this. 4-5 pages of animals max, no filters on so all habitat animals could pop up. Exhibit market seems fine.

I realize some people are ending up with disappearing animals, but so far not for me. but I'm really just focusing on one franchise zoo right now, a new one. Yeah despite me claiming to leave Franchise alone until it's fixed, I'm unable to do so, it's like I'm addicted to it!

 

[Dead_Azz]

Trying something a little different with the disconnects. Where I read them here or Steam discussions, not sure. But when you got to the main menu you can still save, and the "resume" button is greyed out. Or the franchise disconnected error pops up. I hit escape. Things carried on as normal, nothing missing. Granted this is on a small zoo and I'm a bit weary to open up my larger zoos at all.

It's just interesting. I haven't been hit with missing animals but the trade market has taken a huge hit because of this. 4-5 pages of animals max, no filters on so all habitat animals could pop up. Exhibit market seems fine.

I realize some people are ending up with disappearing animals, but so far not for me. but I'm really just focusing on one franchise zoo right now, a new one. Yeah despite me claiming to leave Franchise alone until it's fixed, I'm unable to do so, it's like I'm addicted to it!

I'm hoping more people see it so they can somewhat resume playing franchise mode, though it'll still pop up it is better than going back to the menu over and over.

 

[Moorwiesen]

My issue is not clicking away the message and playing on. My issue is, that I can't sell or buy animals. So not only is my trade center overfilled with 200 animals, my breeding stock is also dying out, since I can't change breeding partners. So I can't play on.

 

[jcp011c]

My issue is not clicking away the message and playing on. My issue is, that I can't sell or buy animals. So not only is my trade center overfilled with 200 animals, my breeding stock is also dying out, since I can't change breeding partners. So I can't play on.

That makes sense and is very unfortunate. I hadn't tried buying any animals off of the market, the new zoo I was working on was pulled from my own trade center. Now that I've made the attempt, I can confirm that I'm also unable to purchase any animals as well, nor can I sell any animals, including being unable to even release to wild.

 

[Xrystal]

My issue is not clicking away the message and playing on. My issue is, that I can't sell or buy animals. So not only is my trade center overfilled with 200 animals, my breeding stock is also dying out, since I can't change breeding partners. So I can't play on.

I haven't had that issue, I've been buying and selling fine the last few weeks ( if I don't get the disconnect issue every few seconds that is ) . Have you reported the problem with as much info as you can remember at the time you see this happening. It's probably related but interesting that people are getting different issues related to the same part of the game.

I realize some people are ending up with disappearing animals, but so far not for me. but I'm really just focusing on one franchise zoo right now, a new one. Yeah despite me claiming to leave Franchise alone until it's fixed, I'm unable to do so, it's like I'm addicted to it!

Good luck with the franchise attempts. I can be addicted to it too, so, just not playing at the moment. I know the moment I start it up I'll try playing franchise and remember why I stopped and quit again rofl. I have other games so will cross my fingers that in a weeks time things will improve.

 

[Arrakai]

I just came here to say I'm sad the servers have been acting up for a while. I know this game doesn't have a huge audience, but a lot of us do enjoy it and appreciate what Frontier has done. I know I can play in sandbox but it's not as fun. I like to have multiple zoos so when there is a community challenge I can participate for fun. I bought all the expacs and think about one day not being able to enjoy them in franchise mode because they will inevitably close it. I wish it was different but I guess this is just what I have to accept for liking an obscur and challenging game. Sandbox mode in any game never appealed to me becuase I like some soft of challenge, even if it's small. I usually just want to make more money in my new zoo than my last and create something cool. Anyway, I hope they fix it soon. If it's really just holiday time they gave off to families then fine, but say it - say the servers will be down for a bit, then fixed and better than before.

I really hope that when they decide to close down the Franchise servers, they make a kind of "offline Franchise" so that we can still play with our zoo's and move animals between them, so that the only change is that we cant trade animals with other players anymore

 

[Artistaparker]

I really hope that when they decide to close down the Franchise servers, they make a kind of "offline Franchise" so that we can still play with our zoo's and move animals between them, so that the only change is that we cant trade animals with other players anymore

Agreed, I hope so too. I mean warcraft 3 is still up from Blizzard, so I would think Frontier could keep it up a while. I read under 7000 people login monthly though, if that's true from the steam page I read.. then I wonder how long it will be. I mean they keep making expansions so I hope they keep it going.

 

[Moorwiesen]

I haven't had that issue, I've been buying and selling fine the last few weeks ( if I don't get the disconnect issue every few seconds that is ) . Have you reported the problem with as much info as you can remember at the time you see this happening. It's probably related but interesting that people are getting different issues related to the same part of the game.


Good luck with the franchise attempts. I can be addicted to it too, so, just not playing at the moment. I know the moment I start it up I'll try playing franchise and remember why I stopped and quit again rofl. I have other games so will cross my fingers that in a weeks time things will improve.

Yes, I have send screenshots, videos, text and information, but the support can't do much other than "thank you, we will pass it on after the holiday season"

 

[PZ82]

I haven't had too many issues with disconnects but I have had issues where the market doesn't have any animals or very limited on the animals.

 

[Roxxsmom]

It's more of how we view receiving annual holidays in the UK more than anything, it's more than encouraged to give staff their time off.

Well, in the US tech companies have the rep for nose to the grindstone, workers sleep under their desks etc, 80+ hour weeks. That still doesn't remotely translate to great customer service or bug-free gaming experiences. Customer service is a lost art, and not just with gaming companies

I haven't had too many issues with disconnects but I have had issues where the market doesn't have any animals or very limited on the animals.

I am guessing this might be because so many other players are having issue with constant disconnects and can't get into the market, or have simply given up on franchise for now. Fewer players successfully playing on franchise would obviously mean fewer animals up for sale.

It is interesting, though, how some people are having these issues and others aren't as much. Is there a particular location, or internet provider, or hardware configuration that is connected to this? There are a large number of reports on the issue tracking forums. I haven't seen an obvious pattern in those reports, though most people omit the details of the ISP and system specs. Many, but by no means all, players reporting constant disconnects and/either/or trade center issues, issues placing animals in their franchise zoos etc. seem to be from the US.

For me, the big issue isn't the constant disconnect messages, which are irritating but can be resolved by hitting escape. It's the inability to buy or sell animals, and as of my last attempt, the inability to even move animals from my storage to habitats in my zoo. I haven't had animals disappear from my storage yet (knock wood), but it looks like a number of players are experiencing this as well.

 

[Roxxsmom]

I really hope that when they decide to close down the Franchise servers, they make a kind of "offline Franchise" so that we can still play with our zoo's and move animals between them, so that the only change is that we cant trade animals with other players anymore

I certainly don't see why they wouldn't continue to allow franchise play where players could transfer animals between zoos. But is there a reason to believe that the shutting down of the franchise servers is imminent? Some online games run for a decade or more. Seems like a lot of people are still playing (or trying to play) franchise mode and are incredibly frustrated with this issue.