Gazing into the future

It's now been well over five years since Restaurant Story was initially released, and nearly three years since I published my first post on this blog. In a sector where technology and trends move at lightning speed the game has done well to make it this far, but how much longer can it last?

This is a question the players have been pondering in the background for a fair time now, and recent activities have led to it clambering into the foreground. Here I am going to examine the evidence in a bid to thin the fog in my crystal ball.

The most obvious sign that the end may be approaching is obviously Restaurant Story 2.

Title screen for Restaurant Story 2

Even just naming the sequel game after the original is an indication that the long term plan is to phase out the latter. If Storm8 had no intention of pulling the original I doubt they'd have given their new baby a similar name, even if it may be useful for attracting fans of the original. After all they'd want to differentiate between the two titles.

And those technical advancements I mentioned at the outset are highly relevant here - there's only so much you can do to improve the original game via app updates, so there comes a point where the only option is to start afresh.

Indeed if we take off our rose-tinted glasses for a moment, the truth is that the game is beginning to look a little tired. In a world where there are countless new apps released every week, the graphics of Restaurant Story are being left behind. You only need to compare to the sequel game to see the amount that this aspect of gaming has moved on in the last half decade.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not holding this against Restaurant Story. There's almost a retro feel to it these days, and I've got no problem with that. After such a long time of playing the game the graphics are part of the fabric and I wouldn't change them for the world.

The release of Bakery Story 2 towards the end of 2015 only adds to the wild speculation of what the future holds for the original games.

Promotional image for Bakery Story 2 as shown on
iTunes App Store

With Restaurant Story and Bakery Story sharing the same game engine and overall premise, they can generally be treated as siblings, so any news for one is likely to apply to the other too. This includes the date of Armageddon - I fully expect the two games to stride into the sunset together.

Of course there's also Farm Story 2 (which has been around significantly longer than RS2) and Fantasy Forest Story (which is likely the next incarnation of Dragon Story). So these next generation games are clearly the path the game's developers have chosen to go down, with the long term plan to produce them across the board.

The impact of these sequel titles is perhaps already being felt with many updates in recent months lacking in some departments. I can only really speak for Restaurant Story and Bakery Story here, but there have been plenty of cases where regular updates have not included a table and chair, or otherwise a wallpaper and floor tile. This has been the case on occasion in the distant past, but these days there's very rarely a regular update which includes something from every category of the market.

In the same vein sales have been lacking recently. The Valentine's Day sale which burst into the game this week has only really served to paper over some of the cracks, with this player not having forgotten the complete absence of a Halloween or Christmas sale, despite those almost certainly being the biggest themes of the year in terms of user interest. Special deals for those two events have been a staple of the game throughout my stay, which makes their absence at the back end of last year all the more significant.

And although Black Friday wasn't completely shunned it wasn't exactly a celebration of all that's great about Restaurant Story. The issue here wasn't with regards to the quality of the items offered (which is a highly subjective topic) but rather the quantity of items.

Black Friday 2015 sale items

With so few decorations included Black Friday was a massive disappointment, and left us all wondering what Storm8's mindset was. It's pretty clear from past experience that Black Friday more than any other day inspires players to open their wallets and pay up to capture elusive content.

So neglecting this big event does naturally raise questions. It really does appear that the gamemakers were not as interested in earning a sales boost in the game this past holiday season, and on the face of it there's really no reasonable explanation for this. I can only hypothesise that making money out of Restaurant Story is no longer high on the agenda, with converting players to the sequel title more important. This could backfire terribly as there are many players may turn their nose up at the prospect of the next generation Storm8 games due to these bad experiences in the original.

My theme of neglect continues with the state of Stormie's Store. I can just about remember the days when the gamemakers' own place was gigantic and housed just about every item ever to make an appearance in the game. Then for a long period Stormie's Store would get a makeover every so often with new content, which gave us a good opportunity to get a preview of new additions, which was especially useful for box updates.

But Stormie's Store hasn't had a refurbishment now for over four months. The contents of the Fall Harvest crate are still on display, which is saddening.

Stormie's Store

Stormie's Store is an excellent promotional tool in the making, but Storm8 seem to have given up on utilising it. This again plays into the feeling that the game's developers are no longer fussed about Restaurant Story bringing in the bucks.

Homing in on updates over the past month, there's been a clear sharing of themes between Restaurant Story and Bakery Story. I've already touched upon the connection between the games, but the common themes is exceptional, and quite blatant too. The Winter wedding, healthy New Year and Greek themes have all appeared in both apps, leading to contemplation that the ideas department at Storm8 are spending more time creating stuff for the sequel games and less time on the originals. Indeed the Winter wedding theme was even covered by Bakery Story in January 2014, so you could say that that theme wasn't even new for 2016.

Rehashing of previous concepts may be common but credit where it's due - there have been new features introduced in the past six months which are innovative and have sparked new interest. A special mention is in order for regular commenter Kakasparks for providing some of the inspiration for this point. These new features I allude to include the Gem Dispenser, the free gem videos, the speeding up cooking videos, and the rewarding of high ranked box items for completing a download goal. All may be exclusive to iOS users, but have nevertheless had some impact on the balance of the game since they are essentially different forms of 'giveaway'.

It should be pointed out at this stage that the free gem videos have appeared across many Storm8 titles, including the next generation games. Therefore this particular feature does appear to be part of a wider scheme intended to make some extra cash for Storm8 through advertising rather than a signal of an imminent demise.

But the same cannot be said for the Gem Dispenser which in this guise has only been added to Restaurant Story and Bakery Story. Above all the other new features it is this one which is the single biggest game changer, with the premium currency now possible to harvest consistently without the need to spend a penny of real money.

Notification for Gem Dispenser

It is gems which are pivotal to Storm8's business model, but this fresh strategy turns the economic balance of the game upside down. Restaurant Story has been let off the leash, and there's no going back from that now. I'd even suggest that the gamemakers are using Restaurant Story as a guinea pig to test the waters for future implementation of premium currency earners in other titles.

So there are plenty of reasons to believe that the end of the road is approaching. But there is also evidence that we still have time on our side, not least the weekly updates. Whatever you make of each individual one, the updates are still weekly and remarkably this has always been the case. Until there comes a Wednesday without new content the game is alive and well. When the end truly is impending we can expect this to be reflected in the last few updates which are likely to be lacklustre and consist of a mishmash of decorations as the gamemakers attempt to empty the cupboards.

But even after the weekly updates have their curtain call there's still likely to be a lengthy period of idle time. This is the case with Farm Story and City Story Metro which are both still running today despite not appearing to have had any updates since 2014. That's a long period of inactivity which is quite sad really, especially since new players will probably be less aware of the situation and thus some will still be willing to buy gems.

When the time does come and Storm8 confirm that the game is retiring we enter largely uncharted waters. There have been Storm8 games pulled previously under the old TeamLava banner, and on those occasions notice has been given both through a notification in-game and through the Storm8 Forum. But the notice period wasn't necessarily all that long in those situations. What makes this case different is that Restaurant Story is a much bigger beast than the previous titles which have been dropped. Its fanbase is significantly larger and more dedicated, meaning that Storm8 may choose to be much more tactful and merciful in the way they pull support.

At least we do have Restaurant Story 2 as an alternative when Armageddon arrives. I realise that the two games are different in many ways and plenty of players who love the original can't stand the sequel, but at least this is an option for everyone. There are countless in-game relationships have been forged over the years and this might be the thing most saddening to lose - another game does allow players to continue to communicate via a similar medium.

The last matter I want to address in this post is that of the time frame for the closure of Restaurant Story. I previously suggested that 2015 would quite possibly be the final year, which goes to show what I know! Yet that doesn't stop me from proposing that 2016 is likely to be the year that the game comes to a close. I'm probably quite pessimistic, but based on all the signs I've outlined above, it does feel like the end is nigh.

Despite this lack of cheeriness, I do have to admit that this week's Valentine's sale has muddied the waters. Maybe there's more fuel left in the tank than I thought, but I'd still be surprised if we make it through another Christmas. Whatever happens, we'll be ready for it!