Trackmania 2 - will it unify or devide?

[Sammon]

Obviously it's hard to say because it hasn't already been released, but there is some evidence in the past that it will neither unify nor divide.

Every time a new Trackmania has come out (TMO -> TMS -> TMN) the community generally went with it. There were exceptions, but the majority moved to the new game. However, when TMN came out, it was the first time there was a free TM and it was the first time the game had the chance to go to ESWC. Even when TMU was released, the majority of the people who purchased it were those who had owned previous TM's or had never played any form of it before.

Most of the TMN players remained in TMN, and even got angry when TMNF was announced. Also, a few players of TMO and TMS never moved to TMU because they considered it a waste of money when they weren't getting anything "new" but instead just old things redone.

TM2 should bring these players back, but the TMN players are likely going to stay in TMN.

(hooray for long post )

[Shadowfax]

I play Stadium 99% of the time, not because it's free, but because it's my favorite environment. I just don't really like the racing physics of the other environments. Coast is OK. I'm excited about about some new features in TM2, but if I don't like the gameplay, I won't play it much.

[tcq]

I'm excited about about some new features in TM2, but if I don't like the gameplay, I won't play it much.

But it would be a first step, because if most of the nation players are thinking the same and just go and try it. Then we have a bigger connection between ex-TMNF players and TM2 players as we ever had between TMUF and TMNF. But sounds a little bit to optimistic.
Therefore i have completly to agree with Zooz and Inso. Nearly all TMUF players will move, but on the otherside i think many new players will switch to TM2, after testing SM/QM on Maniaplanet, just out of curiosity how this will fit in the round dance with the other games. And about the system, it will be awesome to promote and get a lot of new gamers in it. (e.g. A RPG/A FPS/A Racing Game united with one simple Editor. Go an create everything you like.)
So let's see how it will work out and how much Ubisoft will promote the game.

[FrostBeule]

Obviously it's hard to say because it hasn't already been released, but there is some evidence in the past that it will neither unify nor divide.

Every time a new Trackmania has come out (TMO -> TMS -> TMN) the community generally went with it. There were exceptions, but the majority moved to the new game. However, when TMN came out, it was the first time there was a free TM and it was the first time the game had the chance to go to ESWC. Even when TMU was released, the majority of the people who purchased it were those who had owned previous TM's or had never played any form of it before.

Most of the TMN players remained in TMN, and even got angry when TMNF was announced. Also, a few players of TMO and TMS never moved to TMU because they considered it a waste of money when they weren't getting anything "new" but instead just old things redone.

TM2 should bring these players back, but the TMN players are likely going to stay in TMN.

(hooray for long post )

actually the switch from TMN to TMNF went pretty smooth as far as i know. "most" did certainly NOT stay in TMN, that's for sure. there's almost no active servers in TMN these days.

I play Stadium 99% of the time, not because it's free, but because it's my favorite environment. I just don't really like the racing physics of the other environments. Coast is OK. I'm excited about about some new features in TM2, but if I don't like the gameplay, I won't play it much.

I think Florent said the 3 new envs will be similiar to the TMUF envs. that is, no drifting. so i think chances are you won't like the gameplay of TM2 if you liked the gameplay of TMNF.

[Cec]

Therefore i have completly to agree with Zooz and Inso. Nearly all TMUF players will move, but on the otherside i think many new players will switch to TM2, after testing SM/QM on Maniaplanet, just out of curiosity how this will fit in the round dance with the other games.

I don't quite agree with this, as i understand things TM2 will have different environments/gameplays as TMUF.
It was a bit like that when TMS was released while the community was focused on TMO/TMPU. And there were some people that kept playing TMO while others prefered the TMS environments. So maybe a part of the TMUF community will not switch to TM2 and keep playing to TMUF....or play to both

[Bramble]

Therefore i have completly to agree with Zooz and Inso. Nearly all TMUF players will move, but on the otherside i think many new players will switch to TM2, after testing SM/QM on Maniaplanet, just out of curiosity how this will fit in the round dance with the other games.

I don't quite agree with this, as i understand things TM2 will have different environments/gameplays as TMUF.
It was a bit like that when TMS was released while the community was focused on TMO/TMPU. And there were some people that kept playing TMO while others prefered the TMS environments. So maybe a part of the TMUF community will not switch to TM2 and keep playing to TMUF....or play to both

You make a good point there Cec. I'll probably keep playing TMUF as long as we keep running leagues for it and getting a good turn out for the leagues. TM2 certainly won't be the death of TMUF for a fair amount of time. Especially if TM2 is released with a single environment as it seemed to be suggested, we could just tack that onto an existing league format (like the first TMN matches in the SL).

[Zooz]

True, TM2 will be more of an upgrade than TMO-TMS though. But with the limited number of environments, I think TMU will stay popular for a while.

[tcq]

I don't quite agree with this, as i understand things TM2 will have different environments/gameplays as TMUF.It was a bit like that when TMS was released while the community was focused on TMO/TMPU. And there were some people that kept playing TMO while others prefered the TMS environments. So maybe a part of the TMUF community will not switch to TM2 and keep playing to TMUF....or play to both

As i'm only in the tm scene since tmsdemo,TMS,TMN, i was only ablte to see the move between TMS to TMU and here about 80% changed the game asap.

[SkunkY]

If TM2 will be a great fun game that really stands out from TMU then I guess it will re-unite the TMU-community. Because then most TMU players will move and now they are split into 7 environments while TM2 has only 3. So more players will play the same environments. And many new players will join the community.
Will it be somewhat disappointing.. then a lot of players will stick with TMU or simply move on to other games.
I also hope Nadeo/Ubi will find a better online ranking system since the actual system did a good job on ripping the online community apart.

I agree that most TMN players will most likely stick with it.

[tmjonas]

I think it much depends on how TM2 will be published. I still can't really imagine a one-environment-start. Maybe that's because I'm not really interested in QM/SM and therefore wouldn't benefit from an interlinking between those games. Well, that's just hypothetical anyways, it might turn out in a completely different way.
I can imagine that TM2 - if it offers enough - can re-unite the TMU-Community. The vast majority will check it out and stay as long as it's worth. Most TMN players will probably continue sticking to stadium.

For my part, I can imagine to play both TM2 and TMU (of course much depending on the community).