Hotel Hideaway (previously named "Project X") by Sulake

[Jerry]

Okay, before I start... How the hell did anyone not post or mention about this yet..? ;s

Anyways,

Sulake, the company which owns Habbo, has plans to make a brand new game! Code-name 'Project X' plans to take on augmented reality in a brand new game, which mixes games such as The Sims and even contrasting titles such as League of Legends to make a whole new Habboish experience.

Interestingly, the game has been drafted to be set in apartments where players can design their own room and visit others. The concept of the game seems like a polished version of the current Habbo, yet different in so many ways. An example could be how crafting would be built directly into the game, where players can design their own clothing through recycling.

Images of the game have been leaked by a Sulake intern, as part her Fashion & Design course. However, since the game is in early development the following images are purely concept arts and should not entirely represent the finished product.

A: Represents 'Diamonds', something which must be bought using real money.
B: Represents the credits currently on Habbo. This is free in-game currency.
C: The wardrobe to alter looks, and to craft.

Other notable features are options to change the current mood of your character, and an all-new level system. It should also be recognized this will not make its way to computers. Sulake has therefore only designed this for mobile devices, to be released on app stores, possibly to reach out to a younger audience.

With Sulake releasing statistics that they made €42,046,000 last year in profit, a massive 190% increase from 2014, they clearly have some spare dosh to spend on something a little less Habbo-ish.

What are your opinions of the game so far?

Do you think Sulake will close down the Habbo website game for their new project Hotel Hideaway like Club Penguin did for Club Penguin Island? But tbh, it looks awful bc of the graphics.

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[ZealousOtter]

I don't think they'll shut down Habbo in favor of this game. With that profit they're reporting from last year, they shouldn't be quick to scrap what has gotten them to this point. I just hope it doesn't turn out the way it did with Coke Studios back in the day when they shut it down and tried to move everyone to CC Metro, a terrible Second Life rip-off.

 

[Meap]

if they ever did close habbo, all the current players would flock to the retro scene imo anyway

 

[Owen]

They couldn't close down Habbo for that. They know their most income is from Habbo brazil anyway. This game would be a flop just like their other game for App Store and Androids which was Niko wasn't it? Kinda was a flop.

 

[JynX]

The graphics look odd and take away from the game itself. I also don't think they'll close Habbo due to the money they are making from it still.

 

[Xylo]

Habbo can't market for shit, why do you think Niko or whatever the fuck that pile of shit was crashed and burned? They can't advertise properly because if they wanted to make money quickly they would market Habbo like they did before channel 4, if they aren't going to market Habbo which is an extremely appealing game to teenagers and easily profited then how on Earth are they going to market a random ass third-rate application that will flop within a few weeks of release? Sounds like Niko 2.0 to me, a waste of money and effort on Sulake's part.

 

[Joe]

Sulake are famously known for Habbo, doesn't mean they can't run two different games.

The screenshots look so weird haha, should be fun.

 

[Brandon]

Habbo can't market for shit, why do you think Niko or whatever the fuck that pile of shit was crashed and burned? They can't advertise properly because if they wanted to make money quickly they would market Habbo like they did before channel 4, if they aren't going to market Habbo which is an extremely appealing game to teenagers and easily profited then how on Earth are they going to market a random ass third-rate application that will flop within a few weeks of release? Sounds like Niko 2.0 to me, a waste of money and effort on Sulake's part.

It's not that they aren't making enough money to market nor that they don't know how to. The problem at hand is the accusations in the media and it won't just blow over.

In June 2012, Sulake received negative press for ongoing sexual behavior allegations in their most successful site,

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Hotel.

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identified that Sulake was allowing users to post pornographic and violent messages - despite the fact that Habbo is targeted at young teenagers.

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On 13 June 2012, one of the main shareholders, 3i, which held 16 per cent of shares, declared it was pulling out of Sulake shares alongside other investors including

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.

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It's like being registered a sex offender then trying to become famous. The dark and grueling past is going to come to surface regardless of how hard you try and hide it. If Sulake starts another marketing campaign who's to say they won't go completely under? If you lose your investors, you lose your company.

As for this new game, I don't see it becoming more popular or grossing more than Habbo within the next 10 - 15 years. Habbo has taken in hundreds of millions of dollars within the last couple of years and isn't stopping anytime soon. This new game is unique and might be everyone wants, but it still has a long way to come if it wants to compete in today's game market. Especially considering that Habbo was introduced when there wasn't a large variety of online games. In todays modern age anyone can create their own MMO game.

I just wish Sulake would stop pertaining to that 13 - 17 age range and start realizing there are older people that still enjoy games and have some serious money to spend.

 

[Joe]

I just wish Sulake would stop pertaining to that 13 - 17 age range and start realizing there are older people that still enjoy games and have some serious money to spend.

I personally think Habbo are getting rid of the 18+ people on their site, you can be banned for doing anything 18+ related within minutes whether it's swearing or just having flirty banter. The 18+ people in the Habbo community are generally toxic nor do they spend money on the website.

Young teenagers are the perfect audience and they'll dominate the hotel, they use their parents phones/cards to purchase what they want and they're just there to enjoy themselves not cause arguments, releasing personal information or just being a complete arsehole like most older people do on Habbo retros.

 

[Brandon]

I personally think Habbo are getting rid of the 18+ people on their site, you can be banned for doing anything 18+ related within minutes whether it's swearing or just having flirty banter. The 18+ people in the Habbo community are generally toxic nor do they spend money on the website.

Young teenagers are the perfect audience and they'll dominate the hotel, they use their parents phones/cards to purchase what they want and they're just there to enjoy themselves not cause arguments, releasing personal information or just being a complete arsehole like most older people do on Habbo retros.

That's the exact problem though. They no longer appeal to anyone 18+ on purpose. They're trying to make what was once an ageless game into a complete kids game. Sure young teenagers are a good audience at the moment but who's to say they won't lose that audience completely to other new and more exciting games? The only thing that really entices kids is the fact that Habbo is free. Otherwise they would be on some other site playing some other game.

Big games that pertain to all audiences (even though they're 18+) such as Call Of Duty, sell more copies than Habbo makes in dollars. Not to mention these games cost $70 upfront and release an exceptional amount of DLC to earn even more. I'm also sure that the 4 years in the age range 13 - 17 has less of a demographic than ages 18 - 49 would. I even know people in that age category who will buy the game and spend less than 24 hours on it just because they can.

 

[Joe]

That's the exact problem though. They no longer appeal to anyone 18+ on purpose. They're trying to make what was once an ageless game into a complete kids game. Sure young teenagers are a good audience at the moment but who's to say they won't lose that audience completely to other new and more exciting games? The only thing that really entices kids is the fact that Habbo is free. Otherwise they would be on some other site playing some other game.

Big games that pertain to all audiences (even though they're 18+) such as Call Of Duty, sell more copies than Habbo makes in dollars. Not to mention these games cost $70 upfront and release an exceptional amount of DLC to earn even more. I'm also sure that the 4 years in the age range 13 - 17 has less of a demographic than ages 18 - 49 would. I even know people in that age category who will buy the game and spend less than 24 hours on it just because they can.

I'm pretty sure Habbo's target audience has always been aimed at young teenagers. Although a range of ages can play this is why moderation was tightened up and why Habbo retro's are better for the 18+ Habbo makes a lot of money, always has done, they took away gambling and casino's and stopped letting people get away with rule breaking, you can't blame them after the Channel 4 scandal, it's a chat room built for teens, and without those teenagers the users getting older get on with their lives which is kind of what's going to happen to Habbo retro's.

 

[Brandon]

I'm pretty sure Habbo's target audience has always been aimed at young teenagers. Although a range of ages can play this is why moderation was tightened up and why Habbo retro's are better for the 18+ Habbo makes a lot of money, always has done, they took away gambling and casino's and stopped letting people get away with rule breaking, you can't blame them after the Channel 4 scandal, it's a chat room built for teens, and without those teenagers the users getting older get on with their lives which is kind of what's going to happen to Habbo retro's.

They could have gone the complete opposite direction and made some serious money if they restricted the younger audience instead. Then it would be a turn of the tables and if a young kid really wanted to play a mature game, I'm sure they could get away with it. I guess they just didn't want to get a chunk of the gambling industry (

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) and just wanted to stick to managing teenagers like a high school teacher (

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).

 

[Joe]

They could have gone the complete opposite direction and made some serious money if they restricted the younger audience instead. Then it would be a turn of the tables and if a young kid really wanted to play a mature game, I'm sure they could get away with it. I guess they just didn't want to get a chunk of the gambling industry (

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) and just wanted to stick to managing teenagers like a high school teacher (

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).

They had to get rid of gambling because people were buying/selling on forums etc and after introducing their app for Habbo it didn't meet the restrictions (I think) had to be 17+ to have the casino's etc.

 

[GageDodd]

i think that, this game can go far! this game does not look so good now, but they would most definetly work on it, too make the graphics much better, they are just trying to have a 3D version of habbo, to try and increase their profit, as they dont have to worry about having no money due to their current income. its just a way to make more money, i can see many developers trying to re create this game, and make it their own, and that will make it sooo much better. like i said it does look bad, but remember the orignal habbo, it was much more simple, give them time, like a few years or more to have a much more updated version of it.

 

[Xylo]

It's not that they aren't making enough money to market nor that they don't know how to. The problem at hand is the accusations in the media and it won't just blow over.



It's like being registered a sex offender then trying to become famous. The dark and grueling past is going to come to surface regardless of how hard you try and hide it. If Sulake starts another marketing campaign who's to say they won't go completely under? If you lose your investors, you lose your company.

As for this new game, I don't see it becoming more popular or grossing more than Habbo within the next 10 - 15 years. Habbo has taken in hundreds of millions of dollars within the last couple of years and isn't stopping anytime soon. This new game is unique and might be everyone wants, but it still has a long way to come if it wants to compete in today's game market. Especially considering that Habbo was introduced when there wasn't a large variety of online games. In todays modern age anyone can create their own MMO game.

I just wish Sulake would stop pertaining to that 13 - 17 age range and start realizing there are older people that still enjoy games and have some serious money to spend.

You can have bad experiences and still indulge in advertisements and marketing, they can make as much money as they want but they have always had poor advertising even when it was hitting 10k-20k daily. If you're making millions off of a game where you've restricted all of the previous erroneous behavior and content that was misleading young players and are not willing to advertise a dead game that's barely holding on, then they'll just fail in a few years and that is a guarantee.

If Channel 4 ruined Habbo as much as everyone says it did, they wouldn't be making millions dollar grosses, yet they are perfectly capable of making a large income. Children have a higher chance of interacting with pedophilia and cyberbullying now then they ever did in 2012 when Habbo was all over Channel 4. The problem with companies running low traffic, small-end games that have been around for a long time is they are too concerned about past images that they are willing to end up at a dead end rather than potential save the brand and become ridiculously successful.

If Habbo invested money into marketing the game again, had a proper team in place to deal with marketing in-general to appeal to the younger age range then Habbo would most likely prosper like it did 5-10 years ago. People ages 18 and older will always play any game even if you restrict it, the best you can do is to foster a stable environment where they can't do anything erratic which is exactly how it's ending up. So all these excuses and misguided judgements based off of silly accusations don't really matter if a game wants to be successful they will put effort into it, Habbo clearly isn't in that category right now but if it ended up hopping onto that need to be successful then I think they would easily become successful. Imagine rising back to 10-20k daily users, yikes!

 

[lepos]

Isn't Hotel Hideaway already a game on the app store, it's been out for like a month? (Also pretty sure the game is 18+).

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[Joe]

Isn't Hotel Hideaway already a game on the app store, it's been out for like a month? (Also pretty sure the game is 18+).

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Gonna download and play this, see exactly what it is. Never heard of Planetmedia Oy but looks foreign in Google searches, related to Sulake Corporation Oy at all?

 

[GageDodd]

Gonna download and play this, see exactly what it is. Never heard of Planetmedia Oy but looks foreign in Google searches, related to Sulake Corporation Oy at all?

Wow, good find

 

[WanknessHD]

Isn't Hotel Hideaway already a game on the app store, it's been out for like a month? (Also pretty sure the game is 18+).

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yeah looks exactly like what OP posted, good find man.

 

[Weasel]

This looks a lot like one of the games they had a long while ago, I wonder if it will catch on.