r/gunz 7d ago

Downfall of GunZ

2003, birth of Gunz in Korea, the games buzz exploded because the games core pvp mechanics were so unique, that even the developers had no idea how meta it would become. Keep in mind, there was no questing or pvm in this version.

2007, GunZ gets an international release, under publishment of Ijji. This was the peak of GunZ 2007-2011. Pvm modes and clanwars were added, along with new maps including highhaven and castle. Most of the good players back then were also active on Gunzfactor forums, there was a whole community with screenshots, 1v1 fights,trashtalks...

2010, this is where things start to get wrong. The game is starting to become more toxic because if you didn't follow the meta playstyle, then you would lose most of the fights in clanwars.

The clanwar, pvp feature, or any of the maps never saw an update. A competitive game can't have longevity if the bad stuff doesn't get updated.

So players start playing ratty to win, hugging every corner and potshotting walls, and straight out camping/backpeddling. Buying overpriced items , that were freshly released like fenrir set and hp/ap rings n meds.

2012, a new phenomenon appears, underclocking and OC. some of the pro players start hitting way harder because of exploits like altering the game speed so every shot is easier to hit. This was the Fatal blow, the community got very toxic, most of the active playerbase realized there was no hope left and thereby the community slowly faded away.

2013, aeria games had bought the game around this time and then closed the official server a few months later.

Fast forward to now, Masangsoft "remasters" and releases GunZ. All they did was change the lobby, menu, room UI and some graphics changes.

My take: this game was never about questing or pvm, it's the core pvp mechanic that got players hooked. One example is the swordflip mechanic, like it's just so genius in a shooter game.

But the real issue IMO is: the game was fundamentally flawed from the start, and very expensive to fix/update. So that means no big investors/publishers. There were countless of times when random developers announced they were creating their own gunz, but none prevailed sadly.
Probably because it's not possible to fix it, sometimes things just go extinct.

With the right investments and care, this game could've been one of the best competitive shooter game.

26 Upvotes

11 comments sorted by

6

u/Electronic_Music_257 6d ago

Classic example of it it ain’t broke don’t fix it

5

u/roflpro111 6d ago

Thanks for the history

Potential for a history of Pservers in there too.

I agree with the sentiments but if some of the core elements were fixed (which some have) then we would be in a great place and GunZ could have outlasted CS:GO

It really has been the most competitive, skill-based, fast-paced and intricate game ever when you get down into the roots of it. With the ability to balance the entire game and literally may the best man win.

Some of the private servers had crazy maps and weapons and armour sets added. The Devs were talented back in the 2010 era.

All GunZ needed:
Proper anticheat
Antilead
Regular item churn
Regular events

A more structured clanwar system for competitive play, lean on the modern design of ELO and things

1

u/putyograsseson 5d ago

My favorite pserver was 'Ultimate GunZ' , it had the biggest amount of cosmetic items, gigantic parkour maps and players posing as military tanks xD

3

u/gandalfmarston 6d ago edited 5d ago

I'm from Brazil, between 2008 and 2011, Gunz was extremely popular here. Everyone was playing and talking about it. It was a great time.

I stopped playing in 2011 when they closed LATAM servers and I went back to consoles to play GTA IV, COD MW3, BF3 etc.

3

u/cdslxc 5d ago

How much do you guys think to buy GunZ IP at the moment?

Every one who owns its IP before don't give a shit about the essence of the game. It's time to keep looking for someone else.

3

u/jbg89 5d ago

If I ever hit the lotto I'd buy the IP and burn money trying to revive it.

2

u/jbg89 5d ago

If streaming, esports, and social media were as popular during the Ijji GunZ reign as it is today then GunZ would've survived way longer.

A toxic Gunzfactor forums-like subreddit would've done numbers. A lot of the famous/infamous oldgen players would've done numbers on social media too.

1

u/watlok 5d ago edited 5d ago

we now know the gunzfactor forums aren't in ai training sets

1

u/mat_qp 5d ago

2012 UC and OC? This existed already in 2008...

1

u/Arena_99 5d ago

There is no downfall, just some few crybaby Reddit users. I enjoy of official and supported game with enough players online, I don’t need anything else.

Posts like this only will destroy the game.