Portalus Games

Reminder: Until our page transitions to represent the new ownership of Vision please send any questions/concerns/in game issues to the official Pirates of the Burning Sea page. Thank you!

Portalus Games would like to thank everyone who has supported them and their Game, Pirates of the Burning Sea. Portalus will be closing this chapter of it's involvement with the game but feel very confident that the new owners, Vision will carry the game forward into the future. Please direct future inquiries or customer service requests to the Pirates of the Burning Sea's official page. Fair winds and following seas Captains.

Interested in the changes happening in management and Pirates of the Burning Sea? Go to our Pirates of the Burning Sea page!

Reminder, you can still contact [email protected] for any account/in game related issues/concerns/comments! If you have services you'd like to present or positions within the company you'd like to inquire about to the new owners you can contact them at: [email protected]

While we are still working on finishing up the transition of Pirates of the Burning Sea, Vision Online Games wanted to provide the community with an update regarding their current plans for Pirates of the Burning Sea and their progress. The following is a message from the CEO of Vision Online Games. Additional updates, messages or information will be provided when available.

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From the Desk of Darrell Benvenuto, CEO of Vision:

Re: Pirates of the Burning Sea, February Status Update

Dear Players,

I have been involved with this project for quite a few years now, not only leading the team overseeing the back-end Vision infrastructure that underlays the game from an executive and supervisory level, but also at times working directly with members of the Portalus Development team, with my own hands directly in the servers, to help implement various improvements, recoveries and changes over time.

As was mentioned in the last update, Vision's initial efforts at the end of 2018 centered on modernizing the game's underlying infrastructure, increasing the number of CPUs in the Servers, their speeds, reliability, etc. I was closely involved in this effort, and oversaw every minute of the transition.

After the transition was complete and the game was running smoothly, a series of Design, Staffing and Marketing Strategy meetings took place internally within Vision and together with Portalus. These talks covered a wide range of wrap-up tasks, immediate next-steps and mid-term / long-term plans.

While discussing the needs and wants of the players moving forward, a key item was a long-standing division dating back to the early post-Sony days of the game (and the changes that followed). One of the recommendations put forth by Portalus to resolve it was that a Legacy Server be created, which would allow the portion of the player population that prefer the classic Sony-era game to indulge their preferences in full, while those who prefer the current game style would be able to continue playing it unimpeded.

After talking it over with the team, I agreed that Vision would work to create a Legacy Server, which would allow us to provide both styles of play.

Once that matter had been decided, talks moved on to the steps necessary to make it happen. The engineering logistics of implementing the Legacy Server are going to be significant; aside from creating two development tracks, the classic game's code will require fairly extensive updates to function in the current environment. The Engineering Staff for the game already have a significant list of fixes to tackle on the current game before they can even begin to turn their attention to the Legacy Server project. As a result, players should not expect work to begin on it immediately, but rather after quite a few other things have been gotten out of the way.

Thus, the Legacy Server officially became the new "Step 5" in Vision's plan:

1. Advertise the Burning Sea across Social Media

2. Increase the number of Daily Players

3. Add more Staff to the Live Operations Team

4. Overhaul and Stabilize the Current Game

5. Prepare and Launch the Legacy Server

6. Visually improve the Game over time

As to Step 6, members of Vision's Engineering and Art teams (who had examined the game to offer suggestions, but are not currently assigned to the project) had offered the possibility of adding a number of visual improvements to the game; better shaders, fog banks, dynamic weather (including storms), cloud effects, day/night cycles, rain/smoke/particle systems, more realistic wave effects, more realistic islands, towns, forts, plants, shores and dock areas, higher polygon-count and higher-texture characters, volumetric lighting, cloth physics and other effects. While these sounded very interesting to everyone present, naturally they would have to happen as part of a carefully thought-out plan, over time.

Visual improvements of this nature are part of Step 6, and are expected to become the core of our long-term, ongoing improvements to the game. Another reason this would come in Step 6 is that any such changes would necessarily be carefully planned out and implemented by a dedicated team of Designers, Artists, Animators and Engineers that are more or less permanently assigned to the game -- and who would be attached only after successfully iterating a few times through Steps 3 & 4, building the player population of the game up to a level that can sustain them.

As player satisfaction is the entire purpose behind any such visual improvements, I mentioned that any such new visual features should be optional -- that anyone who wanted to continue to play the game as it looks now should be able to continue to do so by going into Graphic Options and selecting the original shaders , then disabling each of the new visual features.

The topic of meetings then turned to Staffing. As the player population has been steadily growing in the wake of the transition to Vision (and as the upcoming Marketing push is expected to grow it further still), customer support requests have been increasing. It was decided that the first new Team Member to be added to the project will be a GM, providing additional Player Support.

Beyond that initial new team member, it was agreed that Brian Taney (who had been a part of the project since its early days at Flying Lab Software) would be transitioning from Portalus to Vision, to initially oversee Player Support and Community Management. Brian has been central to the entire transition to date -- indeed, it could not have happened without him. He is expected to continue to act as a strong pillar supporting the game as he eventually transitions to Head of the Live Operations team at Vision.

The Marketing group is currently in the process of determining what channels various marketing campaigns will be rolled out promoting the game, to help rebuild the player population back up to a sustainable level. It is anticipated that campaigns will be run across Facebook, Google, Tumblr, YouTube and Instagram, becoming steadily more focused on the channels that produce the best results in terms of new-players-per-month.

These Campaigns are expected to be a mix of still images, video footage, animated GIFs, and Influencer promotion (at later stages). As the precise dates for each of these campaigns are locked down, they will be announced to the players ahead of time, along with sneak peeks at some of the ads and content.

Various options of enlisting the players' support for these campaigns have been discussed, including contests for the best screenshots, most amazing video footage and more. We want to show new players what makes this game so amazing -- and who best to do that but its most ardent fans? As any such contest plans are finalized, they'll each be announced as well.

Talks are still underway, as are staffing efforts and other initiatives surrounding this title. There is a large amount of effort that takes place behind the scenes to support and sustain the live operations of any MMO. The Burning Sea is no different in this regard, but its dedicated players are expected to make all the difference in helping it succeed in the years to come.

I look forward to speaking with you again in future updates!

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Darrell Benvenuto, CEO

Vision Online Games

https://play.burningsea.com/

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Today is a special day in the history of PotBS as the game celebrates its 11th birthday! This is an accomplishment that many online games never achieve and stands as testimony to the players and fans of the game that support it. I can safely say, speaking for myself and those who have worked with and on the game over its lifespan, you have our thanks and gratitude for the support you all have given the game and we hope to keep the ship sailing onward into its 12th year with your continued support.

It is a special day for PotBS beyond its achievements in longevity in that the burning question for everyone regarding the future of that 12th year for PotBS now has an answer - we know who the new operator for the game will be and it will be Vision Online Games!

Vision Online Games has provided the following introduction message for the players on this celebration day:

This Year marks the Eleventh (11th) Anniversary of Pirates, and what a year it has been!

As everyone knows from our earlier announcements, Pirates was slated to be closed down in October of 2018. It was saved from that fate by the same company that has been hosting it all along -- Vision Online Games (https://www.VisionOnlineGames.com). Vision is based in Los Angeles, California. It's CEO is a senior software development executive from the game industry, with over 25 shipped titles to his name.

Vision has a plan to not only continue hosting Pirates moving forward, but to update its technology, steadily grow its population over time, fix outstanding issues and eventually to upgrade its graphics and add ever-more content to the game.

The first part of this plan kicked off at the end of October. During an extra-long scheduled down time, Vision's engineers took over the game's infrastructure and replaced most of the servers upon which Pirates runs. In this "Technology Refresh", the number of Server Cores in each Game Server increased from 4 to 32. Faster Memory, More Memory, Faster Drives and other benefits were put in place. Since then, Pirates has been running quite smoothly on its new equipment, and has been judged ready to move to the next stage.

Vision's plan moving forward consists of three key steps:

1. Advertise Pirates across Social Media

2. Increase the number of Daily Players

3. Add more Staff to the Pirates Team

Vision is aware that Pirates needs more GMs, Support Members, Programmers, Designers, Artists and a Live Operations team if it is going to continue to grow, and live up to its true potential.

Several frank discussions were held back in October in which the future of the game quite literally hung in the balance.

The outcome of these talks was that while Vision would put forward the equipment and manpower that would be needed to modernize the game's infrastructure, the game would have to prove itself beyond those core costs. In other words, the budget for the marketing / advertising stages of the game's growth would have to derive from the game's revenue.

The plan is that as the marketing stage begins and more players join the game, the added revenue they generate will be plowed back not only into more marketing, but it will allow much-needed additional staff to join the Pirates team.

The transition process of moving the License and Operating Responsibilities from Portalus to Vision is still underway, but is expected to be completed soon. Once complete, the game's 2019-2020 Marketing Campaign will be planned out and kicked off. More news on that when it becomes available!

It is anticipated that Vision will try to minimize the impact of the transition, and will be assuming control over the BurningSea.com domain, maintaining the Forums, etc. Until this process is complete, Support inquiries should continue being made using the same systems as are now in place ([email protected]). However, any inquiries pertaining to the game outside of that scope should be addressed to Pirates support email at Vision ([email protected]).

We will continue to keep you abreast of changes as they unfold and things settle back down.

In the meantime, Happy Anniversary! Let's all play, enjoy, and really make it happen out there!

For players who have had questions regarding whether or not their current accounts will be carried over from one operator to the next you now know that your current accounts will be continued with Vision Online Games. No migration will be necessary as Vision Online Games is already the game's host. Portalus Games will continue to provide customer service, administrative services and perform basic maintenance through the transition. Portalus Games will then continue with the original closure plans announced in September 2018 once the transition is complete.

Once again I want to thank everyone for supporting the game over the years and I hope that this announcement will bring some reason to celebrate this Anniversary for all. The good ship PotBS is about to embark on a new chapter in this 12th year of its life. May she be blessed with fair winds and clear skies as she sets sail upon new waters toward a brighter future!

Vision Online Vision Online

The best place to get up to the minute news on current happenings in the PotBS universe is our new forum!

If you haven't already registered and signed up at the new forum follow this link: http://forums.burningsea.com/

Big changes are coming Captains and the forum is where you can find up to the minute news regarding the future of PotBS!

forums.burningsea.com

I am happy to announce that PotBS will continue to be available for the month of October. The combination of contributions from players and management have secured enough funding to support the game through the month allowing companies currently evaluating the game for future operation more time to make their assessments and/or preparations.

Due to the short notice of this operational extension there is the possibility of some service issues on October 1st. We will be working through the day to identify any potential issues and resolve them if possible beforehand. Unexpected or unavoidable issues will be posted here as soon as they are identified or experienced.

I’d like to thank the game community for their generous support which was instrumental in securing this extension. The added time will hopefully accelerate the process of securing a new operator for the game while allowing the community as a whole more time to enjoy the game.

Pirates of the Burning Sea

PORTALUS GAMES CLOSURE

August 31, 2018 / Fodderboy

Being that this may be the most important announcement I have ever made regarding Pirates of the Burning Sea I will come directly to the purpose of this announcement before we lose any readers to explanation or verbosity.

Portalus Games will cease operation of Pirates of the Burning Sea on September 30, 2018.

I wish I could say this decision was a difficult one but the truth is that it is the best decision that can be made at this time regarding the game's future. Hamled has decided to leave Portalus Games. Since Hamled is the only code writer associated with Portalus Games the company is no longer capable of maintaining the game. Without someone possessing the necessary code writing skills the game runs the risk of unexpected and unannounced shut down due to server software failures. This is a situation we find unacceptable as we have always been dedicated to a minimum of 30 days notice for our game community if the game was going to close. Rather than run the risk of all the issues that would come from a server software failure and an unannounced closure we have decided to commit to a specific closure date for Portalus Games that would allow proper advanced notice to our game community.

I would like to stress that the closure of Portalus Games does not have to result in the closure of Pirates of the Burning Sea. The game has a stable core community that has for the past 5 years been able to maintain the game servers and it is conceivable that this community could maintain the game for another 5 years or longer but it would need to be operated by a company better structured and better staffed than Portalus Games to do so. I came to this conclusion after receiving the news that Hamled would be leaving Portalus and then spending some time evaluating the possibility of continuing to maintain the game as a solo operator. While I have been able to maintain the current status and even resolve a couple of server hardware issues I am unable to resolve issues that result from software failures and given the scope of everything else involved in maintaining the game I am fully aware that I cannot realistically maintain this game alone. For Pirates of the Burning Sea to continue it needs to transition from the hands of Portalus Games to a company better able to maintain it to succeed.

Once I came to this conclusion I began inquiry and negotiations with all the third parties involved with the operation of the game to determine if this transition was possible. Overall the responses were positive and I have agreement in principle to allow the license to operate the game to be transferred from Portalus Games to an acceptable business entity capable of operating the game if one can be found. This will be my focus moving forward as it is my hope that not only can another operator for the game be found but that it may also be possible to avoid an actual shut down of the game at the end of this coming September.\

I believe the first possible replacement for Portalus Games as operator should be with the game community itself. Over the years we have often had community members volunteer to assist with the game only to have to turn them away due to the company's structure and the legal requirements for compensation that the game could not afford. If a new company were formed as a non-profit corporation representing the game community it would allow for volunteers to contribute to game operation and open the possibility of a much brighter future for the game than can be found with Portalus. To this end we will begin immediately on efforts to organize a new management group. I would encourage those community members interested in joining the effort to form a new company to operate Pirates of the Burning Sea to join the community discussion regarding the subject on the community forum found here: forums.burningsea.com/ .

Updates regarding this effort and/or the search for a new game operator will be provided here when adequate information becomes available.

I would like to thank the community for its support to date in keeping the game available for play and for any support provided during Portalus final month of operation. I would encourage community at this time to pull together and take this opportunity to determine the future of your game. The game has proven to be more durable than the companies that have operated it in the past due to the strength of the game community. It is my hope that Portalus will simply be another chapter in a long history for Pirates of the Burning Sea and I believe that the strength of this game community has the power to make it happen.

The forum is the best place to participate in the ongoing community discussions and to engage Portalus with questions/concerns/ideas/resources you'd like to add to the conversations.

If you haven't registered with the new forum here is a link: http://forums.burningsea.com/

You can also contact [email protected]

IN-GAME RULES UPDATE 2018/3/24
March 24, 2018 / Fodderboy

We have updated our In-Game rules. We strongly recommend all players review these changes found here: https://portalusgames.com/policy/game-rules/

Changes have been made to the following sections of the game rules:

- The initial note from the top of the rule page has been incorporated into the Chat rules as the note pertained to chat behavior. There is no change to the rule as it has been applied.

- The Un-delete rules have been renamed Deleted Characters and the rules reworded to be more concise. There have been no changes to deleted character recovery.

- The Multiple Accounts rule section has been completely re-written and contains new rules regarding numbers of accounts allowed logged in at once and simultaneously. The new contents of this section of the rules is as follows:

Players may use multiple game accounts. When using multiple accounts account holders must adhere to the following restrictions:

1. No more than 4 accounts may be logged in from a single IP address/account holder simultaneously.

2. No more than 3 accounts from a single account holder may be logged in at the same time on the same server (Test server excluded).

3. No more than 2 accounts from a single account holder may be in ANY combat zone(red zone / port battle / blockading / patrolling), including the port within a combat zone.

4. If any account has a character in ANY combat zone (red zone / port battle / blockading / patrolling), including the port within a combat zone, all accounts logged in on the same server must be in the same nation (Skirmish and Duel excluded).

5. An account holder may not participate on both sides of a port battle. If you receive an invite to multiple nations for the same port battle, you may only accept one of those invitations and must decline the other.

6. If an account holder has a character who is a governor then all governors on associated accounts (alt governors) must be in the same nation. If an account holder wishes to change the nation of their governor(s) then all governor positions must resign, during the same conquest map cycle, before starting or bidding in a governor election in a new nation. Account users may not participate in building unrest on ports which they govern.

7. Multiple accounts may not be used to circumvent, exploit or manipulate game mechanics to negatively impact the game or design intent. Portalus Games will determine negative impact by server analysis and may utilize this rule at our discretion.

8. Account holders may not use excessive numbers of accounts for game play.
* Use of more than 4 accounts without account upgrades will be considered excessive. Account holders may use up to 6 additional accounts if the additional accounts have account upgrades.
* If an account holder exceeds 10 accounts all accounts must be fully upgraded (all account upgrade options added).
* A player may use no more than 20 accounts in total regardless of upgrade status.
* Legacy Captain's Club accounts are considered fully upgraded.

9. Account holders exceeding the limitations in Rule 8 prior to March 24, 2018 will have account numbers given grandfather status. Account holders found in violation of rules will have their grandfather status removed and be subject to account reduction until in compliance with this rule.

10. Players wishing to exceed the multiple account limitation restrictions for special events, assistance programs or other activities that may benefit the game community overall may request a limitation waiver by contacting customer service at [email protected].

- Regarding Rule 6 we will allow a few days for governors currently in rule violation status to resign from governor positions until all governors are in the same nation. If customer service determines a governor is absent or deliberately avoiding resignation customer service will remove governors from their positions.

- Regarding Rules 9 and 10 we are aware there are players who are currently possess more accounts than these rules allow. As these account numbers were accumulated prior to these restrictions those account numbers will be granted a grandfather status and players will be able to maintain them without penalty. This status however will be forfeit if an account holder is found in violation of ANY game rule.

* The Chat Behavior section has been re-worded and expanded for clarification. It contains no rule changes to how they have been applied.

* The Penalties section has been re-worded and expanded for clarification. It contains no rule changes to how they have been applied.

For additional clarification or questions regarding these rules please contact customer service at [email protected] .

portalusgames.com