Gameforge Announces Star Trek Deep Space Nine Browser Game

In June German browser-game producer Gameforge announced they had acquired a license to produce new free-to-play Star Trek games. Today Gameforge announced the first of those games will be titled "Star Trek – Infinite Space" which will be set around Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

 

DS9 Browser Game Coming Next Summer

Who says Niner fans get no joy. Today Gameforge, the world’s largest publisher of free-to-play browser games, issued a press release announcing they had chosen the Frankfurt developer Keen Games to produce their first Star Trek game, now titled "Star Trek® – Infinite Space”. The free-to-play casual browser-based game will be set in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine timeline.




Promo image for "Star Trek Infinite Space" (Click to enlarge)

“Bringing keen games on board to develop Star Trek – Infinite Space was an easy decision to make as keen has a strong history of producing outstanding titles,” said Ralf Adam, VP of Publishing at Gameforge. “Our production team will work closely with keen games to bring the vision we have for Star Trek – Infinite Space to fruition.”

“We have been incredibly excited about working on this project with Gameforge since day one,” said Antony Christoulakis, Creative Director at Keen games. ”Star Trek is one of those franchises that every science-fiction fan would give anything to work on. We consider ourselves very lucky to have this opportunity and we are highly committed to delivering a Star Trek experience fans can be proud of.”

Gameforge tapped keen games to develop the title in conjunction with expert Star Trek consultants Denise and Michael Okuda  (see previous article). Based out of Frankfurt, Germany, Keen games is one of the country’s most established game developers with more than 17 years of experience working with numerous publishers in the industry.

 

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YES!!!

I hope this will be good. I’ve wanted a good DS9 game for soooo long.
And it’s going to be free!

I just want ST online for my Mac…still!

What we really need is a decent TOS console game.

Gameforge better make an iphone version of this game.

It’s all about exploring the Gamma Quadrant I presume.

Vahni Vahltupali cameo please.

Awesome! I’ve never played online games or anything; none of them have really seemed that interesting, but Star Trek!? Count me in!

*sniff* Deep Space Nine was the best spin-off. ‘Bout time it gets some love.

Captain Benjamin Lafayette Sisko forever!

#6

You can say that again! The Sisko is forever!

oooh…. iPhone version? Mike and Denise Okuda, come on, give us a cool LCARS version. You know you want to! :)

Very cool news, will definately be on the look out for it this summer.

this made my day…

#2 – “I just want ST online for my Mac…still!”
No, you really don’t.

#5
It’s called Star Trek Online. You should try it.

#4
It’s only a matter of time before Cryptic adds the Gamma Quadrant to explore

Can’t we get a proper big next-gen title for Xbox or PS3?

Sorry but online browser games suck! What’s wrong with a next gen game ala Bridge Commander?

I LIKE IT!

Cool. Maybe I’m old school but I LOVED Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Fallen.” Hope this is good too!

I love STO, really. It’s my favourite game (even beating Warzone 2100) – but I’m sure as hell to try this Gameforge one out, too.

I’m just wondering what the gameplay will be like? I’m curious, I’ll try it out.

most browser games tend to be so-so. Lets see how this one goes…

Also, STO is suffering a huge drop in subscriptions, due to its lack of content. I hope they fix that problem. I still hold my subscription, but they gotta act soon.

Can’t we just have a bloody good Star Trek PC/Console game FFS!?!?!

Something that really catches the subject matter, for instance “arkham Asylum” was just brilliant. Well, perhaps the ending was a bit weak… But apart from that I consider it to be pretty much perfect.

Is there nobody capable of making a Star Trek game with depth, originality and gameplay?

What we need is a Star Trek wii game. TOS or 2009 would be great!!! Plus, if it’s wii I have an excuse to buy it for my younger siblings.

As to Star Trek Online on your mac…

You can always use Boot Camp and install windows, it will run very nicely… If your mac is non-intel and doesnt support this… then you will never run a mac version on your machine anyway.

18 – I vote for a console game, from any/all generations too! AA, Uncharted, Assassin’s Creed are all good models for a Trek game. C’mon people!

Y’know, there are some flash based Trek Games out there made by a fan of the series, its called Flash Trek, there are multiple Flash Trek games and a Star Wars based Flash Wars game as well, so if you all are looking for something to tide you over until the release, try and look for those games, I HIGHLY recommend playing the First Flash Trek and the Mirror Universe version called Flash Trek Broken Mirror.

Anything DS9 is fine by me!!

Cool! I’m a big DS9 fan and am really looking forward to this game. It’s great that this obscure Trek show is still getting some recognition even after 11 years of being off the air.

Everything Ive ever said about Gameforge or Browser games (Including on these forums) I take back

A free-to-play DS9 game… Im shaking with excitement, DS9 was and still is my favourite Star Trek series to date. Bring it on

Any word on if the Okudas are doing this as well as the other Gameforge browser game

There is a reason why publishers aren’t interested in developing Star Trek games for consoles. The number of people willing to play Star Wars games are far greater than those who want a Star Trek game. Star Wars is far more accessible to non-fans. Plus, CBS would demand too high a percentage of the profits. Star Trek is just too risky for game studios. And it won’t change any time soon.

They’ve made DS9 games before, including other TNG-era games. Actually, that’s the ONLY Star Trek era they’ve made games for.

You know what era they HAVEN’T made games for? And I mean real games, not those ancient 16-bit games played on floppy discs…

TOS.

We need TOS games, dammit.

OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!

I have been waiting for somthing like this for so long! I cant belive they are getting round to makeing a star trek browser game it is going to be so cool! I can not wait!!!!!!!

DS9 is the only one that I can say I like as much as TOS, if not more.

26 – I’m not sure how close you are to the business, but when a game is produced for consoles, the game (regardless of the brand or franchise) usually speaks for itself. Mass Effect is a good example, as is HALO. No one was predisposed to play them, as they had 0% name recognition, but the games were great and won the day. A Trek game would have some % of audience predisposed to look at it, and a good Trek game would have nothing to lose.

I understand tha licensing a title comes with some baggage, but it obviously doesn’t stop everyone, it just seems to stop those companies like Naughty Dog etc. who know how to do it right.

Should be an interesting game.

I hope it turns out well.

I am huge Niner, and there hasn’t been a decent game based on that since DS9: The Fallen.

I hope it will be good. Hopefully before the game is released we see screenshots, videos, developer interviews, etc.

I have been waiting for a decent Star Trek game for a long time (the last decent one for me was Star Trek Starfleet Command III).

Can’t wait to see what this game holds.

Put me in the camp that would buy a Trek console game if it were produced. I just don’t have the interest or desire to get involved in online RPG’s. My feeling is that you need to keep going online to keep up with everyone else. I much prefer sitting at the 360 or the wii and going at my own pace. Which, needless to say, is at old guy suck level. That’s why I prefer playing button mashers or driving games. They don’t take an inordinate amount of skill that I did not spend my youth developing.

The wii works great for us old farts because we can interface with the wii-mote much easier than with PS or X-Box controllers (I race with a wheel and pedals). It looks like Sony has taken a page out of Nintendo’s book (read: stolen) and come up with a similar controller. I would suggest to game manufaturers that they come up with controllers that are more organic or ergonomic. The folks with the money (read: us old farts) would buy a lot more consoles and games. Kind of worked for wii and it has poor graphics and not as interesting game titles.

30

But neither “Mass Effect” nor “Halo” had any prior history or canon. The characters and events were created specifically for those games. And yes, even if games aren’t canon, the people who make them would have to adhere to the established nature of the Trek universe. Plus, any story idea they’d have would need to work not just for the game, but also not interfere or contradict the J.J Abrams films. A Star Trek game would be built with limited creative freedom. And how do you depict a complex universe which includes action, humor, diplomacy, science, exporation with a unique set of charcters and plot in a twelve-hour game and do it all convincingly that does not require prior knowledge or burden gamers with too much exposition or story? And for Trek fans, would they be satisfied with a straight up action game that doesn’t necessarily follow the traditional episodic or film storytelling route? And let’s be honest, Star Trek is also partly popular because of its portrayal of technology from the future. As opposed to Star Wars, whose popularity is based mainly on characters, action and plot. Star Wars is a less complex franchise and is easier to convey in video games. Star Wars, rightly or wrongly, is also seen as being “cooler” and is more accepted by the mainstream gaiming community. The publishers know this, and that is why they refuse to spend tens of millions of dollars (and potentially risk their financial well-being) making a game that would appeal to a small minority of gamers at best. I think if you were running Naughty Dog, Bungie, or another publisher, or even Microsoft or Sony, you’d be very hesitant to put a lot on the line. Its all about what is financially viable. Right now, and perhaps for the foreseeble future, Star Trek would be a toxic asset for studios and publishers.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this was better than STO. Cause STO is really low quality for the cost.

And if anybody’s thinkin bout STO, just wait for this game to come out.

33. Halo definitely had prior canon.

also STO is getting better now that dstahl is in charge. I highly recommend the Breen episodes.

27.

Hey! Hey! HEY! I played on an HP 2000F with hard drive….well, after I typed on and loaded it from punched tape first…but still…I saved it to the hd.

Yes this is Really cool, Star Trek Deep Space Nine is back!
I can’t wait I am sure this will be an awesome game! I am sure I am preaching to the quire on this one.

Hope it’s good.

I dropped my STO subscription after the trial month. It was fine, but jeez it was boring. Same missions over and over and over again, just with different enemies.

I think the main reason that bigger studios aren’t clamoring to turn out AAA Trek games is the looooooong string of sup-bar games. Critical reaction has tended to range from lukewarm to frozen, and nothing has exactly burned up the sales charts. The last Trek game I played that I thought was worth my while was released in 1993 (although Starfleet Command could’ve been great if it hadn’t been buggier than an entomology lab.)

35

What exactly was the “prior canon”? Because the first Halo-related product I remember being released was Halo: Combat Evolved, which was nine years ago.

#41 I agree. It’s sadly been a while since a game studio released a big Kirk and Spock game. For years it’s been stuff aimed at die-hard Dominion Wars buffs.

The last great Trek game I played was Interplay’s “Judgment Rites,” with voices of the cast. Even Jimmy Doohan was still with us.

DS9 Was okay, but it’s still tied for my least favorite Trek (that I’ve watched).

TOS > TNG > DS9/ENT

And Enterprise if we’re talking 4th season then supplants DS9.

I just really hate Kira and Dukat, and I’m not fond of Dax.

Maybe if the game goes well and lots of people play and like it they will do a made for tv movie for ds9. I want to feel the love!

DS9! DS9!! DS9!!!!!!

Yay, a DS9 game! I don’t play browser games, so I have no idea what to expect. Ship battles? Playing as Sisko, Kira, Dax etc?

Come to think of it, playing as Odo is one of those untapped gold mines that Star Trek games are famous for. How excellent would it be to play as a character who can transform into… anything? The SNES game Crossroads of Time only had Odo transforming into a Cardassian vole.

I’ve also thought a console game where you control the smaller Starfleet ships (The Defiant, runabouts, Starfleet fighters, the Delta Flyer) in combat would be excellent.

THE SEARCH FOR SISCO