User blog:General Khor/Most Wanted, Hero and Woody's Roundup

Hello everyone, this is General Khor. So, this blog post is going to be a special one, because the Choices community has just received some really devastating news: some of our most beloved series are officially scrapped. Now, I know what you're thinking, you probably can't bear to read what I'm about to talk about in this blog, but today's topic concerns the future of Choices, so please bear with me, ok?

The Most Terrible News
So, on 22/23 January 2021, PB released a blogpost with news about several past series, and among the revelations include the confirmation of Nightbound and Distant Shores as standalones, as well as The Elementalists and It Lives ending at 2 books. Now, I don't know if it's a surprise that they decided to stop It Lives at ILB, but at the end of that book, there's no thank you message, so news about a 3rd book has been flying around for sometime now, and the confirmation that the series is over has no doubt dealt a really hard blow to the loyal fans of this series.

However, the most heart-shattering news Choices fans have received is that one (or two, or three) of their worst fears have come true. If you have watched Toy Story 2, you know that Woody was part of a show called Woody's Roundup, but the show was cancelled later, and that's exactly what happened to Most Wanted, Hero and Ride or Die. Now, I know that sometimes TV series get cancelled because of poor ratings, and that definitely left loyal fans of those series disappointed. However, never before has PB done the same thing with Choices series, and I'm sure the diehards of these three series are left in tears.

Now let's talk about the reactions on various social media platforms. On Facebook and Twitter, fans' reactions have ranged from understanding to disappointment, while on Instagram it's mostly understanding and hope for the future. As for Reddit, it's mostly disappointment and anger, especially due to the cancellation of MW and Hero, and some have even said they will be leaving the Choices community, which is definitely not good news for PB. Meanwhile, there are mixed reactions to the cancellation of RoD. While some are undoubtedly disappointed, others don't seem to mind RoD being a standalone, so apparently it didn't perform as expected by the writers.

PB's Explanation
So, in that same blogpost, PB gave their reasons for the cancellations of the beloved series mentioned above. According to Max, Head of Content, one of the reasons is that the lead writer has left the company or moved on to other projects, and when other writers took over, the ratings went down, which is what happened to RoD. Also, some beloved series are simply unpopular, such as NB, DS and MW. Now, I understand why NB and DS aren't able to reach a wide audience, and as for MW, I guess I'll have to play to find out. Also, it turns out some of those seemingly hated books are actually the real money-makers, such as the Royal franchise, and these series gave PB enough to invest in risky projects such as Blades of Light & Shadow. In fact, this is one of the reasons I want to play the Royal franchise once it's over, to find out what makes it so popular. Finally, they viewed some series as the opportunity cost for others, such as how the MW team went on to work on Endless Summer, and I think this is the most ridiculous reason of all.

My Opinions
Ok, I understand the reasons (at least, most of them) behind scrapping some plans and moving on to others, and I really appreciate PB being honest about their decisions, at least fans won't be left with false hope. Now I'm going to share my opinions about these decisions.

First, if you've noticed, the above mentioned series all belong in the Exciting Adventures category, and I found out 9 of of 16 series in that category ended up being standalones (cancelled series included), so I guess this is the least popular category. In contrast, the most popular category seems to be Romantic Drama, with only 7 standalones out of 20 series, including RoD. The Romantic Comedy category meanwhile has 8 standalones out of 16 series. As for the Horror category, out of the 4 series included, Bloodbound turned out to be the only truly successful series. Then there's the Suspenseful Mysteries category, with 5 out of 8 complete series (as of now) being standalones. It turns out there are far more romance fans out there, far more than we see on social media (be it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or others) as well as on the wiki.

Also, while they've given reasons for doing away with MW, RoD, NB and DS, what about the other series, especially Hero? I mean, It Lives, Hero and Elementalists are crazy popular, yet these too were given the Woody's Roundup treatment. The point is, It Lives, MW and Hero ended on cliffhangers, so scrapping this series definitely made many fans furious. If this is so, I suggest they rewrite the endings for those series to remove the cliffhangers and allow the series to end properly. I guess one of the reasons behind these decisions is there weren't enough diamond-spending players to continue those series. Another reason for these series getting their sequels scrapped is that these series lack a romance aspect, because as mentioned above, fans seem to value the romance aspect the most, and as far as I know, most players play those stories for the romance.

I understand that PB is struggling right now, and according to the latest news, the revenue for Choices has been dropping steadily, but the writers have to realise that these decisions of theirs have a big impact on their fanbase and the performance of the app as a whole. It's very clear that the writers are still pandering to the majority, and while I understand that this market is a very competitive market, and this strategy makes the most money, I only hope that they work on future projects with everyone at heart, not just the majority. I know that they promised more multi-gender books, and we can only hope they follow through on this promise.

What This Means for Choices
So why does this concern the future of Choices? Needless to say, the cancellation of so many adventure stories is going to turn away many adventure fans, and probably many non-romance fans in general, since genres such as horror and mystery are also affected, so I think we should expect more romance stories, even though we hope for more non-romance. Also, with so many guys turned away by the female lead wave, I think we should expect more female lead stories. According to a poll I made, there are more players on the wiki who are fine with playing as the opposite gender, but I'm sure there are far more players out there who only play as their own gender, far more than we see on social media as well as on the wiki. In case you're wondering, out of 17 gender of choice series, 7 ended up as standalones.

Conclusion
In conclusion, in this day and age, the saying that no news is good news hardly applies anymore. In fact, I'll probably teach my children that no news is bad news (if I ever have children). Needless to say, I'm also heartbroken over the cancellation of MW and Hero, and my hopes for Choices have certainly diminished, but don't worry, I'll still be here, and I'll still be playing, until the dying day of my number one favourite game.

So how do you feel about the recent events? Let me know your opinions in the comments. That's all for today, until then, this is General Khor. The end, and thank you for reading.