I got this email:
"Dear Beta tester,
As many of you know, we have been in Phase 1 of Beta testing for a few months and have received some great feedback and data to assist us as we continue the process of developing Pirates of the Caribbean Online. We really appreciate all the interest you've shown in the game and your willingness to be involved.
Our end goal is simple — make a great game! In order to achieve this, we believe we need some additional development time and have decided to move the launch of the game to this Fall. This gives us some extra time to further enhance the game, respond to additional data we've collected during Beta testing, and incorporate more of the input we have received from you, our players.
As part of this process, we will conclude Phase 1 of Beta testing at noon (PDT) on July 16 and plan to resume Phase 2 of the Beta test with a new game build in September. Please note: As a Beta tester from Phase 1, you will automatically have access to Phase 2 — there is no need to sign up again.
In the meantime, we have some exciting things coming your way — including a brand-new Web site, community contests, more updates from the development team, and tons of updated game assets. You can continue to get all of this information and more at: piratesonline.com .
Thanks again for all your help and support!
Sincerely,
The Crew @ Pirates of the Caribbean Online"
So Disney Online has a long history of delays. The new Disney.com was late and I remember when I was a Toontown Online beta tester, it seemed to take forever. I am not surprised by this latest delay. I just hope the product is good in the end. I am still not satisfied with the new Disney.com. As exciting as the Cheetah Girls D*Concert is it has not fufilled either of its two missions. One is to inform me about Disney products and services, the other is to be an entertainment destination in its own right.
One way Disney is trying to make its homepage an entertainment destination is to offer both of its MMORPGs(Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) for free. Disney said that Pirates was going to have a free ad-supported version and a pay ad-free version. Now Disney is going to transition Toontown Online to a free ad-supported product. This gives Disney.com free content that is more fun and exciting than watching a D*Concert, which ends up just being like watching a Disney Channel concert on your computer. Toontown and Pirates are interactive games that actually take advantage of the online medium. Of course competition from Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network is driving this move, but I think this will end up working out for Disney,