Interview: Albion Online Head Of Operations Chritoph Hombergs Talks The Game's Past, Present, And Future After 8 Years

Recently, Sandbox Interactive celebrated Albion Online’s 8th anniversary and released the “Abyssal Depths” update. In honor of the big day, the developer offered us a chance to ask a few questions about the sandbox MMORPG’s past and future. We took them up on the offer, asked about the game’s history, what’s happening now, and what they’d like to do in the future.

Our questions were thoughtfully answered by Sandbox Interactive’s Head of Operations, Christoph Hombergs. We got a little more insight into the game’s beginnings, how it’s changed, how the community reacted, and what the dev team might like to do in the future, as well as Hombergs’ feelings on dragons.

MMOBomb: As it is Albion Online’s 8th anniversary, can you talk a bit about how things started out and what the process of developing the game was like?

Christoph Hombergs: It all began as a much smaller idea. It was really just about having players fight each other with a bit of territory control on the side. PvE? The economy? … more like afterthoughts at the time. We built a prototype around that and brought it to player communities for early playtests, and it quickly became clear that people were genuinely excited about what we were creating.

From there, we just kept iterating, adding features, reworking systems, and always bringing it back to the players for feedback through constant playtesting. That process stretched out the original development timeline, but it also turned Albion into a much bigger, deeper game than we first imagined.

MMOB: Was there anything that you hoped to achieve that you were unable to, and what do you feel you were most successful at achieving?

CH: On a technical level, one thing we always hoped to achieve was running the game in a shared world, while hosting different parts of it on data centers located around the globe. We actually experimented with that early on, with some game maps hosted in Central Europe and others in the US, back when there was only a single server. Unfortunately, we were never able to overcome certain issues, such as database latency across regions, and the overall experience for players just wasn’t where it needed to be. You just can’t quite beat physics. Though, it did lay the groundwork for eventually launching dedicated servers in Asia and Europe, which have been a great success.

One thing we were very successful at, right from the get-go, was incorporating community feedback into the game. We’ve always had a passionate and engaged community that plays an integral role in shaping Albion, and that’s something that truly cannot be overstated.

From a purely technical standpoint, we’re also really proud of how well the game runs on mobile devices. There are no compromises in terms of scope or depth, and that’s still something that stands out in the market today.

And from a game design perspective, I personally think the Black Market we have in the game is nothing short of a stroke of genius. It solves a problem that a lot of sandbox games run into: you can’t artificially add meaningful loot, because that would mess with the player-driven economy. Getting around that by creating a market that buys player-crafted gear and turns it into drops out in the world? Really, really great solution.

MMOB: As with most online games, things in Albion Online have changed a bit over the years. What do you feel is the biggest change, and how did players adapt to it?

CH: I’d say the biggest change came with the Queen update, which fundamentally changed how territory ownership in the Outlands is determined. It shifted from 5v5 “championing” matches, where a small elite team would fight for a territory, to the system we have now, which involves entire guilds instead of just their top five players.

At first, I think some of those very strong 5v5 teams struggled a bit with the, let’s say, “diminishing” of their role within the larger guild structure. But overall, the player base has adapted, and it’s just the new normal now. It’s still impressive to see dozens or even hundreds of players clashing in the open world and duking it out.

MMOB: Albion Online is not an MMO for the risk-averse, yet it manages to keep a daily player base that’s higher than a lot of other games. How do you balance the risk of losing the stuff players work hard for against the reward of taking that risk?

CH: Balancing risk versus reward is one of the key questions behind almost every design decision we make. I’m not sure it can be boiled down to a clear-cut formula of how to do it, though we do sometimes (only half-jokingly) say: “If half of the comments say 'it's too much', and the other half says 'it's too little', we've probably hit the sweet spot.”

In general, every activity should feel like the rewards are worth the risk. And what we’ve seen over time is that once most players understand that gear in Albion is more of a consumable than a permanent investment, they are far more willing to take those risks. On top of that, after getting through the initial learning curve, a lot of them realize that the fear of risk is often bigger than the risk itself.

MMOB: The game’s most recent update, Abyssal Depths, launched just a bit over a week ago, offering players even riskier, more challenging content. How has it been received?

CH: Strictly speaking, it’s not even riskier. It actually adds a layer in between. One where you only lose your inventory contents, but not the gear you’re wearing. It’s a bit of a stepping stone, if you will, toward full-loot PvP.

So far, it’s been extremely well-received. A large number of community voices have called it the best update in a long time, maybe even ever. They say that with the introduction of The Depths, and that lower-stakes entry point into PvP, more people are willing to dip their toes into it since part of the perceived risk is gone. That’s a huge activity driver, and that makes everyone happy.

MMOB: As this is the game’s 8th anniversary, what does the team have planned to celebrate?

CH: The Living Legacy anniversary event is ongoing, with statues coming to life, anniversary cakes that speed up experience gain for players, and even the Chromacannon as a rare loot drop to shoot fireworks in-game.

MMOB: Can you give us a hint as to what players can look forward to in the future? Is there something you’d really like to do that you haven’t been able to yet?

CH: We’re turning our attention toward Faction Warfare as the next big thing. We’ll also keep polishing and overhauling older content and visuals. While we’ve already made progress there, Albion is still a game that’s been live for 8 years –and in development for 13– so there’s definitely room for more improvement.

And personally? I’ve always wanted dragons in the game. If there’s an epitome of a fantasy creature, it’s them. But they have to feel really impactful and important, not just thrown in for the sake of it. And for years, everyone in the studio and the community has been saying “naval warfare!”... but we still haven’t quite found the right place for it in the grand scheme of things.