Staff – July 2, 2019 at 11:07 AM
With TennoCon 2019 only a few days away, Warframe fans all over the world eagerly await Digital Extremes’ latest big announcement. The convention, which takes place annually in London, Ontario, Canada, serves as a mecca for the game’s ardent fanbase, featuring panels with developers, cosplay contests, and — most importantly — major reveals of new features and updates.
Warframe is a free-to-play, online game where you play as a member of an ancient, ultra-powerful race of space warriors called the Tenno. Your Warframe is your customizable exosuit, a type of armor that possesses unique abilities. Though the game can be played solo, many play the game with others, whether grouped with friends or in large-scale clans.
Warframe, in many ways, captures the zeitgeist of contemporary gaming experiences; it features a drop-in, drop-out approach to co-op play, expansive character customization, and receives regular updates special events and quests, to significant content additions, which expand Warframe’s gameplay and epic lore.
To this day, Warframe has amassed more than 50 million registered users.
Over the years, the game has unfurled even further to meet Digital Extremes’ growing ambitions, and TennoCon plays an instrumental role in announcing major developments to its fans. 2017’s TennoCon marked the announcement of the Plains of Eidolon update, which added open-world and simulation elements to the core game. Last year, Digital Extremes unveiled Codename: Railjack (now officially titled Empyrean) at TennoCon, an update that promises to allow players to operate large capital warships together, engaging in dogfights and boarding enemy vessels along the way.
Though this year’s TennoCon is currently sold out, fans can still participate in the hype by joining the TennoCon stream. For the first time, all the main stage panels and presentations will be broadcast live, and you can earn in-game rewards simply by connecting your Warframe and Twitch or Mixer accounts and tuning in. For example, if you watch at least 30 minutes of this year’s Tenno Live - TennoCon’s closing presentation where the biggest Warframe announcements are made - you will receive the Nekros Prime Warframe.
The convention’s overall rising popularity extends to its remote audience, and the numbers prove it; last year’s TennoCon stream, for instance, garnered upwards of 414,000 viewers on Twitch, which is over 12 times as many viewers as 2017’s stream.
So, aside from the game’s rapidly increasing player base, what else would account for TennoCon’s growing success as a convention? The answer is in Digital Extremes’ openness, transparency, and eagerness to connect with their fans.
This attitude stems from Warframe’s history. “We were going through a pretty tough time as a work-for-hire studio, and the launch of Warframe was kind of this last-ditch effort to see if we could get an IP that we'd had circulating in our heads for a long time out there,” Digital Extremes Associate Producer, Mark Ollivierre, said.
He explained that sales of the Founders Pack, a bundle of in-game items sold prior to launch, was crucial in securing funding for their dream. “The incredible feedback and support that we got from day one literally let us keep the lights on and keep developing,” he said.
Digital Extremes has since been diligent about honoring its fans and keeping channels between the studio and its players open. “Six years later, that kind of really in-depth, intimate relationship we want to foster with our players is still very much a core pillar of how we see ourselves succeeding in the industry and moving forward,” Ollivierre said.
This is exactly the relationship on display on the convention floor at TennoCon. Q&A panels and workshops serve as meeting grounds between fans and developers, while meet-and-greets with Warframe content creators allow players to forge connections within fan subcommunities. Moreover, TennoCon gives fans the opportunity to relate to one another and celebrate their fandom together.
“We have multiple stories of people who have been playing together for weeks, months, or even years and TennoCon is the first time that they actually get to meet face-to-face and continue developing upon their relationships,” Ollivierre said. Warframe fans flock to London from all over the world, and being in the same geographic place at the same time can mean a lot for building community. “It's a week-long experience for them, so they're here in London experiencing all that the city has to offer together,” Ollivierre explained.
If you want to follow the action yourself and earn in-game rewards, make sure to check out TennoCon’s 2019 stream on Twitch or Mixer — and if you like what you see, consider making the trek out to London, Ontario next year. There are thousands upon thousands of Warframe fans who would vouch for how much of a blast it is.
Recommended specs:
- OS: Windows® 7 (64-bit)
- CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6400
- RAM: 4GB of system memory
- Storage: 35GB of available space
- DirectX: Version 10+
