As Barrack Obama can attest to, change takes time however here on Crossfire we are on the eve of great change. Six weeks ago this site regained its independence from Heaven Media, a move that allowed a freedom to push the site in a new direction. That new direction is fuelled by an efficiency requirement, Crossfire has for too long been dependent on too few items for success. Those items are precious, they are our history and they must be revered however they also mustn’t hold us back.


The most noticeable change will be all around you, as I’ve alluded to in many comments recently, Crossfire 4 is real and its right around the corner. I will defend Crossfire 3 against its fiercest critics, it served a brilliant purpose for a long time. I remember sitting at CPC1 looking at it with taLa right before its launch, at the time it had a number of features it competitors didn’t have and even to this day it boasts certain things other sites can’t do. However times have moved on, user requirements from their websites have evolved several times since CF3 was first conceived and CF4 will meet many more of those.


Leading up to Crossfire 4 you’ll start to see a change in the content posted on Crossfire by its main contributors. In one sense there just isn’t enough ET to go round anymore, people's gaming interests have moved on. Proof of that is in the fact that any SC2, LoL or HoN journals will garner lots of comments these days and this weekend’s ESL & MLG tournaments will only provide more proof of that. For Crossfire to survive it must provide content around things users are doing, a statement backed up by a declining traffic trend.


Yet for Crossfire to survive it must not forget where it came from. The Battle For Berlin tournament that starts on Thursday should provide proof that Crossfire will always continue to serve the needs of its faithful. Crossfire will remain true to its values and be a home for all forms of ET and its community, whilst looking to maintain the interests of those who have flown the nest. Don’t for a second think that Crossfire is going to look for a piece of the Starcraft 2 pie over that of the ET pie (we all know what pie tastes better!!).


When you speak of survival, you need to also analyse what made the site successful in the first place. Whilst a common theme of RTCW & ET was what brought people together, this site owes as much to its produced content as it does to its User Generated Content. By that I’m specifically referring to the journal section, which is very much the heartbeat of Crossfire. In Crossfire 4 we will look to emphasize the key attributes of this further. The journal section itself will be largely unchanged, yes it's still on the right nav bar (all be it slightly higher up!) but the basics like commenting will be faster. Users will have the opportunity to utilize their profiles a lot more, whilst it's no facebook, Crossfire 4 allows profiles to be far more interactive. Users will also have the chance to ‘break off’ and use Crossfire 4 for their own purposes with user controlled, public and private groups, in one sense it could allow clans to better manage their activities, in others it will simply allow for more centralized postings of random gifs! There are a lot of CF 4 features that will be revealed nearer the time, but whilst it's much bigger in feature set, it’s also much faster for users.


So in the last months of this year you’ll start to see a different content strategy, a new website and new vision for what Crossfire can do for its users. The goal is that Crossfire will be many things to many people. I think the future for Crossfire is bright, change is coming, but heritage is key to identity. I hope you are as excited about the potential this community has as I am, together we have achieved a great deal, and together we will continue to do more!