State of the MMO Scene

Can Anyone Stop the "Raging Blizzard?"

It honestly doesn't take much brainstorming to see what lies ahead for the PC gaming scene. Leading publishers are strategically investing into the development of online games, expressly into MMORPGs. As certain findings have shown, PC gamers in the US now spend most time playing World of Warcraft. Meanwhile, prominent studio Blizzard Entertainment continues to center its efforts on perpetuating their highly acclaimed online title and for a damn good reason too. WoW's player base currently exceeds 9 million subscribers worldwide (still without counting the Chinese market).

With the rapid growth of the MMOG market, next year certainly looks to bring a greater number of titles in this particular genre. So, yes, gamers have found their favorite past time and the publishers have certainly smelled the money. But, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

When Blizzard achieved unprecedented success with World of Warcraft, many attempted to follow in its footsteps. Conglomerates like SOE and Electronic Arts spent the last several years pouring resources into MMO franchises.

SOE recently tried to push Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (a franchise previously owned by MS) onto the MMORPG scene, but with little success. Talented people were brought to work on this one, including a number of people who were involved with the creation of the original EverQuest. That didn't help much. What's more, despite the company's exertion to promote the project, the final game received lukewarm reviews and disapproval from the public due to bugs and underwhelming gameplay. Although SOE keeps investing into existing MMOG licenses like Star Wars Galaxies (co-published by LucasArts), EverQuest 2 and so on, none of these manages to measure up to what Blizzard has done with WoW.

KOTOR vs. WoW?

EA stepped in, showing an avid interest in the genre, with major projects currently underway such as Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, which represented the publisher's answer to World of Warcraft. Unfortunately for EA, the project is taking longer than expected and with each delay Warhammer Online falls severely behind WoW's supremacy. The situation gets grimmer as the game also has to compete with the upcoming WoW expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King. But their just may be a glimmer of hope for Warhammer Online (slated for a Q2 2008 release), since it appears Blizzard means to take its time with Lich King, even if it means not releasing within a year of The Burning Crusade.

Realizing it's gonna take more than that to contend with the likes of WoW, EA reveals more aggressive business tactics with its acquisition of BioWare/Pandemic. The purpose of this major deal is clear enough. About a year ago BioWare confirmed it's working on a MMORPG, which, still hasn't been unveiled. Refusing to let the potential project slip through their fingers, EA made its move. However, the name of this mysterious MMOG is still anybody's guess. Even so, many believe it to be the highly anticipated third addition to the legendary Knights of the Old Republic series. Sources close to BioWare corroborated that the hush-hush MMOG is indeed set in the KOTOR universe, hinting a strong possibility of KOTOR 3. Furthermore, both LucasArts and BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka suggested further collaboration between the two companies. But given BioWare's attitude towards sequels (they usually pass follow-ups onto a different dev. studio), theories have sprung up that the famous developer might deliver an all-new IP. Mind you, this seems unlikely.

Whatever the outcome, Blizzard may finally get a serious competitor when (and if) this project sees the light of day. A while back BioWare mentioned that they are likely to release the MMO game no sooner than 2009.

With a strong player base and a powerful franchise under its arm, Blizzard seems more than prepared to take on any impending competition. World of Warcraft is to receive its 2.4 content patch, which reportedly includes Sunwell Plateau (dungeon), featuring, amongst other things, a 5-man instance and a 25-man raid instance. For the hardcore WoW crowd, this addition should lead to the long-expected conclusion of the Burning Crusade expansion pack and, yes, the last major raid goal before Wrath of the Lich King.

According to several reports, it looks as though Blizzard might be upping the ante even further with a new, so-far-unrevealed next-gen MMOG. The story surfaced after Blizzard mentioned they are hiring staff to help them work on "an unannounced Next-Gen MMO," as revealed by Blizzard Community Representative Drysc on the official World of Warcraft forums. An almost immediate wave of speculations indicated several possibilities, some of which point to a potential StarCraft MMOG, while others even see possible interpretations and persistent worlds based on classics like The Lost Vikings or Blackthorne. In his short post, Drysc goes on to add: "And that doesn't mean an expansion for World of Warcraft either," giving further credence to the theory that surely a different Blizzard license is involved.

On the business front, the creators of WoW reached a crucial agreement in the company's history (or, rather, Vivendi did in their name), resulting in the formation of Activision Blizzard. With this, they've practically added further financial backbone to a company that already holds one of the most influential brands in video game history. Blizzard (Vivendi Games) has, no doubt, entrenched its position on the market after this deal. Nonetheless, EA remains composed about the whole matter, as company reps claim the recent Activision/Vivendi merger won't alter EA's strategy in any way.

Others Want a Piece of the Action

While the future of WoW looks bright and prosperous, other endeavors were noted in the genre. Ultima series creator Richard Garriott, whose opus left a deep impact on RPGs, attempted to draw in gamers with Tabula Rasa. Though praised for its innovative combat system and other appealing features, Tabula Rasa was criticized for offering an obscure, unsatisfactory crafting system, amounting to a generally unrewarding game experience. Richard later said that the relatively unsuccessful launch of Tabula Rasa was due in some part to the fact too many people were allowed to test the game in its beta phase, thus making their judgment prematurely based on code that was far from polished/ready for retail. In some ways, Lord British makes a very valid point.

To cut a long story short, the industry saw a wide range of MMOGs games like Lord of the Rings Online, EVE Online, Lineage, Guild Wars, EverQuest 2 and similar titles, none of which amounted to the reputation and quality of WoW.

Newer studies conducted by industry analysts indicated that next to WoW, gamers prefer playing The Sims, Runescape, Halo, Counter-Strike and GTA, rather than any of the abovementioned MMOGs.