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Unannounced MMOs
skeaser
Member RarePosts: 4,213
What "secret" MMOs are you excited about?
For me it would be:
- Carbine Studios' Sci-Fi/Fantasy Hybrid MMO www.carbinecentral.com/
- Red 5's ??? MMO www.red5studios.com/en/
- 38 Studio's MMO with Todd McFarlane and R.A. Salvatore on board. www.38studios.com/products/copernicus
Anyone have any other promising prospects?
Sig so that badges don't eat my posts.
Comments
The second and third listings have the same link.
getting excited about an unannounced MMO is about as dumb (to me) as getting hyped after the official announcement. At least with an announcement you know you only have 2ish years to wait...unnanounced games may not even come out.
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
Fixed
Not much to get excited about otherwise in the MMO world, IMO.
Not much to get excited about otherwise in the MMO world, IMO.
Maybe not, and the promise of a new exciting game is fun to speculate. I've learned my lesson a while ago on getting excited though. I remember getting all thrilled for Ghost, and then I waited...and waited...until it was vaporware. A huge disapointment for me in the gaming world.
Blizzards Universe of Starcraft.
"World of Warcraft is the perfect implementation of this genre." - Hilmar Petursson. CEO of CCP.
All those are unannounced for such a long time , and than the recession hit, and huge MMO projects proved to be unprofitable (WAR,AOC...basically almost everything except of WOW)
I wonder if they still even plan making those MMOs now...
Well I could tell you who left two of those companies in the last couple months and their production and financial status. I like my job though and prefer to keep getting paid. You'll find out eventually any ways.
Can say though that those as well as a few others you will be missing out on a lot with, even if they manage to survive.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
In before Blizzard's Project Hydra
I doubt anyone will want to launch MMO nowdays. Especially high cost AAA subscription model one.
And since the projects are unannounced , it means the production is still in low cost stage. And they will probably just wait for better days , or quietly put projects on indefinite hold.
Time of lower budget , mini MMOs is upon us.
... low cost stage?
About the only place you'll find a 'low cost stage' in a development company is when it's an indie company or startup that doesn't have any money, otherwise it's not that hard to run a group of 70-90 people at a high burn rate. About the only difference you'd see standard is the ramp up in the art and maybe QA department as thy near release, and that's marginal compared to the present staff.
The cost of development of most programs only increases slightly over time coming up to release usually. Which is also part of the problem with trying to hit a target point with a set budget to begin with as a dev group. You can't hire people that aren't gonna get to work immediately or spend unnecessarily on things that down the line you'll have to trim your budget to compensate for. About the worst thing that can happen is you hire a strong staff for each department, then later have to make adjustments. as Symptoms of this are numerous; realizing you hired too many in some areas, some aren't up to snuff in productivity, what they've been working on isn't compatible with other people's work and has to be redone, etc.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
Oh nonsense.
The subscription MMO industry has been unaffected or has possibly even benefitted from the GFC. Don't believe everything that mmorpg.com journos write. This is a website financed by eg. advertising money, which comes from MMO developers.
The truth is it's quite healthy - 22% growth overall and 27% outside of WoW.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/23003/Interview_Screen_Digest_On_Subscription_MMO_Growth_Blizzards_Next.php
North-American MMO developers have over the past few years delivered a string of underperformers. Some of those have been absolute duds. Others have just haven't managed to dent WoW's near monopoly - which is easily held with their low system requirements, established playerbase, huge advertising budget etc. etc.
As for the OP's question....
They don't qualify as unannounced, but Tera has slipped quietly onto the scene and under the hype radar. They're listed here, but there's no news or interviews etc. etc. They're a mostly finished mmo with a 2010 release date and I was stunned by the gameplay videos I saw and what they're doing with this title.
It was a real shocker to see an MMO this good, and almost finished that I'd never heard of.
Not much to get excited about otherwise in the MMO world, IMO.
If you're not excited by Hype* then it makes even less sense to be excited by a Lack of Information.
(*and you shouldn't be)
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Talkin' about Kevin Beardslee leaving Carbine to work in Terlara?
All those are unannounced for such a long time , and than the recession hit, and huge MMO projects proved to be unprofitable (WAR,AOC...basically almost everything except of WOW)
I wonder if they still even plan making those MMOs now...
Carbine is still pushing forward, new web site is up, forums are up, it seems they are working. Red5 and 38 have been silent for a while.
Well thats sad.
In general I think game industry took a wrong turn somewhere and started birthing all those overproduced bloated behemots.
Fat on graphics and animation but poor on actual gameplay (perhaps due to that bloated graphic engine limitations)
Industry should go back to simplicity , smaller teams with more focus on gameplay.
www.zenimaxonline.com
Any browncoats out there?
Isn't there still a MMO in development based on the Firefly universe?
YingYangLove.com
Now THAT would be awesome (if done right). I think the right game could make a killing given the market today. We are all waiting for something innovative and new. It will be interesting to see what Blizzard and Turbine have up their sleeves.
I agree with some of the posters here, that this recession might actually help the gaming industry. It was times like this in the 70's during the oil crisis that most of the profiteers of the time were entertainment and toy related industries. I suppose during tough economic times, we tend to stay at home with our families more and watch more movies... who knows maybe a family that plays mmo's together is a happy family.
..
I wonder if they still even plan making those MMOs now...
Carbine is still pushing forward, new web site is up, forums are up, it seems they are working. Red5 and 38 have been silent for a while.
I liked the look of the Carbine one until I read that they had employed a former FLS (PotBS) Community Manager "Aether"
That, all by itself, was enough for me.
If Carbine thought "Aether" was their type of people then they are on the road to fail already. The PotBS Community was horrid under his control. And that 'community' of fanbois went on to ruin the game both by crushing any criticism in the forums (justified criticism as it turned out - on important points) and going on to 'crush' players in game when it went live.
The handling of parts of the community under him was nothing short of abyssmal. IIRC he also was there when FLS took on Danicia - another community disaster.
You might say "So what? That was another game."
Well, Aether has no idea how to manage a MMO community to foster a good community. The 'community' for the Carbine MMO will begin forming now. If you allow it to populate with forum 'gankers' and what do you expect the game will be like? Who will play it in the first couple of months (until it collapses?)?
I bet Aether still has no idea what part of the PotBS failure was attributible to him either.
If Carbine thought Aether was right for them then that also makes me wonder about the rest of their judgement?
Nothing says irony like spelling ideot wrong.
Undead Labs unnamed MMOZ, http://undeadlabs.com/
It's an MMO graphical strategy game, but theres "War of Legends" from Jagex Studios, the makers of Runescape ( waroflegends.jagex.com/ ). It's flash-based, set in China if I'm not mistaken.
Jagex also has their MMO "Stellar Dawn/ Mechscape" in the works possibly releasing in 2010. They're doing all they can to keep hype down for it, especially since it was close to launch at the end of last year but they went and did a total redesign.
A couple other under the radar scifi ones Im watching are:
1. www.perpetuum-online.com/Main If you hammer away at a few beta sign-ups,you might get in.
2. www.infinity-universe.com/Infinity/index.php
Blizzard Confirms Unannounced Fourth Game, Next-Gen MMO Not Diablo 3
Latest: /// Video Games to Watch for in 2010: Garnett's Picks
Blizzard Confirms Unannounced Fourth Game, Next-Gen MMO Not Diablo 3
by Chris Faylor Jul 01, 2008 12:22pm CST tags: Blizzard, StarCraft 2, World of Warcraft, Diablo 3
Despite ongoing efforts with StarCraft II, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and Diablo III, PC developer Blizzard has confirmed that it has another MMO in the works.
"There is still one unknown project," Blizzard executive VP Rob Pardo revealed to OnlineWelten during the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational. "We have another development team."
Pardo affirmed that Blizzard's recent job listings for an "unannounced next-gen MMO" were not related to Diablo III. The company had previously stated that the project was not a World of Warcraft expansion either.
Fans have long speculated that Blizzard may follow the ultra-successful World of Warcraft with a World of StarCraft MMO. The three-faction scenario and multi-world setting would seem to lend itself well to the MMO format.
Others believe that the project could be a new franchise, as Blizzard has not created a new property since StarCraft's release in 1998.
"The idea of a new franchise is very intriguing to employees of the company," said Blizzard chief operating officer Paul Sams to Gamasutra in a recent interview. "Are we ever going to release a new one? I would absolutely say we will at some point. I just don't know when that day will be quite yet."
And as for a release date on any of the three known titles? "We ship the games when they're ready," Pardo commented. "You guys know this."