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What AAA MMOs Are Being Made That We Don’t Know About Yet? - Bill Murphy at MMORPG.com
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
What AAA MMOs Are Being Made That We Don’t Know About Yet? - Bill Murphy at MMORPG.com
The MMO genre is absolutely one of the most lucrative in gaming, with millions of players around the globe, across PCs and now consoles. But there’s one thing publishers and investors realize after a decade of chasing Azeroth… you can’t replicate what WoW managed to do. That said, everyone knows that long-term returns on investment can be gained with the right project. Today, we’re going to look at AAA studios I expect are making a new MMO, even if they haven’t announced it yet.
Comments
They're all working on new MOBA's or MOBA hybrids !
And given recent trends, no doubt some of them have some concept-stage survival games on the drawing board. Maybe even a survival/MOBA hybrid.... o.0
Not true.
If anything its the genre that is responsible for death of several big respected game developer companies.
And even if it was true before. It is not anymore.
I know we like to keep the hope alive. And after all a site about mmorpg's surely needs to pump its own wares. But if anything, today word MMO is a cue to run for the hills among development circles.
In any case, these companies are developing something. But it surely is not MMO as its known here.
They've got a good history with MMOs, most have been successful in their own way, even if they aren't blockbuster. Its been a while they last released an MMO so they are "due".
I do believe that the success of ESO on consoles will have opened up the way for more developers to start pushing console releases. There hasn't been any big successes on PC for years now, but ESO sold many millions of copies on consoles which should open the eyes of other big publishers to the lucrative possibilities. I think it far more likely that we'll start seeing traditionally console-focused developers start moving into the MMO world.
With that in mind, my wishlist includes:
* Gears of War Online
* GTA Online (proper MMO, not what shipped with V)
* Hyrule Online
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
But innovation isn't always the perfect solution to issues. In fact, in order to innovate, many times, you have to lose something to move in the direction you want. This genre had plenty of tried and true systems and mechanics that work. No one did anything with them. What we got was 10 years of bullshit "innovation" What new system or mechanic since WoW has been introduced to the genre that really stands and makes us say "That's awesome"!
Dynamic Events?
Mega Servers?
Phasing?
Non-trinity based mechanics?
Deep character driven stories?
single / dual person content?
All these things are all well and good, but they do not bring us back to log in every day.....day after day after day. What does that? Probably the easiest question to answer and yet one that has been ignored by developers. We need lots and lots of different shit to do. I don't care if it's new or old, as long as it breaks monotony. New games, fail hard at breaking monotony. Anything on the horizon.......well. We'll just have to wait and see.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
Eso hasn't sold many millions on consoles, the most successful mmo on xb1 is NeverWinter Online and on PS4 it is Eso but it's not millions of players.
Our future MMO gaming lies with the independent crowdfunded projects. Unless one of those projects hit a financial homerun you can't expect any new AAA game to your expectations and that has less chance than Godard making a box-office hit. Better make our peace with it.
This is just the content i expect from this site
Then again, it'd be a weird disconnect from LoL when you're playing an OC instead of a canon character.
Although Blizzard pulled it off successfully when going from WC3 to WoW. So why not eh?
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
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Amazon? Looks like they're continuing to focus on their mobile initiatives, and it would hardly be the first time we've seen big name talent from MMO's move to work on mobile projects.
Gearbox? Beyond doubtful, they're likely going to push for more of the multiplayer content in the next Borderlands, but they're too busy chasing the comparatively cheaper League of Legend Bux with Battleborn.
ZMO/Beth? Again, doubtful. Even if ESO is doing well now, I think they realized how hard they got burned on it initially and aren't looking to repeat those mistakes. Nobody really asked for an Elder Scrolls MMO and nobody is really asking for a Fallout MMO. Heck, the lack of even simple co-op in Fallout 4 sends a pretty strong signal that they're not looking to take the franchise online any time soon.
Riot? Possibly, Tencent is massive and they love their online games. But honestly I think it's far more likely that they're going to be releasing more games that are simply online rather than MMO's. Cheaper to develop, cheaper to maintain, far less risk etc.
We'll keep seeing the MMO publishers/developers put out occasional MMO's, even if many are pivoting to smaller scale online games right now as well, and the import publishers a la Aeria and the like import underwhelming Korean/Chinese games, but I think the age of the AAA MMO is paused. After WS, and especially SWTOR and ESO failed to light the world on fire, major publishers who would fund that type of thing are definitely taking a long, hard look at whether or not the risks are worth it.
I can only hope that current and future developers come up with different ideas than the ones out there.