Eso, GW2, Rift, Wildstar, FFXIV, SWTOR, WoW - are those days gone forever?

JudgeUK

Remember the times when we had multiple mmo's either being released or just launched? ....and those had to compete with the next WoW expansion.
The second part is likely still true, but the first?
Are we ever likely to experience a time again when the player base is spoilt for choice with new mmo releases, or has that horse well and truly ridden over the horizon?
I'm not including any dime-a-dozen Korean cloned slashathon. Talking about storylines, proper character progression, diverse classes that need proper learning.
Or should I just accept that we've had our golden age of mmo's and they're now gone.

Gorwe

You mean new MMOs? Something extraordinary would need to happen in order to bring those days back.

Jamar870

Probably for the future next 5 to 10 years. Suits and investors are going to keep looking for good to excellent ROI from games. So we will probably see more of the mobile's form of game design continue to creep into the decisions for future MMOs. And as has been mentioned here, crowd funding may start to wain if we see more of these start failing from over promising and for some "feature creep".
 

Nanfoodle

If you are looking for allot of MMOs to be released, 2021 has one of the biggest years for releases. 

Iselin

Nanfoodle said:

If you are looking for allot of MMOs to be released, 2021 has one of the biggest years for releases. 

Yeah? New World and... ?

TwistedSister77

Iselin said:

Nanfoodle said:

If you are looking for allot of MMOs to be released, 2021 has one of the biggest years for releases. 

Yeah? New World and... ?

Crowfall...

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bcbully

Yes they are because of Wildstar

Iselin

TwistedSister77 said:

Iselin said:

Nanfoodle said:

If you are looking for allot of MMOs to be released, 2021 has one of the biggest years for releases. 

Yeah? New World and... ?

Crowfall...

Doubt it but of course they could push out a beta for public consumption and call it an early access since EA is all the rage these days.

Nanfoodle

Iselin said:

Nanfoodle said:

If you are looking for allot of MMOs to be released, 2021 has one of the biggest years for releases. 

Yeah? New World and... ?

Between 2021 and 2022, there could be about 30 MMOs releasing. 



Would I play them all? Nope, only about 4 or 5 I would try. CorePunk being one of them. Some on this list are long shots but still a large number of MMOs that could releasing in the next 12-26 months. 

cameltosis

I dismiss most Asian MMOs, just not my style. So for me, it's been a long drought with no sign of finishing any time soon.

We have New World from Amazon. That's it in terms of "big" studios in the west. Assuming it releases. Assuming it is still an MMO when it releases. The alpha i played it was not promising, however, so i won't be playing it at launch.

Beyond that, we have a ton of crowdfunded mmorpgs in development. Will any of them release? When will they release? I'm hoping 2021 will be the year that they release, they've certainly been in development for long enough. Will they be any good?

For the future, I think the way the big studios will return to MMOs is by getting inspired by the crowdfunded bunch. The big studios are too risk-averse to bother with the genre at the moment, so they need these smaller studios to take that risk for them. If the risk somehow pays off, the big studios will come back and copy these new features, putting a bit of polish on them.

Maybe Camelot Unchained's CUBE system (designing and building houses in the main game world) will prove a hit. Maybe Crowfall's limited duration campaigns will be popular? Even if the rest of the game turns out to be naff, a big studio could still get inspired.

Mendel

Will MMORPGs have another heyday period where dozens of games are released?  Very unlikely.  It takes too long to build an MMORPG, and, frankly, it comes down to the money men wanting a faster return on their investment.  So, they simply choose to invest elsewhere.  That leaves the MMORPG development teams turning to financial 'gimmicks' like crowdfunding.  The crowdfunding track record of completing projects is pretty dismal.

It's going to take something pretty unexpected in the financial world to attract regular money.  Something like someone with an overwhelming passion for this type of game winning the unshared, mega-lottery... for the third time.  (I'm only three short).

Nanfoodle

Torval said:

Mendel said:

Will MMORPGs have another heyday period where dozens of games are released?  Very unlikely.  It takes too long to build an MMORPG, and, frankly, it comes down to the money men wanting a faster return on their investment.  So, they simply choose to invest elsewhere.  That leaves the MMORPG development teams turning to financial 'gimmicks' like crowdfunding.  The crowdfunding track record of completing projects is pretty dismal.

It's going to take something pretty unexpected in the financial world to attract regular money.  Something like someone with an overwhelming passion for this type of game winning the unshared, mega-lottery... for the third time.  (I'm only three short).

Agreed.

It's going to take some exciting new Gacha mixed in with familiar Loot Crates, a fancy Cash Shop, sprinkled with classic Subscriptions, and the old time Box Fee as the cherry on top before we'll see a glut of MMOs. I'm only being halfway sarcastic. With games like Genshin making money hand over fist it is going to takes some serious revenue attraction to make classic MMORPGs an attractive development prospect. Old style MMOs (and I mean stuff as recent as ESO) are too revenue limited by comparison and far to expensive and risky to build. The big money people want big money returns and fast and MMORPGs can't deliver that.

That type of payment model is the norm now and I agree it sucks but not all MMOs are walking that line. Corepunk looks really good and is different but they are going Buy-to-play + cosmetics (battle passes, in-game shop). So there will still be games that see the value is being fair to their gamers. 

Theocritus

Nanfoodle said:

If you are looking for allot of MMOs to be released, 2021 has one of the biggest years for releases. 

If we see nothing else in this forum it's "just wait until such and such launches!" Then it never makes it to the light of day or ends up being something totally different.

Theocritus

"Old style MMOs (and I mean stuff as recent as ESO) are too revenue limited by comparison and far to expensive and risky to build. "

ESO and FFXIV had huge IPs to build upon...If both games had different names and nothing to do with the history they would have not been very successful. That's why these companies have Final Fantasy and Elder Scrolls in the title instead of Bob's Big Adventure.......

Nanfoodle

Theocritus said:

Nanfoodle said:

If you are looking for allot of MMOs to be released, 2021 has one of the biggest years for releases. 

If we see nothing else in this forum it's "just wait until such and such launches!" Then it never makes it to the light of day or ends up being something totally different.

Some of these games are long shots but there is something there for just about anyone. Even if all you get is a few months play out of it. Not everything is on a wing and a prayer. New World, Corepunk. Zenimax new title (need in the works for a few years) Blue Protocol, Crimson Desert are being made by solid studios. People who made Phansty Star 2 are also releasing a new MMO next year as well if you like JRPG style. Next 2 years could be very exciting for MMOs.  

1. Core Punk - Artificial Core

2. Ember Sword - Bright Star Studios

3. Valar - Quazer Studios

4. Gloria Victis - Black Eye Games

5. Reign of Guilds - Atlant Games

6. Zenith - Ramen VR

7. Blue Protocol - BANDAI NAMCO Studios

8. Crimson Desert - Pearl Abyss

9. Elyon (Ascent: Infinite Realm) - KRAFTON 

10. ODIN: Valhalla Rising - Lionheart Studios |

11. The Ragnarök - NetEase 

12. Gran Saga - NPIXEL

13. Mad World - JANDISOFT

14. Waven - Ankama 

15. Hordes - Hordes.io 

16. Temtem - Crema 

17. DokeV - Peal Abyss 

18. ReWorld Online - Qwerty Stud.io 

19. Defend the Night - Ninja Loot Games 

20. Fractured - Dynamight Studios 

21. The Saga of Lucimia - Stormhaven Studios 

22. Project Gorgon - Elder Game

23. Past Fate - Icy North Games 

24. Camelot Unchained - City State Entertainment

25. Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen - Visionary Realms

26. Crowfall - ArtCraft Entertainment 

27. Ashes of Creation - Intrepid Studios 

28. Magic: Legends - Cryptic Studios 

29. New World - Amazon Game Studios 

30. Life Beyond - Darewise Entertainment

YashaX

Nanfoodle said:

Iselin said:

Nanfoodle said:

If you are looking for allot of MMOs to be released, 2021 has one of the biggest years for releases. 

Yeah? New World and... ?

Between 2021 and 2022, there could be about 30 MMOs releasing. 



Would I play them all? Nope, only about 4 or 5 I would try. CorePunk being one of them. Some on this list are long shots but still a large number of MMOs that could releasing in the next 12-26 months. 

The only quality Western mmo likely to release from that list is New World. There is no chance that games like Pantheon, AoC, or Saga of Luc will release in the next 26 months.

laserit

I believe that an MMO renaissance will happen when we cross another hurdle. I'm thinking of things like AI. Having a complete game population in a single instance with a truly massive world. Imagine a game where you could in all actuality get lost in. 

Gorwe

What's the news on Magic: Legends?

Nanfoodle

Gorwe said:

What's the news on Magic: Legends?

Game by the people who make the card game magic the gathering, its in a ARPG style. 

Mendel

laserit said:

I believe that an MMO renaissance will happen when we cross another hurdle. I'm thinking of things like AI. Having a complete game population in a single instance with a truly massive world. Imagine a game where you could in all actuality get lost in. 

That takes money, imagination, creativity, and a willingness to see things through.  MMORPGs and their developers are too stuck looking at past successes to notice new things on the horizon that would really change the formula.  *All because it hasn't been done before.*

The current development teams are too risk averse, backed by financiers that are even more constrained by the budget.  New and Innovative have always been expensive, no matter what the technology.  Not only that, but these take time, which seems to the enemy of the money men.

I'd really like to think that there will be another glut of quality MMORPGs, just not in my lifetime.  Unless I live to 267, and even then that might be iffy.

laserit

Mendel said:

laserit said:

I believe that an MMO renaissance will happen when we cross another hurdle. I'm thinking of things like AI. Having a complete game population in a single instance with a truly massive world. Imagine a game where you could in all actuality get lost in. 

That takes money, imagination, creativity, and a willingness to see things through.  MMORPGs and their developers are too stuck looking at past successes to notice new things on the horizon that would really change the formula.  *All because it hasn't been done before.*

The current development teams are too risk averse, backed by financiers that are even more constrained by the budget.  New and Innovative have always been expensive, no matter what the technology.  Not only that, but these take time, which seems to the enemy of the money men.

I'd really like to think that there will be another glut of quality MMORPGs, just not in my lifetime.  Unless I live to 267, and even then that might be iffy.

I'm a little more optimistic

I think that when we pass a technological barrier and it makes something possible that was not previously possible... Somebody will jump on it. Millions of people being able to play together, on the same playground, at the same time. When the technology allows it, I just cant see somebody with deep deep pockets not wanting to jump all over it.

We have the ability right now to create a 1:1 scale earth in 3D game space with amazing detail.

Imho it will come. 

Amathe

I just hope interest in traditional mmorpgs survives the continual fleecing of that market by crowd funding.   

TwistedSister77

Amathe said:

I just hope interest in traditional mmorpgs survives the continual fleecing of that market by crowd funding.   

I pay BOP and subs... but yet for crowdfunding.  If crowdfunding came with shares of the company, I may rethink.

Cryomatrix

It isnt the need for a new mmo that is the problem for me, it is that they are all the same and i need something innovative

Foomerang

Some of those games were pretty fun but I certainly hope those days are gone.  I dont mind firing up old mmos for nostalgia sake.  But id rather see a new approach.