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Games in Development list shortening - market saturated?
Hochete
Member CommonPosts: 1,210
I couldn't help but notice the Games in Development forum list keeps getting shorter and shorter. Is the market saturated? Are developers starting to avoid creating new MMOs?
Personally, I think so. There really needs to be an MMO cull. I remember when the MMO genre was almost completely unheard of, and the only people playing were people that truly appreciated the concept. Now every man, woman, child, father, mother, sister, uncle, brother, aunt and their dog plays an MMO (WoW) because it's becoming the 'thing' to do. This leads to ill-informed, inexperienced developers making games to cater to the masses (much like Hollywood, just for games), which in turn means the genre as a whole is suffering from a lack of well thought out, original games that *real* MMO fans can appreciate. I don't like it.
What do you think?
Comments
Yes, it is saturated with EQ/WoW clones. You can only clone simplistic theme parks enough times until people start saying "This sucks compared to WoW/EQ, the games they are cloning."
I don't think it is saturated at all but I do think we are on the release part of the cycle where all these games that have been in development for the last 4 years finally launch. We will now enter a 3 to 4 year drought until the next round of games release. It is all just part of the cycle.
Good assessment. Hopefully WAR will be good, or you won't have much to play for a few years unless you like WoW and WoW expansions.
Right now we have a crap load of fantasy mmo's on the market.
With WAR, Spellborn and Aion on the way I think developers will shift to the much needed Sci-fi MMO genre.
In my opinion this is a good thing, most sci-fi mmo's are deep and complex we could use a new Anarchy online or Swg Pre-nge type game now.
hell I could count the good sci-fi mmo's on one hand, Eve online, Anarchy online, Tabula Rasa, SWG and thats it really.
PLaying: EvE, Ryzom
Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum
The market isn't saturated, but overwhlmed with clones.
Look at WoW for example. MMOs were around for years before hand, but WoW deviated enough from the back-then standard of "normal" to become the huge success it was.
I remember googling for MMOs when WoW was in early development, and thinking "meh, so it's another franchise being sucked in to the MMO world."
I was proven wrong. It did a lot of things differently, new ideas and new concepts. It bloomed like no MMO before it.
All we need is this to happen again. Some development studio to do something so familiar, yet so different.
The problem we face today is that carbon copy cookie cutter MMOs exist in such high numbers that it's hard to seperate the diamonds from the coal.
It's saturated.
Like the poster above me pointed out, I think there really need to be some new ideas before the market can expand.
But a lot of things are saturated, it's part of this oh so great digital revolution, (which is great in it's own right ), but has the downside that a lot of information and communication makes people copy from each other.
You can see this in literature, arts and so many other things. Only few people really create new material.
It's what Nintendo just blamed MS for with copying all their user friendly games. They said that new things only stay new and fresh when noone can simply copy it.
Magically fantasy mmo is appallingly over satured but theres plenty of other markets that are hardly being tapped. Sadly, the games in the development forum list isn't really a good indicator of what else is out there. After just a small internet search I pulled these couple out the hat and I'm sure there's more:-
Goon World
The Agency
Black Prophecy
Crusades
Left for Dead
Actually I believe that problem is that MMOs are persistent worlds. Since you play an MMO for a long time there is no real need to make a new one for a long time. There are lots of MMOs out right now. Yes you could make another genere of MMO, but I doubt that would make a huge difference since most MMO players like to play fantasy games. Add to this that MMOs require more and more time to make these days and it means there isn't going to be a lot of MMOs in development at this time.
I agree, it would be nice to see some different MMO settings. But, with that said, what's stopping Sci Fi MMOs from being re-skinned WoW clones? Eve is good, Eve is different. Unfortunately, Eve is also relatively unpopular, meaning developers are probably more likely to swing toward the cookie cutter MMO template than the riskier 'hardcore' template.
I don't think the setting of an MMO makes much of a difference, I think the problem is deeper. I think the core mechanics of modern MMOs are all wrong and, until they are revised, I can't see any MMO making a real difference, regardless of its setting.
I think it's funny how games keep saying they have a unique world.
But half of it comes from the middle ages, both the armour and the weapons. And the rest is DnD with clerics, sorcerers and warriors.
"A unique world where you can use magic spells, fight dragons and...". Stfu.
Them calling themselves worlds is bad enough in my book. They are theme parks, not worlds.
I think people are starting to realize that every new game brings less and less innovation. This is not just MMOs though. To me it seems like game designers have almost stopped being creative.
I'm not sure what the reason behind this is, but I guess there are economic reasons behind it. Games are more costly to make now than before, because of new and more expensive technology, and I'd think investors are more willing to go for a game made after a model they know has brought success to other companies.
I look at new games now, simulators, RTS games, FPS games, MMORPGs, and I often see LESS content and LESS options than before. Yes, the graphics are better, much better in many cases, but it comes at a huge cost.
I'll use WAR as an example. I really thought this game would become a next gen MMORPG. I thought it would bring new features, stuff we've never seen before. And yet, from the information officially released so far, I would say there are NO new and unique features to the game. Sure, they try to make some of the stuff seem new, and sure, the game might be alot of fun to play, but it's not new. It's the same old in a new wrapping. And I think fans out there are starting to realize that's the case with alot of new games..
(Apologize if this post was a bit messy and poorly written, I'm crazy tired right now)
Ok, while I understand where you are coming from, and I applaud innovation, I am also, sick and tired of hearing every time a new game gets announced or launched "where is the innovation?" For me, more of the same is not always a bad thing.
A big example of the industry and the press saying things like this are on games like the Lego franchise. The were comlaining about Lego Indiana Jones not being innovative and too much like the Star Wars Lego games. To me they are missing the point. The games are fun the way they are, I don't always NEED innovation.
Back to MMO's, I am seeing WAR coming down the pike, looking alot like WoW, which to me is just fine, I loved WoW, but WAR is implementing what WoW should have after 3 years of being in the public realm. The Tome of knowledge, Public Quests, etc. These are innovations within the game which set it apart. To me, that is just fine. I like it.
Perhaps innovation doesn't happen as often as everyone likes because there is only so much we can do with our given technology. Sure, that technology is growing by leaps and bounds every few months, but for the general public, and mainly monetary reasons, we won't be able to utilize said technology for a few years yet. You can thank human greed for that.
I believe the market is saturated in the sense that most of the people interested in MMO's are already playing MMO's. The primary way for a new game to gain customers is to steal them from another game.
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.
Benjamin Franklin
the best use of Stfu I've seen in a while, I cracked up when I read it. Its so true, they all claim unique worlds, unique features, play alone or in a group blah blah blah and they are so completely the same it's unbelievable and don't expect to play solo for the vast majority of the content either
Yes and No
Yes because it's a lot of the same game with a dif. skin, as well as a lot of simply bad ones.
No because there isn't enough of a diversity in the genre yet. At least no good alternatives to the EQ/ WoW formula.
Overall I say no.
Out of curiosity, have any of you been keeping an eye on/heard anything more of GW2? It's one of the MMOs in development that Anet happens to be keeping under wraps. However, the little information that has been provided is making it sound like they're trying something unique. Which, if you ever played the first, they kept to their word on making it unique.
At least in terms of the creatures with the exception of the basic Dwarves, Dragons, and Humans, that is.
...And yes, I said MMO because that's the direction they're headed with GW2.
I'm a bit confused here. I've not been able to handle playing WoW for a long period of time due to the gameplay boring me, but from all I've read it's just an amalgam of the good and successful features of EverQuest and Ultima Online with slight alterations here and there.
"The one who begins with nothing, gains everything slowly."
It's not that the market is over saturated because in perspective it is not. Compared to console games etc. What is wrong is the same old thing over and over. If they had a great game released people will play it, doesn't matter how many MMO's are out there.
I forgot one other thing. The economy for most is influencing the amount of players. Monthly fees are starting to cramp many gamers styles.
Who let you in the VIP section?
Considering WoW retail is 4 years old, and copied relentlesly, it's somewhat hard to imagine or at least remember it having any originality.
It may even just be a giant mess of everything that's ever been done well, but that in itself could sort of be the point.
WoW took good features from already strong games, a well known IP and introduced a few of its own. Or, at the very least, took "new" features from niche games nobody really knew about.
It seperated itself far enough from the Warcraft IP to remain awesome for hardcore warcraft fans, but still provide an experience for newbies to the series without feeling like they're missing out on in-jokes and patchy areas of lore.
If WoW copied then altered, then by today's standard it took a gamble on original content. Almost everything released since WoW/Everquest/Ragnarok has been a direct copy with altered lore and different graphics but no altered gameplay ideas and code-level similarities that range from inferior, to frighteningly similar.
Go to any grocery store, head to the cereal aisle, and look at the 10+ generic brands of Cocoa Puffs. Each one will have some little twist different from the others ( lower fat, lower calories, etc. ) but in the end, it's just a box of Cocoa Puffs.
Relative to what? WoW? Eve is not unpopular. A lot of companies would like the loyal numbers of players it has. And I'm not an Eve player. I wish people would stop comparing the number of MMO subscribers to WoW. That is out on its own. If it didn't exist no one would think 200 000+ players was bad. As the latest issue of Edge pointed out, Eve has a bigger population than the country in which it is made. Iceland.
Relative to what? WoW? Eve is not unpopular.
Well... yes. That was sort of my point.
Take a look at this chart:
http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html
As you'll see, EvE is right down there, below the likes of Dofus (I've never even heard of it).
So yes, Eve is unpopular, relative to WoW and the MMO genre as a whole. Games developers would take one look at that chart, see WoW striving to 10,000,000 subscribers and assume that that's what players want. This is why the market is currently saturated with WoW clones.
Next big mmorpg wave might be the ones who like to play sims.
It is a social game and Millions play/played it and would be perfect if you make a good mmo out of it.
Mmorpgs only managed with wow to get a whole new customer base, the next game who manages it again will be big again.
I wouldnt rely too heavily on the forum "quick list"
there are a number of mmos in development that are not on this site at all or exist only on the game list
take a look at this list
www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/187443/page/1
EQ2 fan sites
The fantasy part of the MMO pie has far to many teeth chopping at it. There's still room over at the Sci Fi's end though. Eve online currently still enjoys unchallenged majority of this part of the pie atm, but that's soon to change with Star Trek online, JumpGate evolution, StarGate and some other Space combat MMO whose name I keep forgetting. Now Tabula Rasa fallen on it's face the roads still open for lots of Sci FI MMO pie! Oh and come on Blizzard how about a Starcraft MMO?