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Reason for Constant MMO failures
segmentfault
Member Posts: 75
The sole reason for all the MMO failures is very easy to pinpoint. Every MMO director up until this point has had bland, copy the last guy ideas and nobody has really sat down and figured out what makes something fun.
I used to play MUDs (and still do) from 1993ish onwards. There have been some excellent MUDs over the years that have blown most, if not all of the MMOs away in content and in general creativity. Some of these MUDs have over 1000 people playing on them at any given time.. not bad for a text game.
If I had the time or a better financial situation where I could invest my ideas and talents in to a MMO, I think we would finally be able to break this so called 'WoW' effect. However, this is not the case and I must continue my IT business as I have for the last 7 years. I think this goes with a lot of people out there. We, the sole players and forum posters of the community have excellent ideas that would and could break the mold, however almost all of us will never be put in to that director chair because we don't have the MBA and experience required by "Software Co. Execs."
I've played Meridian, EQ, EQ2, TR, AoC, WoW (yuk,) Vanguard, EVE, Anarchy Online, SW, and tons of others I cannot even remember.
I only still play EQ2, EVE, and Anarchy Online. WoW didn't really capture me and believe me, I tried to like it. The community of WoW seemed average a 13 year old child, which is fine if that child wasn't a douchebag, but alas.. well you know.
To underline my point again: You can have the more intelligent developers and the best art team, but if the Directors of the game don't have an excellent vision of what the next big MMO should be, then it's all downhill and will be a failure.
Lets discuss...
Comments
Most of the MMOs you might consider failures, have had a lot more success then the MuDs listed on mudconnector.
With that said, I get an itch for text based domains that I need to scratch from time to time. You really can't replace imagination. You also have to pay more attention to details in text based worlds, at least until your familiar with the areas or rooms.
There is a lot you can't do with graphics as well as you can do with text. I always enjoyed the puzzles, riddles, and area quests in MuDs. The social interaction, the pvp encounters, harsh penalties and true social justice are all things that don't translate well into graphical mmos. Many of the features i enjoy in these worlds would not be well received by the people who don't like those kinds of puzzles in their video games. Which is probably the majority.
A lot of developers are designing rp games, not rp worlds. There is room for both, and both are enjoyable in my opinion.
I don't think I could design a game better or worse then anyone else though, even though I can brainstorm a bunch of ideas that sound really cool. In the end it has to work, which again is easier in a text based game then a graphical one.
Nothing excites jaded Grandmasters more than a theoretical novelty
No offense to the op, but if I had several million dollars to invest into a software company, it wouldn't be with someone who's sole experience was playing games. Sure, I'd want that person to be passionate and have played games. I'd also want them to have a degree, some kind experience in the industry, etc. In short, I want to make sure that they have a good chance of recouping my investment.
Believe me, no one goes to the financiers and says, "we're going to make a lackluster game that basically copies WoW. Yeah, it won't be all that good, but we've really got nothing. Now can we have several million dollars?"
No, they sell the board on their experience, and why their idea is going to fly while others have not. There are also plenty of games that are just looking for modest success. Sure, they'd like better, but not every title has to be AAA.
Anyway, I don't think that developers are that short sighted. They have hard constraints of time and money to get their product to the market. Ideas and ideals get trashed when you realize you've burned through 1/2 your seed capital and have only 1/3 or 1/4 of the product done. Or worse yet, no one was going to fund your project and you had to settle for an amount that you knew wasn't going to be enough to get all your ideas into the game.
I really respect anyone who gets a game out the door. The work and coordination to make it happen is really amazing.
Just keep in mind, most producers like MMOs and have likely played all the same ones you have.
1. Far too many mmos on the market. We need more quality and less quantity. Today for most devs it is all about rushing your half-bugged mmo out the door, use the excuse that mmos are never done but expect players to subscribe anyway.
2. It is more about the money than it is making a great mmo now. Most developers see the potential of making alot of money but they forget to make a great game first. There is only a small handful of great mmo developers left in my mind. Blizzard, Square Enix and Arenanet. I also like Icarus Studios and Runic Games for the next generation of mmo developers. The rest are nothing more than half-baked mmo developers who just are in it for the money and not for the love of games.
3. Developers don't play other games and they certainly do not get involved enough in the player community. It just shows because msot devs don't put enough tlc into their games. In any sort of work, if you want to be the be the best and make the best you have to be passionate about what you do. Instead, most devlopers are more passionate about their pockets filled with money than being passionate about games. A perfect ecample of this is Cryptic Studios. They literally rushed Champions Online out the door just so that they can start filling their pockets. They also will be rushing out STO in the same fashion.
4.Iit is a copycat league so to speak. Just about everyone copies one another and it becomes a contest to see who has the better grpahics instead of a fun polished game. Blizzard coppied everyone for their game, Lotro copied everyone else before them and Aion followed the same suite. The basics of mmos have all been done before over and over and the playerbase is tired of the same old same old but yet we still get the same old nonsense.
5. If you do not have enough money to pay people to make the game,if you do not have enough money for equipment and if you do not have enough money to market your game then READ MY LIPS, DO NOT MAKE A MMO!
Don't get me wrong, I agree with everything in this post, all mmos are just copies of each other and boring. However, the real question is do they actually fail? Back in the day, if an mmo had 100k subscribers thats considered decent, and if it had like 250k or more that would be considered a huge success. Nowadays those numbers would be considered failures, and for some reason might even result in the closing of the game itself. I'm not sure why. Have expenses really gone up that much?
Publishers publish the game expecting a LOT more than 1-200k subs, so if they get only that much, they consider it a failure and wrap it up.
Is it possible that you know a bit more about running a business and information technology than someone whose level of knowledge goes little beyond installing a router and managing their local hobby club's member database?
If so, what would your reaction be if that person said that all they need is the financial backing and they could easily do a better job at running a successful IT company than you?
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Publishers publish the game expecting a LOT more than 1-200k subs, so if they get only that much, they consider it a failure and wrap it up.
That's not necessarily true. MMO gamers have assigned magical arbitrary numbers as indicators of an MMO's success. STO, for example is designed to be a profitable and successful game with just over 100k subs. Puzzle Pirates was designed to be profitable at a few thousand subs and they quickly rose to over 30k subs. EVE Online was profitable in its early years even at 100k or so subs. SB needed 50k to break even.
As players, we arent' privy to what the numbers are most of the time. We don't know what designates successful or not for some MMOs (although for others it is painfully obvious).
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I think the biggest issue is how 'failure' is defined.
I dont think a game has 'failed' until it shuts its doors. Even then, it may have made a feeble 20% return on investment (which would be a major sucess for many people/companies). The reality is that everyone is looking to breakout and become the next WoW/Google/Microsoft, and they are deemed 'failures' if they dont change the world.
I believe that most of the current developers are both passionate and not deliberately making bad MMO's just for the sake of a fast cash grab and no vision of the future of their games. Most developers have to answer to corporate higher ups and are indeed faced with Budgets and deadlines. Even the best laid plans once you are out of money can reach a breaking point where you are faced with just abandoning a game you might have worked on for 5 years or you make concessions to at least get something to market. Even a failures box sales are better than something scrapped entirely. You can always tell a game that never ran into money issues versus one that did. You can always tell one that left something out just to get it done.
There are just too many elements to making a fully polished and complete game. Most gamers dont have any problem identifying what a game is lacking or just got wrong.
One big problem with innovation is that if it does not work then what. You have to see where developers are coming from when trying to innovate and not just fall in line behind those that came before. For the most part funding will not be granted unless you can prove that your idea will in the end work and profit. Some get the money to make the games they want and others do not and instead settle for something less.
If WoW is not "the norm" then new mmos are not failures.Eve,AoC,War,Lotor,Vanguard are all in the 100,000 sub to 300,000 range.They are only two mmos with more than 3 million subs Aion and WoW maybe that is not normal for MMOs .
Maybe New MMO are not failing maybe one or two mmo are over performing .AoC and War have been out a year does anyone think between the box sales and monthly fees that EA and Funcom have not made back most of the money it took to make the game.Once running the servers does is not more than total players sub fee the company is making a profit.I refuse to believe that it cost 14.99 from each player to run a server.Aoc and War for all their struggles are still success for Funcom and EA.
Eliminate WoW from argument ,Almost all mmo major mmos are in a 200,000 to 500,000 sub group.
check out funcoms financials, they lost a fortune with AoC. Vanguard will have lost a fortune too. If you spend 30 million+ making a game then its hard to make the money back unless you do well, both AoC and Vanguard lost the vast majority of their subs and quickly.
For me games are failing because they try to do more than they have the time/money and suit/publisher support for and for the most part they are all launching before they are ready. Unless you have 100 million to spend you have no chance of pleasing everyone, chose your niche and make the game for them, then accept you can't get enough content out at launch to match wow who have been out for years so make sure your launch content is made with this in mind, make sure what you provide has longetivity and repeatability to tide you over while you produce more.
Add mini games, acheivements things that will keep people entertained for hours yet were quick and easy to add. People would spend hours playing a tower defence game, or pool/darts in a tavern. Whatever you do don't have people get to max level in a couple of weeks and then have them log in, stand around doing nothing for an hour and then logging out bored like AoC at launch.
Movies and MMOs have a lot in common, imo.
You can have a great story, the best actors, the best director and still the movie can bomb. Why? Who knows? And if someone did know they would be very rich.
Its just that something didn't gel.
And every once in a while there is a movie with a small budget, unknown actors, and it's the director's first time directing and it's a big hit.
And we all know of a movie or two that should've been a hit but for some reason it never was.
Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren
Zorndorf: Still trying to pretend he understands a culture other than his own via numbers. Meh.
OP: Games in general fail for as much the same reason as anything else as of late; anymore things are created with the sole intention of making money. It seems this day in age everything is created only with the bottom line in mind, by people with no control. The best of things were made by those who loved them, be it games, movies, etc.. It's a shame, really, that games are made not by gamers anymore, but by someone like MMORPG's beloved Zorndorf, who believes a game's only success is measured in its numbers, and the $$$ it generates.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
George Bernard Shaw
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde
Its only a failure if it shuts down or never starts up. Otherwise, every AAA MMO after WOW has underperformed and have not met expectations. You can bet Mythic and Funcom thought they would have a lot more subs then they do. Mythic had to figure WAR would outperform DAOC, but its barely scratched by at 1/2 the player base. Aion hasn't done as well in the states as NCSoft figured, but anyone playing beta should've figured that one within 10 minutes;)
Niche MMOs have done as well as expected. You think they go in with high expectations? No one thought Fallen Earth would do any better than it has. Same with Darkfall. Just the fact that it launched is a victory when you look at it=) Both are doing about as well as they could considering the audience they cater to.
STO will probably do about as well as WAR and AOC. StarWars...who the heck knows.
Excellent ideas dont' make MMORPGs. Programming does. And it takes a lot of time, and it's very expensive to employ top notch programmers that know how to code a game engine, change the code in a game engine, as well as develop and maintain the network code, plus you need expensive top notch artists to model, skin, animate all the models.
Just having a great idea doesn't cut it if you dont' know exactly how to implement that idea quickly and cost effectively with actual programming and coding.
"What's wrong is MMORPGs need open worlds, zoning iz not immersive!"
Ok, then you spend 3 years and half your budget coding that so it's bug free, and you have no other features, no time or money left for your cool mounts and war sieges you thought were going into the game.
It's a complex piece of software to put together.
Innovating everything is the most sure-fire path to failure in a game.
Unless you're some magical, golden game designer it's going to take a good chunk of time -- for every feature you innovate -- to make things fun. In small doses, this results in a fantastic game with a few key innovative aspects that people love. In large doses, a designer simply won't have time to make them all fun, and the game will suck.
This isn't an argument for copying WOW though. The core gameplay is the thing most deserving of innovation actually (especially in a market full of people tired of WOW,) because that's what has the largest impact for how the game feels.
It's more an argument to avoid reinventing Wheels.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
The "copying WoW" thing is definitely one big reason for failure. I think developers are approaching MMO games the same way they would approach single-player games, but that just doesn't work for MMOs. You can try to "copy" the success of Modern Warfare 2 by releasing something very similar, because gamers who have played through MW2 will be ready for more action with another game that is similar to MW2. MMOs are different. They are meant to be played long term, and most players are only willing to subscribe to one at a time. So for a game to get a lot of subscribers, they have to pull subscribers away from another game. WoW being dominant, a new game probably has to pull subscribers away from WoW to be a big success. A "WoW clone" will not do that. I have been playing WoW for years. If a new game comes out now that is just like WoW but slightly different, what incentive to I have to quit WoW and go play that game? On one hand I can start all over at level 1 with a new game that I know very little about, or I can stay with WoW where I have several max-level characters, knowledge about the game, an established guild, experience with the raid content, friends I've known for a long time, etc. It takes more than "new art" to pull someone away from all that. Developers have to learn that the more different their game is from WoW, the better chance it has of being successful.
I made many threads trying to debunk this issue.
Here they are, to sum it all up.
The Same reason its hard to Leave your fav MMO, is the same reason the http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/264491/The-Same-reason-its-hard-to-Leave-your-fav-MMO-is-the-same-reason-the-Genre-is-so-bad.html
Is it possible: For a MMORPG, to have both HardCore PvP and HardCore PvE all in the same game? New Thread
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/264366/Is-it-possible-For-a-MMORPG-to-have-both-HardCore-PvP-and-HardCore-PvE-all-in-the-same-game.html
Once a Develope figures out a way to Have both a Great "PvP focused End Game System" and a Great "PvE focused End Game System" all in the same Persistant MMORPG, then we will have a Smashing Hit. This is exactly what Blizzard has dont with WoW. Give players the option of what kind of End Game they want to do. Many Developers cant seem to do this, or better yet, Do this well.
Does Anybody truly Role Plays in a MMORPG? http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/264036/Does-Anybody-truly-Role-Plays-in-a-MMORPG.html
What I am pointing out here is that a MMORPG game shouldnt rely on Lore as its sole reason for playing. Most players dont even pay much attention to Lore. So when a new MMORPG puts too much Development time into Lore rather then Gameplay and Balance, then you end up with a Problem. Also when the Story is taken to Serious to the point were IP is effecting Gameplay, then we have a Issue, and that IP need to be Kicked to the Curb quickly. (Warhammer and GameWorkshop) is an example of this.
MMORPG without Progression, can it work? http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/263990/MMORPG-without-Progression-can-it-work.html
Again, I seen much WoW Hatred on this topic, so I made a Thread on it. Many people, dispite the way it may seem, Hate the idea of Progression, because of WoW. For example; Some Haters dislike Lvling, because they felt it was too Grindy in games like WoW. (Yes I know Blizzard has shortened it, and made it easier,) but not everybody that hates for this reason, know that. They seem completly against the idea. I seen this on many Forums, not just this site. Also many of these haters, dislike the idea of Gear Progression. once again, I seen threads on the topic, asking for a MMO with no LvLing, and no Gear focused MMOs. Well what would be left? Second Life?
WoW hater who came to the MMORPG genre after WoW, are destroying the Genre, not Blizzard http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/262786/WoW-hater-who-came-to-the-MMORPG-genre-after-WoW-are-destroying-the-Genre-not-Blizzard.html
Once again, Tro points a finger at the WoW Haters. WoW haters are who I feel are the blame for why the genre is so messed up. They hate on any idea that has a strong similarty to WoW. Even if it may be something simple or vague, like lets say, MOUNTS, or PALADINS, or FANTASY GEAR, or GATHERING/CRAFTING, ANYTHING. They will hate on it, and always the question comes up,, "Why do you want to turn (Insert new MMO) into WoW?" or "Why Not just Go back To WoW?". I seriously have to Laugh out Loud at these replies. Why? Because these Communities of WoW haters, act as if WoW invented EVERYTHING!!
LOL
!! Come On. You have got to see the Flaw here. Blizzard STEALS IDEAS FROM EVERYWHERE IN THE MMORPG GENRE!!!, ,,,,, SO IF YOU HATE ON EVERYTHING WoW HAS,,,,THEN YOU BASICALLY REMOVING GOOD IDEAS FROM YOUR FAVORITE NEW GAME!!!! I saw this very often when Warhammer was in Beta, and from Guild Wars community. Its always the same. They Yap and Yap, making the Devlopers not take or use any past great ideas. I talk more about this later on. IMO, vet MMORPG players are the people that should be calling out these people.
Cartoony Graphics not acceptable anymore? http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/263552/Cartoony-Graphics-not-acceptable-anymore.html
In this thread I pointed out a point. That the MMO community's demand Graphic, is what taking away so much from the gameplay production.
OK so it’s ok to Clone Ultima Online, but it’s not ok to Clone Everquest? http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/263740/OK-so-its-ok-to-Clone-Ultima-Online-but-its-not-ok-to-Clone-Everquest.html
This thread, just points out that People who think clones are the blame for their dislike of the MMO Genre, but it is only the fact that they want Clones of their favorite game. Thats it.
Is PvE Raiding hated by the MMO commuity because of WoW? I notice alot of Devlepers taking the Anit-WoW rout http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/262444/Is-PvE-Raiding-hated-by-the-MMO-commuity-because-of-WoW-I-notice-alot-of-Devlepers-taking-the-AnitWoW-rout.html
In this thread I wanted to point out this issue. What I have notice is a large number of MMORPG players that are against Raiding Style PvE, all because they hate WoW. Raiding was a Great way for the Community in a MMO to interact with one another against a (Role Playing) threat to your Ingame People. But with the Rage towards anything WoW related, has killed off the idea of any Large Scale PvE in future MMOs. Closes thing we have Gotton was WARHAMMER's Public Quest system, which feels like a PoorMan's version of a Out Door Raid.
Why so many MMO Games are useing Load Screen World maps? http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/261906/Why-so-many-MMO-Games-are-useing-Load-Screen-World-maps.html
In this Thread, I pointed out that many MMO games seem to be avoiding the idea of Open World. And instead are using Zone Screen Loading. I once again believe this stems from WoW HATRED. Why? Because for years, players have complained about how long it took to Fly from one side of WoW's Map to the Other. After that, MMORPG that were designed for the Masses, would avoid using that system for travel, and instead adopt the Zone Jumping and Zone Screen Loading to make Travel Faster. Which Kills Immersion in these MMOs. The whole idea of a MMORPG is to play in massively Persistant world. Why get rid of that? The only Developers that even try to use this system, are the Developers behind a Nitch game, since they already plan to go after the known fewer population, so they have little to fear regards to what the larger MMO population thinks.
The Reason WoW Clones seem stail and not innovating, isnt because its a WoW clone, but because WoW takes ideas of new games that build off of it, before they come out http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/260935/The-Reason-WoW-Clones-seem-stail-and-not-innovating-isnt-because-its-a-WoW-clone-but-because-WoW-takes-ideas-of-new-games-that-build-off-of-it-before-they-come-out.html
Another thing I wanted to get straight. People claim that future MMO's are not innovating. But that far from true. Even if that Clone the basic backbone of Older games like Everquest and World of Warcraft. The problem is, WoW Steals Ideas AND MAKES THEM BETTER!!! Thats why newer games seem to offer little Innovation. If you dont believe me, just Compare WoW(WoTLK), to WoW(Vanilla), and tell me with a straight face, that Nothing has changed. You Cant, because Much has changed. And most of it come from Future Threating MMOs that Blizzard steals Ideas from. Is this a Bad Thing? No,,,. But the reason I feel it should be talked about, is the fact that the MMORPG community seems to Flame Future Developers for even trying to do the same thing. If Blizzard Steals a neat idea and puts it into WoW, everybody finds that ok. But if a New MMORPG's Developers does the same trick and Steal ideas from those around them, then the MMO Community drops the Hammer down on them, Calling them a WoW Clone or something like that. WTF!
If an MMO does not deviate from the average it WILL NOT do better than average.
PS: WoW did deviate from the average even if no "game mechanic" did.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
That is such a lame excuse.
Hype train -> Reality
Having similar games forces competition, which forces advancements and change. However that means ones are going to fail along the way as their competitors do it faster/better. It's how capitalism works, every industry is that way. Look at just about any product and there's a bunch of people making similar ones, this forces them all to stay affordable and to offer more/better.
As gamers we seem to forget this, and want every game to be the next cool thing. We don't want any overlap and only purely original products. This both won't ever happen and shouldn't ever happen. Competition needs to be there.
Also as gamers we aren't as smart when it comes to product selection, we see a new shiny game and we jump on it and then are disappointed. Don't rush the purchase, do research, wait for honest reviews. Be as critical as you would with any other product before buying. That also means do not preorder, ever. This will force better quality out the door. When you go to make a new computer or buy a new car, how much research do you do on different models and options before going in and test driving the car (or reading performance reviews from sites for computers). Do the same with a game, let it come out for a few months, read reviews, use the trial to really look into the game. Then and only then make a purchase.
Gamers need to be smarter consumers and with that change will come. But there will continue to be similar games in the market because there always needs to be competition. Every time they make a Call of Duty they make a Medal of Honor. They make new Quakes Dooms and Half-lifes to compete with one another. MMOs are the same, there's a popular game and then those that are similar to try and take a piece of the market. This forces the big guy to stay competitive and improve his game so that people stay with it. Competition is good for the market as long as you are a savy consumer.
Also most posters on these forums don't actually understand the limits of technology, and the cost of making a more robust/powerful MMO engine. It is a balancing act. They have to balance how much money they put into an engine to how much they think they can back on it, just like any other product. The MMO market looks big to us, but as far as business goes it is fairly small still. So you can't put 500 million into an engine to make it the most cutting edge engine ever if there is considerable risk you will only make 80-100 million back on that. Computers are also only so powerful, so for servers to be able to handle all those people, all those monsters and NPCs, and all that action, certain features have to be simpler. One of those is AI, the more powerful the AI the less people your server can handle because it is doing so much AI computing, so mobs are dumb to let there be more of them, and more of us.
Players forget about limitiations and let their imaginations run wild. Is there room for improvement in current MMOs? Certainly. Is there room to do something amazing that no one has touched before? No really due to tech limitiations and money limitiations, it really is that simple. Having ideas is easy, everyone can do it, making something of those ideas that is feasible and works is significantly harder.
There has been some great replies and ideas in this thread and I am happy with most of the discussion so far. However I am also saddened by a few of the replies which seem less constructive.
I am a seasoned programmer whom has (in reference to gaming) programmed MUDs, and a few Direct-X games. My main focus is low level programming in c,c++,asm and engine development for applications and embedded systems. I fully understand the limitations on programming but do not accept for one moment that these limitations should produce the cookie cutter MMOs we see today. The sole reason for these MMOs, in my opinion, is because the lack of creativity and talent of the directors and company brass. Nobody seems to want to take chances. Well guess what - life is like poker for two reasons: You have to have money to make money, and you have to take chances and go all-in if you want the big pot.
My definition of failure is: A lack-luster cookie cutter MMO that does not provide any innovation, creativity, or lore. I play many MMOs that have low sub-rates. I do not consider low-subs as a failure like some would. In my opinion, WoW is a failure. Now before you jump on me for that, please understand that WoW does not live up to most people's vision of what an MMO should be - however I will give it the fact that it does provide deep lore and history (checkmark there.) However, the community is horrible consisting of quite a few upset-with-their-life children, the gameplay is way too simple, and the graphics don't appeal to me at all. I believe I could of just been spoiled with Meridian/EQ/EQ2/AO.
We have to stop making excuses for these companies.
tro44, most of those threads are misguided views of the situation.
It's not "I hate WOW. WOW has raiding, so I hate raiding."
People don't think that way. It's illogical.
It's "I dislike raiding. That's part of why I dislike WOW."
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
2 years ago you could be right, but Vanguard does not have 6 digit subscriber count, and AoC is lucky to even break 100k. EQ2 is lucky to hit 150k subscribers and probably is hovering around that point for a couple of years. What makes you think AoC and WAR are still successes for Funcom and EA? Do you know how much it took for them to develop & market these games, and how much they've made? If not, don't just throw that out blindly. WAR was rumored to have cost near 100mil when you combine development, IP licensing, and marketing. Rumored. If that rumor is true, then WAR most definitely has not made that money back yet, since they lost 85%+ subscribers and closed down 63 servers within 6 months. You call that success?
True recent success stories from smaller companies are Eve and LOTR Online. Both were made from smaller companies, both were less hyped than the big titles we've seen in the past few years, and both have over 250k subscribers. They are success stories, not the other ones you listed.
EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO