Broken
Toys
Random comments about
games and tractors
“Roofle pwned, scrubs”
THQ: World of Warcraft’s success means making an MMO now is misguided.
Well, I guess we can stop, then.
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Random Bits of Lum
Broken
Toys
Random comments about
games and tractors
THQ: World of Warcraft’s success means making an MMO now is misguided.
Well, I guess we can stop, then.
| Print article |
about 4 years ago
In other news: we shouldn’t go back to the moon and the earth is flat.
about 4 years ago
The great wall will keep out all invaders!
Rome’s Army can not be beaten!
British forces are unstoppable!
etc…
/yawn
about 4 years ago
My body thetan level is dangerously low!
about 4 years ago
Look at all this incredible cynicism! =)
But I have to admit:
1) WoW raised the bar of the MMO, it’s still ProgressQuest (www. progressquest. com), but it did raise the bar.
2) If you read carefully: “”I think what you will not see THQ do is come out with another fantasy-type game”. Emphasis mine – this is good. Please stop building elves and orcs. Do something new. How about a HORROR mmog, or MILITARY or anything but fraggin Elves and Orcs?
If anything, the market is going to do 2 things: fight for WoW marketshare with more dirivitive fantasy, and force other publishers to take risks outside the average system.
So, his statement is effectively true, but it’s not “WoW is undefeatable, so give up” which it seems a lot of people are thinking it is.
about 4 years ago
3) Penny-Arcade linked to WoW.
4) Penny-Arcade made comics about WoW
And here’s the kicker…
5) Penny-Arcade said they liked WoW.
It was over for every other MMO after that.
Not even their Anarchy-Online-like servers could kill what PA did for them.
about 4 years ago
WoW is a gateway drug. There are far more people willing to pay a monthly sub for an enjoyable game experience today than two short years ago.
When someone gives me a better experience than WoW I’ll give them money. Of all the WoW-killer betas I’ve applied to in the last 6 months I’ve not seen anything even remotely close. The sample size, admittedly, is pretty low this year though. Apparently “I’ll be honest when you ask me if I like your game.” is not an effective comment for alpha/beta-entry.
about 4 years ago
Most people leaving WoW would be going on to another game, one would assume.
So how much sense does it make to wait for people to start leaving WoW (read: start fresh new addictions elsewhere), then release your game and expect them to come to you. Well, I guess that’s still more conservative than trying to be the WoW-Killer!
about 4 years ago
If your target is 3 million subs then I think the CEO is right on. It’s not going to be easy to attract that many new people to your game with that WOW juggernaut.
about 4 years ago
Crazy guy here… There are 30 million MMO game players just waiting for an account with *your* company.
All you need is a game that appeals.
WoW has just made that first dent in the lockroom locker door… Now everyone knows a hard smack on the locker door isn’t that impressive when Upper Classman WoW dented it!
Well, someone is going to come along and take the door off and then someone else is going to come along and tear down the school.
Stop being impressed by WoW and start kicking thier ass.
You know exactly like WoW did to EQ…
about 4 years ago
I’m wondering two things:
1.) Just what percentage of their playerbase is composed of casual players (like adults with jobs, families – - – ever tried to tank for a raid with a newborn to care for? I didn’t think so – - – etc) who like the fact that from level 1 to level 59 you can play this game in small chunks of time, with your wife/husband/partner/friend/whatever and maybe some few random folks to get you through instances?
2.) How many of those folks don’t like the fact that once you hit 60th, you now need to join a professional raiding guild in order to enjoy most of the content, and that this requires a time commitment that most of the casuals (again, tried to raid with a newborn kid in the house?) simply don’t have. I bet the number of alt’s and twinks that I see in this game has a high correlation to casual players having no other “end game” choice but to reroll.
I also wonder what the long-term health of WoW’s going to be if they don’t put in some sort of “alternative advancement” system by which you can slowly but surely improve your character in incremental time expenditures. Even with the expansion to 70th level, how long is that going to last for folks unless they make the exp point slope for levels 61-70 get a lot harder.
about 4 years ago
God, that THQ guys is an idiot. I was just chatting with an investor on the phone the other day about why more publishers aren’t interested in MMOGs.
You don’t try to outdo WoW, dummy. There’s TENS OF MILLIONS to be made on moderate sized MMOGs that only get 50K – 300K subscribers. And plenty of people willing the play those niche titles.
Bruce
about 4 years ago
“WoW is a gateway drug. There are far more people willing to pay a monthly sub for an enjoyable game experience today than two short years ago.”
I can sorta believe this, but I think this can only be achieved by a big-name developer with a lot of followers and a lot of money. Anyone else can make an MMO but they won’t ever see huge numbers, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be profitable. It’ll be like any other game in a genre: Everyone buys Unreal Tournament but New Name Low Budget FPS With Larger More Alien Guns will get maybe half as much.
about 4 years ago
“I think there’s a world market for about five computers.” – Thomas J. Watson, chairman of the board of IBM
about 4 years ago
What SirBruce said. The future of MMORPGs is a few top dogs aiming for the “mass market” and subscription numbers from six figures to WoW-like to beyond and a plain crazy variety of offerings with “subscription” numbers in the five figures which monetize the heck out of their playerbase. Sooner or later someone is going to figure out “Hey, many of our customers are time-sensitive and mostly price-insensitive if the experience is right”. Many of these models will not resemble “X people paying Y dollars each for service which is identical”.
Or, basically, the future of MMORPGs is the present in Korea
about 4 years ago
THQ has had a “no online games” policy for years. I think Jessica Mulligan even mentions them specifically in her book about online game production. Yeah, they bought that semi-NCSoft spinoff in Austin, Vigil Games, but I don’t think they’re going to make online games now.
And yeah, I agree with them. Unless you’re prepared to go head to head with WoW, there’s that much less of a point to do a MMOG now. And I don’t believe most people making a MMOG right now are prepared.
about 4 years ago
I understand why we see articles like this because of the nature of the beast. It is all but a fact now that playing an MMORPG cuts down on your spending habits in other genres. So companies get all foozled out thinking that you can’t jump in and compete.
However, I think companies are just looking at the MMORPG market wrong. You don’t need to make WoW. You can budget a half way decent game ala EVE Online and cut yourself a nice piece of the pie that pays the bills.
The problem is developers just want to smash and grab. They want that magic formula that guarantees the bills get paid. Once they have their foot in they damned well don’t want to lose it, but the arguement can easily be made that making the same game over and over just secures your demise rather than ensure a future.
about 4 years ago
Zoinks! The man’s got a point. Don’t get into making ‘yet another elves and pixies hammerfest’ till WoW is losing subs. In fact, just stop it already with the ‘yet another elves and pixies hammerfest’ and do something bonkers nuts off the wall different…
! “The Black Death MMO” 14th century Europe, no ‘magic’ just pustule raddled hags… with laser swords and tanks.
! “2001 A Space Odyssey MMO” Psychotic giant supercomputer, monkeys and lots and lots of space. With laser swords and tanks.
No?
about 4 years ago
almagill,
Exactly except for one thing\’e2\’80\’a6 most people enjoy stories about things they can relate to directly. From \’e2\’80\’9cM.A.S.H.\’e2\’80\’9d to \’e2\’80\’9cJerry Seinfeld\’e2\’80\’9d to \’e2\’80\’9cFriends\’e2\’80\’9d to \’e2\’80\’9cCheers\’e2\’80\’9d the longest running most successful RPGs on TV (and yes, I don\’e2\’80\’99t care in my opinion they aren\’e2\’80\’99t sitcoms they are RPGs) have been 180 degrees away from where the most successful online RPGs have been. Maybe Sims online was before it\’e2\’80\’99s time or perhaps it lacked a basic story. Was probably the story part that killed the game.
about 4 years ago
500,000 seemed like a lot of subscribers back when EQ hit that mark. To say ’5 million people are playing WoW, game over’, in a world of 6 billion people who increasingly have access to computers and broadband seems…ridiculous? Short sighted? Eh, pick your own description.
One day there will be an MMORPG with 50 million people and I suppose we’ll hear the same arguments then.
about 4 years ago
D-One said,
“Maybe Sims online was before it\’e2\’80\’99s time or perhaps it lacked a basic story. Was probably the story part that killed the game.”
I think it was the lack of achievement that killed it – for me at least. There was no ding in Sims Online. So I could make pizzas. That took all of a few hours to master if that. There was a lack of conflict. There was a lack of things to do. Sure, I could dress up and dress up my house, but that’s not enough. I like fluff, but I don’t want my entire experience to be fluff.
about 4 years ago
What I think article meant to say – STOP FUCKING CLONING DUKI MUD, you uncreative bastards.