To fill in for a more substantive post…
While I was reliving my 1/1/2000 experience over the weekend (i.e. patiently moving from system to system verifying that the time change really worked for every task and process… all night long), I was reflecting on the recent MMO releases, and wondering if we’re seeing a fad, a trend, or something else.
By way of explanation, an (incomplete) list of the major releases in the U.S. MMO market since January 1 would run something like this:
- Vanguard
- WoW (Burning Crusade)
- Lord of the Rings Online
- Guild Wars: Eye of the North
- Dungeon Runners
- Mythos
- Fury (?)
- Hellgate: London
- Tabula Rasa
- 9Dragons
- Tales of Pirates
- Sword of the New World
Like I said, very incomplete, just the ones I can remember seeing off the top of my head, but I think it still somewhat gets the point across. Throw in the cancellation of Gods and Heroes, the delays for WAR, AoC, and Pirates of the Burning Seas, and the shutdown of Auto Assault for good measure.
The question is, would you say we seeing a long-term trend toward somewhat “lighter”, more “action-centric” fare in the MMO marketplace, is it more of a short term fad, or just a statistical anomaly of some sort?
My own take is that it represents somewhat of a trend, but not a bad one or heralding a “loss” of anything. It seems to me to be a natural result of greater integration with the Asian MMO marketplace, as well as expansion of the boundaries of what an “MMO” is. Persistent worlds of the EQ/WoW/LoTRO mold are becoming just a subset of the genre: the “persistent character” aspect is becoming the hallmark, and I suspect, at some point, simply “persistence” of one or the other will be sufficient, in combination with an ability to accommodate large numbers of simultaneous players and allowing them to interact in play. (In other words, Diablo 2 over Battle.Net is essentially “becoming” an MMO ex post facto, as it were.)
However, I can also see arguments for “fad” (the year of the action MMO) and/or “anomaly” (these “lighter MMOs” take less time to make, so of course we’ll see more of them released than of the old “virtual world” types). So, what’s your opinion? I’m curious…
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November 5, 2007 at 7:04 am
Tobold
I’d rather call it a short-term trend towards action-oriented. Because I had the impression that the more action-oriented games coming out this year didn’t do particularly well. This might have to do with the generally older demographic of MMOs. Or it is just that action-oriented combat doesn’t make a very good basic building block for a game that you expect your customers to play for months if not years.
November 5, 2007 at 8:42 am
Ophelea
PotBS was only delayed due to distribution issues – Sony wanted it on the shelves in all markets at once…so don’t put that on your list of “problems”.
And Perpetual is self-funded. When G&H missed its Sept launch date, it couldn’t earn the money necessary to fund the ongoing development of both the platform AND Star Trek. One of the three had to stop. G&H could have launched in the middle of AoC and WAR, but that would have been disastrous for two reasons: 1) the genres are two similar to the casual eye and 2) G&H is mean to be an easily accessible game. This leads me to my next point.
G&H, The Agency, and a few others in production are meant give any user accessibility with the OPTION of short game play. Neither would/will lack depth. But there’s a broad swath of the market that is afraid of MMOs because they are like Vanguard or EQII, etc.
PoTBS certainly isn’t simple. I can’t imagine KotOR will be. Nor will Warhammer 40k or a few others.
As far as the entrance or influence of the Asian market? This would be a good thing if it were done well and successfully. But to date it hasn’t been. Dungeon Runners could be, but it hasn’t gotten there yet.
November 5, 2007 at 10:58 am
Aaron
First, I’m not sure I would group all those together. Sure, they’re all online and involve many players. But do they directly compete with each other? A bus and an airplane both transport many passengers, but planes usually represent much greater travel distances than buses. Buses can be used for long travel distances, but the airlines don’t consider buslines to be direct competitors. They’re both transportation, but the popularity of one generally doesn’t interfere with the popularity of the other. Likewise, all those games might be MMOs, but that doesn’t mean they’re direct competitors. And if they’re not, that makes judging trends a little trickier.
Anyway, I don’t think a focus on action is a short-term trend. The genre is adapting to the technology. As internet technology, hardware, and software continue to improve, we’ll see more fast-paced and action-focused MMOs. I’m sure slower-paced, more strategy-oriented or simulation-focused MMOs will continue to be made. You’re right that attempting to appeal to Asian gamers is part of the motivation toward action, but I think it’s more the technology.
I’m excited to see it happen. My favorite genre is Action-RPGs.
November 5, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Lars
I don’t think its a fad. Action-oriented MMORPGs are probably what most MMOs will be in the future. They are more popular (even in non-MMO play, action RPGs supplanted the traditional strategy-based RPG long ago) and they lend themselves well to casual play if you can get dropped into the fray within seconds of starting up.
Though, as someone who prefers slower, more strategic RPG play, I hope I’m wrong.
November 6, 2007 at 5:29 am
damianov
An interesting and wide range of perspectives, as I suspected.
On a side note, I didn’t intend to imply anything about the delayed titles beyond that they had been delayed. I like the complex titles, myself… tho I do have my list of ways they could be made better, like probably 90% of the rest of the world
. I don’t see them going away, either… I just think the market is becoming more diverse, which should be good for everyone.
Anyway, gotta bolt, doing the election judge thing again this year. Woot, school board and 1 city levy question. We’re gonna be _swamped_ (NOT)…