The MMO Gamer

World of Warcraft - WoW is Killing MMOs

Wired posted an editorial, by Warcry’s Dana Massey, about why World of Warcraft is killing MMOs and ending the pay to play model in 2008 because Blizzard’s World of Warcraft is too successful. Interesting read for those that are bored like myself.

The editorial touches on the fact that since the release of World of Warcraft, only two subscription based MMOs have been slightly successful, City of Villains and Lord of the Rings. Only subcription based MMO that is still doing well before World of Warcraft is Eve Online, which is also the only successful sandbox model.

In the case of Lord of the Rings, the game was a disappointment for the developers, Turbine, despite the game being profitable, because even with the Lord of the Rings’ huge intellectual property, Lord of the Rings never even reached the numbers of players that Everquest had during its peak, about 500,000 players. That is a fraction of what World of Warcraft has, which is about 10 million worldwide now.

Dana Massey also mentions that there are only two big subscription based MMOs being developed at this time, EA Mythic’s Warhammer Online and Funcom’s Age of Conan. Warhammer Online has been cancelled once, picked up by Mythic, and now suffering delays.

I somewhat agree with what Massey wrote as the data doesn’t look too bright for the future of traditional subscription based MMOs, considering the fact that if you put all the active players of other MMOs, the total amount of players will not even be close to the player base of World of Warcraft. Frankly, that’s pretty sad.

Personally, I beta tested Lord of the Rings and I thought it was an interesting and fun game but I never really got into that game as I was still playing World of Warcraft as the time. I didn’t buy the game when it released mainly because none of my friends were going to buy it and part of the appeal of MMOs, at least for me always, is to play with friends.

I have always had a soft spot for Turbine games because Asheron’s Call was the first MMO I ever played and still have good memories of that game. I also brought Asheron’s Call 2 but never had the time to play that game due to school. But what I heard from my brother, Asheron’s Call 2 was quite a step down from the original Asheron’s Call, despite having killer graphics and being one of the few games that offered instanced dungeons during its time.

I also brought Dungeons and Dragons Online because of the Turbine brand but I didn’t enjoy Dungeons and Dragons Online too much due to it’s group focus gameplay. At the time, I didn’t have the time to commit to a group when I just wanted to play for a bit solo, something that World of Warcraft did really well.

I actually want Warhammer Online to be successful just so that World of Warcraft can have some competition because, as of now, Blizzard has a monopoly on MMOs. Plus, I’m getting tired of World of Warcraft. I’m not too hyped with Age of Conan due to the simple fact that I never really got into that universe. Wonder if a Warhammer 40,000 MMO, since the 40k series is actually more popular than the Warhammer Fantasy series, would be a good idea….we’ll see I guess.

Update:
MMOGChart released a study on MMO subscriptions. Apparently, World of Warcraft owns 62% of the market, haha. Pretty sad considering Blizzard came into the genre without much experience. Blizzard’s brand name is just too overpowering. Hope the MMO market can survive with Blizzard’s shadow, if not…Starcraft MMO anyone?? Anyways, good job Blizzard.

The chart can be view here from World of Raids, or at MMOGChart’s site. Your pick.