Forums > News > MMORPG Suicide?

user avatar

Ronald Diemicke (1181) on 6/20/2006 3:00 AM · Permalink · Report

Today, according to Gamespot , THQ’s resident Brian Farrell was questioned about the lack of major publishers entering the MMORPG gamespace. His answer was pretty much that no one is willing to put a serious effort into a fantasy MMORPG to try and topple Worlds of Warcraft while its at the top of its game.

WoW is easily dominating the competition, but his quote on Gamespot almost makes it sound as if there is absolutely no reason to compete at all. Shouldn’t this be encouraging someone to change the business model to find a way to introduce new gameplay to beat that of WoWs rather then just giving up on producing any MMORPG at all? Do you guys think anything has a chance of beating WoW while it’s still going strong? What would it take to draw players from WoW?

user avatar

Matt Neuteboom (976) on 6/20/2006 3:13 AM · Permalink · Report

I'd hate to say it, but I agree. There is no way another RPG will become popular as long as WoW is still going strong. It would be nice to see someone challenge the authority, but corperations aren't like that. If they see no profit from it, there's no reason to try it. Its like the title of this topic says, it would be MMORPG suicide, and companies aren't willing to put themselves at such financial risk just to challenge an RPG that at its prime.

user avatar

Sciere (923797) on 6/20/2006 7:13 AM · Permalink · Report

ArenaNet and NCsoft announce today the Guild Wars franchise has sold more than two million units worldwide to date. In further news, sales data from The NPD Group shows Guild Wars Factions as the number one selling PC game in North America for the month of May 2006.

That doesn't sound too bad, and they use a completely different concept.

user avatar

Maw (833) on 6/20/2006 7:25 AM · Permalink · Report

Wtf, I thought we were going to hear about something interesting like a teenage girl commiting suicide because her cyberboyfriend dumped her or something.

Guild Wars seems the only game at the moment with the slightest chance of competing with WoW. I certainly hope it continues to do well. WoW is a good game by all accounts, but no one company should entirely control the market.

user avatar

Ronald Diemicke (1181) on 6/20/2006 6:10 PM · Permalink · Report

Guild Wars is an example of what happens when companies try to kick off a new concept and don't limit themselves by what everyone else is doing.

However, you could make the argument that Guild Wars lacks the MM part of most MMORPGs.

user avatar

Riamus (8480) on 6/21/2006 12:49 PM · Permalink · Report

Agreed. Guild Wars is not really a true MMORPG. Besides that, I never did like the limited choice of how you look (armor) and having to start quests from the beginning if you have to quit for some reason, especially considering quests are quite long in Guild Wars.

Anyhow, Guild Wars is strong because it's free to play. If a company were to try and compete with WoW and charge a monthly fee, do you really think it would compete? Probably not. WoW really is a great game and is currently the only game I'd be willing to pay a monthly fee to play... it's that good. I think you'll find that most people who like MMORPGs will agree with that last comment.

So, should companies try to compete? If they can afford to, certainly. If they can make it with a free monthly fee, then definitely. But most just won't take the financial risk right now. There are things that can make WoW a better game, but are there really enough of them to allow another game to outdo WoW? Especially when Warcraft is such a popular series? Probably not. Wait a few years and maybe.

user avatar

Sciere (923797) on 6/21/2006 1:15 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

And Electronic Arts says: WOW's monthly income is what we spend on coffee.