Whispers on the Wind

A Ten Ton Hammer Editorial on MMO Rumors

By Garrett Fuller

May 8, 2007

Despite the claims of “saturation” by many in the gaming field, the MMO market continues to grow at a rapid pace. If you have been following the industry you have heard loads of rumors and stories about upcoming announcements slated to be released this spring. With the wind taken from E3’s sails, there still seems to be a lot of companies hoping to announce large new projects that could take several years to finish. Rumors abound, yet no one is talking.

However, it seems that the newer studios are hoping to get away from the saturated fantasy market and move into a new setting with their upcoming MMOs – science fiction. Now this isn’t a virgin market; arguably the largest IP out there, Star Wars, is a sci-fi product.  However, SOE’s effort was poorly executed; the game has become an example of what not to do to your player base.

EVE Online is an example of a sci-fi game that has done very well for itself. Continuing to grow its player base despite a hesitant launch, the EVE team continues to add new features and the game has set a strong precedent on how to bring MMO style game play into the sci-fi genre.

Another contender to the sci-fi crown is the long-running, Anarchy Online. While this title also suffered from a sloppy launch, the game continue to bring in players with it’s free-to-play business model and refined, in-depth content. Although it’s prime was in the early part of this decade, Anarchy Online is still holding onto one of the few spots in the sci-fi genre.

As we stand there are two or three major players in the sci-fi genre, yet with this current crop of rumors, the horizon is glowing with the future of potential sci-fi MMOs.

Blizzard holds all the cards in the MMO world right now. They have the biggest game even after two and a half years on the market. World of Warcraft dominates the market, no questions asked. Keep in mind Blizzard’s older games also remain some of the most popular PC games of all time. Diablo 2 and Starcraft still are regularly played by on Blizzard’s Battlenet. Speaking of Starcraft…

If you have not heard, there’s a rumor spreading across the internet of the announcement of a Starcraft MMO. And it makes absolute sense. It is an IP that Blizzard controls entirely. It has a strong history among gamers. Last of all, why not make a sci-fi MMO when you already have the top selling fantasy MMO? The biggest thing about the Starcraft MMO is the time it will take for the game to come out. Remember, World of Warcraft had a long development cycle, and the developers at Blizzard are perfectionists when creating a product. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens with this title.

The next huge rumor circulating the ‘net is the Bioware MMO. Many web sites are already saying that a Knights of the Old Republic MMO is expected to come out from Bioware. Is there any truth to this? Well, Bioware certainly is not giving anything away and they have been working on an MMO for some time now. We’ll just have to wait and see what the announcement is over the next few months.

The third game that is expected to compete in this sci-fi MMO market is coming from THQ and Vigil. Games Workshop’s hugely popular Warhammer 40,0000 universe is set to be created in MMO form. Now the game and plan for development have already been announced. The contract was been signed by THQ after the success of Dawn of War. Any news people hear concerning this game is very speculative, since the licensing deal was only signed a few months ago. That being said, there are a ton of 40K fans out there and loads of options for players in this vast universe. Keep in mind, Warhammer 40K has an over twenty year history.

So will these games be the big three of 2010-2011? What about the endless original IPs that we will see from studios like Red 5, 38 Studios, and Colony Studios? What will those companies bring to the table in the ever growing game market of the next five years? The other issue is that MMOs are already making their way into the console wars. With consoles starting to host more and more multi-player content, games will have to adapt across platforms.

For us old timers in gaming, I want to mention the years 1981-1982. This was an interesting year for RPG gamers in the old days. Dungeons & Dragons became a huge deal throughout the end of the 1970s. It dominated the market of RPG titles. By the time 1982 hit, you saw the impact on popular culture. Movies like Conan the Barbarian and Dragonslayer were hitting the theaters. In those years, a flood of games hit the market trying to capitalize on the popularity of RPGs. There was a strong explosion of games that came out of the late 1970s which flourished in the early 1980s. As a gamer – and a kid at the time – it was great to be around for those years. In video games and MMOs, we are starting to see a revolution on a much larger scale. Games have become a mainstream form of entertainment in our culture. Hopefully, we will see the sci-fi MMOs take us in a new direction of game play that will make us feel like kids again. 

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