by Chris Noll on Dec 22, 2009
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It's rare that an MMOG developer will ever state they plan on taking
on World of Warcraft as a serious competitor. In fact, this is the only
time we remember anyone going on record and saying that. But this is
just what Square Enix has done with their plans for Final Fantasy XIV.
Will the new title be able to fell the beast? We take a look at this
prediction in today's Loading... To Slay a Dragon.
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You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse (
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
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Here are today's top 5 Pulse results:
WorldBiggest movers today:
CityLast week president of Square Enix, Yoichi Wada,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78409">stated in an interview
that they believe Final Fantasy XIV
will be a serious rival to World of
Warcraft's throne. That's a pretty bold statement, and no one to
my recollection has ever made such a claim. A typical developer
response when asked if their game will take on WoW is something along
the lines of "that's not what we're trying to do. We're simply making
an alternative game."
The Final Fantasy franchise
certainly has the name to make a good attempt at taking over the number
one spot. The IP has been a favorite of many gamers all the way back to
the original Final Fantasy
game which was released at the end of 1987. That's a full four years
before Blizzard was even founded and a whopping seven years before the
pioneer Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
was born in 1994. Does older necessarily mean better though?
Well, let's take a look at this analytically. Using the term "better"
may be a bit fast and loose. WoW isn't necessarily a better game than
some others, much like a burger from McDonald's isn't necessarily
better than one from Red Robin. McDonald's has more customers though,
and by business standards would be viewed as a more profitable and
successful franchise. So to take over WoW's #1 spot on the top of the
charts, maybe we don't necessarily need to look at the quality of the
game but simply the market appeal. Can Square Enix market a game as
successfully? It would be tough as the MMO market has already been
deeply penetrated.
This leads us into another hurdle any game would face when vying for
the title of top dog. MMO gamers by nature are viciously territorial.
We needn't look any further than forum posts when a new game is about
to launch to see a large number of fans of other IPs expressing their
opinions that the new game will suck. Trying to convince a player to
leave their current game, particularly if they're still enjoying it, is
much like trying to take a bone from a wild dog. You're probably going
to get bit in the process.
Wada's statements seem to demonstrate that they're not going into the
fight blindly. He said that they "believe there is a number of people
that will stay attached to each title, but we are optimistic in that
sense for Final Fantasy." An important part of any battle is knowing
what you'll be facing, and by this statement it would seem Square Enix
are quite aware of what lies ahead.
Will Final Fantasy XIV have
what it takes to defeat World of
Warcraft? We will certainly find out. But one thing's for sure;
after a statement like that, many will be watching.
Who will hold the title over the next decade? Let us know your thoughts
in the
forums.
6 new Ten Ton Hammer MMOG
features today! 101 in December! 2,282 in
2009!
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78431">The Cause of
style="font-weight: bold;">Mass Effect - An Interview with the
BioWare Founders
From writing medical software to producing a string of epic bestselling
RPGs like Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, Dragon Age:
Origins, and the upcoming MMOG Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare
founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk know how to tell a tale
with a game, but they also have a few tales to tell of their own. Learn
about BioWare's founding, what a Greek eggplant dish has to do with the
conception of Mass Effect, and much more in The Cause of Mass Effect:
An Interview with the BioWare Founders, only at Ten Ton Hammer!
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