Continued from Part 1.
Vanguard sticks out as one of the biggest failures in MMORPG history. The game was praised as the hardcore player’s wet dream; promising as it was, the publisher made a crucial mistake by releasing the game before it was finished. The coding was largely incomplete, and the game required extensive polishing.
Without proper coding or optimization, the players who played Vanguard felt they had been sold an unfinished product. This lead many players to cancel their subscriptions and move on to another game. Furthermore,the developers were forced to spend their time fixing coding issues after the game was released.
Players left the game in droves, and Vanguard would become just another failed MMO.
Hellgate: London had many of the same problems. Many players had the feeling that the game was unfinished when released and the developers should have been given more time. Even now, Hellgate: London players feel that the developers are still working to finish their game. Continued…
Looking back at 2007, we can see that a record amount of MMOs have been released. As World of Warcraft hit ten million subscribers — setting a new milestone in MMOs — many people look forward to see where the MMO will be in ten years.
Will World of Warcraft still be on top? Will a WoW killer be released in 2008? What can kill a MMO? To find out, we must look to other MMOs who have withered away and examine their deaths.
Studying what kills an MMO can be an involved process. The life of an MMO is affected by countless variables and changing just one of these variables could result in a game’s upheaval. In 2007 alone countless MMO titles have died; Vanguard, Fury, Hellgate: London, and Tabula Rasa were all very promising, yet somehow they fizzled out.
While some MMOs have a dedicated audience that will allow a game to live on for years, other MMOs have had their population decimated in a matter of months. Many MMOs are destined to burn out quickly in a crowded and turbulent market. Continued…
Halloween is coming up, and many MMOs are creating special holiday-themed in-game events. If you like ghosts and goblins with your grinding and ganking, check out these games: Continued…
In an interview about NCSoft’s publishing deal with Sony, NCSoft CEO Geoff Heath dropped this little gem: “I think there is a difference between PC and console players but there’s overlap as well. Our view long term is that people who have traditionally only played on PC will actually now start transitioning to PS3.”
We’ll find out if he’s right in due time, but native mouse and keyboard support will go a long way toward alleviating the concerns that PC gamers have with consoles.
Despite the growing market for MMOs on the consoles, NCSoft will continue developing for the PC. Guild Wars is doing well, with over 3 million copies sold, and more expansions are on the way. Continued…
NCsoft has sent word that Guild Wars: Eye of the North will have a special sneak peek weekend in honor of the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle this weekend. The event will begin on Friday. Check out the details after the jump.
Continued…
NCsoft announced today that the Guild Wars series has sold over four million copies in over two years.
In an MMO world dominated by World of Warcraft, that’s pretty impressive. Unfortunately, this doesn’t speak to the number of active players in the game, but whatever that number is, it will undoubtedly get a boost when the first true expansion is released at the end of this month.
Guild Wars: Eye of the North lets players explore the frozen areas of the Far Shiverpeaks. A preview event will start Aug. 26 for those who pre-order the GW: Eye of the North bonus pack.
