MMOG Makers Say "No Game Will Topple WoW"

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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MMOG Makers Say "No Game Will Topple WoW"


World of Warcraft [http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Pc/dp/B000067FDW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278969746&sr=1-3] can't be beat - That's not just fanboy talk, that's the opinion of several high-ranking employees at some of the world's foremost MMOG studios.

World of Warcraft is a monster. It's a behemoth. It's a juggernaut. It's pretty much any term for a huge, unstoppable force that tramples everything in its path that you'd like to insert here. Remember Warhammer Online [http://www.amazon.com/Age-Conan-Hyborian-Adventures-Pc/dp/B000RZPW9W/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280178374&sr=1-1]? They're still around, somewhere; to borrow a famous line, they can breathe okay, as long as nobody unplugs them. Now, even as a new generation of MMOGs begins to line up for a shot at the title, some industry insiders are conceding that the only way to succeed in the WoW-dominated genre is to stay out of its way.

"World of Warcraft has captured the entire monthly subscription market," said Jack Emmert, COO at Cryptic Studios [http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Online-Pc/dp/B002673XJA/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280178420&sr=1-1]. "There's little room for other games to succeed in that environment. To compound it, companies try to replicate WoW's gameplay. That's silly. If someone wants WoW, they'll play WoW."

"No game will topple WoW," he added. "But I expect Star Trek and Star Wars [http://www.swtor.com/] to do well. The only thing that will topple WoW is time or technology."

Wes Platt of Fallen Earth [http://www.icarusstudios.com/], shares that sentiment. "Considering one of the major new MMO titles will be World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, I think it's unlikely that anyone will dethrone WoW except for WoW," he said. "There are MMOs coming out that have awesome potential, but WoW's pretty safely entrenched at this point."

So what's a poor MMOG developer to do? The secret is simple, according to Jagex COO Rob Smith: Don't mess with WoW. Many games have tried to take World of Warcraft head-on and failed miserably, and Smith thinks developers are finally starting to clue into the fact that they need to try a different tactic. "Unlike in previous years where publishers have aimed directly for Warcraft's audience, the outlook for 2010 looks remarkably different," he said. "A game to topple WoW doesn't have to come from the fantasy genre. Just look at the success of FarmVille [http://www.farmville.com/] to see how popular casual MMOs can be."

Cataclysm [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/], the third expansion to the world's most popular MMOG, is currently in development. No release date has been announced.

Source: MVC [http://www.mcvuk.com/features/629/Genre-Focus-MMO]


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Cherry Cola

Your daddy, your Rock'n'Rolla
Jun 26, 2009
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They said that about Runescape.

Well... I said that about Runescape... BUT I WAS YOUNG DANGIT!

Still though, I'd say that time will kick its ass.
 

Abedeus

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Sep 14, 2008
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The MMO that beats WoW must be easier, a lot easier to play.

Also, Fallen Earth sucks. They are offering 10 day trials already... Also, WAR could be big if developers weren't 2 years late with listening to the playerbase.
 

Punisher A.J.

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Nov 18, 2009
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Its the only game that got game of the year..... 4 years after release.

I found it boring........ damn you lv 50 dead zone!
 

Premonition

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Jan 25, 2010
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Sooner or later they will be crushed under their own fame by the lack of coherent storytelling and the continuous bullying and neglecting of new players.
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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Why is that Goblin in Tier 5? Cool picture though.

I've been saying that for ages. Guess people pay more attention when you're actually in the industry.

Punisher A.J. said:
I found it boring........ damn you lv 50 dead zone!
45-55 is undoubtedly the worst part of levelling for me.
 

Simalacrum

Resident Juggler
Apr 17, 2008
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Thats an incredibly bold statement.

The Roman Empire looked unstoppable. Attila the Hun proved that wrong.

The British Empire looked to dominate the planet forever more.

America is looking like it might be replaced as the world dominant superpower within our lifetimes.

WoW is much, much smaller than any of those things.
 

duckfi8

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Jan 21, 2009
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Eukaryote said:
It'll eventually topple like a skyscraper built on top of a half-metre diameter pole if they keep adding on expansions. I think if Vivendi decides to keep it running(which they will, it is a huge cash cow) they will eventually need to redesign some gameplay mechanics and maybe switch engines, so I think eventually WoW will die, but only to rise from the ashes as WoW II.
I agree with u, I played for a good 2 years, then Burning Crusade came out and I leveled to 70 and I was bored did some raiding but it just wasn't the same to me. Then Lich King came out and I leveled to 80 and did a lot of raiding then the game started to feel more like work then fun and my grades went in the crapper so I quit again. I do plan on playing cataclysm but I do not know how long I'll last before I decide to stop again.
 

addeB

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Oct 2, 2009
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In another article some one at blizzard said that their goal was to be the studio that kicks wows ass, and i think that is very likely.
 
Jun 11, 2008
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What happened to no mention of GW2 if any MMO will topple WoW it will be that. As GW and WoW are the 2 biggests MMOs of their type out there.
 

Valksy

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Nov 5, 2009
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I always wonder if the only thing to kill WoW will be WoW itself - sort of like Star Wars Galaxies did some years ago. Players warned that the so called "New Gaming Experience" was not so much as shooting oneself in the foot, it was more like blowing your whole leg off at the knee. The devs would not listen, NGE went live and there was an almighty exodus.

I suspect ActiBlizzard will end up with a much broader item store than it has at present and that will alienate a hell of a lot of players and maybe open the door to a competitor.
 

Brotherofwill

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Jan 25, 2009
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Yeah, that's the spirit!

You know because not trying is better than failing. Another indication of why video game development is stagnating big time right now.
 

Echolocating

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Jul 13, 2006
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For many of WoW's customers, the MMO genre is still a new and wondrous thing. I personally have no desire to ever play WoW because I already played it when it was called EverQuest. I think the genre itself slowly kills any enthusiasm and desire. Thus when WoW dies of natural causes, people will flock to the next big thing... books, exercising, listening to music, meeting real people face to face, actually leaving the house, speaking coherently without acronyms, etc.
 

Randvek

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Jan 5, 2010
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World of Warcraft won't be beat anytime soon, but it has nothing to do with the game itself. Blizzard did so much to give themselves a good reputation that they had a large, loyal fan-base from day one, and while they've made some pretty big mistakes along the way, they didn't do anything epically bad to erode that player base a la Star Wars Galaxies.

Large fanbase + loyal fanbase + good company reputation + no major screwups = hard act to follow.

The game to topple WoW is going to be a game that isn't trying to topple WoW.
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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Toppling WoW is actually fairly easy. The thing is that nobody wants to invest the money or effort into doing so. People tend to forget how ridiculous WoW's budget was when it was first being developed. What's more it's grown since then due to both expansion packs and free content, new games are competing with WoW as it is now rather than what it was when it first launched. New MMOs tend to be lacking content compared to established ones with developoers and producers figuring they are doing okay compared to what other MMOs like WoW started with.

Stick a couple billion dollars with a team of decent developers and chances are they could kill WoW. The problem being of course that the producers would not see immediate profits and would have to see it as a long term project. This is generally speaking why it hasn't happend.

Hence the theory that we have to wait for tech to advance to the point where WoW won't be able to keep up, even with updates. The ideal being that working with that tech will be cheaper and working off the graphics/sound/whatever will be cheaper than trying to produce enough quality content to compete with WoW as it stands now.
 

klakkat

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May 24, 2008
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About time they admitted it. Honestly, I don't even like WoW, but anyone who isn't a moron has to admit it's here to stay for awhile. Probably the only thing that can 'kill' WoW at this point is time... Gradually, the technology will become too obsolete to continue updating, and it will lag behind newer generations and slowly lose appeal. That process has started, but isn't building steam in any hurry, so WoW is going to be king for at least a couple more years (and probably longer).
 

uppitycracker

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Oct 9, 2008
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Well I don't think ANY MMO will reach the same LEVELS of success that WoW has (and by that, i mean the number of subscribers) simply because for a lot of poeple, the MMO style of gameplay gets to the point where it loses it's fun. Not for everyone, clearly, but starting from scratch is a hard thing to do. Eventually, as with all things, the success of this game will come to an end and a new one will take it's place. But the possibility of another MMO obtaining and maintaining the same level of subscribers and popularity is far from likely, in my mind.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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robert632 said:
I said it once on another thread, the only thing that will beat WoW is WoW2.
Yeah...Blizzard are the only ones who can control this monster.

No one may be able to beat it, but, I hope that dosnt mean people wont even try!