The gaming industry is no stranger to boom-and-bust cycles, with dozens of opportunistic developers going on a rampage to release copycats of the latest hit, with most, if not all, ending in failure. Perhaps the biggest example – and certainly the most embarrassing for almost everyone involved – was the race to release the mythical “Wow “killer”: an online multiplayer RPG that will overtake Blizzard’s global megahit, The world of Warcraftand make creators millions of dollars in monthly subscription revenue by the end of time.
It turned out to be an epic industry failure – and I had a ringside seat to watch the unfortunate spectacle. My career in games journalism began in 2004, just a few months earlier Wow was fired. My obsessive love of gaming threatened to derail this career before it really began, but instead I turned it to my advantage by specializing in covering a gaming genre that was too arcane and time-consuming for most writers and editors to acquire their expertise. looks around. I have attended many announcement events for those interested in an MMO that public relations reps would optimistically advertise as “The world of Warcraftbut for football” or “The world of Warcraftbut for fighting in vehicles. In 2008, I was hired by Eurogamer to edit its short-lived MMO section – let’s not pretend that we in the press were immune to the same gold rush thinking – and learned first-hand why the whole endeavor was doomed to failure.
One reason is this The world of Warcraft — especially during his prime from 2004 to 2010 — he was simply too good to beat. Another thing is that chasing a hit, which is not the best strategy at the best of times, is almost impossible to achieve in the world of social and online gaming. Hits attract an incredibly devoted, engaged audience that plays them month after month and who aren’t really looking for something else to move on to.
These audiences are hermetically sealed within their own fandoms and care much less about shiny graphics or other technical advances, while constantly updated games have plenty of room for innovation and genre evolution within themselves. The customary “just give it a big license (like Star Wars)” tactic is also less effective in this sphere because the appeal of familiar characters and stories doesn’t necessarily apply – gamers are more engaged in their communities.
However, the industry continues to make this critical mistake when it comes to online gaming. Just look at the spectacular crash and burn Agreement earlier this year, which itself was the latest in countless attempts to knock Overwatch off its hero shooter throne. In the spirit of constructive learning and only a little schadenfreudeLet’s take a look at some of the games that failed to recover The world of Warcrafthegemony… and the few who succeeded.
The Lord of the Rings online (2007): This entry is perhaps a little unfair, as various people have been trying to create a Middle-earth MMO based on Tolkien’s works long before Blizzard even thought about it. Wow. The original developer, an MMO specialist called Turbine, probably thought they were making another niche online game before publisher WB Games got overly excited about its potential. The game was okay, but was clearly a generation behind Wow in terms of design. Yet people still play it!
Conan’s age (2008): Oh Dear. The first and most instructive case of post-Wow hubris came from Funcom, a Norwegian specialist that came out of its depth by trying to cram cutting-edge graphics, gore, sex, and fast-paced real-time sword fighting into an MMO based on Robert E. Howard’s lusty fantasy world. Publisher Eidos put all its chips aside; I remember an absurd press event held in the 1952 Oslo Winter Olympics park, which had been transformed into a medieval setting in which barbarians rode horses and sat by the fireplace. (The PR rep I was with got very drunk and stole a sheepskin rug, roaring senselessly into the Scandinavian night with it on his shoulders.) At launch, the game was a mess and jammed badly.
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (2008): EA’s substantial play made sense on paper; the Warhammer license is probably as close as you can legally get to the Warcraft setting and developer Mythic The Dark Age of Camelot was beloved by hardcore MMO players. The game was lavish and pricey, but had restricted designs and was too focused on mass combat between players Wow he excelled at implementing almost every playstyle imaginable. Warhammer on the Internet it was closed in 2013.
APB: All Points Bulletin (2010): A Grand Theft Auto-style multiplayer game with intense player customization, planned by GTA creator David Jones himself? What could go wrong? All! APB was packed with ambitious features, but particularly lacking in gameplay. Also Jones’ company Realtime Worlds, which had previously created something excellent Break for Xbox, it was too deep. After a disastrous premiere, the developer went bankrupt within a few months APB is closed. Another company bought it and re-launched it, but failed to get a real game out there.
Shooting (2011): The MMO gold rush wasn’t just about gaming; Entire companies sprang up, drawing huge investments from the promise of some revolutionary technology. Trion Worlds was one example that boasted fancy server-side technology that was intended to bring MMOs closer to the fully simulated cloud gaming dreams. Unfortunately, its flagship fantasy MMO game Shooting it was very tedious.
Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011): Wise because of failure Warhammer on the InternetNevertheless, EA was ready for another attack Wowarmed with the Star Wars license, its lead developer BioWare, and a seemingly unlimited budget. The hype was overwhelming, but BioWare specializes in single-player games. Everyone bought it, watched the story and moved on, and that’s… not an idea. However, BioWare did not give up and constantly built a proper multiplayer game around the story campaigns. After the successful resumption of free-to-play, Old Republic it still has an audience.
Guild Wars 2 (2012): Guild Wars 2 it’s a truly fantastic game, easily the best on this list – I feel bad turning it on. Combat was improved and several genre-defining ideas were used and later copied Wow, Destinyand others. However, the scope of this relatively simplistic game did not live up to the expectations that publisher NCSoft had for it – and the ever-expanding Wow he was a moving target that could never be caught.
Wild Star (2014): NCSoft, a major player in Korea, has made the most determined attempt to break into the West Wild Stara game by former Blizzard developers with a color palette and art style very reminiscent of Warcraft. He was cute, pricey, action-worthy and had some cold ideas, but he was also obviously a trend-following mishmash with no reason to exist other than trying to get to the top Wow. NCSoft shut it down and shut down developer Carbine in 2018.
The game almost killed WoW
Ultimate Fantasy 14 (2013): The award for perseverance goes to Square Enix, which simply did not give up and, importantly, had reasons other than competing with Blizzard to create an MMO. Ultimate Fantasy 11 was before-Wow hit in 2002; the first attempt at its continuation FF14 in 2010 was a disaster, but Square Enix bravely scrapped it and asked producer Naoki Yoshida for a complete overhaul. If anything, it was a matter of honor. Yoshida’s reboot rocked, and Square Enix didn’t falter when it didn’t work right away Wow numbers but continued to invest. FF14 was constantly growing and improving, and was ready and waiting when Blizzard stumbled upon a series of PR disasters and lackluster Wow expansions in delayed 2010 and early 2020. Wow streamers and players starting their journey FF14 massively, and Square Enix’s game is finally a competitor to them Wow he always deserved it.
