I do not know. The 2030 deadline is easily plausible from a development standpoint, given a level of competence on staff. I question the commitment from even the industry heavyweights after Blizzard canned Titan. Blizzard could easily put out something that would fit most anyone's description of "Western AAA MMORPG" by 2030, but I don't think they would even consider that without a major turnover in executive management.
I can't think of another major development team with the finances, management backing, and creative drive to attempt that kind of undertaking. Beyond 2030, who knows? Like @Kyleran, I'm on the clock here. I expect that I won't live to see another major MMORPG released in whatever time I have left.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
I could easily see it being 2030. My big hope is that we get at least something by the time I retire.. I can't imagine sitting around all day with nothing to do and nothing play.
To above poster.... Blizzard has been targeting what i call ongoing cash flow for a very long time.Most of their games are not buy and play,they are cash shops trying to grab our money everyday every minute. I play for example a game called Atlas,i bought it and can play it whenever i want ,mod it how i want,do what i want,Blizzard would NEVER,in a million years release a product with that standard because there is no more money to be made beyond the initial selling point. So far in Atlas,updates,new content,NO COST,Blizzard would never do that.People are set to pay blizzard a LOT of money to replay what they cal VANILLA,,lol,i can play ANY form of Atlas i want because i can run my own server or find a server setup i prefer. So to say "blizzard can EASILY put out a western product"is far from the truth,VERY far from the truth.They could put out a product,but likely not one i would endorse.
Western MMO is imo TOO WEAK,it is very limited in what you can do.The most recent one has the LOOK,the saloons,some proper dialogue but in the end there is not much game so ends up with goofy ideas like BR mode.It roves two things,the devs have no clue how to do anymore with a western or they don't care either way.They want to keep people around even if adding an idea like a BR means removing the whole theme world of the game and turning it into a simple objective mode.
Personally,i could do a MUCH better job of making a Western,likely because i grew up watching westerns,the cowboy movies,lots of them,was sort of a fave of mine.Shane,John Wayne movies,the good the bad n the ugly "Clint",The Rifleman "Chuck Connors",3:10 to UMA ,just way too many to list.The stage coach runs,the banks,the Indians,crops/farming,building of log cabins,Sheriff's,Bandits etc etc ,all needs to be reinforced within the game.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
You also have Zenimax Studios working on another MMO.
MMO and MMORPG are 2 entirely different things.
Yet everyone and their mother knows on this site (and most of the gaming community) we use MMO.....no one regularly types out MMORPG anymore. MMO is short for MMORPG, as well as being its own made up bullshit by some that I personally am not buying.
AAA meaning a LOT of money put into it. I can see maybe another Final Fantasy mmorpg sometime down the road as they have a pretty die hard fanbase and might be interested in upping the graphics and the like. Other than that, I don't think we'll see any western mmorpg's coming out with that type of money behind it.
Not unless it's some sort of hybrid. But not a "world."
the amount of money these things take and the chance that they would never get a critical mass of players, isn't worth it to large companies.
It's smaller games. And I hope they can do it. There are so many naysayers that those who want these types of games are either going to have to bite the bullet and learn to love indy games or just move on.
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Western AAA MMORPG two come to mind. New World by Amazon still in alpha and the New Lord Of The Rings also by Amazon
New World is not a traditional MMORPG at all - it's a survival game hybrid crap
Amazon has no interest in making traditional MMORPGS period.
I kind of disagree to me it seems like Amazon is targeting the EVE Online crowd with the New World game. Essentially offer some brainless solo/duo content, then have weekly PvP timer events for territory control.
New World just straight out fails at being a survival game since the most compelling aspect of the genre is making your own house/base and setting it up. That in that game that virtually all building happens on the "guild level", rather than individual level that a survival game would normally have. So essentially really good at making PvP mass content timers, over anything else.
EDIT: So more MMO-y than most people will give it credit for, even though it's worth being on my own ignore list.
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"At one point technology meant making tech that could get to the moon, now it means making tech that could get you a taxi."
I've been thinking this in terms of when will we see the second coming of the mmorpgs: when will a game be made that trumps WoW in it's heyday when it had 12mil subs and propel a similar movement of mmorpgs as WoW did. The game would have to be spectacular and it might be that such a game will not be made any time soon... maybe not in a couple of decades... or even longer...
Talking about games where thousands of players exist simultaneously in a single instance and mechanics related to such games.
You also have Zenimax Studios working on another MMO.
MMO and MMORPG are 2 entirely different things.
True in a sense but the phrase "massively multiplayer" doesn't magically change to mean "massive number of player accounts but limited player concurrency" by simply removing the RPG.
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Outside of SE, probably wont see one. Only Blizzard would do one is if they honestly aren't apart of Activision somehow. But hey, maybe there will be a new AAA company or something. Feels like Disney is trying to branch into everything over the past decade.
At this point i don't really have faith that blizzard has the creative gusto to pull off another mmorpg, as it stands at the moment, they seem creatively bankrupt and flip flopping around on things releasing half finished systems etc...
overwatch was meant to be an mmorpg, but they couldn't get it to "work well or be fun" they had a lot of cool concepts etc.. but in the end they couldn't make it work right together and it got busted up and the assets got used for overwatch...
so i wouldn't look to them for another mmorpg anytime soon.
I would think that everyone is watching what happens to Classic WoW. I think that's going to be a litmus test for the market,
Clearly, if it does well and stays consistently popular, then we can infer that it was the failure of the developers over the last decade who couldn't figure out what players would subscribe to. If it fizzles and flops, we will infer that there just isn't a good enough desire from players and there will probably be nothing to follow.
Personally, I don't think this is a very accurate test, but I think that regardless, it will be THE test that decides if AAA MMORPGs are viable in the West or if they are a thing of the past like 1st person puzzle solvers (like Myst).
Couple of points here
1 - Trying to use a 15 year old game which the majority of players have already played and are going back to because they liked it better (apparently) is hardly a solid test of where the market should head going forward.
2 - You'll never know if it's successful or not, blizzard stopped publishing numbers years ago and there is no real metric to weigh against when it comes to it's popularity as it's baked into retail sub.
3 - Anyone who bases any furture development going forward off a re-released 15 year old game which while it may have a decent playerbase is still a niche playerbase shouldn't be making games anyway.
But I expect there will be at least one other by 2030. I just can't predict by whom.
I think there will be many games by 2030 that may or may not be AAA and may or may not be MMORPGs.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
You also have Zenimax Studios working on another MMO.
MMO and MMORPG are 2 entirely different things.
Yet everyone and their mother knows on this site (and most of the gaming community) we use MMO.....no one regularly types out MMORPG anymore. MMO is short for MMORPG, as well as being its own made up bullshit by some that I personally am not buying.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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So, AAA was originally a term to mean the game was superior in quality to the general market. It was a way to set yourself apart from the average and had nothing to do with budget (though, a big budget is usually required to achieve that high quality).
My originaly prediction from years back about AAA MMORPGs was that we will first require the indie scene to produce a load of innovative MMORPGs. Once they've done that, the big companies will then try to copy and polish those innovative ideas, potentially giving us our first AAA western MMORPG in a very long time.
I originally thought we'd get there by 2025.
I figured the indies would be releasing round about now - SC, Camelot Unchained, Crowfall, Ashes of Creation, Chronciles of Elyria etc. I expected most of them to be pretty bad but to include innovative features. For example, Camelot Unchained is the first MMORPG, pretty much in over a decade, that is actually embracing "massively multiplayer"! The one unique selling point of our genre that has been pretty much ignored for 10+ years, CU is embracing. Will it work? Who knows, but it might just show the big companies that it is possible and can be a lot of fun. Crowfall, with it's unique soul mechanic and ever-changing campaigns.
However, those indies are taking longer to make than everyone expected, which means it's gonna be even longer before the AAA devs can to copy and polish their ideas.
So, 2030...? Hopefully!
But without those indies, companies capable of making a AAA game will continue to either avoid the genre or repeat the same design ideas we're already used to, thus preventing them from actually making a AAA game.
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I do not need and AAA game anymore. I'd be happy with a low key MMORPG with easy fun grouping, housing, farming, with an anime vibe. I think a lot of INDIE company's could pull this off quite easily if their heads weren't made of stupid.
I think the closest i've seen was maplestory 2, but anyone that played that knows the how many flaws occupy that game.
For example, Camelot Unchained is the first MMORPG, pretty much in over a decade, that is actually embracing "massively multiplayer"!
Kind of pushing it on the statement. All Camelot Unchain trying to do is try not to crash when there are large amount of people in the same area.
Getting lots of people playing the game in the same area is only part of the problem, its been done before after all, the problem is how easy is it to hack, if you look at Planetside 2, then you can have the numbers, but you also get the hackers and that can be a much bigger issue.
For example, Camelot Unchained is the first MMORPG, pretty much in over a decade, that is actually embracing "massively multiplayer"!
Kind of pushing it on the statement. All Camelot Unchain trying to do is try not to crash when there are large amount of people in the same area.
Getting lots of people playing the game in the same area is only part of the problem, its been done before after all, the problem is how easy is it to hack, if you look at Planetside 2, then you can have the numbers, but you also get the hackers and that can be a much bigger issue.
Should be ok. Any RvR games from mark jacobs or his disciple don't have much hack problems.
I'm not sure what the problem with planetside is, if the problem is specific to shooter.
For example, Camelot Unchained is the first MMORPG, pretty much in over a decade, that is actually embracing "massively multiplayer"!
Kind of pushing it on the statement. All Camelot Unchain trying to do is try not to crash when there are large amount of people in the same area.
They are taking it much further than simply not crashing when you reach massively multiplayer numbers (though, being able to achieve that is still better than 99% of the market).
They are also creating systems to make being massively multiplayer enjoyable. On the combat front, they're going with horizontal progression to make sure power gaps dont destroy people. Group sizes are flexible, so a "raid" leader can create a group with 100s of players in it, thus faciliting management of large groups of people. There's player collision, which should open up more large scale tactics beyond just the zerg. Then of course the whole building your own castles and fortresses, requiring masses of people to build and masses to seige and destroy.
Compared to every other MMO I've played, that goes way beyond what I've seen before. Normally, being MMO simply means just allowing a lot of people in the same zone, there is never any content or systems that actually try to make use of that fact. And that still confuses the hell out of me, considering that being massively multiplayer is the only unique selling point of the genre.
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Comments
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Blizzard has been targeting what i call ongoing cash flow for a very long time.Most of their games are not buy and play,they are cash shops trying to grab our money everyday every minute.
I play for example a game called Atlas,i bought it and can play it whenever i want ,mod it how i want,do what i want,Blizzard would NEVER,in a million years release a product with that standard because there is no more money to be made beyond the initial selling point.
So far in Atlas,updates,new content,NO COST,Blizzard would never do that.People are set to pay blizzard a LOT of money to replay what they cal VANILLA,,lol,i can play ANY form of Atlas i want because i can run my own server or find a server setup i prefer.
So to say "blizzard can EASILY put out a western product"is far from the truth,VERY far from the truth.They could put out a product,but likely not one i would endorse.
Western MMO is imo TOO WEAK,it is very limited in what you can do.The most recent one has the LOOK,the saloons,some proper dialogue but in the end there is not much game so ends up with goofy ideas like BR mode.It roves two things,the devs have no clue how to do anymore with a western or they don't care either way.They want to keep people around even if adding an idea like a BR means removing the whole theme world of the game and turning it into a simple objective mode.
Personally,i could do a MUCH better job of making a Western,likely because i grew up watching westerns,the cowboy movies,lots of them,was sort of a fave of mine.Shane,John Wayne movies,the good the bad n the ugly "Clint",The Rifleman "Chuck Connors",3:10 to UMA ,just way too many to list.The stage coach runs,the banks,the Indians,crops/farming,building of log cabins,Sheriff's,Bandits etc etc ,all needs to be reinforced within the game.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Yet everyone and their mother knows on this site (and most of the gaming community) we use MMO.....no one regularly types out MMORPG anymore. MMO is short for MMORPG, as well as being its own made up bullshit by some that I personally am not buying.
But leave it to DMKano to educate us all....smh.
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Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent.
"At one point technology meant making tech that could get to the moon, now it means making tech that could get you a taxi."
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
overwatch was meant to be an mmorpg, but they couldn't get it to "work well or be fun" they had a lot of cool concepts etc.. but in the end they couldn't make it work right together and it got busted up and the assets got used for overwatch...
so i wouldn't look to them for another mmorpg anytime soon.
1 - Trying to use a 15 year old game which the majority of players have already played and are going back to because they liked it better (apparently) is hardly a solid test of where the market should head going forward.
2 - You'll never know if it's successful or not, blizzard stopped publishing numbers years ago and there is no real metric to weigh against when it comes to it's popularity as it's baked into retail sub.
And I no longer know what mmorpg means.
But I expect there will be at least one other by 2030. I just can't predict by whom.
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I'm not sure what the problem with planetside is, if the problem is specific to shooter.