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EA Once Killed A Harry Potter MMO Due To Concerns IP Wouldn't Last 'Longer Than A Year Or Two' | MMO
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EA Once Killed A Harry Potter MMO Due To Concerns IP Wouldn't Last 'Longer Than A Year Or Two' | MMORPG.com
According to a new interview, Electronic Arts was working on a Harry Potter-themed MMO which it canceled before it got off the ground. This information comes from former director of marketing Kimberly Salzer, who stated in an interview with Original Gamer Life that the MMO was 'killed' by the company due to concerns the IP wouldn't last long.
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Between this news and Middle Earth Online I'm permanently heartbroken.
@LackingMMO - 2000-2003 is way before loot boxes.
They said they had "beta built out" in 2000-2003 which means the game would've been closer in design to GW or SWG.... fuuuuudge...
It's a generational thing. HP was kinda the Millennials' alt Star Wars; since they seemed to dislike Star Wars Prequels.
MAKE THE GAME FUN
That is how you ensure sales. They have game development so backwards now. Its all about money, ignore the fun. We need passionate game developers, not drones who can only think about profits. Pick your favorite game from back in the day, guaranteed it was NOT made EXCLUSIVELY for PROFIT, it was created because the lead developer had a PASSIONATE DREAM they had to turn into reality. Until game developers get back to their roots of making dreams into games, then games will continue to go downhill and make bad choices.
A "harry potter-verse" video game would be awesome.... Either before or after the movies so we don't have to worry about story crossover. HOWEVER, this only works in the single player story aspect. The wizarding world doesn't have enough in common with mmorpgs. Look at what you can do in most mmorpgs. Basically kill everything, choose sides in story, and maybe crafting things. Explore the world, and run dungeons. Does the HP-verse fit those ideals? NOT REALLY. Now a solid single player game, that is more story driven, less "open world" would make for a killer game. And there is already one coming out soon enough. The real reason to deny HP-verse mmorpg, is because it just doesn't fit the mmorpg ideals. Players wont really be able to "craft" their own wand. Now going star wars size, jedi and sith make their own lightsabers, it makes sense. It fits. The harry potter verse, everyone gets their wands from a wand seller. Sure there are those that MAKE the wands, but it just doesn't fit with an mmorpg.
The best way to make mmorpgs, is to have your own original IP to use. Instead of relying on known established things. Dungeons and Dragons works because it fits how an mmorpg would behave. Star Wars fits because of how the story and universe is. Harry Potter, doesn't fit the murder hobo style of mmorpgs. And even if you try to shoot for a social mmo, eventually people would get bored of it. Which you could say "they were right about losing interest" but really its for a different reason. On that note, can't wait for the new fantastic beasts film. The third of the prequals. So dope. The preview has me so hyped.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
then they would had closed it like warhammer online
black desert is not an ip.
Also while Final Fantasy has some popularity, it's nowhere near enough to explain FF XIV's popularity. FF XIV is just good enough game to succeed on its own.
And ESO has at the moment (on Steamcharts) 4 times more players than the next popular Elder Scrolls game. Elder Scrolls was great IP for an MMO, but ESO is not alive because of that.
None of your top 5 is going strong because of their IPs.
Also it's much telling that the games that actually rely on popular IPs don't even make it to your top 5 list. You're just listing games that either use a new IP created by des for that game, or a game using new IP created by the devs for one of their previous games.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
An MMORPG could easily focus on being an adult wizard. Getting away from Hogwarts would allow them to create a game world fit for an MMORPG (Hogwarts is not big enough for an MMORPG game world by itself), and could also open up narrative options that wouldn't be possible if we were stuck in school at Hogwarts.
In fact, I'd say the only way to do an HP MMORPG would be to avoid Hogwarts altogether.
My main concern were things like are we all going to be playing kids and how would the official storyline fit in?
I do agree on the cheapening of lore though, WoW is possibly the worse offender of all, but then I think the longer a MMO is out the worse the offending gets even in the games that stick more closely to the lore like Lotro. But you seem to think Lotro is as bad as the rest? I criticise a lot of what Lotro has done, but in comparison to WoW they would have had to have Elrond going over to the side of Mordor for one dlc and then going back to the side of the Free Peoples for the next dlc to be as bad.
You seem to suggest that raiding and PvP is the cause of most of the lore abuse, can I suggest some bias on your part there? It is not those parts of gameplay that give us Noldorian mages and a fisticuffs class in Lotro or cross overs and so on. Indeed I would say more abuse comes from areas outside of core gameplay mechanics. But it is there, One Tameriel is a good example of core setup stomping on lore but had little to do with PvP or raids.
In one way I am with you, the lore changes cheapen the books, so for that reason I would have preferred the Hobbit films were never made. But I think for games I except more lore nonsense because it is a game, gameplay means lore will suffer. I can live with that.