In an industry panel which included comprised of Jeffery Steefel (Turbine), Jeff Hickman (EA Mythic), Robert Westmoreland (Cryptic Studios) and Matt Firor (Zenimax Online Studios), the future of MMOs was discussed, and these panelists came to the conclusion that there could still be life after WoW.
Although World of Warcraft was able to achieve incredible numbers (now at over 9 million subscribers), the panelists feel that there is still room for other MMOs to flourish:
"There's plenty of life after WOW," Westmoreland commented. "The market will segment and diversify, and that's beginning to happen. That's why all these games can exist at the same time."
Jeff Hicks added, "The sophistication of the customer base is constantly changing. There's plenty of opportunity, and it's only limited by the interest of the consumers."
It's still not certain if some of the future of MMOs may take place on consoles. While the group agreed that the PC is the most logical platform for these games, not all of them were so positive about the future of console MMOs.
Hit the jump to read more.
Firor added, "It doesn’t make any sense to make a console MMO unless you’re Microsoft or Sony. The PC is free [to develop for], and there are a whole range of other issues."
They all felt that the key to Blizzard's success with WoW was its simplistic approach. Their "lack of innovation" created a game that was finished and ready to play, and this made the game accessible and user-friendly. While other developers may try to imitate these concepts, they group warns that too much imitation of Blizzard's methods may pose a problem.
Westmoreland says, "I think it's an anomaly, and you can't just focus on that because you'll get yourself into trouble."
[Via GamesIndustry -- thanks, Mr. Donut]
Contest:
10:08 AM on 08.20.2007
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Yes.
WTF ever happened to Huxley? I haven't heard anything in a long time.
Also...
"Do you believe in life after WoW... buh nuh nuh"
1] Be on PC: Almost everyone has a PC in their home nowadays with an internet connection. They could bring it out for consoles too but (unless it was on the Wii) there's just not enough of a userbase to justify it alone.
2] Crappy Graphics: Most anyone can run WoW on their factory built Dell and they don't have to worry about the confusion of whether or not their graphics card can handle it. Granted, WoW has great animation but the poly count is relatively low compared to most games out even a few years ago.
3] Easy 2 Play, Hard 2 Master: If it's too hard for a casual to play, they will not play it, but you want the underlying depth there to keep the hardcore players hooked. WoW does this really well.
Now personally, I hate WoW but I understand it's a solid game. I tried to play it, got into it for a little while, and then just got bored. That and I had no time to invest in it. For me to get into an MMO, it needs to be something that I can playin short bursts and be really involved in combat. Like Phantasy Star Universe, except not crappy. That's the kind of thing that would hook me.
Let's see how Tabula Rasa comes out to be
and.. Where the #*%& is Huxley :o
With CoV, it's fun being a bad guy and each race has a different play to them so replay value is good. I haven't played WoW though I've watched hours upon hours of gameplay (watching my brothers grind on Wow is better than watching them suck on GH2 sometimes)... and though I see the good points about the game there just wasn't enough to suck me in. One things for sure, I've convinced at least 30 people (no lie) to give their life to it.
Can I get a cut Blizzard? Hook a brotha up!