Can anyone beat World of Warcraft?
With over 10 Million subscriptions and record sales of Wrath of the Lich King, the latest World of Warcraft Expansion, Blizzard are clearly the ones to beat. Both Warhammer Online and Age of Conan have launched to mediocre results compared to the Juggernaut that World of Warcraft is.
So, will any Developer come close to the level of success that Blizzard currently has? While there is no definitive answer on the subject, I’d like to provide my own insight as to what developers might want to take into consideration while they’re developing an MMO.
Try a different genre: While high fantasy is one of my favorite genres, the MMO market is only so big, meaning that trying to overcome Warcraft is going to mean thinking out of the box. City of Heroes is a great example of what I’m talking about. Comic Books and Superheroes appeal to a very board demographic and while the execution wasn’t flawless it was a big step in the right direction.
Provide a beta test: Trying your hand at a new genre can be hard, which is why open beta testing is one of the best ways to get feedback on what does and doesn’t work. It can also provide good press which is exactly what you need at this point.
Listen to your community: One of the primary reasons MMOs fail is due to lack of communication with the community. A prime example of this is Star Wars Galaxies. Sony Online Entertainment released a “Combat Upgrade” in order to fight the decline in subscribers. Doing this backfired on them and caused a bigger drop in subscriptions.
Don’t make promises you can’t keep: In other words, don’t get in over your head. If you’re going to promise “X” amount of content don’t get shocked when people don’t buy the game if you only launch with “Y” amount of content.
Make it assessable: One of the best things about World of Warcraft is how easy it is to play with limited guidance. If a mother of three can play the game and get the same experience out of it as a hardcore MMO player, you might be able capture some of the casual market.
Maybe your game isn’t meant for retail: A popular alternative to selling you game in stores is making it free to play but offering extra items for a price. A great example of a company doing this is Nexon, which publishes Maple Story, a very popular 2D MMORPG that generates revenue through a Cash Shop.
Consider multiplatform developments: A very popular trend theses days seems to be multiplatform development. SOE actually has two MMOs planned for the Playstation 3 and PC; One being The Agency, a game that lets you be a super spy like James Bond and of course, there’s DC Universe where you can fight alongside your favorite DC Heroes to take down villains like the Joker and Lex Lutor.
Advertise it: Seen those ads for World of Warcraft, where celebrities like Ozzy Osborne and Mr. T are talking about playing the game themselves? Yeah, well it’s a clever and funny way to get people interested in the game.
You aren’t competing with the World of Warcraft from 2004: I know it isn’t fair but it’s the truth. You need to pay attention to it in it’s current form if you’re even dreaming of having the same sucess. Free content upgrades and interactive story elements like the ones seen before the release of Lich King is one of the reasons people stick with World of Warcraft.
In closing, I’d like point out that alot of developers are already taking some of these ideas seriously. Realtime Worlds has APB, a GTA-styled MMO, slated for next year and of course there’s Huxley a MMOFPS from Korean developer Webzen.
Will these two strikingly diffrent games have what it takes to preform on a level comparaable to World of Warcraft? Only time will tell, but I have a strong feeling they will both do extremely well for themselves.
Somebody already beat WoW,their name is Turbine.
LOTR was fail EOD you shit c***, warcraft > all mmos FACT
what do you mean, was fail? you mean when it was released? It actually ran and played great without any serious problems or glithes,unlike WoW.