The biggest flaw in this "analysis" is that these same claims were made -before- WoW. EQ was the big dog then, and "the market for MMOs has been pretty well capped at 2-3 million" WoW made it absolutely clear that 2-3 million was not the entire market, and that it most definitely is possible to make money even on unimaginably large development costs.

Actually, I didn't hear -anything- new in this piece...these claims have been being made for the last 10 years, every single year. Even though not a single one has ever proved to be correct.

*animation

Adding video to channels (Animation) - requested by Trancecoach.

>> ^Stormsinger:

The biggest flaw in this "analysis" is that these same claims were made -before- WoW. EQ was the big dog then, and "the market for MMOs has been pretty well capped at 2-3 million" WoW made it absolutely clear that 2-3 million was not the entire market, and that it most definitely is possible to make money even on unimaginably large development costs.
Actually, I didn't hear -anything- new in this piece...these claims have been being made for the last 10 years, every single year. Even though not a single one has ever proved to be correct.


I always was surprised that EQ's dominance lasted as long as it did. I think the designers for EQ had some serious sadistic tendencies, and they got so enamored with their own success that they essentially never responded to player feedback about anything, and refused to change the gameplay in any real way.

WoW on the other hand seems to have been designed from the ground up to be colorful, simple, and fun, and to go to great lengths not to frustrate people. EQ had been losing subscribers for years when WoW came out, and there was a mass migration to it. After that, all those network effects (i.e. all my friends play WoW, so I can't leave) worked in WoW's favor, as people dragged over their friends, and tried to bring in new people who (understandably) found EQ pretty hard to get in to.

Now, I do sorta have this feeling that WoW is in that slow decline mode now -- I haven't really played in over a year myself, and I can't remember the last time Blizzard made a big splash about how many millions of people they have subscribed.

I kinda think Star Wars: The Old Republic has a chance to really spark another mass migration. It'll probably draw in a new, untapped audience too; it's Star Wars! And unlike Sony's Star Wars: Galaxies, I think SW:TOR will actually be good.

Mostly though, he has a point -- WoW wasn't a clone of EQ with minor changes around the edges, it was a major upgrade of the genre. Just having prettier graphics and a different fantasy setting isn't really going to get people to pull up roots and move to a new game.

I'm also wondering when they're going to announce World of Starcraft, now that Starcraft 2 is out. I guess Blizzcon is coming this fall...

One thing that bugged me about this video: There have been many types of MMOs that aren't RPGs... We had racing, FPS, 3rd person action, adventure, etc... Most still failed.

>> ^braindonut:

One thing that bugged me about this video: There have been many types of MMOs that aren't RPGs... We had racing, FPS, 3rd person action, adventure, etc... Most still failed.


I enjoyed Savage thoroughly. Hell, I even purchased it!