Many MMORPG fans in Germany have developed a dislike for games from China and South Korea over the years, believes MeinMMO author Schuhmann. They will have to overcome this if they want to play a new MMORPG in the next few years. Because all the big new hopes in 2021 and 2022 will likely come from Asia.
Why do Asian games have a bad reputation? With MMORPGs from Asia, it’s a bit like pineapple on pizza:
- For some, it’s a treat, it fits perfectly together and one can imagine nothing more delicious than a Hawaiian pizza
- For others, it belongs straight in the trash
MMORPGs from Asia have not exactly been shining in Europe in recent years.
Particularly the South Korean MMORPG Bless broke a lot of porcelain. Bless came to Europe in 2018, having already failed and been shut down in its home country. However, the developers promised: Here in the West, everything would be new and different. Spoiler: It didn’t work.
Bless didn’t run at all, had many technical problems, and caused medium-sized uprisings on Steam. We issued a purchase warning on MeinMMO at that time.
Other MMORPGs like Kingdom under Fire 2 or Devilian only came to the West after they were already dead or nearly dead in their home countries. Content quickly dried up, and further development practically did not take place.
Those who invested time in the games upon release quickly found themselves disillusioned: Not much happened after the release.
And Bless was an MMORPG that still received a lot of attention. Many Asian MMORPGs that come otherwise remain almost completely under the radar in the West. The taste in Asia differs significantly from ours. Some MMORPGs that are big hits in South Korea and China are not even known to us in the West. When they do find the courage to make it to Europe, hardly anyone pays attention to them:
- The cute Maple Story 2 was a hit on Steam for about 3 minutes before the players ran away and it was shut down just a few months later.
- The 15-year successful Dungeon Fighter Online in China is wilting somewhere in the farthest corner of Steam.
- Even the “WoW from Korea”, Lineage, plays no role for us.
When MMORPGs from Asia are successful, like ArcheAge in 2014, Western publishers still mess it up. Trion Worlds cranked the Pay2Win screw on ArcheAge, blamed the Korean partners, appeared completely overwhelmed by the huge player influx, made mistake after mistake, until ultimately the servers virtually collapsed at the push of a button and the hype around ArcheAge faded.
Even if there are major hope-bearers in South Korea that many are looking forward to here, the games seem to be cursed. While we were still battling the Lich King in WoW, news reached us of fantastic new games from the Far East: Blade & Soul looked like a game from a distant future upon release in 2012. By the time it actually came to Europe in 2016, the anticipation had long since faded.
Even the few successful MMORPGs from Asia that have managed to secure a long-term place in the top 5 have to contend with prejudices. The art style of Black Desert does not appeal to many: too much naked skin, too much oil on the character’s bodies and the constant danger that they might still go crazy and become Pay2Win.
Even the fan-favorite Final Fantasy XIV polarizes in Germany. Although the game has many fans here, it is significantly fewer than in the USA or Japan. When looking at Google’s numbers, Germans love the “classic fantasy MMORPGs” The Elder Scrolls Online and Guild Wars 2 – Final Fantasy XIV remains more in the niche.
MMORPGs from Asia are too foreign, too cash shop-heavy, and too grindy for many in Germany.
No new MMORPGs have come to the West since 2014
That’s why MMORPG players still have to give Asian games a chance: They have no other choice.
The established Western gaming industry has not produced any new MMORPGs since 2014. The new online role-playing games that are still being developed here are indie MMORPGs by small teams that often rely on crowdfunding to bring their grand visions to life.
Often, small teams with little money work on gigantic projects, that promise a lot to fans to gain support and money. However, these promises often fall apart. Even though Ashes of Creation and Crowfall look good, they are currently beating each other to push back the start dates for alphabets, betas, and releases. And these are still the two most hopeful new MMORPGs – there are even bigger question marks over Camelot Unchained, Pantheon, or even Chronicles of Elyria.
No question, anyone who wants to play a new MMORPG on PC or consoles will have to look to Asia.
4 hopeful MMORPGs from Asia are waiting for us
That’s the good news: Until a few years ago, it still looked like the stream of MMORPGs from Asia would dry up. Because there were two trends there that we can hardly relate to in the West:
- Mobile MMORPGs were on the rise, since Lineage M had rejuvenated the South Korean company Nexon overnight
- Moreover, the trend of large theme park MMORPGs, like we like them, has long been moving towards PvP-centered sandbox games, where players build the content themselves – like in ArcheAge or Black Desert
Furthermore, large MMORPGs from South Korea apparently were not intended for the West at all. The Koreans brought their players first to Japan, then China, and finally to numerous other countries of the world, even to Russia, before considering an English, “allegedly global” version.
These 3 trends have at least diminished in recent months.
We estimate at MeinMMO that two MMORPGs from Asia will come to us in Europe in 2021. These are:
- Elyon, a PvP-focused game that goes towards Tera 2.0 – the beta starts already in May
- Sword of Legends Online, which will have a PvE focus – Gameforge promises us a release for 2021
Both games have already been released in their home countries and promise solid genre fare.
With the 2 big breakers, we can expect something later. So, thanks to Amazon, Lost Ark, the Korean hit MMORPG, is finally coming to the West.
Although it does not look like an MMORPG and rather resembles a Diablo with more classes. But Lost Ark is a celebrated and excellent action MMORPG that has made a mark in Korea and has been brilliantly developed further.
The other big hope is Crimson Desert, from Asia’s “westernmost” studio, Pearl Abyss. They developed the most exciting MMORPG of the last 5 years with Black Desert and clearly orient themselves towards the West because they have realized here that they can earn money as long as their MMORPGs look fantastic, have a great combat system, and provide players with a good supply of content and a lot of grinding material.
Crimson Desert does not look typically “Asian”, but rather like a mix of “Game of Thrones” and Red Dead Redemption. The game is supposed to be not really an MMORPG but rather a single-player experience with a multiplayer component attached. This has presumably been recognized as the mix that fits our taste in the West best.
The likelihood is high that either Crimson Desert or Lost Ark will replace one of the “5 big MMORPGs in the West” and will rise to the top league.
Anyone who looks forward to a new MMORPG in the next few years will have to come to terms with the fact that there might be a bit of pineapple on the pizza.
You can read more about the games discussed here in our large article on the most promising new MMOs and MMORPGs of 2021.
