Flop 4: WildStar – the timing was just off
Not only did we consider WildStar before its release to be a hot title that would entertain MMORPG fans for years. And when the first reviews came, the impression was confirmed: WildStar is really good! But barely launched, the rocket fell apart into its individual parts. Many bought it, but very few played it in the second month.
The switch from a development studio to a live team failed at Carbine.
Instead of delivering content patches from the start as actually planned – a lot of time was now needed to fix bugs, address issues in the structure of the game, and make WildStar more accessible and beginner-friendly. For the few who liked it, they offered too little “new.”
Was 2014 already a valley of tears for WildStar, 2015 was a tragedy. One waited forever until the inevitable free-to-play switch was announced. When it finally happened, 2015 was already well underway, and the MMORPG market was buzzing again after three-quarters of a year: With Heart of Thorns in Guild Wars 2 and a growing hype for Black Desert and Blade and Soul.
And WildStar still lacks that “X-factor” that brings a mass of players to log in day after day.
The numbers had been getting worse and worse before the start of the free-to-play switch, the likable public developers of the game are all gone now, the free-to-play switch has fizzled out – it doesn’t look good.
For 2015, a small miracle would have been needed – that did not happen. Such a great game with strong approaches, we concluded again in our F2P test of WildStar … it’s disappointing.
While in the past someone was always working on something, turning Lord of the Rings, Star Wars or The Elder Scrolls into an MMORPG with a high budget, there’s none of that today. Too much money has been burned in recent years, too little success achieved by the companies.
No single “big” western MMORPG will be released in 2015. Also in 2016, the kitchen will remain cold. When MMO sites make a list of “new releases for MMOs in 2016”, they get mocked: Those aren’t MMOs, they say. Or “You already had those in 2015; they won’t be released anyway.”
The sober reality is: The only AAA MMORPG that the West is developing, is Everquest Next. And about the heavily announced title EQNext, there was practically nothing heard in 2015. The studio had difficulties elsewhere – even the fate of former president John Smedley would be worth landing on this flop list here. The development process for EQNext involves working a long time on the basics without being able to show anything; for that, it should go quickly in the end.
There’s a positive side to this development in the MMORPG genre: There’s now more space for niche MMORPGs without huge budgets, without state-of-the-art graphics, full voice acting and all the frills. Funded through crowdfunding and developed by veterans, they could provide impulses for the ailing western MMORPG genre. If it doesn’t come from the big studios – then maybe from games like Crowfall or Camelot Unchained.
For players who are asking: What’s next? Who’s doing what? Who’s making my WoW with graphics from 2015 instead of 2005 – are currently met with disappointment.
And at number 1, an old acquaintance …
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