The studio Improbable has been the biggest hope for players wanting to bring back the “Massive” in MMORPGs with its technology SpatialOS for 5 years. Now the developers present a new project: In the first trailer, M² (MSquared) appears close to the film “Ready Player One.” The technology is supposed to enable battles for over 10,000 players or massive parties.
Why is Improbable the biggest hope for MMORPG fans?
- Improbable is a project of entrepreneur and multimillionaire Herman Narula: He designed a technology, SpatialOS, which is supposed to enable huge simulated worlds. With the technology, he aimed to elevate MMORPGs to a new level.
- The technology attracted early investors; the company “Improbable” received an investment of over $500 million in 2017. Since then, Improbable has been considered a big player with the potential to create something great.
- Initially, it was planned for other studios to use the technology to create gigantic worlds. However, there were failures with the first games. Since then, Improbable increasingly acts as a developer itself.
Battles for 10,000 players or massive parties – 1st trailer
This is the new thing: The project is called M² (MSquared). It aims to support both existing worlds and new projects with the Morpheus technology.
The idea apparently is to create a massive virtual space where more than 10,000 players can interact with each other. In initial comments, viewers compare the spectacle to Spielberg’s film “Ready Player One.”
According to the developers, companies can either present
- “epic battles for over 10,000 players” or
- “parties for thousands of fans with their favorite musicians”
.
Here is the first trailer for “MSquared”
Instead of MMORPGs, now the Metaverse
What is the idea behind it? Improbable is directing its technology not at players, but at companies and investors who are supposed to use its technology to promote their products.
In a statement, Improbable strongly believes in the “Metaverse” as the next step in technological development.
There was also a financial boost for the new project: Softbank is said to have injected $150 million, having also backed the $500 million investment (via frontofficesports).
How have the projects performed so far? In the last 5 years, there have mainly been failures with SpatialOS. Rather small indie MMOs have relied on the miraculous technology, but no game has really been able to establish itself:
- the beautiful Worlds Adrift was shut down early
- the VR MMORPG Nostos had no significant success
- Scavengers, which was co-developed, and Zenith – The Last City are running, but have yet to establish themselves, even though Zenith seems to be on a good path.
The Metaverse must also be filled with content
What’s behind it: Although Improbable has been the big hope for MMORPG fans for over 5 years, it seems that no one has yet been found who can use the “miraculous technology” in a way that results in something truly relevant.
The new project from Improbable also appears to be just a toolkit that someone with a vision and a big budget needs to find in order to create something really great.
For MMORPG fans, this is a rather disappointing development: What Improbable shows in the trailer looks a lot like what has existed in Fortnite for years, albeit on a much larger scale. The idea of a “living, simulated world” becomes a concert stage.
The buzzword “Metaverse” seems to be driving many people with money crazy at the moment. But actually building this whole “Metaverse” story probably requires more than just the technology and a few hundred million dollars:
Steam boss Newell says: Many who rave about the Metaverse probably have never played an MMO
