A turbulent gaming trade fair E3 has come to an end. And to not much surprise, no new MMORPGs were announced at the fair this time. We want to hear your opinion: Is the time for MMORPGs over?
E3 – much new, but no online RPGs
The really big announcements among MMORPGs were absent at this year’s E3. Although there was a trailer for the upcoming SWTOR expansion and also a pirate MMORPG kind of appeared, the representatives of the MMORPG section were rather reserved. The last major releases, such as WildStar, are struggling with player decline and are barely keeping up, even though TESO is currently feeling some wind under its wings thanks to console ports. Even World of Warcraft seems to be feeling this trend more clearly than in previous years. Other genres, like MOBAs or asymmetric games (the new “Fable”), are still on the rise.
Cortyn says: Even though the genre of MMORPGs is proclaimed dead every year, I believe that we are at least heading strongly toward a pause in new developments. The market – at least on PC – seems to be saturated and aside from small new releases, not much is happening there at the moment. Occasionally, a game will be released here after years of delay, but truly new “WoW killers” are no longer being developed.
We are on the brink of a transition to new gaming technology. In the coming years, virtual reality headsets will become suitable for the mass market. I think this will be the perfect time to redistribute the MMORPG pie. For me, no conventional game will ever come close to the excitement that WoW generated back then – unless a game allows me to truly immerse myself in the world. What was considered a pipe dream just a few years ago and was only depicted in utopian series like “Sword Art Online“, suddenly becomes reality.
As soon as I can fully immerse myself in a world with a headset on, the genre will boom again, stronger than ever before.
But now it’s your turn! How do you see the future of MMORPGs? Why are there currently so few new developments? Is everyone just waiting for a good moment and new technology? Discuss with us in the comments!
