The genre of MMORPGs has been stagnant for years. While there are currently many exciting projects in development, even these have frustrating meme potential.
What is the current occasion for the discussion? The post on Reddit by SrGrafo refers to a video by YouTuber Lucky Ghost, who recently provided an overview of the most exciting upcoming MMORPGs on YouTube.
The message of the attached meme image: The games all somehow look the same. The result: More than 4,600 upvotes (which is a lot for the MMORPG subreddit) and over 380 comments. Remarkably, the thread creator provides countless additional comic memes in the comments, criticizing the state of the genre as well as current projects like BitCraft Online.
How is the community responding specifically?
- Mehfisto666 writes on Reddit: “We’ve been playing old MMORPGs for 30 years and now 10 old-school-like MMORPGs are coming out at once.”
- Wadarkhu jokes on Reddit: “In the next video: 10 MMOs that were canceled.” Jzerox8K adds under the post: “Plot twist: It’s the same video.”
- sampaiisaweeb sees on Reddit a culprit: “MMOs will always be formulaic, and that’s due to WoW. Once a new MMO breaks out of that mold AND is very successful, it will set the new standard. It also doesn’t help that UE5 games have a certain visual similarity due to their hyper-realistic style.”
- Both-Award-6525 criticizes on Reddit: “Most MMORPGs released in the past 5 years have been Pay2Win MMOs from Korea. I have zero hope for a good MMORPG […].”
Chrono Odyssey does not seem typical of MMORPGs from Asia with its fantasy-sci-fi-cosmic-horror mix:
Depressing, yes, but …
How does MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz evaluate this? It is really depressing:
- Since World of Warcraft, the genre of MMORPGs has indeed evolved – for example, in terms of story presentation or combat systems – but other genres have made significantly greater strides.
- The MMORPG genre has been in a drought for 10 years, with only a few major releases.
- Most MMORPGs that have been released in the past decade or are announced for the next 1-2 years come from Asia – which always brings particularities that make it harder for them in the western market. This was also a topic in this GameStar Talk.
- Many still unfinished MMORPGs currently in early access fall short of fan expectations – Pantheon, Corepunk, The Quinfall, BitCraft Online, or Pax Dei, for example.
- As game development becomes increasingly expensive and complex, the genre seems to even regress in certain areas. An example: Black Desert has been king of action combat systems for many years, and all subsequent games have been worse. Many players even focus on reviving the old-school experience of the past, but often fall short of their predecessors like RuneScape, Tibia, and others.
However, the truth is that Asian publishers like NCsoft and Kakao Games are targeting the western market with their upcoming projects more rigorously than in the past. This can be seen with titles like Aion 2 and ArcheAge Chronicles, which place a much greater focus on story and PvE content than their predecessors.
And: With projects like the Lord of the Rings MMORPG, Guild Wars 3, the Warhammer MMORPG, or the MMORPG for League of Legends, ambitious genre representatives are finally being created again in the West, for which we can at least hope that they can become highlights for the beleaguered genre. Unfortunately, it will likely take several more years before we can play these – if at all. For now, let’s keep our fingers crossed that they don’t face the same fate as the ZeniMax MMORPG.
