The PlayStation inventor Sony has swallowed the Destiny developer Bungie and wants to develop more MMOs with the new expertise. MeinMMO author Maik Schneider has been active on PlayStation consoles for over 20 years and immediately thought of 5 titles that would wonderfully fit as MMOs.
Microsoft buys Activision-Blizzard – what a headline. Competitor Sony likely didn’t react well either.
Now the Japanese PlayStation makers have followed suit and also bought a gaming company: Bungie – formerly known for the shooter “Halo”, now mainly known for Destiny.
Officially, the deal was not a reaction to the Microsoft acquisition. Sony believes that gaming is changing and that it must keep up with the times. Currently, this apparently means: more live-service games like Destiny 2. Sony even says they have “an aggressive roadmap with live-service games”.
It is quite possible that among these new service games there are also some familiar game franchises. At least 10 service games are expected to be released by March 2026. I present to you 5 titles that I would like to see as MMOs and show how these games could be implemented.
It’s about games that offer you seasonal content, a battle pass, or ongoing updates. Often, the active live service only ends when a sequel is released or the game no longer attracts enough players.
Part of this release strategy involves extensive in-game purchases or subscription fees.
Horizon – Sci-Fi loot in the medieval
What kind of game is this? Horizon transports players into a fascinating future, where humans have lost the ability to use advanced technology. Nevertheless, technology is omnipresent, as animal-like machines roam the world.
You experience the story of the tribal hunter “Aloy”, who uncovers a great secret in her quest for answers.
In a large open world, you should learn to defend yourself against the metallic beings and use them to your advantage. Helpful RPG mechanics support you, granting new strength with each level up.
For a glimpse of the gameplay and the world of Horizon, check out the gameplay trailer for the new Horizon: Forbidden West:
What could an MMO look like? Aloy collects various weapons and armor on her travels. She continuously finds new materials and fights against nasty robot creatures.
The game offers not only initial similarities to Monster Hunter World. An implementation with a large co-op mode and long-term goals within the game would also be fun in Horizon.
The large robot creatures provide a wonderful platform for extensive opponent ideas with various tactics, weapons, and corresponding countermeasures.
Every robot monster must be dealt with in its own way and can take quite a beating before it gives up its valuable parts. These include parts for craftable weapons, armor, and materials needed to build your tribe.
Why does it deserve an MMO? Horizon bridges the gap between sci-fi and fantasy. Seeing the robots wander in this primitive world is a very special experience.
The cohesive gameplay and the colorful and vibrant open world made Horizon a classic in PlayStation history after just a few hours of play.
A true single-player masterpiece that could grow even more with the right co-op mode.
Resistance – Battle Royale’s alien feast
What kind of game is this? Resistance rewrites the history of World War I and II and transforms the world into a hungry alien nest. An asteroid crashed over Russia and from here the Chimera virus spread across the globe.
The virus causes not only coughs, colds, and hoarseness. It turns humans into genuine aliens who spread themselves and their technology all over the Earth.
As an immune soldier, you fight almost single-handedly against countless aliens of all sizes and make use of both human and alien arsenals.
We are embedding a gameplay trailer for the latest installment “Resistance 3” here, but beware: The game is from 2008.
What could an MMO look like? Resistance provides an excellent foundation for a battle royale. As a special innovation, players could compete in 2 factions – humans against aliens.
In the end, the teams must also fight among themselves for victory, but depending on their race, the battlefield reacts differently to players – thus some paths could only open for aliens, others for humans.
Additionally, players receive an active ability unique to their race – for example, aliens could briefly see through walls in PvP, but would injure themselves in the process.
Furthermore, the innovative arsenal of weapons includes firearms like the drill, which could shoot through walls and create force fields. Or the Bullseye, which could stick a tracking ball to enemies, with all other bullets following the marker.
Why does it deserve an MMO? Resistance was a sort of PlayStation “Call of Duty” in its time. The campaigns were bombastically staged, full of action, scripted scenes, and explosions at every corner.
The PvP mode was great if you engaged with innovative systems like the tracking Bullseye. The series allowed battles with 64 players on the PS3. Outside of the Battlefield series, this was a small sensation and had a unique, fun dynamic due to its crazy mechanics.
Resistance came to a sudden end after the third installment but had much of what is now often played in shooters. Big battles like in Battlefield, fast movement like in Call of Duty, and a wide selection of different weapons like in Halo.
A new attempt would surely be deserved for the series.
God of War – Theme park MMORPG of the gods
What kind of game is this? Few characters represent “PlayStation” as much as the god slayer Kratos with his hack-and-slash adventures from the “God of War” series.
On his tours through Greek mythology, the furious fellow brutally kills many gods to take fate into his own hands.
The game provides you with a deadly range of sharp or blunt weapons and mixes it with RPG mechanics to develop you into a professional god slayer throughout the game – who might like to twist the heads of the sun gods.
We are embedding a trailer for God of War: Ragnarok here. Kratos shakes up the gods of Norse mythology in the latest installment and grows into his role as a father:
What could an MMO look like? Kratos has sliced through the ranks of gods and only a few benevolent super-beings remain. The power vacuum leads to demons attempting to claim the warmed seats of the old gods.
Kratos doesn’t care about any of this anymore. However, the remaining gods see him as the savior of the new world and try to create warriors in his image.
Your job here is: aspiring demigods battling through the divine regions to gain strength and wisdom – from Olympus to Valhalla and back.
Similar to Elder Scrolls Online, you will improve your skills and equipment along the way, complete dungeons together, and fight on epic battlefields of mythology to protect humanity from being forever subjected to demons.
Why does it deserve an MMO? For over 15 years, Kratos has been wreaking havoc on the highest levels of existence while remaining unusually lonely.
The series has garnered so many fans – and many would surely like to face off on the battlefield instead of just comparing who has completed God of War III the most.
The mythological background offers so many templates to create vast worlds and fantastic adventures. An MMORPG with an action combat system would definitely be an exciting alternative.
Last of Us – Emotional survival adventure
What kind of game is this? Once again, Sony lets the world go to ruin. In Last of Us, the miserable remnants of our civilization fight against each other and a nasty fungus that has infected a large part of humanity.
The fungus infects the brain and reduces the host’s ambitions to a single instinct: Spread the fungus further.
In this world, you experience the emotional stories of the survivors and sneak through fungus-infested areas. Firearms and ammunition are scarce – skill, bows, and fire are your most helpful companions.
You can get a small insight into the world and the fight of Last of Us in the following gameplay video:
What could an MMO look like? Last of Us has everything to be successful as a survival game in a large open world – just a system for base building is missing.
Similar to Rust or the dino hit ARK, players fight in a PvP environment for scarce resources and must additionally evade the dangers posed by the fungus monsters.
The story could take place a bit further into the future – firearms and ammunition are even rarer, melee combat, stealth, and bows are even more crucial.
The innovative element helps from the fungus heads. The world is divided into manageable regions, and in each there is a kind of germ cell. If the cell is not regularly cleaned, the fungus monsters spread further into the region and begin to attack player bases.
Player bases are generally hard to destroy by other players, but the fungus monsters can do that. Therefore, it makes more sense to prevent the players in a region from controlling the fungus nest.
You must team up with players in your region, fend off foes, smoke out the fungi, and take revenge on enemies. And of course, you can build an oversized base along the way.
Why does it deserve an MMO? Last of Us is an emotional adventure that has captivated millions of fans. A playable drama in a lost world with little hope.
Often, the struggle against the virus is not the central focus – it’s the remaining and degraded humans that turn the apocalypse into a bad world.
The title introduced many players to mechanics from the survival genre who had never engaged with stealth or crafting before – and in a dramatic and perfectly staged manner.
A large survival game in the style of Rust would have the potential to take the step further and sensibly expand the universe around the brain fungus.
inFAMOUS – Destiny with superheroes
What kind of game is this? inFAMOUS follows the story of an ambivalent bike courier who rises to become a superhero without being asked.
You decide whether to use your newfound powers as a helping hand or an angry fist to restore order in the neighborhood.
Over time, you gain more power and feel the effects of your actions on your fellow humans and society.
You can see what power you unleash in inFAMOUS in the original launch trailer from 2011:
What could an MMO look like? inFAMOUS is Sony’s in-house superhero series and thus has much more freedom than titles in the hero worlds of Marvel or DC.
A superhero MMO in the style of Destiny with different classes and the fantastic effects of the space MMO could provide a lot of fun.
Even 10 years ago, the abilities created a strong sense of power. With modern technology, instanced areas, and challenging PvE content, the series has the potential to become a strong co-op experience.
The twist with karma only comes into play in the endgame. Each class offers a good and bad direction that you must choose after the story. When players from different factions meet in the open areas, fights are also possible.
As loot, there are armors and items that affect your normal ranged attacks and special hero abilities. Different attack elements and status changes play a role for greater complexity.
Why does it deserve an MMO? inFAMOUS attempted the bold move to bring superheroes to the console without the familiar faces of established comic heroes and generally delivered.
Many abilities were new to players at the time and they did not want to complete the game only for the story – their own growing powers were also a great motivator. Furthermore, it wasn’t clear from the start whether you would develop into a hero or a villain.
These freedoms that Marvel or DC games rarely offer make inFAMOUS a unique superhero adventure that deserves to be continued in an MMO.
PlayStation has released many interesting titles over the years. Meanwhile, the big single-player games are even coming to PC, reaching a new target group of affluent gamers.
With Bungie, Sony now wants to target the next audience and focus more on MMOs. Which gaming gems the PlayStation developers will pull out of the hat remains to be seen. However, it’s likely that the focus will be on multiplayer adventures, which should please many of us at MeinMMO.
By the way, we discussed what the deal between Sony and Bungie means directly after the announcement in our MeinMMO podcast:
We would also love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Which PlayStation game series would you like to see again? How would you implement the games as MMOs? Do you have anything against my MMO visions?
Discuss with us and the community in the comments on MeinMMO.
