From Hope-Bearer to Preordained Accident: For the MMORPG Theme Week 2026, our genre expert Karsten Scholz has compiled the most important online role-playing games of the coming years into a tier list.
How was the tier list created? Our genre expert Karsten Scholz evaluates the most important MMORPGs of the future and ranks them in a tier list. He focuses on those online role-playing games he considers the most well-known currently in development. This includes games that are currently in early access.
If he missed a niche project that you think should definitely appear in the tier list, feel free to mention it in the comments!
The ranking comprises the following tier levels:
- S-Tier: These are the big hope-bearers that have the potential to truly excite a broad community in the West as an MMORPG, and sustainably so.
- A-Tier: There is potential for a really good MMORPG with these games, but there are concrete question marks and isolated warning signals.
- B-Tier: Here lie MMORPGs that could be quite fun in a small niche in the West, but probably won’t go beyond that.
- C-Tier: When these games are released, they will go down in history in the West as flops or great disappointments in the MMORPG realm.
- D-Tier: These titles are unlikely to ever be released.
During this week, you can expect exciting articles every day around the topic of MMORPGs. Included: nostalgic retrospectives, exciting analyses from notable industry veterans, previews of upcoming online role-playing games, and lively streams.
Here’s the program for the grand MMORPG Theme Week 2026 from MeinMMO
One of the most exciting MMORPGs of the future in the trailer – Guild Wars 3:
Tier List of Future MMORPGs (2026 and beyond)
| S-Tier | Guild Wars 3 The LoL MMORPG |
| A-Tier | Aion 2 ArcheAge Chronicles Chrono Odyssey Honor of Kings: World |
| B-Tier | AdventureQuest Worlds: Infinity (Remaster) Apogea Corepunk Danu: Rise of the Templars (formerly Avalon: Rise of the Templars) Dark Continent Drakantos EverQuest 3 EverQuest Legends Hana Horizon Steel Frontiers Persist Online Prism 2033 Scars of Honor Stars Reach Tera 2 |
| C-Tier | Anseion Asteria: Fate of the Fallen Architect: Land of Exiles Arvita Ascent Quest Ashfall Avalon (Metaverse) Brighter Shores Camelot Unchained City of Titans Depths of Erendorn Elderwood Online Embers of the Uncrowned Epitome Eternal Tombs Fractured Conquest Grimrain Havenhold Hollowed Oath Interstellar Utopia Isekai Guardians Kaetram Lunar Lakes MapleStory Classic Might of Spells Monsters & Memories Past Fate Pax Dei PlaneShift Ragnarok Online 3 Realm of Simplicity Secret Forest SpaceCraft Spawn World SpiritVale Teredor The Starlight The Tau Experiment World of Titans MMORPG WorldShards |
| D-Tier | Ashes of Creation Bellatores Chronicles of Elyria Into the Echo MIR5 MMORPG for Lord of the Rings Profane Starfall |
The Biggest Hope-Bearers for the MMORPG Genre
Why do the games in the top two tier levels deserve the S and A rating? Let’s briefly go through the MMORPGs!
The MMORPGs in S-Tier
- LoL MMORPG: If a Western studio today has the money, ambitions, and team size to put its own stamp on the MMORPG genre, it’s Riot. Simply because the Runeterra franchise has such a large fan base through League of Legends, Arcane, and other titles, the risk of developing an MMO could pay off for Riot in the end.
- Guild Wars 3: Hardly officially announced by ArenaNet, the hype is palpable. There is currently no other MMORPG that the Western community is looking forward to as much. No wonder! ArenaNet has already proven twice that they can finish great MMOs. And they are willing to meaningfully change the player experience with a successor, allowing all games to coexist. Hardly any other studio is more experienced.
The MMORPGs in A-Tier
- Aion 2: It is already a great success in its home market, but for it to also succeed globally, NCSoft needs to make some adjustments in the Western version – especially regarding monetization with its various subscriptions and battle passes. If they do that, Aion 2 could rise to become the world’s largest new MMORPG of recent years. If not, it faces the fate of Throne and Liberty.
- Chrono Odyssey: Yes, the test in summer 2025 was sobering and revealed many weaknesses. However, the test also showed great potential and enormous interest from the MMO community. Moreover, the devs made the only right decision to significantly postpone the release in order to work on the issues. Therefore, the chances are good that it could turn out well.
- ArcheAge Chronicles: The first ArcheAge has many fans. However, the successor is supposed to be very different, focusing on PvE, story, and content for solo players and small groups. Can this work? The studio is experienced and the ambitions are high. We really like the new orientation. Much will depend on the first playtest and the plans for monetization.
- Honor of Kings: World: The MMO to (extremely successful in Asia) Honor of Kings is a prestige product for Tencent. Accordingly, the production is of high quality, the game looks great, is spectacularly staged, and is fun in the action-packed fights. However, there is a question mark regarding monetization (Gacha!) and how the MMO-lite concept will be received in the West.
Now, of course, the big question is how your tier list for the upcoming MMORPGs of the future would look? Which projects would you place in S-Tier? Have we perhaps overlooked a game that belongs in the list? Let us know in the comments! One current trend, by the way, does not please our genre enthusiast at all: 2 games from China show the future of MMORPGs, our expert doesn’t like it at all
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