In recent years, there is a recurring sentiment that the MMORPG genre is stagnant and hardly developing. MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz has an even bleaker assessment.
We have left the great drought phase for MMORPGs between 2015 and 2020. In recent years, there have been more releases, test phases, and announcements for the genre.
Currently, there are as many exciting projects in development as there have not been in many years – with some notable IPs such as Lord of the Rings, Warhammer, Guild Wars, League of Legends, or EverQuest being developed by Western studios. So far, so good.
However, the truth is that the most exciting projects will take several years due to long development phases. A lot can happen in that time. The early cancellation of a seemingly promising online role-playing game is not uncommon – the recent end of the Zenimax MMORPG serves as a reminder of this.
It is unfortunately also unclear whether the games will be worth playing. The MMORPGs released in recent years have unfortunately not honored this. On the contrary, one must note with regard to the representatives of the more recent past that the genre is not only stagnating but is actually regressing.
Throne and Liberty is unfortunately just an okay MMORPG with nice graphics and an exciting focus on the “Massively”, which has some pitfalls for gaming enjoyment.
The old-timers show the newcomers how it’s done
Let’s go through which MMORPGs currently represent the cutting edge in various areas:
- Best action combat system? For me, the clear winner would be Black Desert (from 2014).
- Best tab-targeting combat system and the most varied group challenges? World of Warcraft (2004).
- Best quests? Here, I choose The Secret World from 2012.
- Most atmospheric world? Lord of the Rings Online from 2007.
- Best mount system and most beautiful graphic style? Guild Wars 2
This list could go on and on, and not a single MMORPG released in the last 10 years would land in the top position. The respective average ratings on platforms like Steam underscore the often mixed situation of the more recent genre representatives:
- New World from 2021 on Steam: 68 percent positive
- Bless Unleashed from 2021 on Steam: 52 percent positive
- Lost Ark from 2022 on Steam: 70 percent positive
- Throne and Liberty from 2024 on Steam: 67 percent positive
- Pax Dei from 2024 on Steam: 56 percent positive (still early access)
- Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen from 2024 on Steam: 74 percent positive (still early access)
- The Quinfall from 2025 on Steam: 47 percent (still early access)
- BitCraft Online from 2025 on Steam: 73 percent (still early access)
Other current MMORPG projects that can or could be played – such as Chrono Odyssey, Ashes of Creation, or Corepunk – confirm this depressing picture.
Meanwhile, our top 10 of the most popular MMORPGs on Steam are all oldies, many of which are over a decade old, such as SWTOR, Guild Wars 2, Final Fantasy XIV, the two versions of RuneScape, ESO, or Lord of the Rings Online.
The currently best-rated MMORPG on Steam – Star Wars: The Old Republic:
When hope is absent, motivation also wanes
A major problem with this trend: Many genre fans are so disappointed with the status quo that they have no desire to invest much time and energy in a new game, which will quite likely have to consider server mergers or the rapidly shrinking community within the second or third month after launch.
Some MMORPGs that have been around for what feels like an eternity can benefit from this, and it is evident in increasing player numbers – here are some examples from recent weeks and months:
- 33 new worlds are not enough to accommodate the boom of the 12-year-old Old School RuneScape; more are needed
- The rise of Guild Wars 2 on Steam continues; it has more players than ever
- The rush for the new worlds of the MMORPG Lord of the Rings is so great that the developers have to step up
Guild Wars 2 has seen rising player numbers on Steam for several months now.
Innovation and visible leaps are missing
Who can blame the players? Beyond technology, there has been so little progress in the genre over the past 10 to 20 years that one can have fun even with outdated MMORPGs today. Let’s take action combat as an example.
I previously mentioned that Black Desert represents the gold standard for me…and by a large margin. Asian developers have been known for years for offering massive combat experiences that the Western competition simply cannot match – Tera and Blade and Soul are other positive examples from the MMORPG genre.
However, something has happened in recent years. In many new online role-playing games, the combat just feels bad. There is a lack of proper hit feedback, the weight of strikes does not translate, input responses are not responsive enough, or fighting is simply not fun due to the few skills and combo possibilities. Positive exceptions? Not in sight.
The developers of Chrono Odyssey still have a lot of work to do to ensure that the battles of the MMORPG feel really good at release next year.
WoW was a problem, mobile is one
The enormous success of WoW and the numerous failed MMORPG attempts in the following 10 years have not done the genre any favors. Many games emulated the genre king so closely that structure and content often resembled each other without reaching the class of the original.
As for the many fails: Even today, after the incredible launch successes of Lost Ark and New World, there are hardly any developers or publishers willing to invest sufficient money in the development of an online role-playing game to be able to compete with the big names.
Aion 2 is set to be released on PC and mobile. This will inevitably have some negative impact on the PC version of the MMORPG.
Meanwhile, all teams with small sizes and budgets can be happy if they manage to get their MMORPG across the finish line within a reasonably timely manner. One should not expect major quality leaps here. Therefore, many of these projects also rely on nostalgic experiences that aim at classics like RuneScape or EverQuest.
Equally significant is the trend towards mobile MMORPGs, which has increasingly emerged since the 2010s. The associated technical restrictions and negative effects that related payment models have on gameplay ensure that the MMORPG experience suffers.
At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel: On the one hand, as mentioned at the beginning, there are a few more notable projects likely backed by large budgets. It is no coincidence that the MMORPG for League of Legends has already undergone a reboot because they want to create something truly special that meets the expectations of the fans.
Asian studios increasingly want to develop their games with a global market perspective, thereby omitting some of the peculiarities that previously hindered them from achieving significant success in the West. However, for this to work, they must not keep repeating the same mistakes: 5 mistakes that MMORPGs from Asia must avoid if they want to succeed with us
