MMORPGs from 2005 to 2009
In the mid-2000s, it already took several years to develop an ambitious MMORPG. The first representatives of the genre that came out after World of Warcraft owe their existence not to the enormous success of Blizzard’s hit. However, they were undoubtedly in direct competition with the new genre king from day one.
One of the first casualties was The Matrix Online (March 2005), which went live with a massive number of bugs and other technical shortcomings. There were also missing content and generic missions that constantly repeated. When the service was discontinued after only 4 years, the MMORPG had less than 500 active players.
Many other major flops from the heyday of MMORPGs (which lasts until the end of 2014) include Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (January 2007, shut down in July 2014) by EverQuest lead Brad McQuaid, Tabula Rasa (November 2007, shut down in February 2009) by Ultima creator Richard Garriott, and Chronicles of Spellborn by Acclaim (November 2008, shut down in August 2010).
Many other new releases from this time also struggled with launch issues but managed to carve out a financially viable niche that allowed them to remain playable to this day. Due to the sheer volume of releases starting in 2005, we will only focus on the biggest MMORPGs up to and including 2009:
- Guild Wars (April 28, 2005): In 2000, former Blizzard employees Mike O’Brien, Patrick Wyatt, and Jeff Strain founded the studio ArenaNet. This was followed by acquisition by NCsoft in 2002. Guild Wars: Prophecies was their first game, entirely without the typical subscription fee of the time. Later, two standalone campaigns Factions and Nightfall followed. In August 2007, the expansion Eye of the North was added.
- Dungeons & Dragons Online (2006): The first 3D MMORPG for Dungeons & Dragons came from Turbine and could never meet expectations, especially not in Europe. The EU servers went offline in 2010. The US worlds are still available, for example via Steam.
- The Lord of the Rings Online (April 24, 2007): Strong license, well implemented. In terms of atmosphere, worldbuilding, and stories, LOTRO is still one of the best MMORPGs on the market today. The influx into the new worlds in March 2025 shows how popular the game still is.
- Age of Conan (May 20, 2008): The next MMORPG from Funcom aimed to shine with pretty graphics, bare skin, bloody finishers, and an adult setting. Instead, there were content gaps, loads of bugs, and unfinished systems at launch. Although the developers eventually got all these issues under control, it took a long time due to the number of problems.
- Warhammer Online (September 18, 2008): Behind the first Warhammer MMORPG was Mythic Entertainment, the makers of Dark Age of Camelot. The hype was big, and the numbers at launch were strong. Unfortunately, the publisher EA had excessively high expectations and no patience. When the license deal with Games Workshop expired in 2013, the servers were taken offline. Those missing the MMORPG for Warhammer should give Return of Reckoning a chance.
- Aion (November 25, 2008): Pretty graphics, the striking wings of the factions, aerial combat – the MMORPG from NCsoft was initially able to build up hype but could only turn this into great success in Asia. Part 2 is expected to go live at the end of the year focusing on PvE and story in South Korea and Taiwan, with the release in the West following at a later date.
Aion will get a sequel in 2025 / 2026 – here is the trailer:
Free2Play as an Opportunity
Many of the MMORPGs that were released in the late 1990s or in the 2000s relied on a Buy2Play model with a monthly subscription. The genre fans of the early days actually paid for every 60 minutes back then. It’s a shame that the many subscription-based MMORPGs cannibalized each other. Who is going to take out 2+ subscriptions simultaneously for a longer period?!
Moreover, 20 years ago there were many players who didn’t want to commit to a monthly fee for an online service at all. For these genre enthusiasts, more MMORPGs started to emerge after 2005 that, although not as good as WoW and co., promised free access thanks to the Free2Play or freemium model.
These included, for example, Flyff (2005), Silkroad Online (2005), Rappelz (2006), Perfect Online (2006), Fiesta Online (2007), Pirates of the Caribbean Online (2007), Regnum Online (2007), 4Story (2008), Atlantica Online (2008), Hello Kitty Online (2008), and Runes of Magic (2009).
Over the years, more and more subscription-based MMORPGs have switched to a Free2Play model to attract more players to their servers – for example, The Lord of the Rings Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic. For several years now, there have only been two relevant MMORPGs with a mandatory subscription: World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14.
