In our “State of The Play” section, we’re looking at the state of the major western MMORPGs at the beginning of 2020, which are generally regarded as the top 5 MMORPGs. Where do WoW, Final Fantasy XIV, The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO), Black Desert Online (BDO), and Guild Wars 2 stand at the start of the new decade?
After a long time, we have another post in our “State of Play” section on MeinMMO. The last time we provided an overview of the MMORPG genre.
Today, we’re focusing solely on the currently top 5 MMORPGs in Germany. How did 2019 go for them, what is their general state, and what’s in store for 2020?
5. Guild Wars 2 – Still here
This is the general state: There are 2 ways to look at Guild Wars 2:
Pessimistically, one might say: In 2012, the MMORPG launched as a “big” challenger and alternative to WoW. Guild Wars 2 brought new ideas to the genre and showed that it can be done differently, focusing more on “play” and “exploration” rather than “higher, faster, further.”
Eight years later, there isn’t much of that pioneering spirit left in the genre:
- The MMORPG has been struggling since 2017 to play in the first league
- recently, Guild Wars 2 has experienced some setbacks.
- Furthermore, hardcore veterans have been upset for 8 years that Guild Wars 2 has not taken inspiration from the almost cult-followed Guild Wars 1.
Optimistically, one could say: Guild Wars 2 is still here and is doing well. It has found its player base over the years, who consciously chose this path and this style.
Guild Wars 2 has brought fresh ideas to the genre and released two expansions while many other MMORPGs have already faded away in the meantime.
How did 2019 go? Thanks to the connection with NCSoft, Guild Wars 2 knows exactly what revenue they generate in a year. 2019 remained consistently at the level of a normal year “without expansion”. Guild Wars 2 is in calm waters.
They had essentially the same financial year in 2019 as in 2017 – just without the big boost from the expansion that came then.
However, the news is significantly more turbulent: It appears that NCSoft is slowly losing patience with ArenaNet. There were layoffs in February 2019, and the heads of ArenaNet have left the studio in recent years: Even the longtime president Mike O’Brien left the studio in October 2019 along with a small team that was allegedly working on something like “Guild Wars 3”.
It seems that NCSoft wants ArenaNet to develop new, different games alongside Guild Wars 2. But ArenaNet is evidently struggling to deliver these new prototypes. Hence, the workforce was reduced.
In the MMORPG itself, not much happened in 2019. The story continues through the “Living World”, which is something for existing players but hardly appeals to newcomers. Updates mainly brought comfort improvements and were also aimed at existing players: For instance, professions were expanded.
New features, a wealth of relevant content, or significant impulses were scarce in 2019.
What’s the outlook? For 2020, it looks like it will continue in this direction. New episodes for the Living World are expected, improvements in PvP, and additional quality-of-life updates.
However, the future vision seems to be currently lacking. Guild Wars 2 has never been released on consoles and seems to play a rather subordinate role in NCSoft’s current plans.
Overall, at the beginning of 2020, Guild Wars 2 appears to be a game that is progressing more slowly than in its early years, while ArenaNet seeks to reorient itself and look for fresh projects to keep the company on track.
Page 2 continues with the next top MMORPG.
- 1
- 2
