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MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) is a gaming genre that brings together a large number of players to participate in an open-world experience. While games like World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2 have been around for almost a decade with a healthy player count, newer developments seem to have failed - even when they were surrounded by a lot of hype.
One of the leading reasons for the short lifetime of recent MMO titles is the expectations of the community on the availability of content. This genre is supposed to provide a lot of gameplay content throughout the years where players cultivate and grind the game to level up their characters almost endlessly. This is a standing obstacle for newer games as the developers can't churn out content continuously in a short amount of time.
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This article will highlight some MMO games that had the potential to turn out great.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the opinion of the author.
Which MMO games could have made it big?
Here is a list of five MMO titles that had what it takes to create a legacy:
1) Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes was launched on January 30, 2007, by Sony Online Entertainment. Unfortunately, the game was released before its projected timeline, leading to a less-than-ideal gameplay experience as it came out with several bugs and glitches. The publisher officially pulled the plug on July 31, 2014, which marked its end.
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Despite its problems, the game primarily failed because of a lack of content and its massive world that was too big for the limited player base. Moreover, it was launched as a pay-to-play title, which deterred many from purchasing it. However, it was made free-to-play just two years before it was taken down.
2) WildStar Online
WildStar Online was developed by Carbine Studios and published by NCSoft on June 3, 2014. It was changed to a free-to-play model almost a year later, on September 29, 2015. The game was ultimately shut down on November 28, 2018, after the publisher closed down Carbine Studios.
The game brought a fresh twist to the MMO genre but failed to deliver a smooth gameplay experience with difficult end-game scenarios. The design of the game did not cater to most players and several microtransactions potentially made it worse. The game also had an incomplete series of features that became redundant at times alongside a half-baked storyline.
3) EverQuest Next Landmark
Landmark was released by Daybreak Game Company on June 10, 2016, and the servers were shut down on February 21, 2017. The title was supposedly a sandbox where fans could build and modify structures and assets to their heart’s content. But it failed to deliver on this and ended up becoming one of the fastest games to have been discarded.
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While it was supposed to provide players freedom, the cancellation of EverQuest Next overshadowed all its efforts. This had a negative impact on the overall potential of the game as it only completed a year in the market before it was shut down for good.
4) Shadowbane
Shadowbane was published by Ubisoft on March 25, 2003, and was taken offline on July 1, 2009. It was created to run on both Windows and Mac OS X platforms as a hardcore PvP MMO title featuring vast class systems that unlocked a new realm of character customizations. Players could build their path and create influence with their ever-growing power - including hiring combat Non-Playable Characters (NPCs) and destroying player cities.
While it had many fun elements, the Player vs Environment (PvE) turned out to be stale with lackluster rewards. Most players started flocking to large online guilds to protect themselves from fights, which ultimately resulted in a complete decline of both PvP and PvE scenarios in resource battles.
5) Crowfall
Crowfall was developed and published by ArtCraft on July 6, 2021, with a massive $1,766,205 funding after the Kickstarter program ended on March 26, 2015. The game was taken offline on November 22, 2022, marking the end of another MMO title. The game brought a lot of features from Shadowbane, like the Rune Discipline System with new improvements.
While the game featured a lot of playable content like building, sieges, and harvesting alongside challenging PvP, it did offer much in terms of story development. Players would be endlessly trapped in seasonal base building and warfare with slow progressions in terms of lore. This, combined with the devs abandoning the game, caused its downfall in just over a year.
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That is everything to know about some of the MMOs that could have made it big, provided they had enough time and stuck to make the gameplay experience better with new updates. Stay tuned to Sportskeeda for more updates, guides, and news.
