ATM both Bless, Black Desert and AA offers the sandboxish stuff. Bless still have not released as much info as BD has lately
??? They really have not released any info so how can you say this? TERA would most likely been on better standings if there was not lawsuit Btw I can say this about almost all the NEW MMO's coming out that are made by NA/EU
It's a strong prejudice i got against Korean games. Cuz they all were the same, except Ragnarok Online. Rest (Hanghai - forgot its us name, L2, L1, TERA, AION, RFO, etc...) were the same crap to me, boring as hell now maybe Koreans will get creative and try a different type of game but i highly doubt it as it's not in their mentality (i think that's why Archeage isn't really a huge success in Korea). They like proven recipes and do the same over and over again in music, manga, anime, movies, buildings (ugly condos clones that ruin Seoul's wonderful site), etc... They don't really care if their games don't sell outside the country anyway. It's more people like TRION, Blue Hole, and whoever is porting them who try to build a business case on porting K-Games to the West. It's not that i dislike Korea at all, i love Seoul and damn i like the K-chicks , also, when they get something right, they do it perfectly (say Samsung). But, in terms of games, i really doubt that i'll ever be surprised by anything coming from the country of calm morning. I'd love to enjoy a K-Game tho as they got a very good artstyle. It's a lil bit like my half C half K wife who doesn't want to watch any K-movie (or HK btw) anymore as she could tell u the script without even looking at it... 4 genres, all the same stories... she's missing out on some gems too (like New World) but usually she's right. Prejudice, prejudice
Erm? Just bc AA is not doing as well in Korean does not many anything...... If thats the case explain AION? AION was HUGE and might still be HUGE in Korean, Japan and China but fell flat in NA/EU. Also L2 had a larger player base then WoW at one point before WoW went stupid mode
Still huge in Korea - It is a really great game in NA to be honest hence it being Xen's third most successful division after Planetside and Guild Wars. Anyways. Archage is doing poorly because they turned the MMO sandbox into a themepark with a few sandbox features with version 1.0. There is a massive article about it if you care to look. Either way, the game is in limbo since Trion also fucked up with Defiance. If you want a big MMO this year; your options are most likely Wildstar or WoW. Most people will choose Wildstar. There is also ESO and who knows...that might be a sleeper hit or fizzle.
Not always true..... Again my point stands that WoW has caused issues for future MMOs. I think WoW is shit so that means WoW is a shitty game? If WoW released say tomorrow with the stuff it released with I bet you it would of flopped. Reason WoW had time to get up there is bc the market back then was not flooded with MMOs.... Also most of those games like AION or Tera and some of the other MMOs would most likely be thriving a bit better due to know one holding the this is standard in a MMO since WoW has it torch. Yes there been some other MMO that would probably taken WoWs spot but I'm sorry WoW has nothing really unique about it and is trying to stay alive and still charge players for the major updates. Since clearly they don't make enough.
Yeah, MMOs didn't go to shit. When WoW released it was during a time when people were more willing to pick up an MMO, see that there wasn't a lot of features or content, and play the hell out of it anyway. MMOs weren't afraid of grind and as a result people played more than a week when they were leveling a toon up. The success of an MMO has always relied on getting to a decent jumping off point and getting people to stick with you for a year or more while you develop extra content and features. That hasn't changed, gamers have. Most new releases are much higher quality than vanilla WoW was back then, definitely ANY MMO XoO has attempted to make a division out of since then has been. The problem is that people will always compare a new title to these older titles like WoW, and judge harshly how the new game doesn't feel a decade old already in features and content. Add that to the market saturation of games and it is hard for a new title to grab a crowd. There are just so many potentially great games, games that launched with a good start, that just don't make it. Which is funny because now the definition of "make it" has changed too. You are only a success if you have a few million players in the eyes of some.
WoW has nothing unique about it because it is the baseline that all themepark MMOs will be judged from (based on a polished version of Everquest). Why would I play another MMO if it doesn't offer the accessibility, ease of access, polish, Auction House, raid system, pvp systems, etc? There is a reason that EvE Online does well because it is a space sandbox. Aion does well in Korea because it is Asian styled themepark. The reason for that is the development cost of MMOs is massive. Generally speaking you want to make a profit when it comes to a business venture, not lose money. We got WoW clones (or over saturation of themeparks) because WoW made a shit-ton of cash. Most of them are dead now or recovered through the F2P model and good developer handling (RIFT for example). In the end, features/gameplay/aesthetics attract users. I am waiting on Camelot Unchained so my options for open world RvR like systems are WoW or ESO. While I like the idea for playing a new game (ESO) even more so in the world that I have been exploring for the last decade, it is also being side developed for console which may alter game development. Wildstar doesn't have any kind of /rewarding/ freeform PVP and Archage is looking to be delayed again.
A few hundred thousand subs is more than enough to keep any MMO online and profitable. WoW just has people thinking an MMO needs to be more successful than most will ever be when they count in millions. It doesn't help that they skew the numbers by counting their players in China who pay per minute as "subscribers." Honestly, I don't think the whole "developed for console" accessibility will effect the game all that much. The next gen systems could easily handle any MMO ever released thus far. Really they just had to make a control/hotbar system that could be doable with the limited controller set of buttons (which FFXIV shows isn't even necessary). Maybe they will put some development time into voice chat between launch and the June console release so everyone doesn't need a keyboard. Other than that, I don't see console ports effecting the game.