Hi there,

I've been playing MMOs for 8 years and played dozens of games -- some of them for severeal days, some for several years, and even when I left a really, really trash game, there always were people who enjoyed it and continued spending huge sums of money.

So I used to it and noted for myself  that  MMO business is a fine one: you can always find enough fools to play you trash game :) But recently, after reading some disappointing news, it occured to me: "God, so may MMOs were closed within just severeal months!"

Just look:

Matrix Online
Shadowbane
Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa
Fury
SEED
Motor City Online
The Sims Online (EA Land)

Auto Assault

(...more?)

Why, how do you think? Does the crysis (at last!) affect the publishers and they stopped spending money on trash games, or does the average player become more discriminating?

Earth&Beyond

Horizons

Asherons Call 2

Ryzom (well almost..it was saved 2 times)

Dark And Light

... and more

Originally posted by LekaCheck

 Hi there,

I've been playing MMOs for 8 years and played dozens of games -- some of them for severeal days, some for several years, and even when I left a really, really trash game, there always were people who enjoyed it and continued spending huge sums of money.

So I used to it and noted for myself  that  MMO business is a fine one: you can always find enough fools to play you trash game :) But recently, after reading some disappointing news, it occured to me: "God, so may MMOs were closed within just severeal months!"

 

Just look:

Matrix Online
Shadowbane
Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa
Fury
SEED
Motor City Online
The Sims Online (EA Land)

Auto Assault

(...more?)

 

Why, how do you think? Does the crysis (at last!) affect the publishers and they stopped spending money on trash games, or does the average player become more discriminating?

 

 

To be honost I find that a very small list compared to how many MMO are currently out there, even the list on the right side of this website is just a fraction of MMO's out there.

Of course if in that small list are the game you might have liked or loved I could understand it in how you see it as many.

But other then that to me it's a very tiny list, as the list "could" be so much larger......

HOnestly, its not that much

The life expectancy  for MMOs is still unclear. Yes, there are some which died a quick death...but those were weak from the get go. HOw many MMOs on that list did you actually play...likely not many. Some MMOs with a very troubled beginning have found their footing and are solid (Vanguard, AoC)

Some MMOs like UO and EQ1 remain. In fact, they both had expansions last year.

You could also add to that list some projects that never saw a release.

Marvel Universe (revamped as champions by cryptic studios)

Star Trek Online (perpetual studios version)

Gods and Heroes

Ultima Online II

Mythica

Imperator

Heroes Journey

Middle Earth Online (sierra version)

Halo

The first version of warhammer by

Hellgate london and ROSE online might be worth mentioning also.

Privateer Online

Earth and Beyond was a great game, my most favourite ever played, but its closing had to do with EA going about their normal antics.

i though Earth and Beyoned was getting re made...or was that an EMU

Originally posted by LekaCheck

 Hi there,

I've been playing MMOs for 8 years and played dozens of games -- some of them for severeal days, some for several years, and even when I left a really, really trash game, there always were people who enjoyed it and continued spending huge sums of money.

So I used to it and noted for myself  that  MMO business is a fine one: you can always find enough fools to play you trash game :) But recently, after reading some disappointing news, it occured to me: "God, so may MMOs were closed within just severeal months!"

 

Just look:

Matrix Online
Shadowbane
Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa
Fury
SEED
Motor City Online
The Sims Online (EA Land)

Auto Assault

(...more?)

 

Why, how do you think? Does the crysis (at last!) affect the publishers and they stopped spending money on trash games, or does the average player become more discriminating?

 

 

That is the just the nature of the gaming business. If you look at SP games, for every hit, there are like 100 crappy game that does not sell for more than a few copies. The diff is that you never hear about those anymore while in the MMO business, a closure always make news.

I would argue that the ratio of success to failure is much better in the MMO space than the SP space.

Originally posted by LekaCheck

 

Why, how do you think? Does the crysis (at last!) affect the publishers and they stopped spending money on trash games, or does the average player become more discriminating?

 

I don't think one should equate a closed game with a trash game necessarily, though some of them certainly are. I think more likely takeaway from any list of closed games is that publishers will be less likely to spend money on games that take risks. I'm not saying gamers should play bad games to encourage publishers taking risks, but  it seems we'll be stuck in a vicious circle for the forseable future. (Risk taking game can't get funded due to it's nature - indy developer valiantly decides to make a go of it - runs out of money - releases the game unfinished - game ends up unsuccessful. Publisher sees game as example of risk taking going unrewarded - passes on next risk taking game.) Not all risks are worth taking, but without them, we're pretty much only going to see variations of the same games that are popular now.

Originally posted by Czzarre

HOnestly, its not that much

The life expectancy  for MMOs is still unclear. Yes, there are some which died a quick death...but those were weak from the get go. HOw many MMOs on that list did you actually play...likely not many. Some MMOs with a very troubled beginning have found their footing and are solid (Vanguard, AoC)

Some MMOs like UO and EQ1 remain. In fact, they both had expansions last year.

AoC and Vangaurd are both doing okay now. However, both games had much higher market potential but both games were released way too early. Most customers are not willing to wait nine months for a game to get fixed.

E&B would've done fine if it was actually supported.  Can't keep a MMO going with no content.  It would have had 1/2 of Eve's players right now if the game had the content it needed to survive.  A more dynamic and interactive combat system, actual walking moving avatars, space stations and planets to explore and MUCH more interesting space invironments and enemies, and an actual story.  Just no damn content past a couple of months=)  E&B was a very fun game for a very brief time....sad.

Some MMOs deserve to be closed like AC2 or Dark and Light.  E&B really got the shaft.

Some games lasted longer than they should..  But these days, people are less tolerant for crappy releases.  8-10 years ago, you could release a game that barely ran, with tons of bugs, but people put up with them because 3D MMO's were still fairly new and people were dying to see where this genre will go.  Now, many people have been there, seen it, done that, so they are less tolerant and want quality releases.

There are more choices out there, so it's harder for companies to compete for customers.  There are also games today that would not be alive today if it wasn't for some companies bailing them out.  Vanguard for an example, would've closed down 5 months after launch if SOE didn't buy them out and bundle it with their station pass.  AC1 probably wouldn't be alive today if Turbine didn't have a decent hit in LOTR Online.  Financial backing is everything, and games can stay alive longer if they have a company willing to fund it as long as other titles they have are paying for it.

Originally posted by nariusseldon 

That is the just the nature of the gaming business. If you look at SP games, for every hit, there are like 100 crappy game that does not sell for more than a few copies. The diff is that you never hear about those anymore while in the MMO business, a closure always make news.

I would argue that the ratio of success to failure is much better in the MMO space than the SP space.

Yeah, I never thought about it. You are right.

But it's quite logical. MMO communities are much more active, then communities of SP games. We can make a big mess when our beloved game is scheduled to closure :)

AT the same time, I'm surprised that Shadowbane community managed to prolong the game's life. I hope Aeria Games will be lucky enough to buy the rights  for the game. And I was really surprised when NCsoft refused to grant gamers with TR code!

I think the real question is, in an oversaturated mmo market, how do so many stay alive?

The real crime is that Looking Glass Studios isn't around anymore to show the rest of the industry what innovation is all about.

Originally posted by Lobotomist

Earth&Beyond

Horizons

Asherons Call 2

Ryzom (well almost..it was saved 2 times)

Dark And Light

... and more

Horizons is not closed. It changed its name to Istaria. It's still sitting there on the zapper, watching others go down. ;) 

Wish Online. That is all.

Originally posted by Zorgo

I think the real question is, in an oversaturated mmo market, how do so many stay alive?

And what do you mean saying "oversaturated"? 

When I was at school I used to play, well, 6-12 hours a day, I believe :) And I played 5-6 games simultaneously.  It was exhausting, but it was really coool!

Now I play hardly 6 hours a week and 1-2 games at the same time, though I still read news, magazines etc. So I'm still IN game, I AM a part of the community,  but I can't say I play a lot of time. Will you count me when you will check if the market is full or not?

Originally posted by LekaCheck

Originally posted by Zorgo

I think the real question is, in an oversaturated mmo market, how do so many stay alive?

 

And what do you mean saying "oversaturated"? 

When I was at school I used to play, well, 6-12 hours a day, I believe :) And I played 5-6 games simultaneously.  It was exhausting, but it was really coool!

Now I play hardly 6 hours a week and 1-2 games at the same time, though I still read news, magazines etc. So I'm still IN game, I AM a part of the community,  but I can't say I play a lot of time. Will you count me when you will check if the market is full or not?

What I mean by oversaturated is that there are so many mmo's out there right now, it has spread the player base out across several games, where it used to be concentrated in just a few games. 

I didn't mean anything at all to do with play time.