It's coming up on the 5th anniversarry of World of Warcraft (AKA: WoW), and still no dominant game has emerged as a rival.  AoC made a small splash.  Warhammer flopped, and SOE fails everytime.  So the question is will WoW ever be dethroned? Of course we all say like everything else the market will go in cycles, however I'm not postitve that it will. With Blizzard holding 62% of the market, just based off WoW alone, I'd think it's safe to say that the MMO race is a pointless one or at least it seems over. Hell I think it's been over ever since the South Park episode. WoW  now has the crown and can not be dethroned. But then again I may be wrong and this may be a cycle. However WoW is certainly not going anywhere.

IBTL

Give it time. Nothing lasts forever. EQ didn't have real competition for 5 years.

It won't die, but it will most probably be dethroned within the next 2-3 years.

Its easy to beat with the windows "my computer" add-on. Too easy. Almost felt like cheating.

 Shouldn't this be in the WOW forums?

What is there to be beaten?  Why do people seem to have this silly idea that one mmorpg somehow can or even want to "kill" or "dethrone" another in the first place?  Plus let's not even get into what popularity means in the mmorpg community.

Wow is going to be around for a while, its easy to learn and casual and its has 62% of the market with that said. if more mmo game would maybe offer a 2 day trial before they release date to people that alone will give it a boost i think. but unless i get a trial 1st im not spending my money on a new mmo. mmo are big investment. i still play wow and i have no shame admiting it mainly cuz it i like it and it fits my bill for now till something comes out and i try it and like it to move on from wow.

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Originally posted by Miffin
With Blizzard holding 62% of the market, just based off WoW alone, I'd think it's safe to say that the MMO race is a pointless one or at least it seems over. Hell I think it's been over ever since the South Park episode. WoW  now has the crown and can not be dethroned. But then again I may be wrong and this may be a cycle. However WoW is certainly not going anywhere.

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Bit of a pointless statement really as neither you, me or anyone else can predict what is going to take the market next or what will happen to Acttivision-Blizzard as a company.

If WoW held 100% of the market, then maybe you could say that it was all over for every other MMO, but tastes change, trends change, markets change and companies rise and fall every day so there is no way of saying from one week to the next who is even going to be on the market, let alone lead it.

I am a big fan of WoW, but it would be far too arrogant of me to say that it is unbeatable as many didn't see just how popular it would be before it's release and there is no saying what game could have such a shock impact again at anytime.

WoW is a game that will fall in time just like all the other games out there do.

I don't think wow will be "killed" or "dethroned" by any other MMO, as no MMO ever killed another MMO so to speak. The only things that kill MMOs are the horrenduous decisions pulled by devs at some point that make people leave en masse.

Othervise, MMOs lose some people maybe when the really really big thing comes out, some of them return after a while and some of them stay somewhere else. That does not impact the life of a MMO greatly as we see that EQ1, UO and all those ancient games still live and get expanded.

You have to realise that MMOs in general are a big time investment for the player. He doesn't just build his char, he also builds the social network arround him and the knowledge about the game. People leave and check out other MMOs, or take breaks when they are sick of it, but most of them eventually reactivate and return to "take a peak" on how everyone is doing.

Social network within the game is a huge factor and some people keep playing just because of it. New game has to be so significantly better than the previous one, that going for it outweights the loss of friends and characters.

In most cases it does not, because as soon as the novelty of playing a new thing wears off, most of the people realise that there are no radical new concepts in the new game, and that they are basicaly playing the same thing again, they usually return to their cosy and confortable previous game where they feel at home.

Flame post...

AC> WoW

BTW... WoW Will fall when final fantasy XlV comes out and Aion.

lol who cares, wow is a fun game, other mmos are fun games. This subject is older than my gym shorts from high school. WoW will be around for awhile...personally I enjoyed the time I played wow,but alas im looking for something fresh and non fantasy...love my fantasy but thats almost all there is.  Its almost like that favorite song you have, its great to listen to, but listen to it to much and it just gets old and does not have that same paZaz.

Originally posted by Kain_Dale

BTW... WoW Will fall when final fantasy XlV comes out and Aion.

Maybe. It greatly have to depend regarding the mechanics of the game. Though they did say that this game will offer more casual style of play, but still need to wait for more news to be release.

I do agree with Zon that War actually have the highest opportunity to topple WoW before its release. But too bad...

Producing a WoW killers will actually makes the developers more creative when making their games. By now hopefully they already know that coming out with a WoW wanabe will flop. Why will i wan to play a so-call clone when i can play the original?

So its really high time for them to rack their brains and offer something much more than what we having now, apart from smooth launch, stick to what is being promise etc...

@ OP

Reason why WoW wont be dethrowned

is because nobody ever trys. Remember what Warhammer's Developers said during Development. They said they already knew they couldnt beat WoW, so werent even going to try.

Many MMO games out there do this. While other MMO games seem to be made by developers in mind who seem to have that Anti-WoW Fanboy type haterd towards the good things that WoW has, and they try so hard to leave out those good elements that WoW has, when they are making their MMO. Making a MMO for WoW haters, isnt going to be the cream of the crop

Guild Wars is a great example of this.

I used to be one of the "OMG WAR and AoC will kill WoW!" people.  As much as I hate to say it, WoW will be around for a long time.  I can't really hate Blizzard for the casual player based mmo overload we now have, but WoW is a solid game.  As long as you stay on Horde, where most of the people are still hardcore players, the game is good.

WoW is like the USA. It seemed for a while that we'd always be the top and the world even respected us for a while. Now the USA is a falling from the top quickly and the world laughs at us.

That day will come to WoW eventually but it is probably still a couple years away.

CHILL DAWG

cataclysm will come, all hell will broke lose and the wow carebear VETS will go "OH OH the ol vanilla day soe blizzard messed it up with NGE Cataclysm cof cof, gold days..."

XD

Well if you base character levels with a cap of 100  and wows next expansion is up to 85 .. seems theres a few more years left to stretch to. My fellow guild members often discuss what and where we want to go and how far we are willing to go and 100 is max for any mmo. I as GM will drag a few of my closest friends to Aion to experience the new grinder in town.

As a previous poster said .. wow chars are usually not deleted but parked just in case. Makes you wonder when they say the new game in town was developed by gamers for gamers, its like lyrics of modern music the past 60 yrs .. how many times can you say I love you.

What will topple wow, its achievments stand already in the light of day.... peoples attitudes to the mmo genre will topple any game. So many people are escaping to the countryside so to speak, to imerse themselfs in an environment that sedates the real lifes we lead. Perhaps all the shrinks and researchers should be banging out reports and asking why we all login everynight to our own particular flavor, and switch off the day. Has real life been progressing so fast that what was small communities in your local area that knitted together and stayed together, has  been replaced by modern day virtual communities because were social animals and the animal next door in real life is a stranger.

We should not be looking for the demise of wow or a replacement to wow but the demise of real life :)