The List: Top 10 Tightlipped MMO Projects
There is a second crop of MMOs on the horizon where the developers have nothing to say... yet. Jon runs down the list of the top 10 MMO projects we know are out there, but have yet to get the details on.
Column By Jon Wood on August 18, 2009
At any given time, there are a shocking number of MMOs in various stages of development. Today, as I write this, we have over one hundred games on our Game List in either the “In Development” or “Beta Testing” categories. Some of those games will make a splash, others will slip quietly into the released category and a few will die before they see the light of day.
Part of the development process of a modern MMO involves the dissemination of information from developers to their potential player base, sometimes through the press and sometimes not, sometimes all at once and sometimes in drips and drabs. Every company has their own approach.
Below, you will find a list of ten games that, while we know they are being developed, haven’t given either their fans or the press much information to work with:
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;)
Cast of Buffy
#10 Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Multiverse
Who wouldn’t want to jump into an MMO world full of broody vampires and kick-ass chicks? Who wouldn’t want to jump into a world created by one of nerddom’s biggest heroes in Joss Whedon? Back in September of last year, we learned that 20th Century Fox was partnering with Multiverse to make it happen.
Now, for those with short memories, this wasn’t the first time that Multiverse announced that it had obtained the rights to develop an MMO based on Whedon’s works. But shortly after they acquired the rights to Firefly, the game was shelved for unknown reasons.
So, with that in mind, I thought it might be time to bring this announcement back into the light of day and see what details might emerge. In an interview given to the folks at Massively shortly after the announcement, we learned that the Buffy MMO would be based in a 2D flash world to start off with, and that the game would eventually migrate to 3D. The interview also mentioned that the developers hoped to see the game in beta by the end of that year.
If any further movement has been made on this game, it’s been slow and it’s been quiet. This one could actually be dead for all I know.
;)
Carbine Studios
#9 Unnamed MMO - Carbine Studios
At this year’s Game Developer’s Conference, I had an interesting meeting with the guys from a studio that I had never heard of before. Carbine Studios is the name of the company and they’re working on a project with the good people at NCsoft. My guess is that you’re going to start hearing bits and pieces out of this studio after the launch of Aion, and once Guild Wars 2 PR starts rolling downhill and gaining momentum.
Talking to Jeremy Gaffney, the Executive Producer of the project, I was able to glean the fact that they are working on a sci-fi MMO, but beyond that, the details have thus far escaped me. So, what do we know then? We know for fact that Carbine has been picking up folks from almost all of the recent crop of MMOs. In the interview, for example, he mentions that they have at least two MMO innovators on their team. Specifically mentioned were the diplomacy system designer from Vanguard and one of the guys behind the public quest system in WAR.
In the rare case that Producers mention the games that their staff members have worked on in the past, it can actually be an indicator of what kind of game might come out the other side. For Carbine those games include: EQ2, Warhammer Online, Vanguard, Gods and Heroes, Pirates of the Burning Sea, City of Heroes, while management (or at least the guys that founded the place) is made up of ex World of Warcraft developers. Oh, did I mention that Fallout Producer and Designer Tim Cain is also on board?
I hope I’m not the only person looking forward to hearing more from this team.
;)
Red 5 Studios
#8 Untitled MMO - Red 5
Red 5 was founded back in 2005 when a number of World of Warcraft developers left Blizzard to form their own company headed by CEO Mark Kern. In 2006, the company announced that it would be partnering with publisher Webzen to get their as-yet-unrevealed MMO to players. In 2008, Kern stepped down as CEO, moving instead to CCO and Board Chairman while Michael Weingartner took over as President and CEO.
More recently, at the beginning of this year, Eurogamer.net published an article that revealed a few more details. The developers, it seems, have focused on a world players themselves can alter, which is one of those Holy Grail features for many MMO fans. In the article, the developers go so far as to say in response to a question about whether they were worried about the troubles that plagued Warhammer Online, Age of Conan and Tabula Rasa on launch: "We always think there is a market for a strong, triple-A title," Michael Weingartner. "I don't think that any of the titles you just listed really fall into where we're going, where our interests are. So, that said, I don't think the current trend... worries us too much."
Say what you want about their decision to fly under the radar on details, but you have to at least admire that level of confidence.
;)
Wheel of Time Book One
#7 Wheel of Time - Red Eagle Games
In November of 2008, Red Eagle Entertainment announced a massive drive to translate the stories of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series of novels into other media. The announcement included a feature length film and games galore; single player games for the consoles, PC, handheld and most importantly for the sake of this list, an MMORPG. To do this, Red Eagle Entertainment created Red Eagle Games.
Since the news first came out, nothing much more has seen the light of day, which is not uncommon. The only recent announcement concerning this title was the hiring of Chris Morgan, a screenwriter known for his work on Cellular, Wanted, The Fast and the Furious and other. While it is fun to theorize on what hiring a screenwriter for an MMO might mean for the content of the game, it is simply too soon to tell.
Note: In doing a little bit of research for this piece, I visited the Red Eagle Entertainment website. I don’t normally slag a company’s website, but in this case I’ll make an exception. Not only does the site consist only of a press release and a contact email, but they also make use of a bloody loud eagle call that blares out at you, presumably for daring to try to get some more info about the company… Not cool Red Eagle, not cool.
;)
Oblivion screenshot
#6 Unnamed ZeniMax Online MMO
In August of 2007, ZeniMax media announced the creation of ZeniMax Online Studios, a new studio dedicated to MMO development. The new studio is headed by Matt Firor, who previously served as Executive Producer at Mythic Entertainment.
A few rumors have circulated about what exactly they’re working, but it wasn’t until recently that there was a crack in the case. We've known since 2007 that ZeniMax had registered elderscrollsonline.com, although, presumably, that could just as easily have been to cover their bases against possible squatters.
Now, as much as our little hearts might like to believe it, that’s far from hard evidence that ZeniMax Online’s project is indeed Elder Scrolls Online. In fact, in a Q&A with fans, Bethesda’s Executive Director said that there were no plans for an Elder Scrolls Five. Although, I suppose that technically speaking, an Elder Scrolls MMO might not be the fifth in the series.
It’s been two years ZeniMax, time to spill the beans and give the clamoring hoards a title!
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Good article, it's nice to finally know in a list form what's coming up that we don't know about. All of tihs years MMO's have been disapointments and the ones that have been in development for the past 5 years or so (unrealeased ones) have a better chance at including features players want such as "sandboxy" things.
I don't know a thing about this "World of Darkness" IP, but I've been clamoring for years now for a three-faction DAoC-esque MMORPG with Werewolves, Vampires, and Humans duking it out. Man, talk about potential!
OMG More WOW Clones!!!!!!!!!... J/K guys....it was an open door...I had to take it. yeah I know..I'm probably in trouble but after seeing todays posts, I just had to do it.
Guild Wars 2 is getting info this week!
Good article only thing i have to say is that Dawn of war also got a sequel further showing how succesful the franchise really is.
To comment on the this statement:
Now, as much as our little hearts might like to believe it, that’s far from hard evidence that ZeniMax Online’s project is indeed Elder Scrolls Online. In fact, in a Q&A with fans, Bethesda’s Executive Director said that there were no plans for an Elder Scrolls Five. Although, I suppose that technically speaking, an Elder Scrolls MMO might not be the fifth in the series.
It might be important to note:
bethblog.com/index.php/2009/08/17/clarifying-about-next-elder-scrolls-game-mmo-etc/
At his QuakeCon talk he was asked when TESV is coming out and Todd replied, “Don’t look for a new Elder Scrolls game in the near future.” He also went on to say how much the franchise means to us and that it definitely will continue. He just wasn’t going to provide any timeframe on “when.” This should not be news to anyone that has been paying attention. Both Todd and I have said repeatedly that, of course, we’re going to do another Elder Scrolls game. The last one was enormously popular. So was the one before that. You get the idea. So do we.
I actually just bought Dawn of War 2 last night, played the demo on Steam, it was pretty solid, I hope THQ manages to make something less linear for the Warhammer 40k IP.
Give me World of Darkness! Pleeaassse!
#10 lol......please stop making me laugh so hard...please.
#9 only seen 4 screen shots of what they are working on, so far looks good.
#8 have no idea about
#7 have no idea about
#6 have no idea about
#5 will wait and see on this one.
#4 have no doubts that CCP will do a good job on it.
#3 Not enough info to follow yet.
#2 Hopefully improved from the first one.
#1 Will check it when more info is released.
Doesn't Bioware have yet another unannounced MMO forthcoming? Or is it just a regular game that's unannounced?
This is a video from ArenaNet at GamesCon, posted today and twittered from their official twitter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjmcwrF7Fhk They are going to announce something about GW2 at GC this weekend, something big. If you watch the video you can hear it in the background. BIG!!
I actually just bought Dawn of War 2 last night, played the demo on Steam, it was pretty solid, I hope THQ manages to make something less linear for the Warhammer 40k IP.
As do I but really i wonder if a MMO FPS/RPG hybrid would work for them, but what i would really like to know is if they would do planetside style because i mean Planetside had a good setup just not enough support.
Off and on Eve players tease Ouver and some of the other Dev's about Vampires in Spaaaaaaace! ^^ While on the subject of CCP there is their just announced new game titled Dust 514. It looks like they are going in to the ground combat FPS business.
Nice list. Hopefully we'll have more light in the GW2 subject this weekend... i really liked GW1, and i trust the sequel will be better!
Funcom's " The Secret World " should atleast get a mention. Games 10-5 I have no idea about but 4-1 will be very interesting. Good article!
I agree, even though I hate to support Funcom after the AoC mess, the team working on TSW is supposed to be made of different people. I hope they learned some lessons from what they did wrong in AoC.
I find it funny how a lot of these new mmos are "made up of Ex-WoW developers"
Definitely agree with Guild Wars 2!
In response to Jeff's departure, however, ArenaNet did respond with Guild Wars 2 being ready for unveiling "very soon."
Also, www.guildwars2.com no longer links to www.guildwars.com and instead has a little animation as of yesterday/today I take it...wasn't there a few days ago.
We actually have an acceptable amount of info on The Secret World considering it is 3 years away at least, and was just announced 6 months ago or so. This list contains games that announced YEARS ago, and then cllammed up totally. TSW should have been on Jon's LAST list, but not this one.
Guildwars 2 is going to show a guildwars 2 trailer And omg LEARN IT PEOPLE NCSOFT IS NOT GUILDWARS MADE it's freaking made by arenanet Ncsoft aion Arenanet guildwars 2 and 1. And they're going to show a trailer at gamescon so be prepared very.. prepared..
Your top 5 are pretty solid, but the 2nd 5 are pretty shaky:
The only weakness in the top 5 is THQ, not sure they can make a MMO. There is a huge difference between the games they write and the MMO genre as many developers have found out to their chagrin. I think Red 5 and Carbine studios have far better chances of actual producing a MMO than THQ as they have extensive experience with the genre on their side. You really need to rethink your order.
None of the rest of the bottom 5 have a chance in hell. Buffy and the Wheel of Time will never see the light of day. They don't have anyone of note that understands what it takes to make a MMO.
As to Zenimax, giving Matt Firor, the lead who destroyed DAoC in my book is a braindead decision. I have zero respect for that guy. I don't expect anything good to come out of a project he is leading.
So you have 6 possibles and 4 duds. It is nice to speculate, but you really should have pointed out the weaknesses of the four I mentioned above.
As do I but really i wonder if a MMO FPS/RPG hybrid would work for them, but what i would really like to know is if they would do planetside style because i mean Planetside had a good setup just not enough support.
I would love it if they made the Warhammer 40K MMO in the same vein as Planetside, but I imagine they'll take a safer route... I hope I get proven wrong, though :D
Just today actually, like 5 hours ago.
Went to www.guildwars2.com. I think there will be more to that .gif once the info comes out at Gamecon.
Buffy, eh? From the same guys that bought the rights to Firefly? Sounds like a company buying gaming rights just so anyone else wanting to do so has to buy them from the company. I doubt dime one has been spent in development.
All interesting projects, though I hope that CCP decides to work on an MMO based on the Aeon Universe soon. There is so much history for that world, with great sandbox potential. I wonder if WOD Online is going to have more of a sandbox style progression like the pen and paper RPG...
mh.....stay tuned for the next BlizzCon..there will be some infos.. :)
I am very excited for Guild Wars two. Infact so excited it could make me forget all about all of those other names on the list. I know its wrong to have high expectations for mmo's these days but I cant help it :)
Some of the other more interesting titles look to have potential but im not too sure about the big "popular" IP's, there will be so many of them soon it will be hard to mmove.
www.guildwars2.com - the most exciting animation of the year.
Along the lines of the article CCP's site has recently under their products listed a link for WOD. Of course it provides little informatione except that the MMO is being produced at their new Atlanta GA office and why that was chossen as the office to produce it.
http://www.ccpgames.com/worldofdarkness/default.asp
http://www.ccpgames.com/worldofdarkness/georgia.asp
I am always and only waiting for the king of MMO's , the NEVERWINTER NIGHTS going online!!! So, untill then i just don't care much....
6 Months ago?? I joined The Secret World forums in May of 2007 when they launched along with the first ARG puzzles and website for the game. YOU found out about it 6 months ago, but Funcom has been talking about it for over two years already.
They have two MMO's they are working on SWTOR of course and recently word came out they were working on a MMO based on NWN.
Then you should like WOD as those are the 3 main groups in the game with many sub groups. So it should translate well into an MMO. As you have more than just one race of vampire but all their seperate bloodlines each with certin skills for example.
I agree CCP should do a good job with the Word of Darkness IP. I know a couple of friends who have been long time White Wolf fans who can't wait. I find it funny how we end up both waiting for info since I'm a CCP guy and he's a White Wolf fan. :)
Gamers of all kinds unite! :D
Anyway as for the other games nothing else catches my eye as to "I wanna see more" except maybe #9, mainly because I'm all for more Sci-Fi MMO's. :D
Except that the list didn't really call for speculation about the success or failure of any of the games. it was simply a list compiled of games that we know exist that we don't have much info on. So, it's not really so much speculation as making a list.
I'm very very suprised that no one has put anymore info about Vigil games on this post.
They are currently polishing off their big console game name Darksiders: Wrath of War. From all interviews and previews the game is an incredible 1st off, the best first studio game I've ever seen. Lots of action, rpg elements, exploring and a fantastic item and gameplay engine. www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/darksiderswrathofwar/index.html
That being said I look for big things from Vigil, I managed to see a release schedule that has the game releasing first quarter of 2112. www.shacknews.com/screenshots.x (IMG of the release date schedule). Either way that's a 5 year development cycle for them which is very very healthy. If you look on their website they have pictures of a dev office and there are GW 40k trappings on the floor and wall in the form of a shield (heraldry) of the grey knights. Which are the fighting hand of the Ordo Maleus (daemon hunters). Plus they have Joe Madureira who is an incredible comic book artist, and David Adams who is a good game designer. This IMHO is the sleeper title of the list, with as far as I can tell least info released on it. I wish I could have been at E3 this year to herass Vigil and THQ to even see the game engine.
Look for big things from Vigil and THQ!
Impressive. We thought Blizzard had long development stages.
Eh how come Turbines unanounced MMO isnt on the list? should be #3 in my opinion.
Its supposed to be anounced later this fall and will be using a IP in the size of D&D and Tolkien. Thats pretty big right?
Nice topic.
So, I'm interested to see what Blizzard is working on. Not because I'm a fan, but because I want to see what "kind" of MMO it will be. If it's another themepark in the WoW mold, well, I wouldn't be surprised. If it's something diffrent, I may give it a play. Who knows.
I have a feeling Vigil will butcher the 40K MMO, speaking as a former GW employee. If they don't, I'll play.
I'm really interested in the World of Darkness MMO and Copernicus. If there were any games that I actively didn't want to disappoint me it would be these two.
Numbers 6-8 I'll keep an eye on just because. Numbers 9 and 10 I couldn't care less about.
I'm looking forward to GW2, WOD, and the one by Copernicus. All 3 of those have piqued my interest. Can't wait to see how they turn out. Especially the Copernicus Studios one. I mean, come on, Salvatore and McFarlane? At least the graphics and story will be top notch. I also remember Schilling being a big fan of original EQ. Here's to keeping my fingers crossed.
The Wheel of Time one might be intersting, but I reserve my judgement until I learn a lot more about it.
How about a six faction game, that would be really coo....oh, wait, there already is one: Fallen Earth.
Thanks for posting this list, I think the one I'm looking forward to the most is GW2.
GW2 should win, hands down. Everyone knew that Blizzard wouldn't release details about their new MMO while on the other hand, GW2 was originally estimated to have a release date in 2008. It's more than a year and a half and we still don't know much if anything about GW2, things that have been told to us could have easily been changed, and its a tougher wait than the new Blizzard MMO.
That ship sailed in 1997. NWN was a mmorpg on AOL from 94-97. Produced by Stormfront Studios and used the gold box engine. Was one of the best online games ever, imho.
there was no announce release date for GW2. where did you get that info? beta was supposedly 2008. GW2 game trailer premieres today.
That ship sailed in 1997. NWN was a mmorpg on AOL from 94-97. Produced by Stormfront Studios and used the gold box engine. Was one of the best online games ever, imho.
Ah but apparently she might sail again :)
http://www.pseudorant.com/neverwinter-nights-mmorpg-atari-cryptic/
Ah but apparently she might sail again :)
http://www.pseudorant.com/neverwinter-nights-mmorpg-atari-cryptic/
That looks promising! Thanks for the link, I look forward to wasting many nights in Triboar!
Blizzards next MMORPG is going to be a sci-fi game. You heard it here first! Is the picture below a piece of concept art from Blizzards currently un-named and unknown MMORPG that is in the works. I think maybe it is a clue as to what we may see in the near future from them. Though it is supposedly just fan art...I am thinking that maybe Blizzard posted this right under the noses of the fans just to see how they might react to it. :)
Same with this one. The iamges are to alike not to think - Blizzard providing clues as to what their next MMORPG will look and feel like and what genre it will fall into.
@Teala
While the first picture does stimulate the curiosity, I can't help but think that it is Blizzard making the game (if indeed the pictures are related to the MMO) and that they very well could use WoW gameplay for it. I'm not interested in WoW gameplay, so...
Knowing the polish Blizzard is capable to put on a title, if their new MMO has more world simulation elements to it as opposed to arcade/quest/game elements to it, then I'll give it a shot. If it's looking like WoW (iteration 2), Aion or TOR, then I'll pass.
@Teala
The first picture looks like concept art from Starcraft: Ghost
I was wondering if DUST 514 should have been on this list?