JonricMMO

What role should governments have in the online game industry? This question was brought back to mind recently by news about a bill in Singapore that may have substantial potential to impact how the free to play revenue model can operate there. I also had renewed reason to wonder about the future of World of Warcraft in our planet's largest market, China.

Video games almost always fail to measure up to the hype they generate during development. It's pretty unusual to see one that under-promises and over-delivers. Indeed, relatively few even manage to meet the expectations they promote. To be fair, this isn't entirely one-sided since many of us tend to look at upcoming titles through our rose-colored glasses. Naturally, relative to how we think or hope they'll turn out, some disappoint more than others.

Last week, Blizzard revealed it had cancelled Project Titan, which can now lay claim to a couple of rather dubious honors. It's certainly the most eagerly and widely awaited MMOG to be killed off before we actually knew what it was, and it may also hold the record for being in the works longer than any endeavor that was never announced. In any case, its demise raises an enormous question. What will the company do instead?

Earlier this month, John Skipper, President of ESPN, the network that, just this summer, had streamed the finals of the $10 million DOTA 2 championship tournament, The International, opined about eSports that “It's not a sport; it's a competition. Chess is a competition. Checkers is a competition.” He followed up by saying “Mostly, I'm interested in doing real sports.” Was this frank, disingenuous, hypocritical or maybe just an unconsidered slip of the tongue?

In my previous list, I named four projects that I remember wistfully even though they never made it to launch. While thinking about which ones to include, the generally opposite thought also came to mind. There have been MMOGs that I feel should have been canceled before they entered live service. Listed alphabetically, here are five interesting ones that I believe were basically doomed to fall far short of the potential their publishers thought they had.

Like many MMOG fans and gamers in general, I tend to pay attention when major game shows roll around. I'm no longer a regular attendee like I was for years, but I still look forward to them. That said, I started to question a few years ago how much I do so due to force of habit rather than their actual importance. In addition, while looking for information on this year's upcoming Korean event, G-Star, I wondered about its future and potential.

While it's arguably not as difficult as it once was, staying reasonably informed as to what's happening in the Korean MMOG development industry remains far from easy. As a result, few western observers are truly up to date. I'm not. However, I've recently spent some time trying to catch up a bit. So, here are some thoughts on a trio of projects that seem positioned to raise their visibility on this side of the globe over the coming months.

Over the past couple of decades, quite a number of MMOG projects have suffered the rather ignominious fate of being canceled during development. It's difficult if not impossible to say which ones didn't deserve to make it to launch. That said, here are four, listed alphabetically, that particularly interested me. I wish they had been able to overcome the issues that led to their respective early demises.

Let's try playing a little game. I'll pose a bunch of topics and provide my thoughts on each. You're invited to do the same. The only stipulation is that the word snapshot in the sub-head means there's a limit of 100 words per subject. Are you up for it? I guess we'll see soon enough. Here's your chance to join me in offering quick takes on Firefall, Destiny, WoW: Warlords of Draenor, WildStar, ArcheAge and which MMOGs may be approaching their sunsets.

Last summer, we learned that Obsidian Entertainment had been retained to help develop Skyforge. Since the studio is strongly associated with standalone RPGs, this news was interesting and at least somewhat unexpected. Following E3, where parts of the game were playable and appeared to be favorably received, I had the chance to follow up with Development Director of Culturalization Eric DeMilt about his team's role on the project.

The MMOG space has never lacked for differences of opinion. This isn't a problem; it would be pretty dull without them. What's more, we generally recognize that it's normal for at least some other people's views to diverge from our own. However, this is an expression of my rational side. At the gut feeling level, certain things with which I disagree are considerably harder for me to “get” than others.

Although the month or two after E3 can sometimes be slower than usual in terms of news, there was still quite a bit going on in the MMOG space over the past couple of weeks. A number of items caught my attention over this span. The top two, both involving potentially intriguing changes, were Perfect World's latest western acquisition and the departure of Blizzard's Chief Creative Officer.

With the latest iteration of the US trade event having come and gone, it was natural to expect the bump in volume of rumors that has followed. For various reasons, it doesn't seem as pronounced as it once was. Nonetheless, it's still an annual rite. This time, The Elder Scrolls Online has been front and center.

In case anyone doesn't know it already, my MMORPG background began back in the days when you could count all of them your hands and still have a few fingers left over. After playing them as well as observing how the genre has evolved for nearly two decades now, it strikes me that I don't find them to be as much fun as they once were – or perhaps more importantly, as I feel they should be.

It's not my fault. Mythic's closing, which was revealed last week, did not come about due to any curse associated with me. Admittedly, I've written quite a bit about the studio and its projects. I can say the same thing about Origin, NetDevil, Artifact Entertainment, Nival, Cryptic, Destination Games and more. That all of these are now either gone completely or substantially changed from what they were is, I assure you, purely coincidental.