Right now there are quite a number of MMOGs available, and a load more in development. What I´ve been wondering about is how the intended consumer group for these games looks, which boils down to the question of "who´s going to buy that game?". Some of the titles, such as Star Wars Galaxies will draw enough customers by brand name alone, but smaller or more focused ones will (imo) run into serious trouble once the market is saturated (which I think will happen pretty soon, because very few MMOG players play more than one game at a time, and switching does not occur very often). So, I think that many companies will go the way of the dodo for investing in MMOG games that simply weren´t good enough. The main problem is that with MMOGs there simply is no second place (I´ve tested "Jumpgate", a nicely done space game that reminds a lot of "Elite". Nice, but due to some minor flaws not outstanding - they´re already giving away free downloads with one-month trials). So do any of you know of any freely available market research in that direction? How do you think the situation will look like in two years time?

The massive multiplayer market never has been viable for the dollars thrown at it, and yes you are right as a result, we''ll continue to see companies go under in this area.

Much of the hype seemed to be driven by the US who seemed to think everyman and his dog were going to instantly jump on broadband connections when the opposite is true.

quote: Original post by archetypist

Original post by Anonymous Poster
The massive multiplayer market never has been viable for the dollars thrown at it, and yes you are right as a result, we''ll continue to see companies go under in this area.

Much of the hype seemed to be driven by the US who seemed to think everyman and his dog were going to instantly jump on broadband connections when the opposite is true.

The success of the MMOG market has little if anything to do with the rate of broadband adoption in the US. UO, EQ, and AC (to say nothing of M59, Gemstone, or others) all became successful prior to significant broadband penetration.

And as for the viability of this market, it''s significantly more viable than the standard PC-retail games market, thanks to the magic of recurring subscription revenue. The only problem is that these games are also much more difficult to design and develop than a stand-alone game, and the all-important service aspect of the games has repeatedly thrown developers for a loop.

That said, I believe the key to the continuing success of the MMOG market lies in expanding the player base. Fantasy and science fiction are narrow niches – superheroes even moreso. Even SW:G probably won''t see the number of players that The Sims Online will, and TSO will probably bring in significantly more new players who haven''t also played one of the existing MMOGs. But: as hard as it is to design a MMOG, designing a MMOG for casual gamers is even more difficult. So yes, this market is viable, and growing, but it''s also not an easy one to develop for – the risk of having a game like Anarchy Online, WWII Online, Jumpgate, etc., is high.

Mike Sellers

Online Alchemy: Fire + Structure = Transformation


So you can then name a MMOG that is in development and is primarily targeting and/or adequately supporting non-broadband users (which are by far and away the largest section. NO, of course you cant. Because they all give inadequate support to non-broadband and then state everyone will eventually migrate. BTW: I''m unsure why your quoting a couple of financial failures. Surely the purpose of a MMOG is to make money so that it can stay in business.

Basically what your saying is while we may lose on every transaction, we will make it up in volume. Not a chance.

[idiocy removed]

[edited by - DavidRM on November 27, 2002 1:29:30 PM]