News
Will 2008 be World of Warcraft's First Real Challenge?
30th Apr 2008 07:14 PM GMT | Maticus | 9 comments
Greg Howson over at guardian.co.uk has taken a look at the competition WoW has got coming at it this year. When you see some of the titles due for release in the next few months, you can't help wondering what's going to happen. Will WoW simply shrug it off, like it did with LOTRO, or will it be taking some direct hits to its subscriber base? Can a game with over 10 million subscribers ever be toppled?And it's not just Conan and Warhammer that may threaten to take WoW's crown, LOTRO is getting a chunky new update later this year, and there's NCsoft's Aion which looks very interesting (not to mention their MMO planned for 2009 on the PS3).
Or maybe the Free-to-Play model will come into its own this year and grab a large proportion of online gamers, who knows, but one thing is for certain - as the game companies try to out-do each other with better and better games, it's us who will benefit :)
Tags: games, mmo news
Comments
22 days ago
For Conan and WAR... I dunno. They seem to have positives, but they also seem to be focusing on decidedly *not* appealing to such a wide audience that WoW does. Restricting your audience doesn't seem to me to be a winning strategy. Maybe they will do good... I just don't think Blizzard has all that much to worry about from them.
For LOTRO... I dunno, a game company that has a certain sound of desperation to get former players (Beta players) into the fold with offers of $9.95 box & $9.95/mo subscription price seems like it may be worried about something.
Haven't heard of Aion... and the Free-to-Play model might work, might not. It is a curious direction, but I'm not sold on the idea that people are really going to chew too heavily into it.
For LOTRO... I dunno, a game company that has a certain sound of desperation to get former players (Beta players) into the fold with offers of $9.95 box & $9.95/mo subscription price seems like it may be worried about something.
Haven't heard of Aion... and the Free-to-Play model might work, might not. It is a curious direction, but I'm not sold on the idea that people are really going to chew too heavily into it.
22 days ago
I've followed Aion for a while now and I must say that it's looking pretty sweet. One of the major draws for me is the power system called "Divine Points" which is used for just about everything from combat to crafting. It accumulates while you play and resets when you log off, BUT can be TRADED to other players at any point for whatever reason. You can read about this system at "What are Divine Points?"
Anyone interested can also follow with it's development at Aionglobal.com.
Anyone interested can also follow with it's development at Aionglobal.com.
21 days ago
The thing is...I had a Game magazine subscription for a few years. Cancelled it, because
-I wasn't really looking at exchanging WoW for another game.
-Even the guides and insights were from people casually playing WoW and sucked compared to what I knew.
Which is pretty much an issue with every game mag.
So - since I am so immersed in WoW, have many ppl I play with in the game and am looking forward to WotLK - why should I change to another game? And this ofc lead to the point where I am not even informed what games are out there.
I wonder if there aren't like 5 Million others who think and feel like that ?
-I wasn't really looking at exchanging WoW for another game.
-Even the guides and insights were from people casually playing WoW and sucked compared to what I knew.
Which is pretty much an issue with every game mag.
So - since I am so immersed in WoW, have many ppl I play with in the game and am looking forward to WotLK - why should I change to another game? And this ofc lead to the point where I am not even informed what games are out there.
I wonder if there aren't like 5 Million others who think and feel like that ?
21 days ago
Testing if the comments still works.
21 days ago
Let's see.
1. An update to LotR MMO - Will not hurt WoW in the slightest. I do not know of a single MMO that has recovered lots of people if it didn't grab them at release. Not going to change anything.
2. Conan - While interesting, I do not think it has broad enough appeal. 99% of gaming community know nothing of the game world, or have any real attraction to the gameworld. The game, 100%, will have to stand only on its reviews and buzz to get people to play it. I don't see it as a threat.
3. WAR will be lucky to be out by Christmas, maybe Thanksgiving. It stands a much better chance now that they have "WoW'd" it down some. Any game that relies on RvR PvP and have a lot of PvP will hurt it somewhat, though they have reduced much of that aspect. It will come down to one thing and one thing only. Is it fun, short term and long term. Is it fun. If not, it will be crushed.
1. An update to LotR MMO - Will not hurt WoW in the slightest. I do not know of a single MMO that has recovered lots of people if it didn't grab them at release. Not going to change anything.
2. Conan - While interesting, I do not think it has broad enough appeal. 99% of gaming community know nothing of the game world, or have any real attraction to the gameworld. The game, 100%, will have to stand only on its reviews and buzz to get people to play it. I don't see it as a threat.
3. WAR will be lucky to be out by Christmas, maybe Thanksgiving. It stands a much better chance now that they have "WoW'd" it down some. Any game that relies on RvR PvP and have a lot of PvP will hurt it somewhat, though they have reduced much of that aspect. It will come down to one thing and one thing only. Is it fun, short term and long term. Is it fun. If not, it will be crushed.
21 days ago
AoC doesn't interest me at all but I will likely try out Warhammer when it comes out to see how it is. WoW will always hold onto me pretty well though since I enjoy Warcraft lore too much and know nothing at all (at least right now) about Warhammer. But I could see it being a fun game to play when WoW gets boring due to lack of things to do for whatever reason.
21 days ago
I tend to be the same way. I play one game until I tire of it and then take a break or look for another. As of now, WoW still has my attention.
21 days ago
Wow will lose subs to these games and the summer months through september/october. As people enjoy the warm weather and a lot of people are pretty much finished until WoTLK.
When wotlk comes we'll see a spike in subs again.
I expect wotlk around the end of november, or early december.
When wotlk comes we'll see a spike in subs again.
I expect wotlk around the end of november, or early december.
21 days ago
The one game that has had me interested in it is Darkfall but with how long it has been in development its almost like vaporware.
