#2 - State of the MMO, Part I

So, MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) games have become immensely popular over the past 10 years. They've been around even longer, but they have really started to blossom and evolve more recently. Most notably of course, is Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft released in November of 2004. Response to this particular MMO was immediate and absolutely mind blowing in terms of popularity (not to mention cash generation). You purchased the game and then paid $15 per month to subscribe. At it's peak in 2010, it had over 12 million subscribers (generating ~$180,000,000+ per month!!!). Even now, after almost 10 years, and the release of other highly competitive MMOs (e.g. Rift, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Guild Wars 2) it retains over 8 million subscribers.

You can see why other game production studios got dollar signs in their eyes and decided they wanted (and could get) a piece of the pie. Well, so far, no one has come close, and frankly, it's possible that no one ever will, including Blizzard Entertainment. At the very least, it has given Blizzard (and the rest of the field) some good competition, and we, the players, win.

Here's a list of what I would consider the current 'AAA' MMOs (IMHO anyway) in reverse order of release date:

• World of Warcraft (11/2004)
• Rift (3/2011)
• Star Wars: The Old Republic (12/2011)
• Guild Wars 2 (8/2012)

Got any others you think should be included? Let me know and I'll tell  you why not.

I'll be looking at payment models in the next post.

Ciao.