Guild Wars 2's Numbers Raise Questions about World of Warcraft's Status

For more than twelve years, the genre of Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games was dominated by "World of Warcraft." But lately it's been crashing in numbers. And something happened recently that put it's status as the champion of MMOs in doubt.

Since shooting up from 6.8 million subscribers to 10 million in November 2014, World of Warcraft's numbers have plummeted, down to 5.6 million in August with no sign of slowing down. And while the MMO that once was *the* game in its genre has been shrinking in numbers, others have been growing. One, Guild Wars 2, recently announced it had reached 7 million accounts, up from 5 million in August. The growth is attributed in part to it's new expansion "Heart of Thorns."

So does this mean Guild Wars 2 is now the number one MORPG? Not necessarily. World of Warcraft's numbers are of active accounts while those of Guild Wars 2 are of all of it's accounts, active or not. Over time, World of Warcraft has had a total of over 100 million accounts.

So it looks like World Of Warcraft is still the Champion MMO, at least for now. That it was in doubt is a reminder with it's dropping numbers, the best known of MMOs just doesn't have the draw it used to. While this isn't the end of it's days as the champion, it seems just a matter of time.


Sources: Gamespot, IGN

Bixyl Shuftan

Elder Scrolls Online to Drop Subscription Fees

Almost a year ago, we reviewed the "Elder Scrolls Online" MMO, based on the story universe of "Skyrim." A year later, they will be dropping the requirement to pay subscription fees every month or so. It won't be a true "Free to Play," as like games such as Guild Wars 2, you need to buy it. But once you make the initial purchase, that's all you need. The change will be part of their upcoming expansion, "Tamriel Unlimited," on March 17. Unlike many MMOs, the game will also be available for Apple computers. In June, the game will also be out for the XBox and Playstation.

Players with subscriptions beyond March 17 will find their memberships changed to a Premium account, or "ESO Plus." Such accounts will have access to zones and quests regular ones do not, as well as "character progression bonuses," plus an income of "crowns," an in-game currency to spend at the game store on items like mounts.

The change to a pay-once-to-play MMO did not come as a surprise to Andy Chalk of PC Gamer, "this is an entirely unsurprising outcome. There are plenty of quality free-to-play MMO options already on the market. ... I don't think The Elder Scrolls Online was ever able to shed its reputation for being over-hyped and under-delivered, and generic fantasy MMO experiences just aren't enough to justify 15 bucks a month in this era." It was also noted that the game's price of $60 will be unchanged, "Add on the cost of future game packs, mounts, and whatever else catches your fancy, and I can't help but wonder if even the sub-free version of the game might be a little too pricey for its own good." Nydia's review of last year's beta stated that some of the bugs had yet to be worked out. In the opinion of this writer, it appears other gamers concluded the same and the game got off to a bad start, or it continued to underwhelm gamers whom had high expectations from the makers of Skyrim. 

Sources: PC Gamer, elderscrollsonline.com 

Bixyl Shuftan

More Troubles for "Star Wars the Old Republic," Future of "Pay to Play" MMOs Questioned

A few days ago, "Star Wars the Old Republic" was given six nominations for the Annual Game Developers Choice Online Awards. But this seems to be the only good news for the once up and coming online game, which lately has had problems keeping up it's numbers of customers.

Earlier this summer, it was reported after initial success, "Star Wars the Old Republic" began dropping in subscribers. More recently has come another unfortunate development: SWTOR's executive producer Rich Vogel is reportedly leaving the company, in addition of talk of further layoffs from the game's developer Bioware.

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitello made the most interesting comment about the games recent troubles, "Our conclusion was we had a great product in Star Wars, but that the subscription model in the world of free-to-play was challenging." Indeed, there are reports that BioWare is considering going beyond the free trials to play the game to making it free to play. Riccitiello stated that EA was looking at "different models to bring in more users into the game," but would not confirm that a free-to-play one was in the works. The companies would only say, "In the weeks ahead, we will announce plans for growing The Old Republic with new content, new players, and new ways to play."

Hamlet Au commented that these troubles were a sure sign that the "pay to play" model for Massive Multiplayer Online Games was coming to a close, "if Vogel, one of the best MMO developers in the business, can't sustain a subscription-based MMO associated with the most well-known sci-fi fantasy franchise in the world, no one can." In my own opinion, I wouldn't say this means "pay to play" is over, but that "World of Warcraft" has pretty much cornered the market as it remains strong with millions of paying customers.

It should be noted that in recent months, World of Warcraft has been losing subscribers as well. The latest expansion, "The Mists of Pandaria" should help in the short term. The long term will require Blizzard being more successful at retaining customers than it currently is.

As for "Star Wars," I never could play it on my computer as no Mac version was ever developed.

Sources: Massively, Gamasutra, Brokentoys, Gamespot, New World Notes, Image from "Sneak Peek."

Bixyl Shuftan