Warpshade
Warped Industries
39
   |
Posted - 2013.02.11 18:43:00 -
[1] - Quote
Imo Sci-FI vs Fantasy is not much of a factor when you look at the past of the industry. Back in 2004 SWG was the highest subscribed MMO with about 400,000 subs peak roughly. When WoW came along, imo it was a very important time in the Industry, It was Sandbox vs Themepark.
SoE could of worked and improved on their sandbox, but as we all know they saw the quick success of WoW and tried to imitate Blizzards formula, forgetting their current customer base, and favoured the pursuit of new customers. You cannot beat WoW, at being WoW! If SoE had stuck to their guns and worked on keeping true to their own Sandbox formula, plus some other shenanigans within SoE; like keeping hold of Raph Koster, I think we could of seen a totally different set of MMO events than what we have had.
WoW had a long time with little competition, to polish and polish their product, all newer MMO's Sci-Fi and Fantasy, pretty much fell on their faces due to the fact, most companies were under the heavy burden of men in suits making the calls; WoW makes Cash, ergo make a WoW clone.
Also most games being rushed and being as complex as MMO's are to make, they were buggy as hell, folk don't like bugs! The common fallacy forward is; "but WoW has had X amount of years to get that good!!!!", Well so what, you don't compare the history of what a product was like, you compare your product to what the competition currently has. If I started a Car company and wanted to compete against Ford and I started selling a 4 wheel vehicle using a steam engine (well you get the idea) simular to those back in 1806, but charge the same price, then screamed "but Ford has had decades to design theirs!", it just wouldn't wash, and evidently it hasnt washed with the MMO base.
Just look at new games like Minecraft and DayZ, ok they aren't MMO's, but they're Sandboxes and they have become massively popular, for many of the mainstream MMO folk, it's like they just discovered the creation of the first Sandbox.
So to answer your question without a doubt a Sci-Fi MMO could dominate the industry, be it Eve (some day) or another game. Could be Sandbox or Themepark, or hell some totally new format out of my comprehension. Just aslong as it's a quality product that fills the criteria to keep folk entertained.
WoW won its right to capture its portion of the market, but for WoW in my mind, it really was a matter being in the right place, with the right elements that were required at the time, and Blizzard invested in its fan base; Blizzard during the WoW beta, pretty much targeted and scouted leaders of known guilds, and invited them to the beta. Capture the mind of a leader, and they naturally are going to have some kind of charisma or power to interest his members to follow.
All in all, I don't know the hard numbers on which has the highest interest; Sci-Fi, Fantasy or fans that like both genres, but when it comes to the MMO industry I really think it comes down the products we have been offered and not so much about their genre.
p.s. However I am greatly appreciative that CCP has made the quality product that is Eve and is fun to play!
tl;dr I think the history of MMO's effected the popularity, more so than genres. |