MMOG Giants Prepare For Battle

Next Generation has a look at the increasingly crowded business of running an MMOG. They talk with Jeffery Anderson, CEO of Turbine, Robert Garriott, CEO of NCSoft, and John Needham, SVP and CFO of Sony Online Entertainment about the business of worldcrafting. From the article: "MMOG companies are in the midst of a bitter fight to carve out market share, each trying new weapons ranging from classical retail, to neo-shareware, to straight-up digital distribution."

Comments

US Consumers are freaking idiots, apparently

[EvilMagnus]

From TFA:

Garriott continues, "In Korea, if you go to a customer and say 'I want to sell you a product, and then charge a monthly fee,' they say, 'You're crazy. Why would I buy a product?' In the US it's actually the opposite. If you go to a customer and say 'Here is a free product, I'd like you to try it and then pay me a monthly fee.' Most Americans say, 'The value of this product is exactly what I pay for it.' So when you give it to them free, they think it's worthless."

"From our market research and studies, if we sell them the product at retail, they like the product more, they have more value to it, they think it's worth what they paid for it, and they try to get that value back on the computer, learning about the game, and then they have a higher chance of paying a subscription fee afterwards.

What I take away from this is that the quality of a product to a US consumer is not linked to things like features and fun, but to how much they paid for it. I could give away World's Best Game, and there'd be consumers out there who'd think it was crap because they didn't pay for it. On the other hand, charge $50 for crap, and suddenly folks like it because it cost them $50.

This explains a great deal about the typical US consumer.

Re:Since When

[CrazyJim1]

If you want to know how the MMO world works Blizzard would be a good place to start. They have so far to my knowledge, taken what they saw as mistakes of other MMO companies and stayed away from them for the most part.

Sure, but they didn't try anything new or innovative either, which leaves the whole experience somewhat flat. If you're a fan of fancy graphics and a standard in them MMORPG realm , then WOW is for you. For me, I just can't stand MMORPGS in their current status, there's just not enough to do besides: Click attack/watch it die/LOOT GAMBLE!/Rest/Click attack/watch it die/LOOT GAMBLE!

Re:Since When

[cbrhea]

Bruha said:

If you want to know how the MMO world works Blizzard would be a good place to start. They have so far to my knowledge, taken what they saw as mistakes of other MMO companies and stayed away from them for the most part.

They certainly polished it and refined it. They didn't necessarily remove the flab that a lot of gamers tire of, ie. travel, raiding emphasis, phat-loot, etc.

If anyone innovated and removed the "mistakes" it's NCSoft with Guild Wars. May not be everyone's cup of tea, but they targetted the PvP aspect of MMOs and focus their development there. I think they did a good job.

Re:Since When

[SirBruce]

Turbine has certainly been "fading" as far as market share goes, but having the IP for Dungeons & Dragons and Lord of the Rings still makes them big players. If either one is a big hit, Turbine is right back in the top-tier along with Blizzard, SOE, and NCSoft. Mythic's DAoC has certainly been a bigger success than either Asheron's Call, but their inability to follow it up with Imperator (cancelled) has left them, IMHO, in second-tier status, at least until Warhammer Online comes out.

The big loser has been EA. UO pioneered the modern MMOG, and yet they have nothing to show for it. The Ultima franchise is essentially dead, and they've canned no less than three "sequel" Ultima MMOGs in development. They also cancelled Privateer Online (thus killing the Wing Commander franchise), Harry Potter Online, and Battletech 3025. And the MMOGs they did put out instead? Majestic, Motor City Online, and Earth & Beyond, all of which were also cancelled. UO survives as a dying shadow of its former self.

Bruce

Re:Since When

[Golias]

Sure, but they didn't try anything new

Low box spec requirements and cross-platform support for Mac users.

There are a lot of MMORPG's out there, but only one that lets me log in to the same account and enjoy good gameplay with an old Duron PC or an iBook, depending whether I'm at a desk or in a coffee shop somewhere.

Okay, most gamers don't have Macs, but many gamers have at least one or two friends who do, and WoW is the only MMORPG out there where they can game with those friends.

Also, WoW looks great on high-end system, but scales down very nicely on modest systems. There's a lot to be said for that, when the value of this type of game is directly tied to getting a vast network of players involved.