Matt's Hopes For The MMO Genre In 2016

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This past year was somewhat of a mixed bag. The gaming industry at large saw several incredible releases, including but not limited to Metal Gear Solid V, Rocket League, and The Witcher 3, many of which completely redefined the way we looked at a specific series or genre. For the most part, this redefinition was undoubtedly a good thing. Many will lament the ever-increasing number of games making it through Greenlight and what they consider to be “shovelware,” in general, but I tend to think that the truly good games that were released this year overshadow those. It was a great year for games as a whole and I would like to think it is setting a new precedent.

Unfortunately, the MMO genre did not see the same sort of redefinition. Instead, our chosen genre has seen a number of closures and cancellations this year. We’ve seen HeroEngine’s owners, Idea Fabrik, hit hard times and take a number of games down with them, reinforcing the idea that cloud-based services are a risky investment. We’ve seen much of the same be released in different forms. Despite all of its progression issues, our Game of the Year for 2015 was Skyforge because it was undoubtedly the best new release state MMO of the year. It wasn’t the genre’s finest year. Most of our hopes lie in unfinished products or concepts that aren’t yet playable.

Even so, I am inclined to remain optimistic. There are plenty of great-looking games on the horizon, some of which aren’t that far off. In no specific order, here are some of my hopes for 2016.

Official Western Release of Phantasy Star Online 2

The lack of an official Western release of Phantasy Star Online 2 is perhaps one of the greatest disappointments I’ve faced in my history as an MMO player. I had initially attempted to play the Japanese Open Beta with the use of the translation patch before SEGA started making it harder to access the game from outside of Japan. I had quite a lot of fun with it, but the fun was short-lived. When it was announced that there would be an English SEA server, I was ecstatic. Then came the IP block—and the awful translation. IP blocks are easily avoided these days, but they rather put a damper on my will to play the game and—from comments I’ve read—I know I’m not alone in that.

Given there is an English SEA server, it’s quite baffling that there still isn’t a Western server. Perhaps the terrible translation is holding them back. Perhaps it didn’t perform well with English-speaking SEA users. I’ve read horror stories about the SEA server, but the exact reasons why a server not hosted by the original company didn’t do well don’t often appear to be weighed as heavily as the fact that it didn’t do well. I’ve read that “if you can access the site, you aren’t IP blocked” and I can access the site now, but I’m holding out just a bit longer in case a surprise move on SEGA’s part sees an official Western release. It is quite tough, though, given how insane Episode 4 looks.

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Official Western Release of Dragon Quest X

Perhaps just as baffling as the lack of an official Western release of Phantasy Star Online 2, three and a half years later, there is still no word of a Western release of Dragon Quest X, much less any English version. I remember Square Enix claimed they were worried that the game wouldn’t be financially viable in the West sometime after its moderate launch sales in Japan, but it was apparently viable enough to port to many platforms, including Android and even 3DS.

Three different versions of the game later, we are still left in the dark. With some finessing—and purchases through Amazon Japan—you could theoretically play the Japanese version and even subscribe to it. Personally, though, if I’m going to subscribe to a game, ideally, I’d like to be able to play it in English.

Finished Survival Games

ARK, DayZ, The Forest, H1Z1, Hurtworld, The Long Dark, Starbound, Miscreated, and so many more that I can’t remember the names of off the top of my head. The survival genre is packed to the brim. And yet, very few have actually been deemed to be in a “release state.” Practically none of the high-profile survival games have made it to a release state. Perhaps 2016 will change this. ARK, at the very least, seems to be aiming for a Summer 2016 release. If we’re lucky, it will hit that target and encourage other teams to finish their games.

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More MOBAs That Change Things Up

This past year saw the release of Heroes of the Storm and the beginning of both Overwatch and Paladins’ Closed Beta phases. For the first time, the MOBA genre really began to expand beyond its stereotypical Dota-like gameplay. Even many of the action MOBAs, like Smite, stuck fairly closely to staples of the genre. I’d like to see this continue to change. It feels like there’s so much more that could be happening with MOBAs, but instead, we largely see recreations of the traditional Dota formula, many of which simply add familiar characters, as The King of Fighters Online did.

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The Completion and Success of Indie MMOs

There are quite a few promising indie MMOs on the horizon. Divergence Online, Origins of Malu, Project Gorgon, and The Repopulation are just a few of them. Many of them are even looking to bring back sandbox gameplay. Both Divergence and The Repopulation, for example, are modeled largely after Star Wars Galaxies.

The issue is that many of these haven’t been finished yet and, one after another, are facing various issues. The Repopulation is currently on hold while they wait to sort out issues with HeroEngine. Origins of Malu has changed its engine yet again and no one's quite sure what the future holds. Project Gorgon is progressing at a snail’s pace and the Steam Early Access release is already fairly behind schedule. Divergence Online, on the other hand, is headed to Early Access very soon following eight years of development and several engine changes.

These are just some of my hopes for 2016. The year 2015 may have been fairly stagnant, but I am convinced that 2016 will be better. I doubt that we will see Phantasy Star Online 2 or Dragon Quest X in the West this year, but it may happen yet. More than anything, I would simply like to see more of the legions of Early Access games we’ve seen in recent times reach a release state. Many of them show promise, but aren’t quite there yet.

What are your hopes for 2016?

I've been playing MMOs since back in the day when my only option was to play Clan Lord on the family Mac. Since then, I've played too many MMOs to count. I generally play niche, sometimes even bizarre, MMOs and I've probably logged the most hours in Linkrealms prior to its current iteration. Currently bouncing between a few games.