MMO FPS: A question for devs or anyone who wants to comment

Stardouser · 2012-03-21, 11:11 AM

In this video , someone asks the dev guy if he thinks free to play will become more prevalent in the industry.

I have a different question but of the same style. Do you think the success of Planetside 2 could convince other franchises to look at converting their own franchises or building new franchises from scratch to be MMO FPS with persistent or semi-persistent worlds instead of the typical 32 players per round, beat each other up for 30 minutes and the round ends gameplay?

krnasaur · 2012-03-21, 11:18 AM

Not really. Because all of the bigtime publishers already have their money printing franchises there would be no point to abandon those IP in favor of a new one. Now when the public wisens up and see that call of duty game are the same thing over and over (just with new box art) and they stop selling as well, maybe the boundaries will be pushed.

NewSith · 2012-04-08, 04:52 AM

Originally Posted by krnasaur

Not really. Because all of the bigtime publishers already have their money printing franchises there would be no point to abandon those IP in favor of a new one.

Why, no... Somehow I believe bungie can try the Halo MMOPFPS (P is for "persistent") and there are few other developers (hi-rez maybe) who still keep an open mind.

PS: Microsoft Games... Damn back in the day I wouldn't even think that the publisher will now be the most trusted. But seeing how EA defiles everything it touches, SOE not having very much money, THQ being getting money from DoW DLCs, etc, I start to believe that I can only trust Billy and his henchmen.

Lonehunter · 2012-04-08, 10:58 AM

Disclaimer: All I've read is the OP
I don't think there will be many companies converting their IP. Lets be honest we're looking at CoD and BF here, they have their niche to fill in the gaming community, and will also try to be the top of that market because they've sure owned it for almost a decade.

But new franchises starting up in the MMOFPS world? Absolutely, I have a suspicion that's what Bungie's or Blizzard's works in progress will be.

Stardouser · 2012-04-08, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by NewSith

Why, no... Somehow I believe bungie can try the Halo MMOPFPS (P is for "persistent") and there are few other developers (hi-rez maybe) who still keep an open mind.

PS: Microsoft Games... Damn back in the day I wouldn't even think that the publisher will now be the most trusted. But seeing how EA defiles everything it touches, SOE not having very much money, THQ being getting money from DoW DLCs, etc, I start to believe that I can only trust Billy and his henchmen.

Not trying to start the victory condition issue up in here, but I think by definition an MMOFPS has a large game world, and by further definition, if it's a large game world, it must be persistent. But there is no definition for "persistent" that means it has to be "permanently persistent". Persistent is relative, compared to a 30 minute round of Battlefield or a 5 minute round of CoD, a 2 week war IS persistent. I don't believe it's necessary for an MMOFPS to make the decision to have no victory condition to qualify as persistent. Remember I'm saying this in general terms for MMOFPS, not trying to reignite the debate on whether PS2 needs a victory condition or not.

Just know that a lot of the demand for no victory in PS2 is momentum/inertia from PS1 not having one. Outside of Planetside, BF/CoD MMOs, or completely new franchises dipping into the MMO market, the demand for a victory condition will be strong.

megamold · 2012-03-21, 11:20 AM

i think there will be more mmofps games in the near future ( but not because ps2 came out ) but i think it will be a while for something with the scale of ps2 will be made.

FastAndFree · 2012-03-21, 11:28 AM

Well Blizzard is apparently alredy pushing for the MMOFPS market with it's "Titan" project, although I think they said it will be a new IP.

Talking about MMOthings, I once played something that could be described as an MMO4X, Celetania.
Anyone here tried that game? That was fun to play with a bunch of friends, we quickly started to become a significant power block in our little star cluster, pushing our neighbours back with our little frigates and stuff

Then reality ensued as some player from another star cluster came visiting with so many battleships it was not even funny...

I would like to see more MMO-strategies as well

Stardouser · 2012-03-21, 11:31 AM

When did Blizzard say it was an MMOFPS? The only thing I'd heard was that it would be casual MMO. Man, we don't need more casual FPS...CoD and BF3 have done enough...

Tasorin · 2012-03-21, 12:45 PM

There have been a couple other non-AAA titles that have tried quasi sanbox with first person combat. The last title to do this was Darkfall Online. It failed miserable due to the development house and a pay to play beta business model to fund continuing development.

PS2 is really the only AAA title out there right now with the money to back the massive development NRE cost to deliver a title to market. There are a couple other games out there that are swimming in similar lanes along with PS2, but none of them have the budget or the history to compete with the PoP that PS2 gets.

Forsaken One · 2012-03-21, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by Tasorin

There have been a couple other non-AAA titles that have tried quasi sanbox with first person combat. The last title to do this was Darkfall Online. It failed miserable due to the development house and a pay to play beta business model to fund continuing development.

PS2 is really the only AAA title out there right now with the money to back the massive development NRE cost to deliver a title to market. There are a couple other games out there that are swimming in similar lanes along with PS2, but none of them have the budget or the history to compete with the PoP that PS2 gets.

Ah Darkfall Online. Pretty much Quake with fireballs and RPG style items/gear.

It was doomed from the start. even if you could get many players of Quake level twitch factor to play they would ether A: get annoyed or B: get bored of the RPG items/gear.

Think about it. You are playing a mmo Quake. but instead of fighting all the time every time you died you had to spend 5+ hours getting your gear and items back to fight on a fair level again.

it was just the wrong way to combo twitch and non twitch game elements.

However, A Rainbow Six Vegas 1 style (vegas 2 sucks hard.) mmofps, complete with the breaching, grappling, window entering etc. style play. YES. now that would be fun and awesome.

FastAndFree · 2012-03-21, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by Stardouser

When did Blizzard say it was an MMOFPS? The only thing I'd heard was that it would be casual MMO. Man, we don't need more casual FPS...CoD and BF3 have done enough...

Huh you are right, I guess I heard a wrong rumor

Raymac · 2012-03-21, 12:38 PM

Yeah Stardouser. That is a great question. I'm actually surprised that there arn't more MMOFPS games out there yet. But considering how copycat the entertainment industry is, when Planetside 2 is a huge success, you will start to see more games in the genre.

I think it is a great thing because after my first taste of it in 2003, MMOFPS instantly became my favorite genre. Too bad Planetside was really the only game that could scratch that itch. It's why I'm sooo excited for this sequel.

Stardouser · 2012-03-21, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by Raymac

Yeah Stardouser. That is a great question. I'm actually surprised that there arn't more MMOFPS games out there yet. But considering how copycat the entertainment industry is, when Planetside 2 is a huge success, you will start to see more games in the genre.

I think it is a great thing because after my first taste of it in 2003, MMOFPS instantly became my favorite genre. Too bad Planetside was really the only game that could scratch that itch. It's why I'm sooo excited for this sequel.

I actually did try WW2 Online, hell I was one of the guys following it pre-release on their forums back in those days before it came out, but I never stuck with it because it was a realism game. That's why I've always lobbied on DICE forums for a BF MMO, because BF, up til BF3 anyway, was always a middle ground game - you could move fast, squad spawn, etc, plug that BF gameplay into a WW2OL size game world and you've got it awesome. Hell, you can't even exit your tank/etc in WW2OL, you spawn as it, you die as it(unless they have changed it after all these years).

And Planetside looks like it will be damn close to what I've been searching for. The game world isn't quite set up like WW2 OL's gameworld but I'm sure that won't hurt anything.

Skitrel · 2012-03-21, 12:45 PM

The MMOFPS genre is unproven, it failed to prove itself the first time, PS1 wasn't a booming success of any kind. Without a prior business model proving something's success the big boys will generally stay far away from a concept unless they can take the risk for relatively low costs. The cost of making super AAA titles these days is hundreds of millions. That is a tonne of risk on a business model that's proven not to be a success previously, unlike the mmorpg market.

Yes, if Planetside 2 proves that MMOFPS can be a big success we should all be prepared for waves of competitors. It is absolutely naive to think that nobody will attempt to take away a piece of the MMOFPS pie if the game gets several million users. Nobody will allow SOE to have 100% market share in the genre for long. 2-3 years is all it would take to put out a viable contender, by EA more than likely. Though they're probably stinging from TORs issues right now and may shy away a little from anything "mmo".

Stardouser · 2012-03-21, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by Skitrel

2-3 years is all it would take to put out a viable contender, by EA more than likely.

DICE isn't EA's only company, but as far as they go, even though BF gameplay would be awesome for an MMOFPS(combined with a WW2 OL gameworld), they are SO stuck with their nose into bleeding edge graphics and destruction of the game world that I don't think they could bring themselves to scale that stuff down for use in a major MMO. (I'm assuming Planetside 2 won't have significant Destruction for this reason as well).

CoD, hell, they could upgrade their graphics by a whole generation for use in an MMO, and it would still be so far behind that current hardware could easily run it. That, by the way, might be a good compromise. I can handle 2009-ish graphics for a shooter in order to keep lag down and FPS up, you just don't want to return to 2004 graphics.