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

[Stardouser]

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]

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.

[megamold]

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]

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]

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...

[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.

[Stardouser]

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.

[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.

[FastAndFree]

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

[Skitrel]

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]

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.

[Pozidriv]

Originally Posted by Skitrel

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".

Personally i don't think we will get "waves" of competitors. Fielding the necessary gear to run an MMO game is not cheap, especially if you are doing it for "free". But i am 99% certain that if PS2 does well, we will see Battlefield: ENDGAME MMO from EA, Call Of Duty: Global Operations MMO from Activision and Ghost Recon: Sum Of All Fears MMO from Ubisoft :P.

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by Stardouser

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.

I remember reading an interview from a COD big wig about the very real possibilty of someday making a COD MMO. He vaguely described a COD MMO with large maps and vehicles and said...and I quote "I would play the shit out of that game." So I think it is likely that we will eventually see something along those lines and the success of Planetside 2 may hasten that timeline.

[Stardouser]

Originally Posted by Raymac

I remember reading an interview from a COD big wig about the very real possibilty of someday making a COD MMO. He vaguely described a COD MMO with large maps and vehicles and said...and I quote "I would play the shit out of that game." So I think it is likely that we will eventually see something along those lines and the success of Planetside 2 may hasten that timeline.

The only problem with CoD is, see, when I think MMO FPS, I think huge maps like Planetside. I mean, sure, the game might take some steps to discourage , though not disallow, more than 150 players from congregating in the same area for lag purposes, but I'm afraid that CoD would make some kind of interlinked thing where the battles are STILL all 8 vs 8 and they just somehow connect...could CoD really bring itself to model large map combat?

[Tasorin]

EA made similar mistakes with SWTOR that SOE did with SWG. The big difference being is the CEO of EA games John Riccitiello is exponentially more of a Douche bagging champion of short term gain over long term stability then John Smedley of SOE is on his worst day.