Ask Massively: Oh great, another "WoW Killer"
by Kevin Stallard 
Aug 21st 2008 at 4:00PM
Filed under: Launches, MMO industry, New titles, Opinion, Ask Massively
Dear Massively,
Can Warhammer Online:Age of Reckoning be the "World of Warcraft killer"?
-- (about 600 emails in the past month)
It seems like we've been here before, but as long as folks keep asking, it's up to us to answer.
For some strange reason, I'm having a feeling of deja vu about this question. I can't imagine why.
Without going into the merits of Age of Conan Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning because I haven't played the game yet, let me reuse an old and tired cliche make a bold prediction . I want you all to repeat after me so that we don't have to have this conversation again when Star Trek Online comes out.
"The only thing that will kill World of Warcraft is World of Warcraft."
But.. But... What about <insert exciting and revolutionary new title here>?
No. It won't kill World of Warcraft either. New games do not kill older games off. New games do not cause people to leave other games en-masse except perhaps for a brief trial period.
This trend will not change with Warhammer. Will some folks leave Azeroth for the "greener pastures" of Warhammer's Empire? Sure they will. People unsubscribe from MMO's all the time, and the biggest facilitator is a player who has a new and shiny game to play. Warhammer will be the "excuse du jour", but not the kind of killer game that will make everyone forget about WoW. That is an unreasonable expectation to have of any new title. The thing that will eventually spell the demise of World of Warcraft is when there are so many "new and shiny games" out there that WoW can't stand out in the marketplace any more. When Blizzard eventually decides to allocate development dollars to other parts of their portfolio and WoW becomes the "old school forgotten MMO" you might call that the end for WoW. Considering the fact that Sony is still cranking out expansions for EverQuest, I think we can agree that this particular day is a long way off for Blizzard.
With Blizzard's track record of producing quality games, the only thing that is going to keep WoW from remaining king of the MMO's is if Blizzard decides to focus their efforts elsewhere. Wrath of the Lich King will be a smashing success and break just about every PC gaming sales record in existence. Now that I have thoroughly surprised you with such a crazy and bold prediction, does anyone rationally expect a new game, with all of the headaches and bumps present at launch to eclipse WoW's success in any way? Most players I know are planning on playing both games, and as long as Blizzard gets your money every month, I'm sure they don't care how many other games you choose to play.
As always, if you have a question for us here at Ask Massively, feel free to drop us a note via our tip line, or via email at ask AT massively DOT com.
Without going into the merits of Age of Conan Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning because I haven't played the game yet, let me reuse an old and tired cliche make a bold prediction . I want you all to repeat after me so that we don't have to have this conversation again when Star Trek Online comes out.
"The only thing that will kill World of Warcraft is World of Warcraft."
But.. But... What about <insert exciting and revolutionary new title here>?
No. It won't kill World of Warcraft either. New games do not kill older games off. New games do not cause people to leave other games en-masse except perhaps for a brief trial period.
- EverQuest didn't kill Ultima Online.
- World of Warcraft didn't kill EQ.
- Age of Conan didn't hurt World of Warcraft substantially.
This trend will not change with Warhammer. Will some folks leave Azeroth for the "greener pastures" of Warhammer's Empire? Sure they will. People unsubscribe from MMO's all the time, and the biggest facilitator is a player who has a new and shiny game to play. Warhammer will be the "excuse du jour", but not the kind of killer game that will make everyone forget about WoW. That is an unreasonable expectation to have of any new title. The thing that will eventually spell the demise of World of Warcraft is when there are so many "new and shiny games" out there that WoW can't stand out in the marketplace any more. When Blizzard eventually decides to allocate development dollars to other parts of their portfolio and WoW becomes the "old school forgotten MMO" you might call that the end for WoW. Considering the fact that Sony is still cranking out expansions for EverQuest, I think we can agree that this particular day is a long way off for Blizzard.
With Blizzard's track record of producing quality games, the only thing that is going to keep WoW from remaining king of the MMO's is if Blizzard decides to focus their efforts elsewhere. Wrath of the Lich King will be a smashing success and break just about every PC gaming sales record in existence. Now that I have thoroughly surprised you with such a crazy and bold prediction, does anyone rationally expect a new game, with all of the headaches and bumps present at launch to eclipse WoW's success in any way? Most players I know are planning on playing both games, and as long as Blizzard gets your money every month, I'm sure they don't care how many other games you choose to play.
As always, if you have a question for us here at Ask Massively, feel free to drop us a note via our tip line, or via email at ask AT massively DOT com.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Daedren said on 4:05PM 8-21-2008
Funny. I wrote this earlier today:
http://www.mmocrunch.com/2008/08/21/a-case-for-sanity-killing-the-wow-killer-mime/
And now this happens to appear on Massively.
Please, for the love that is all good and pure in this world...
STOP USING THIS TERM.
That is all.
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Kevin Stallard said on 4:32PM 8-21-2008
I'm all in favor of killing mimes.
But seriously folks...
Isn't that what a "meme" is? Something that is repeated so often that you want to claw your screen into confetti?
Begging folks to stop using a term is like shouting "STOP!" at a dog who is diving for a dropped piece of food. It's a cute idea, but you'd be a fool to expect it to work.
-K
Admiral Awesome said on 4:24PM 8-21-2008
How many times do you think wow players will be excited for "increased lvl cap to X+10" (X=the last expansions cap) that makes all your gear obsolete and kills of your guild while waiting for the expansion.
And even if there would be a wow killer you wouldn't see that at the first month sales, it took them 4 years to reach 10 million.
Friedrich Nietzsche once said " woop the freaking doo I'm happy playing a game that's fun it dosen't have to be the biggest one on the market"
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Wjowski said on 7:08PM 8-21-2008
Competition is healthy and all but this preconceived notion that there can ever only ever be 'one big MMO' is hurting the genre as a whole more than it's helping.
Brian! said on 4:35PM 8-21-2008
You all have it wrong.
The true WoW killer is a well placed set of explosives at Blizzard HQ and at the various server farms. It all can be ended in a, well, arcane explosion of sorts.
Also, a deadly virus unleashed in Blizzard HQ might do it as well. It might do in the human race at the same time, but sure to kill WoW AND the subscriber base.
Finally, if everyone keeps playing these games instead of having a life, no one will be left to procreate and when this generation dies off, there will be no one left to play. At that point, it is just a matter of time until the unmanned powerstaions fail and bring down the entire Blizzard empire. All hail Blizzard!
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Vlatch said on 5:05PM 8-21-2008
Competition is the key here. I really do hope - as an avid WoW player even - that WAR does extremely well and forces Blizzard to put it in high gear.
I think they've (Blizzard) have been able to coast for quite some time, and rest on the fact that they just have a better MMO all-around than anyone else out there.
I reaaaallllyyy hope WAR gives them some competition, and we see Blizzard and Mythic striving to outdo one another. This can only be good for the genre, and for gamers overall.
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Waiting... said on 6:09PM 8-21-2008
Vlatch hit it right on the head. WoW needs some competition. Nothing's going to kill it (Mystic has even come out and said multiple times "WAR is not a WoW killer", the only people saying that are WoW haters and WAR fanatics), but something coming along and putting a noticable dent in Blizz's bottom line should be seen as a great thing for the industry.
WAR and WoW fanatics lose sight of this, in the end WAR doing well is a win-win situation for everyone playing both games.
I'm leaving WoW for awhile to play WAR, I'm loving the beta and I really hope that the game does well. Not to kill WoW, because I think WoW is an excellent PvE game - in order to continue pushing both companies to bring more and more content into their games. That's the payoff right there.
Everyone should be hoping for record high sales of WAR, for a good amount of subscriptions to stick, and for WotLK to fall short on its projected sales figures (though I won't hold my breath on the last one... ). If all that happens you'll be seeing plenty of great additions to both games in the years to come - mark my words.
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Daedren said on 6:32PM 8-21-2008
Kevin,
While you might be right of the futility of it, it doesn't do any good to be a part of the problem.
It doesn't make me want to claw my screen out, it just serves as a constant reminder of the MMO's genre to grasp onto anything, no matter how asinine or absurd.
Meh, I'm done now. ;)
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crsh said on 7:04PM 8-21-2008
Blizzard is getting lazy, that takes nothing away from their accomplishments, but they do need some form of competition to crank it up a bit.
Enough with the model and texture recycling already, we know it makes sense financially, but they can definitely afford to make new ones. Enough with the cheap excuse for a PvP system that arenas and BGs are. Enough with the seemingly identical quests from one expansion to another (the joke of re-using Nessingwary yet-again for instance is just not funny, nobody likes those "kill me 400 birds, and collect a billion eggs" quest lines).
Despite all the hype surrounding WotLK, I am sadly not very excited about it after playing WoW for 3 years; TBC was just vanilla WoW on casual mode, scrapping the idea of adventure and challenge for yet-another 15 faction rep grind.
WotLK will be a lot of the same once again, Blizzard has it so easy by sitting alone at the top that they're barely trying, just busy squeezing the good old cash cow for every drop.
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FarSpace said on 2:04PM 8-22-2008
If you think about it, even EQ II did not kill EQ :)
I went to EQ II my self from EQ and was happy for it, but still.
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massively said on 5:24PM 8-24-2008
Kill EQ? It took EQ 2 more than two years to even overtake EQ in subscriber numbers! The resilience of EQ in the face of all comers is truly awesome.
Celestro said on 2:05AM 8-22-2008
Every time a journalist uses the term "WoW Killer", a kitten dies.
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Kevin Stallard said on 7:27AM 8-22-2008
There is no need to get personal, sir. I am *not* a journalist.
A few folks have asked why "we" (as if we all march in lock step on anything) use the term "WoW Killer" so much.
I can't speak for the others, but I can tell you that when you see the term 500 BILLION times in emails and in conversations and on message boards and elsewhere, you usually don't sit around thinking "I'm sick of that term, what else can I call this?" As with any cliche, overuse of a term can get annoying, but all in all, it isn't something I spend much time caring about.
The thing that gets me more than anything else is the notion that any game will come along and render an older game (particularly one as successful as World of Warcraft) so obsolete that they lose subscribers to the point where it is no longer feasible to keep the game online.
It...
Doesn't...
Happen.
That's also why I put terms like "WoW Killer" in quotes. Just imagine Dr. Evil making the "quotation fingers" around that term each time you see it in print.
-K
Bouncer said on 2:22AM 8-22-2008
The only thing that will kill WoW is time, even another blizzard MMO won't kill it. That said massively seems to use the term "WoW killer" every time a MMO is released. "KOTOR Online, will it be the next WoW killer" or "Star Trek Online announced, will it be the next WoW Killer" People need to get over it and accept the fact that WoW won't die (and I am not a WoW fan) No game, no matter how good, will kill WoW, 10 million players will take years to go away, they will suffer dents in subscriber base, but the next expansion of another 10 more levels, 1 bg and a new continent a quarter of the size of the last will bring it back up. I do hope WAR will be a great game (loved the beta) but it will not kill WoW, or an other game for that matter, games don't kill games, time does.
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Brian! said on 3:32AM 8-22-2008
I know who killed WoW!
It was Professor Plumb with the Candlestick!
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Kevin Stallard said on 7:30AM 8-22-2008
Yes... but WHERE?
Was it the library? The study? Miss Scarlet's bedroom?
C'mon man, don't leave us hanging without a Clue!
-K
GameZig said on 9:21AM 8-22-2008
Ah, another WoW killer post - my answer to these. All of these:
http://gamezig.com/mmorpg/will-there-ever-be-a-wow-killer
Surprisingly, I agree with the Massively author on this one.
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Daedren said on 9:56AM 8-22-2008
Kevin,
I'm not getting personal. You say you're not a journalist, yet you are "writing" about the MMO genre. So, whatever you want to call that. ;)
Just because you see something "500 Billion times" in emails (shouldn't we be past the point of exaggeration? Oh, the might Massively and your plentiful email traffic, we bow to you.) -- doesn't mean you should use it. You have the power, by having the neat little Wordpress login and the authority to write posts about it. You can choose to embrace the term (which you have, even if it's out of disagreement) or just disregard the term as unworthy of being written.
I'll admit I'm a bit hypocritical here, as I've written an article about "Killing the Wow-killer Meme" - which is 20 minutes of my life I suppose I'll never have back. However, I think that many MMO gamers really don't understand how the market works or things like economics to know that this, as you and I both said, cannot actually happen.
In the end, we're in total agreement that the term is inaccurate and "lame" as a meme. Yet we, as the respective voices to our sites/blogs, have the power to change how this meme is viewed. By portraying it in a negative light, readers and other sites will be more hesitant to use it in a serious manner.
Anyway, I think we've both written enough about this subject. First beer is on me. ;)
-- Daedren
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