What is the potential lifespan of an MMO?

by Shawn Schuster Sep 20th 2008 at 11:00AM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, Warhammer Online, Opinion

If there's one thing people love to do, it's quote Mythic employees. So let us continue that trend. In a recent interview with MTV Multiplayer, Warhammer Online's Mark Jacobs stated his case for why people should play Warhammer Online instead of World of Warcraft. But in stating his case, he brought up an interesting point: "All online games have a lifespan." True, there's no denying that everything has a lifespan (except maybe plastic), but we all know what he's saying here.

Over at Matt Mihaly's blog, he focuses on Jacobs' words a bit more. Sure WoW won't live forever, and it may not always be the dominant force in the Western MMO scene forever, but when will its lifespan end? With Ultima Online still pulling a profit after 11 years, do we see the next generation of gamers eventually playing the exact same games as us in 10-15 years from now? That's a scary thought.

Tags: life-span, lifespan, longevity, mark-jacobs, mtv-multiplayer, mythic, tracey-johns, ultima-online, war, warhammer-online, world-of-warcraft, wow

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

mandrill said on 1:53PM 9-20-2008

No people will not be playing the exact same games as us in 10 or 15 years, for one simple reason:

MMOs evolve. The people playing Ultima Online now are playing a different game from those who played UO when it started. I am still playing EVE (albeit intermittently) after 4.5 years and it is a completely different game from when I started to play it. Expansions, patches, addons, and the way a community grows and evolves all contribute to the fact that MMOs change over time. So we may well be playing games with the same name a decade down the line but the game itself will be different.

That being said I do think that WoW is on its last legs and WotLK is nowt but a last gasp as it slowly slides into oblivion.

/me waits for the flaming to begin.

netcowboy said on 2:10PM 9-20-2008

Technology will improve, and when it's possible for our kids, then bingo... Disneyland will be already there fully realized for them to come and play. I speak, of course, of World of Warcraft.

The game analogy isn't as real as the theme park analogy.

World of Warcraft, as virtual real estate, will never go away. People a hundred years from now will meet online using it... but while wearing goggles and full-body sensory devices.