WAR's quest for online success

by Shawn Schuster Sep 22nd 2008 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Economy, MMO industry, New titles, Warhammer Online

Just when developers and venture capitalists were almost to the point of apprehension for the future of investing in the MMO genre, Warhammer Online has broken the failed-MMO streak by creating what looks to be the biggest thing since... well, since World of Wacraft. In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Mythic's Mark Jacobs pointed out that by his count, only 10 MMO titles have enjoyed any sort of financial success in the last 11 years, while the number of failures is much higher.

Frank Gibeau, president of EA Games expands upon Jacobs' statement, "The game industry is only just starting to scratch the surface for the opportunity out there." Gibeau goes on to explain that the failure of many MMOs has been due to lack of quality. "We're the first quality MMO to release since World of Warcraft was released," he said.

Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

Tags: ea, mark-jacobs, mythic-entertainment, war, warhammer-online, washington-post, world-of-warcraft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

danarchy said on 5:19PM 9-22-2008

I may just not be very observant but what are the total numbers at now anyways? Any rough estimates even? This game released MUCH more polished than anything I have ever played before (and I have played them all except ultima...seriously.) so I imagine its going to be a hit

PC said on 5:32PM 9-22-2008

It is the best thing since WoW but populations on the servers don't seem as high as I was led to believe. RvR & PQ's are empty or close to it too often for my liking since to me they are the high points of the game when they are active.

Rich said on 6:59PM 9-22-2008

you must be on a low pop server. The server I am on, the 4 times I've logged I've had queues to get in twice. The PQ's in certain areas are sometimes empty, while others have multiple groups competing.

RvR stuff in the Teir 1 level is packed unless its weird hours.

zK said on 6:13PM 9-22-2008

If you think they are empty go to an equal tier of another realm. There are different RvRs and PQs in other realms (not servers) that have players in them. It also depends on your level at this point. Higher Tier stuff is a bit more vacant due to the lack of players at those levels (3 and higher). I for one have ZERO problem with queues but then again I'm a full Open RvR server :)

PC said on 7:03PM 9-22-2008

I'm Tier 2 where I'd say the majority of people are at the moment. Only the Human zone seems to have anything close to consistent PQ/RvR activity. The numbers just don't seem to be jiving with the 'high' server pop. This may not be an issue once most people are in Tier 4 but when that happens the lower Tiers may be a dead zone for those leveling. I just think that servers could use more people than many currently are allotted now that there is some separation with people in Tiers 2 & 3.

fortuente said on 7:06PM 9-22-2008

"We're the first quality MMO to release since World of Warcraft was released," he said.

I like WAR a lot, but I take exception to that statement. As a specific example I think the quality of LOTRO is unrivaled, even by the current stage WAR is in.

Oh wait the guy is the president of EA. Makes perfect sense he would be a complete ass-hat. I bet he thinks SecureROM is the next coming of Christ also.

Lurker28 said on 7:06PM 9-22-2008

Been enjoying myself quite a bit when it comes to WAR. Was never a big fan of WoW, but this game is similar in many ways and so so different in many. It just seems like a came that I can feel accomplished no matter how long I am in a game for 15 minutes or 4 hours.

Which is a big bonus to me, I am an avid video gamer...however since I have gotten older I have had less time to devote to my favorite games and MMO's just do not allow me to feel like I have achieved anything, until WAR.

PurityKnight said on 7:24PM 9-22-2008

"We're the first quality MMO to release since World of Warcraft was released," he said."

This is a completely ludicrous statement and actually shows that he may in fact be out of touch. I've had Warhammer for 2 days, been having a lot of fun with PvP and leveling through PvP. Very nice change of pace for a MMO. I can't wait to see later ranks and world RvR.

Having said that, let's not mince words, Warhammer looks like ass graphically. It's a step backwards 5 years. Character models are actually not bad at all to kind of cool, but the world enviornments are low poly and low texure even on the highest settings, spell effects are lamented on the Warhammer forums all the time as "boring and uninspiring" and they are right. This is all on max video settings 1920 x 1200 res on a very nice 24" widescreen monitor. No framerate issues so far. Gameplay is king, but the visuals are so low quality that it might prevent me from completely loving it. But maybe the fun of PvP will override all... still it seems like a wasted opportunity for GREATNESS.

Secondly... As far as the "first quality MMO since WoW"... I find that insane as LOTRO is amazing. I leveled a burg to 50 awhile back and found it to be completely immersive and fun the entire time. When I was in the thick of it, I wanted to live in that world, Turbine did an awesome job there and it's a very underrated MMO. In terms of questing and storyline within an MMO, they are the standard for that right now easily.

LOTRO might not be your cup of tea but to suggest that it's not a quality RPG is unbelievebly ignorant especially coming from some suit who is supposed to "understand the market".

Bam! said on 7:57PM 9-22-2008

This is a pretty big slap to the LOTRO people.

Rich said on 11:47PM 9-22-2008

People still play LOTRO?

Tasogare said on 9:47PM 9-22-2008

I would disagree with the game looking like ass, it's a graphical step up from WoW and they made the smart move of NOT going down the "you're PC can't run this" AoC route.

I would also say that even games such as CoH, Guild Wars, and FFXI could be considered quality on top of LotRO. Those games all still have steady, dedicated followings, and are still profitable enough to churn out expansions.

Jess said on 1:11AM 9-23-2008

"We're the first quality MMO to release since World of Warcraft was released"

Obviously this ignoramus never played LOTRO. What an ignorant fool.

Jess said on 1:20AM 9-23-2008

"We're the first quality MMO to release since World of Warcraft was released," he said.

I think my comment got moderated for speaking rather "poorly" about the EA guy who the above quote is from.

Anyways, obviously he's never played LOTRO, because, love it or hate it, that's about as high quality an MMORPG as you can get.

The Claw said on 6:24AM 9-23-2008

Agree with all of the above, LOTRO wasn't my cup of tea (I subscribed for a month and then cancelled, I just didn't enjoy the gameplay that much), but it absolutely radiated quality, it was polished until it gleamed.

KingJames said on 9:15AM 9-23-2008

I have to agree with the man as far as polish at launch. LOTRO was very buggy when it launched but currently it is as polished as any MMO out. I love that game I just don't like 100 percent PVE as the content becomes boring and the PvM is not much fun at all. That is what I love most about WAR. The classes are all pretty fun to play and no class just totally dominates RvR situations. After the AoC debacle this is clearly the best MMO launched since WoW that has pvp content.

david said on 9:16AM 9-23-2008

LOTRO was boring as hell.... Yea, WAR is way better than that boring game.... I think EA is right, WAR is the best since WoW...

Sucks AOC didn't fit in this discussion because of how bad it sucked.... FUNCOM = FAIL

WAR = AWESOMENESS!!!!!

Deadcatt said on 9:19AM 9-23-2008

The graphics look very good imo. Remember. If you want graphics like AoC, you are not going to get good performance in large RvR battles, and that is what the end game is all about. Making the game fun, play good, and making it playable was a very smart move.

MightyIdle said on 9:49AM 9-23-2008

WAR has set a high standard. I've said it before, I don't think any WoW players who try out WAR will go back. War is a very well rounded experience with plenty of diverse things to keep you occupied.

Considering the game just launched, I'm curious to see how good it is a year from now. They've started out on a really strong foundation.

WoW started out well but it's showing its age as others have innovated. AoC was broken but it had some really good features. WAR is awesome. LotR is deep and polished. At this point, there's little more they can do with WoW other than put paint on the pig.

Philbo said on 11:37AM 9-23-2008

Come on guys! The execs of a newly launched MMO are clearly going to hype themselves...every game has done that when it launched. But let's not let hype get in the way of facts.

LOTRO was the best MMO since WoW.

WAR is the best MMO since LOTRO.

Leshrac said on 12:16PM 9-23-2008

My pc is less then a year old and I ran Crysis on fairly high settings with little problems.

The issues right now with WAR are texture and blurring issues. Most folks with certain video cards are all reporting a similar problem.

I updated my video drivers to the latest beta drivers for my Nvidia card, I punched up the Aniso and AA and the game looks awesome, and still runs incredibly smooth.

Some folks claimed that Mythic purposefully allowed the game to run a little lower on the graphics side till lag and server side issues were tested and monitored. I'm not sure I agree with that. I also heard that the WAR engine adjusts on the fly and adjusts to your pc config and your surroundings - again, I'm not sure I believe that either. What I think it is is a driver issue for some certain makes and models of video cards.