Skip to Content

AOL Games

Investing wisely in massively multiplayer online games

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, Opinion

Even a cursory look back on the last year in massively multiplayer online games reveals a number of titles that, despite their promise (and some promises), ultimately failed. Factor in the high costs of creating and publishing an MMO title these days and the mistakes still being made in the industry, and perhaps it's time for a primer on how not to lose money when making an MMO to be widely disseminated.

Adam Martin over at T=Machine has written just that. In the first of a two-part series, Martin provides insightful analysis of some glaring mistakes made in the MMO industry, and how some of those pitfalls could have been avoided. He does so by looking at a few of 2008's troubled massively multiplayer titles, namely Hellgate: London, Tabula Rasa, and Age of Conan. It's an interesting read, even for those who are far less enthusiastic about the business decisions behind MMOs than about the games themselves.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Massively Features


Weekly Columns


Events Calendar

Name Date
Alganon Launch Dec 1 2009
EVE Online: Dominion Launch Dec 1 2009
LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood Launch Dec 1 2009
Star Trek Online Launch (NA) Feb 2 2010

Massively Podcast

New episodes every Wednesday. Now playing:
Episode 78, for Wednesday, November 25th, 2009.



Archive | RSS | iTunes | Zune

Featured Galleries

One Shots
Two years of Massively features
Fallout MMO Concepts
EVE Online Postcards, part 2
Halloween 2009
DDO Tour - Update 1
EVE Online postcards part 1
Bizarro Gallery
LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood Developer Tour