It’s not the best time to be making MMOs. Where at one time it felt like this genre was primed to take over the world, the last year has seen several prominent titles including Star Wars: The Old Republic, The Secret World and TERA all ditch their subscription fees, while even games with incredibly loyal fanbases like City of Heroes have had their plugs pulled due to less than stellar player numbers. It’s understandable then that some people may be thinking the MMO genre is failing, and all who enter into it are doomed.
I would say that the industry definitely went through a period of about five or six years where it stagnated.
But not Colin Johanson. When I sat down with the game director of Guild Wars 2 to talk about the future of the free-to-play MMO, he’s quick to assert that he reckons the genre has never been in a stronger position. After years of titles trying to copy World of Warcraft, finally some innovation is starting to creep in; from Dust 514 to Destiny, features traditionally only found in MMOs are starting to permeate the industry as a whole.
“I would say that the industry definitely went through a period of about five or six years where it stagnated and it wasn’t that healthy, but I think it continues to grow and is doing really well,” Johanson explained. “If you look at Bungie’s upcoming release there are elements of MMOs there. I think we’re seeing more companies start moving more and more towards integrating all these online elements, and it’s already happened in the East. Just about all the major games out there really are some form of an MMO.”
An industry veteran of over 15 years who’s worked on other MMOs including the original Guild Wars, Johanson admits that the decision to make an MMO shouldn’t be taken lightly; failure comes at a high cost. “It takes some serious balls to jump into the MMO industry and go after it,” he admits.
“You’re basically betting your company any time you decide that the thing you’re going to make is an MMO. They take so long to make, and they take so much money that either you’re successful and you’re going to do really well, or you’re not and your company’s toast. If you have a really big backer, maybe you can survive that but it’s a huge risk.”
MMOs take so long to make, and they take so much money that either you’re successful and you’re going to do really well, or you’re not and your company’s toast.
The fact that such a gamble appears to have paid off not once but twice for ArenaNet is not something to be sniffed at. Aside from managing to shift over 3 million copies in the nine months since it launched, Johanson also informs me that Guild Wars 2 has bucked one of the main MMO trends by seeing player numbers continue to rise during what would usually be a post-launch slump. The six weeks following Christmas saw increasing numbers of people eager to explore the world of Tyria, making Guild Wars 2 one of very few MMOs to launch, settle into its core playerbase and then actually start to grow again (EVE Online would be perhaps the only other prominent example of this unusual trend).
That’s not to say there haven’t been issues though. From the moment the game launched ArenaNet had to restructure itself from a company focused on development to one centred around services. Johanson explains, “To transition 300 people from operating one way to suddenly turning into a service company a week later is really hard to do. It’s something where we definitely had growing pains for those first couple of months, understanding how to do that and how to make live content and how to be successful in that model.”
One of the most prominent of these growing pains was the Ascended Gear debacle. Before the game released, ArenaNet made a manifesto video (which you should definitely check out, if you haven’t already) setting out guidelines the company hoped to adhere to when making and maintaining the game. One of these that players latched onto most fervently was the promise that there would be no “gear treadmill”; a common feature in MMOs akin to a carrot on a stick, where increasingly powerful gear is regularly added for players to chase after, with new sets coming every few months. Guild Wars 2 players were pleased to learn they’d be free from this sense of obligation that other MMOs foster when it comes to acquiring the best gear…until Ascended Gear was added in November.
Though Johanson accepts the huge outcry and accusations of betrayal from the playerbase were unavoidable, he admits the situation could have been handled better. In actual fact, Ascended Gear isn’t the most powerful gear in the game; it’s just as good as Legendary gear, but takes a fraction of the time to earn. “I think that ascended gear was something we should have had at launch,” Johanson says. “We didn’t have something above that exotic level that you put in a lot of time and earn it, but you don’t have to put in your whole life to earn it like a legendary weapon.
Is this going to become a gear-tiered game where you’re constantly on this treadmill to chase after that stuff? My hope would be no.
“Is this going to become a gear-tiered game where you’re constantly on this treadmill to chase after that stuff? My hope would be no. I think that certainly in 2013 you’re not going to see another tier of gear.”
But what else of the future? Well, while Johanson has suggested that the game may one day follow in the footsteps of its predecessor and receive some expansions packs, right now the focus is on the game’s “Living Story”. There are a whole host of “quality of life” changes coming to address player concerns.
The team are already at work to reduce queue times for World vs World matches as well as increase the number of players you’ll be able to see on-screen even with a low spec machine. PvP is also set to receive a massive overhaul; while matchmaking was recently added, this will soon be joined by both ratings and a leaderboard so you can see where you fit in the global rankings and to prepare the game for a potential future inclusion as an eSport.
In terms of PvE, the goal is far simpler; provide more challenging content for those who want it. “I think for players looking for more difficult content, that’s an area where we don’t have as much as I think that we could, and that’s going to be a focus of 2013; taking some of the optional areas and making those more difficult,” Johanson asserts. “It’s really important for us to make sure that that stuff is always a choice. We don’t want to say you have to go do these things, it’s always going to be ‘what experience do you want to have in Guild Wars 2?’”
With so much planned then, it seems like ArenaNet is committed to Guild Wars 2 sticking around for a long time to come. When it comes to developing MMOs though, you’ve constantly got to stay on your toes and be thinking what your game looks like five, seven or ten years down the road if you want to have a hope of actually making it there. Johanson’s response when asked if he’d like to see Guild Wars 2 still going strong in a decade? “We’re up for the challenge and we’re going after it.”
That’s the challenge that all of these games coming out this year are going to have; what experience are they offering that you cannot get from a game currently?
Between now and then though, there’s a whole host of other MMO’s set to launch. Big names set to enter the fray this year include Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and The Elder Scrolls Online, not to mention Neverwinter and Destiny. In a genre that seems to vacillate between stagnation and overcrowding on a yearly basis, surely the notion of longevity is rather optimistic? Just how can Guild Wars 2 hope to survive?
According to Johanson, the answer is simple; innovation. “What we need to be able to do is look at the game and say, “What is the next big innovative feature that people expect out of an MMO?” and one of two things will happen. Either a competitors going to make it in their game and release a new game that brings you in, or we’re going to put that into Guild Wars 2 and grow our game into the next type of MMO within that game.
“That’s the challenge that all of these games coming out this year are going to have; what experience are they offering that you cannot get from a game currently? And if they have that, they’re going to be really compelling. If they don’t, it’s going to be very hard for them to get players away from the games they’re already entrenched in.”
He makes a good point. The fact that Guild Wars 2 doesn’t require a sub fee already makes it a strong contender to become genre-newbies’ MMO of choice, and that’s without acknowledging the impressive regularity of the game’s updates. But it’s not just external pressures that will decide whether Guild Wars 2 will live to see its tenth birthday; does the company have the drive to last the 10 years it hopes to? Johanson thinks so explaining that, without a sub fee, the team has to work harder than most to keep players engaged.
“If other games don’t have that carrot or that thing that makes players log back in it’s really dangerous for them because they can’t get that monthly fee. We don’t have that. Instead, our motivation has to be provide players with such an amazing experience in the game that they want to keep playing it.
“That’s the only motivation we’ve got.”
Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and Guild Wars 2 player. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.
Source : ign[dot]com
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