2 ms·
They're still releasing more and more, but the profitability is highly suspect. To be somewhat simplistic, the only profitable MMOs are WoW and a small smatteri
by potatolicious 14y ago
They're still releasing more and more, but the profitability is highly suspect. To be somewhat simplistic, the only profitable MMOs are WoW and a small smattering of niche MMOs like Eve Online.
Every attempt to unseat WoW from its throne has failed miserably - most recently the incredibly big budget SWTOR that fell with a big fat splat in the mud.
Even more niche MMOs are having trouble succeeding financially. APB, Star Trek Online, the Final Fantasy MMOs, all were commercial failures (big ones at that).
The game industry as a whole is a pretty risky investment overall (big-budget AAA-titles fail routinely and spectacularly), MMOs are even a notch above. Sometimes I wonder why they keep getting funded - EA poured a reported $200 million into SWTOR before watching it fail.
- warfangle 14y agoIf you try to take the addiction formula of a game that's been honed over a decade and re-implement it imperfectly, of course you won't be able to unseat the king.
- rorrr2 14y agoMinecraft made $240-250M in 2012 alone. It made $33M between Jan 2011 and Apr 2011. It still sells amazingly well. http://d1y0oqfyli6x95.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/stats_21.png http://d1y0oqfyli6x95.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013... Keep in mind, that's a game developed essentially by one guy.