MMORPGs Launching Quickly in North America

New MMORPGs and MMOs that launched in South Korea and China are making their way fastest to the West than ever before. Just recently Perfect World Entertainment launched their newest game – Forsaken World into closed beta here in the West. The game is STILL in closed beta testing over in China. So the game was localized and launched in BOTH regions at around the same time. I say “around the same time” because it was out in China first, but not by much. Nexon, the company best known for MapleStory and Dungeon Fighter Online, launched Vindictus in North America within 6 months or so of launching it in South Korea. The time it takes for an Eastern game to reach Western shores have been decreasing steadily for quite a few years now. Loong: The Power of the Dragon from Gamigo is yet another example. Unfortunately, things haven’t always been this way.

Digimon Battle from WeMade Entertainment for example, launched in North America some 5+ years after it launched in South Korea and China. Darkeden from JoyMax launched in the States nearly 8 years after it originally debuted in Korea. Just recently PWE launched Heroes of Three Kingdoms in North America, but it had been available in South East Asia as “Redcliff” for numerous years. It’s only recently that games have begun launching in different regions at “around” the same time. Black Prophecy, an upcoming MMORPG from Gamigo is scheduled to launch in both North America and Europe at around the same time too.

Unfortunately, there are still hundreds of games available only in South Korea and China which haven’t launched in the West yet. Luckily, some of these games – JX2 Online, Battle of Destiny, Super Dance Online and Hot Dance Party (Steps) are all playable from North America, even though they are published in South East Asia. Most games not released in America have IP restrictions preventing foreign users from logging in. Beanfun for example has half a dozen games available in Taiwan that aren’t yet available in the West. Luckily, they’re bringing the Japanese MMORPG Lucent Heart to North America real soon. But there are so many other games available in Asia that have yet to be announced in North America.

Even though the gap between new MMORPGs announced in Korea and coming to the West is decreasing, I feel that a lot of the older games are never going to make it to Western shores. It’s unfortunate because many of them would probably be really successful here. I mean just look at games like Silkroad Online from JoyMax and Conquer Online from TQ Digital – both of these Eastern games are huge hits in the West. Legend of Edda, FreeJack and Zentia for example are all really popular here in the West. These titles are new, but even older games “relaunched” here are big. Just look at Fantasy Earth Zero from GamePot USA. It’s an older Japanese MMORPG but it’s a big hit!

Bring some older Chinese MMORPGs and Korean MMORPGs to North America! After all, American MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Dungeons and Dragons Online are available all over Asia already!

MMORPG File Sizes

One thing I’ve noticed is as MMOs get more complicated and their file sizes seem to keep getting bigger and bigger. This is most certainly a big problem, as some MMORPGs are just so big that no one has the patience to download them. Well, not “no one” but I think games like Runes of Magic from Frogster and Age of Conan from Funcom are screwing themselves over because of their file size. Runes of Magic is 6+GB big, so installing and patching the game can take 3+ hours – and that’s on a FAST internet connection. Anyone on DSL will probably end up giving up well before the game even finishes downloading. The same thing applies to Age of Conan – that game is a MONTER. It’s 20GB big – which means on a fast internet connection the game will take almost 12 hours to fully install and patch. If the patch servers are busy, it could take even longer. I think the “sweet spot” for games is 1.2GB or less. Anything above 2 is really pushing it. Dungeons and Dragons Online is a whopping 4GB on “High res” mode, but at least the game lets players download a normal version which is 2.8GB – a cool 25% smaller in size. Games like Star Citizen will be pushing 100+GB too. MMORPG File sizes are just getting way too big.

Perfect World and Jade Dynasty are both under 2GB, yet they both look great. Dungeons and Dragons Online which is TWICE as big isn’t twice as good. Heck, many of the more successful games are LESS than 1GB. Look at Eudemons Online and Conquer Online from TQ Digital. Both games have a crazy big population, but the games are under 800MB. The Lord of the Rings Online on the other hand is a top notch game, but it’s a WHOPPING 10GB big. What on Earth is Turbine thinking? I think one easy solution to these huge file sizes is to download only portions of the game. For example, let’s say when I download Fists of Fu or Fiesta Online from Gamigo – instead of downloading the ENTIRE game’s content, I should only have to download the first 10 dungeons in the game. That’s it. As I make my way to dungeon #7 or 8, the game can begin download the next 10 dungeons in the background. That way, everything is done uninterrupted, and if I decide that Fists of Fu isn’t for me, I wouldn’t have had to wait until I downloaded the entire game!

The thing is, games like Grand Chase, Lost Saga, FreeJack and Zentia don’t really need to worry about this little issue as these games aren’t exactly huge to begin with. I think only games that are over 2GB in size should bother doing this. Though I’m sure other games would benefit too. Imagine being able to download and install an MMORPG like Battle of the Immortals, Heroes of Three Kingdoms or Metin 2 in a few minutes? This could easily be achievable if players could download the first few zones in the game, and have the game automatically download and install more zones in the background while you play. I think Guild Wars from NCSoft actually does this, and if I remember correctly the MMORPG free trial for World of Warcraft does it too. I don’t think ANY free to play MMORPGs do it though.

The problem really isn’t a game’s size, as most modern hard drives today have 250+GB with new hard drives having over a TB. The problem is the annoyingly long time it takes to fully download and patch a modern day MMORPG. So breaking the game down into pieces and having the game download more content AS you play would mean people can jump into games easier. There’s no reason newer MMORPGs like Kitsu Saga andLegend of Edda don’t have this built in. I can see why really old games don’t have it, but new ones should. What are your thoughts on this? I think I’d be willing to download and play more games if I didn’t have to wait so dang long to download them!

CosmicBreak and GetAmped 2 Never going to Release

Two games that seem like they’re never going to fully launch are CosmicBreak and GetAmped 2. Both are published and developed by the Japanese MMORPG company CyberStep. I’m convinced that these guys have no idea what they’re doing, because both GetAmped 2 and CosmicBreak began their open beta testing phases nearly a year ago, but NEITHER game is fully released yet. Why? After open beta isn’t full release supposed to begin? Apparently not if you ask CyberStep, as both games have since went through additional beta testing phases – all of which have been followed by wipes. CosmicBreak is set to be released by December, 2010 – another three months of waiting. I think anyone who wanted to play CosmicBreak by now gave up on the game and moved onto something else. No one wants to wait this long to play a game – especially when it was playable 6+ months ago. I think Vindictus made the same mistake of taking forever to launch, which allowed other action MMORPGs like Divine Souls from OutSpark and Soul Master from GamesCampus to dip their toes into action MMO market. Fists of Fu from Outspark also took quite a while to launch, but at least it did launch!

Other delayed MMORPGs which seem to be taking forever to launch are Huxley: The Dystopia and Priston Tale 2. ijji was supposed to publish Huxley like a year ago, but they recently announced that Webzen will continue development for the game. Even so, Huxley seems like it’s never going to actually come out. The same thing applies to Priston Tale 2 which actually released recently in Europe (through GamerKraft who also makes FreeJack), but the game is still nowhere near release in North America. That’s because Suba Games has no idea what they’re doing. They show the Priston Tale 2 page as “coming soon”, but it’s been “coming soon” for over 1 full year. I’m convinced that Priston Tale 2 will never come out in North America. On the positive side, the Malaysian version of the game will be available to AsiaSoft soon and they said they wouldn’t be blocking North American Ips. They also publish Battle of Destiny and Warriors of the Three Kingdoms, which are available to North American users. Unfortunately, games available in Malaysia and Singpaore are extremely laggy for gamers in Europe and North America. I tried playing Counter Strike Online recently, but my pings were in excess of 250, making the game unplayable.

Other delayed MMORPGs that will likely never release are Dance Groove Online, Kart Rider and Dreamland Online. Dance Groove Online is a dancing game that looks a bit like Audition Online and ShowUp. It was announced a year or so ago on Outspark’s site, but about 6 months ago, OutSpark took the game off their homepage, which pretty much confirmed the game was never going to release. Kart Rider did a large open beta test in North America in 2008 or so, but after that, the game vanished. Dreamland Online was announced by IGG ages ago, but it has been delayed indefinitely. The game was supposed to closely resemble Dragon Saga, LaTale, WonderKing and other side scrolling MMORPGs. Too bad there’s no definitive release date on it.

Do you guys know any other games that have been delayed over and over again? If so, name them in the comments!

Lord of the Rings Online Free to Play a Big Success

Since going free to play The Lord of the Rings Online has enjoyed a 400% increase in active playerbase and a 200% increase in monthly revenues. Turbine also announced that the game now generates more money in optional monthly subscriptions than it did back when it was pay to play. I don’t think the game enjoyed the same level of success that Dungeons and Dragons Online did upon re-launching as a free to play game, but that’s mostly because The Lord of the Rings Online was already successful and profitable to begin with whereas Dungeons and Dragons Online had a tiny playerbase that was slowly dwindling away. Needless to say though, Turbine has once again proven that the free to play business model is a viable one. Not everyone is ignoring Turbine’s success with free to play.

Sony Online Entertainment recently made their flagship MMORPG EverQuest 2 free to play. But that’s old news that I’ve talked about in the past. What’s more interesting is that Pirates of the Burning Sea will also be relaunching as a free to play title in the coming months. And yes, it’s official. The company announced that they will be shifting to a free to play game when their latest expansion goes live. Since Turbine made Dungeons and Dragons Online free to play, Electronic Arts has tried their luck in free to play too. Over the last few years EA has released Battlefield Heroes, Lord of Ultima, FIFA Online and Tiger Woods Online as free to play titles, but has been hesitant to convert any of their current pay to play titles such as Dark Age of Camelot of Warhammer Online to free to play, which I think they should seriously consider doing. Both Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online aren’t very popular and are in clear decline. Dark Age of Camelot used to have 30+ servers but has 3 today. Warhammer Online launched with some 35+ servers but its down to 4. They need to do something to revitalize these games and going free to play could work. Free trials for those MMOs just isn’t cutting it.

With Dungeons and Dragons Online, The Lord of the Rings Online and EverQuest 2 now free to play, I think there’s a lot of pressure on Funcom to make Age of Conan Free to Play and on NCSoft to make City of Heroes and Lineage 2 free to play. As more and more pay to play games become free to play, game companies will realize that demanding a monthly fee to access a game is going to get harder and harder. I don’t think World of Warcraft really has to worry, as they’re still the market leader in the space, but smaller less successful MMORPGs like Champions Online and even Star Trek Online will need to eventually begin embracing free to play, as pay to play has been on a decline since Turbine made Dungeons and Dragons Online free to play. Plus, high quality free to play games like Runes of Magic, Fists of Fu and Heroes of Three Kingdoms are also putting pressure on pay to play games to re-consider their business models.

The Lord of the Rings Online is Worth Checking Out

In case you didn’t hear – The Lord of the Rings Online from Turbine relaunched as a free to play MMORPG. This happened about a month ago and anyone can go ahead and download the game today and play it for free. Turbine has had a great of success with free to play, as their other MMORPG – Dungeons and Dragons Online made a ton of money as a free to play MMORPG. In fact, Dungeons and Dragons Online was a failing MMO, as it had very few subscribers and was bleeding red ink for Turbine. Only after making the game free to play did Turbine turn a profit out of Dungeons and Dragons Online. The Lord of the Rings Online going free to play is a bit more interesting in my opinion. Pay to play MMORPGs have gone free to play in the past – think Archlord, RF Online and FusionFall with newer MMORPGs like Pirates of the Burning Sea from Sony Online Entertainment going free to play soon. Pirates of the Burning Sea announced it would drop its subscription in the near future back in August. I suspect other pay to play MMOs will release MMO news saying they’ll go free to play in the future.

Okay, enough talking about other MMORPGs though. What makes Lord of the Rings Online unique as a pay to play MMORPG gone free to play is that Lord of the Rings Online was a success. The game was making plenty of money for Turbine and the company didn’t make it free to play in a desperate move – the same way they did for Dungeons and Dragons Online. Archlord and RF Online went free to play because they were utter failures as pay to play games with no subscribers. Lord of the Rings Online was plenty profitable for years. Turbine made it free to play because they think that they can make more profit as a free to play game than as a pay to play one. Now this is interesting. In the past only failed games went free to play, so with Turbine’s latest move with Lord of the Rings Online, hopefully other game publishers and developers will do the same thing. Maybe NCSoft could make City of Heroes and Lineage 2 free to play? Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Electronic Arts made Warhammer Online free to play – as they’ve already launched NUMEROUS free to play games in the last year. They developed and launched Battlefield Heroes, FIFA Online, Tiger Woods Online AND Need for Speed World as free to play MMOs. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to ANYONE if EA made Warhammer Online free to play.

Since Lord of the Rings Online went free to play in August, the game’s playerbase has spiked. We haven’t heard too many official announcements from Turbine yet about LOTRO, so we won’t know if the game is a success yet or not. I’ve personally played LOTRO and I absolutely love it. Why? Because it has that certain pay to play feel to it. The visuals are great, the quests are in perfect English, the MMO plot makes sense and the MMO music is great too. All of these little details add up to make The Lord of the Rings Online of the best free to play MMORPGs available. Obviously top tier f2p games like Runes of Magic and Fiesta Online shouldn’t be ignored either, but I think Lord of the Rings Online is raising the bar for free to play.

GamesCampus MMO Publisher is Growing Fast!

GamesCampus – the free to play MMO publisher which launched back in 2006 with one MMO (Shot Online) has been growing rapidly over the years. They now publish at least half a dozen games with plans to launch numerous new games in the future. I’ve written about other MMORPG publishers in the past, but I wanted to talk about GamesCampus today because they recently announced that they would be publishing Drift City in North America. Yep – you heard me correctly. GamesCampus will be publishing Drift City soon. After October 28 to be precise. So what’s going to have to the ijji version of the game? It’s going to shut down. Don’t worry though – players can transfer their characters to the GamesCampus version after the game closes its doors. Unfortunately cash shop items bought on the ijji version and Gcoins acquired will not be transferable. Players can spend their Gcoins on some other MMORPGs that ijji publishes though like HolyBeast Online, Rohan Online, Genesis A.D, Lunia, Luminary: Rise of the Goonzu, and numerous other titles.

Besides Drift City, GamesCampus launched a new anime MMORPG into closed beta this week – Legend of Edda. The game actually entered into closed beta on September 30, 2010 and is a cute MMORPG with chibi style graphics. After playing the game for a while I was surprised to learn that Legend of Edda is actually a PvP intensive game. The game features large scale faction battles like Aika Online from gPotato and Fantasy Earth Zero from GamePot USA. On a side note I think gPotato has been doing really swell lately too. They continue to update their older games like Rappelz and Fly For Fun. Even Tales Runner remains updated too. Too bad FreeJack launched recently, it’ll be competing with Tales Runner, as it’s the only other parkour style foot racing MMO. GamesCampus is also working on launching a tank themed MMO called Tank Ace, which will compete with World of Tanks. Too bad there’s no definitive release on Tank Ace, as the game looks neat. I thought World of Tanks was neat, but the game was super annoying, as higher level players and tanks 1 shotted lower level tanks. It’s realistic and all, but bleh. It played too much like NavyField.

Over the last few months GamesCampus also launched two games into full release. Soul Master being the more interesting one and Heroes in the Sky being the other. I like Soul Master because it’s a unique with strategy elements. It plays like Dragonica Online from Gravity Interactive, except with some unique strategy aspects. Heroes in the Sky is cool too because it’s one of the only dog fighting MMOs – except for perhaps Ace Online from Suba Games. The game is also set during World War 2 and has plenty of real life airplanes in it. So World War 2 buffs or airplane aficionados will find something to love in the game.