There was a time when a game was a game. What happened? When Everquest first achieved it’s success and launched the gaming industry into the “next generation” people were skeptical. I remember reading that many people thought it would be a fluke that any game could ever reach 250-500k subscribers let alone do it again. As time went on we know that several MMORPG’s such as City of Heroes obtained the 100-250k mark and a few like Star Wars Galaxies reached an astonishing 350k in their prime. Then came World of Warcraft where we saw record breaking all time high subscription numbers. If you count the Asian market there are millions upon millions playing WoW and Lineage2.
So what makes a game a niche? Do we classify games as niche because they are not WoW clones? Or do we do so because they are EQ clones? Are we saying the game is too hard or too easy? Subscription numbers have also been used as an excuse to classify games as niche or to justify their failure and even sometimes their success. Why can’t a game just be a game anymore? There was a time when many game studios would look at 250,000 subscribers and dream of such success. Now you have some that still do, but the majority are saying “how can we get the WoW numbers?”. That’s not what MMORPG’s are about folks.
In my opinion, as someone who has made it an obsession to learn all I can about this genre, there will not be another game that reaches “WoW” numbers for a very long time. It could be that no game ever again reaches those numbers simply because it was indeed a true fluke. My advice to any developers out there working with an idea or starting up for the first time is simple. Developers, please keep giving us the games you love to make because as long as you do there will be plenty of us out there to play them. Do not get discouraged.