...because I was such a sweetheart in the last post, have a look at this interview with LOTRO's executive producer.
Talking about WoW and the top position it currently holds in its category, Jeffrey Steefel says:
"We think that we are the game that has the most likelihood of being the second to do that, but we're not there yet."
The man talks good sense throughout the interview, from mentioning the need for a new business model to talking about consoles and new markets. On the subject of LOTRO becoming the next WoW though, I'm going to say - no. Not going to happen.
For one, they had their chance and they pretty much blew it. They were sitting on a gold mine, but failed to attract enough interest. Of course, others blew it even harder and yes, there's always room for a comeback, but the problem is there are new and exciting MMOs out there for people to care about. It's getting crowded. (2 weeks to Warhammer Online!).
Then - there's something else that sorta made me twitch in the interview. Steefel says:
I think there's going to be a huge opportunity over the next two years for this franchise, because in the market itself, the awareness of Tolkien is about to increase quite a bit. As Peter Jackson and New Line and Guillermo del Toro start working on new movies, with the Hobbit coming out in 2011 and another movie coming out probably the year after, that's going to help us a lot because it's going to move everything back into thee forefront.
Very correct. Interest in LOTR will rise again. Hence, LOTRO will also attract extra interest. However, what he's forgetting is that it takes more than a good franchise to make a game players care about, with the most poignant example being Star Wars Galaxies. Yes it was based on Star Wars, yes it came out somewhere between two SW movies and yes, it still pretty much failed.
On the other hand, why is everybody so keen on measuring their standing against WoW? Yes it's huge, yes it brings trucks of cash in and yes, everyone's heard about it. But it's not the only measure of success in the industry and frankly, I don't think it's the one you should be aiming for. If I were you, I would stop worrying so much about making a 'WoW-killer' and start paying attention to what the next generation is doing. Look to Asia and their MMO business model (which mr. Steefel does, by the way), start keeping a closer eye on games that won't even launch for another year or two and try to figure out how to make a game that's worth investing time into, for me as a player.
Have a good weekend, folks.
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