MMO isn't something you can do in your spare time

After seeing Elder Scrolls Online, Final Fantasy 14 and GTA Online flop, I think a lesson can be learned.

Yes a deathmatch multiplayer suite like GTA IV, Gears of War 3, Halo 3 and The Last of Us can be done perfectly fine by most mainstream companies, but to have a dedicated MMO experience takes a company that can actually make one.

PC companies like Blizzard focus on online play, which is why they don't release new games often. They focus on maintaining games so they're fun 10 years from their release date rather than churning out new titles every year.

In order for TES, FF and GTA to have the onlines they need to be made by dedicated companies that focus on online. Otherwise, stick to single player or simple deathmatch

Cool

GTA Online isn't really an MMO, and certainly hasn't flopped.

FFXIV relaunched as A Realm Reborn to commercial and critical success, and is now looked at as one of the best MMOs on the market. Certainly not a flop. Also deserves mentioning they also have XI which was one of the more popular and profitable MMOs for a decade.

ESO? Well, I haven't heard much in the way of ESO info since its first month. It has bugs, and the console ports were delayed, but I haven't seen any numbers to declare it a flop.

lol

People have different amounts of spare time specially kids or people who haven't settled down yet having kids.

gta online is NOT a mmo....

MMOs take A lot of time to make but companies don't mind it because the mmo will be around for long time collecting subs. If companies don't continue to add content to their game the people will leave and bye bye subs

You should learn what a mmo really is before you attemt to talk about them

ff14 rr is quite successful. it put square back in the black. :-/

GTA Online isn't an MMO but it certainly was advertised as a massive open-world multiplayer game that would be the GTA III of online gaming. So far with a buggy launch, iffy structure and other issues, it is far from that goal.

How's GTA Online not an mmo?

It has a massive playable world and up to 16 people can play in it and it's online.

16 players isn't considered massive.

Isn't the new FF 14 doing rather well actually? and was pretty well received by critics?

Final Fantasy XIV a Flop ?. yea 1.0 was but ARR is one the best MMO's to play right now. think before you type nonsense

That's kind of stupid, isn't it? Our industry needs to work on defining genres. Things like player count and perspective shouldn't define an entire genre.

@drekula2: stopped reading at Final Fantasy 14 ... how has it flopped? its going strong...

you are being stupid, and that opinion you are displaying is ironically whats destroying the definition of an MMO.

MMOs are often about persistent universes where 100s-1000s are located at the same time in the same consistent universe which goes on without them.. not 2-64 players matched up then chucked out... only linked by a damn profile page.

Peopel keep labeling MOBA's as MMOs now too... its obsurd.

why change a definition that works?

I've always seen it as a persitant universe where you can only log into the servers. There's no offline mode, just persistant online where there is no "match" or quick end. Planetside 2, for example, doesn't have an end to the war, so it's an mmo.

Honeslty though, the mmo label was created during an time where this was new and online was still infant and there weren't that many different game types in that space, so defining it was easier. Nowadays, i don't care if it's labeled mmo or not. I just care if it's fun.

But the TC is right. MMORPG come with hundreds of hours of content, created over twice the normal development time. So, it's a very dangerous financial undertaking, which is why so many tried to copy WOW's themepark formula.