Massively OP’s Best of 2017 Awards: Most Likely to Flop in 2018 or Beyond

By
Bree Royce
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158

Massively Overpowered’s end-of-the-year 2017 awards continue today with our award for Most Likely to Flop, which was awarded to Star Citizen and WildStar in a tie last year. We’re once again happy to say both games beat our odds, though you be the judge of by how much. This unpleasant category can encompass fringe MMOs as well as unlaunched games, and remember that “flop” can mean lots of things, from outright sunset to financial ruin to simply not living up to insane hype. And we don’t actually want anything to flop!

Don’t forget to cast your own vote in the just-for-fun reader poll at the very end!

The Massively OP staff pick for Most Likely to Flop in 2018 or Beyond is…

STAR CITIZEN

​Andrew Ross (@dengarsw): Probably Star Citizen, but that’s assuming it gets released in 2018. I don’t think that’s happening. I’d put Chronicles of Elyria here again, but I’m starting to think it won’t come out this year either, so I’ll include a third option: Dauntless. I want it to do well, but Capcom’s Monster Hunter World has shown me things Dauntless hasn’t even suggested. It’s hard to get psyched for Monster Hunter “lite” when the original’s looking very, very good.

​Brendan Drain (@nyphur): Star Citizen.

Brianna Royce (@nbrianna): Star Citizen is the obvious pick here. I think WildStar might make it another year, but I always suspect it’s a coin flip for that game and whatever NCsoft executive makes the call. And I have grave concerns about the health of some of the hypey gankbox indies on the horizon as well as the old-school throwbacks. But yeah, Star Citizen isn’t going to implode, just disappoint, flop in a No Man’s Sky kind of way. We’ll all be old and grey by the time it ever lives up to the hype.

Eliot Lefebvre (@Eliot_Lefebvre): I put Star Citizen here first because let’s be real here, the same things I said about this title last year apply this year, and thus it’s less “this game deserves to win” and more “enjoy this lifetime achievement award for not actually releasing while driving expectations up even further.” This year did seem to show some pretty big cracks in the facade, but nothing has actually changed. So let’s instead talk about Ashes of Creation, which has also managed to drum up an awful lot of hype and money with an awfully small amount to actually show for all of that and some remarkably tone-deaf marketing stunts. My hopes are not high, especially when it’s already fallen into the WildStar-esque cycle of hyping how great it’s going to be while missing the obvious warning signs of what it’s doing wrong.

Justin Olivetti (@Sypster): Devilian. I mean, there are a lot of barely surviving MMOs out there (always have been, really), but I definitely think the writing is on the wall for this unpopular MMOARPG in Trion’s library. The developing studio might be dropping it in the future, so that does not bode well.

Larry Everett (@Shaddoe): Everything that is owned or partially owned by Disney. At this point in the games, Lucasfilm, Disney, Marvel, and anyone connected with that giant media conglomerate have completely lost sight on how to make video games, especially online games. I have lost all confidence in anything they do besides movies. This is sad because Lucasfilm/LucasArts used to make really innovative and groundbreaking games.

MJ Guthrie (@MJ_Guthrie): Unless it adds much more soon, I’d have to say Dauntless. Dauntless is currently still in development and slowly adding features, but its market also has another popular title that is much more fleshed out. There isn’t much to do yet in game: There’s only a few different behemoths, limited weaponry, and horrific in-town lag that I worry will drive its audience away.

Tina Lauro Pollock (@purpletinabeans): I vote for Star Citizen simply because of the weight of expectation that surrounds the title, the way main development progress is sidelined by meeting crowdfunding promises, and my worries for its sustainability with such a convoluted, muddy business model. I can see how difficult it is becoming for the team to deliver on those lofty promises and 2017 has not reassured me at all that they can cope.

Star Citizen took our award for Most Likely to Flop in 2018. What’s your pick?

Reader poll: Which MMORPG is most likely to flop in 2018 or beyond?

  • Star Citizen (54%, 1,010 Votes)
  • Dauntless (2%, 44 Votes)
  • WildStar (6%, 105 Votes)
  • Ashes of Creation (2%, 45 Votes)
  • Everything owned by Disney (4%, 72 Votes)
  • Devilian (2%, 28 Votes)
  • Chronicles of Elyria (2%, 41 Votes)
  • New World (0%, 3 Votes)
  • Dark and Light (1%, 12 Votes)
  • Destiny 2 (5%, 87 Votes)
  • Bless (1%, 14 Votes)
  • Albion Online (2%, 33 Votes)
  • Pantheon (1%, 18 Votes)
  • Shroud of the Avatar (10%, 180 Votes)
  • Camelot Unchained (1%, 27 Votes)
  • Crowfall (1%, 24 Votes)
  • Valiance Online (1%, 10 Votes)
  • City of Titans (1%, 22 Votes)
  • Ship of Heroes (1%, 17 Votes)
  • AIR (1%, 19 Votes)
  • Nothing (1%, 26 Votes)
  • Something else (tell us in the comments, but try not to enjoy it) (1%, 21 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,858

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Poll options include all games nominated plus other games we thought would be worthy.

MOP’S 2017 AWARDS (SO FAR)
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