Elder Scrolls Online dominated the headlines this week for two key reasons: an exciting infodump on its upcoming housing system and criticism over its newly introduced lockboxes. In our own CMA column, which this month covers ESO, we’re also playing through some of this year’s DLC and seeing how it all feels at the end of 2016.
Meanwhile, we were introduced to brand-new MMORPG Ashes of Creation, confirmed that Daybreak does indeed have a new head honcho, and caught wind of the rumor that CCP Games is on the market.
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Interview: Everything we know about Elder Scrolls Online’s player housing - The Elder Scrolls Online plans to release its next big update in February 2017. No solid date has been revealed, but we do have a name for the update and some very…
Rumor: EVE Online’s CCP Games is considering selling itself off - [AL:EVE]Bloomberg is reporting this morning that CCP Games is "exploring strategic options including a sale of the business after receiving interest from potential bidder" -- the publication's words, not CCP's.…
Daybreak confirms its president has stepped down, Columbus Nova exec continues in his stead - Last week, we reported on the news that Daybreak President Russell Shanks, who had been the President of the company ever since John Smedley resigned last year, apparently left back in October,…
Tamriel Infinium: Elder Scrolls Online juggles making money and making content with Crown Crates - I think it's fair to say that the $15 subscription model just isn't cutting it for MMORPGs anymore. I understand that. The $15 pricetag dates back at least 15 years, and even…
Exclusive interview with Ashes of Creation’s Jeffrey Bard, formerly of Daybreak - Yesterday we covered a tip about a new MMORPG in the making: Ashes of Creation. Apparently we caught wind of this title before it was fully ready for a world reveal,…
SWTOR nerfs command XP after community farms mobs - [AL:TOR]The new galactic command endgame system that arrived in last week's SWTOR: Knights of the Eternal Throne has been steeped in controversy ever since its announcement. The system is taking…
Perfect Ten: The healthiest live MMORPGs at the end of 2016 - About a year and a half ago, my colleague, co-worker, and friend to man and beast alike Justin compiled a list of the healthiest live MMOs at the time. Since…
New MMORPG Ashes of Creation demos environments in new video - The Ashes of Creation team has released a new video to cap off the week, this first one literally a first look at the Unreal Engine-based MMORPG's enviroments -- five…
SWTOR dev livestream tackles CXP issues, says team is ‘flexible’ - [AL:TOR]Is it a good or bad sign when a developer livestream kicks off with the team using a bingo card to make fun of their own foibles? At least it…
China is cracking down on MMORPG lockbox vendors - Violently authoritarian government regulates nasty video gaming monetization exploit, and gamers are cheering? Yep, China is cracking down on lockboxes. A notice from the creepy Ministry of Cultural Information announces that online game…
More skill splits are coming to Guild Wars 2’s PvP scene - Guild Wars 2 players advocating skill segregation between the PvE and PvP spheres have another victory in the making for next week's Season 5: "We have a number of skill…
Interview: ArcheAge 3.0 Revelation, fresh start servers, and the cash shop - [AL:Arche]ArcheAge’s big new 3.0 update is launching this week, and some big changes are happening with Revelation. And with big changes come questions, questions about exactly what to expect when the…
WildStar promises ‘exciting features’ and new content in 2017 - WildStar is "rocketing" into 2017, declares a new dev blog from Carbine's clearly indefatigable Chad "Pappylicious" Moore today. After recapping last month's Redmoon Mutiny patch and 2016 in general --…
Dean Hall says that there’s ‘no money’ in making games for VR - After all of the talk about how this was to be the year of virtual reality, the actual reality does not seem to be bearing that out. Why is that?…
Ask Mo: Scoring last year’s Massively OP MMORPG predictions - As we do every year, today we're going to squint back a year, into the depths of a Massively Overthinking from the tail end of 2015 when we issued our…
Obsidian’s Armored Warfare team hit with layoffs - Obsidian Entertainment has announced layoffs for an unknown number of staffers working on military MMO Armored Warfare. Gamasutra reports that the cuts are planned to "take effect early next year,"…
RIFT has a ‘mind-blowing’ housing update planned for Patch 4.1 - [AL:Rift]If you'd rather be fiddling around with player housing in RIFT than out fighting in the field, you're our type of homebody. Also, you might want to check out Dimension…
Conan Exiles’ new trailer features elephants, sandstorms, shelter, and dancing thralls - Funcom has a long video out today on Conan Exiles, and while it begins with a retread of the basics of starting out in the game, it quickly ramps up…
Blade & Soul’s Ruins of Khanda Vihar patch brings new storyline, dungeon, and winter holiday content - [AL:BaS]"The winds of Fate beckon!" NCsoft posted today following Blade & Soul's return to service after maintenance. Yes, the 2.9 update is live now and introduces the Ruins of Khanda…
Massively Overthinking: The best MMORPG developer quotes of 2016 - One of the fun things we implemented on the site this year is a database of quotes from developers (among other entries) that are relevant to the MMORPG industry. In…
Heroes of the Storm’s game director passes the torch, moves to new Blizzard project - Heroes of the Storm Game Director Dustin Browder announced this afternoon that he's hanging up his hat and moving elsewhere within Blizzard to work on a new project. "The Heroes…
Black Desert Online’s Dark Knight is coming soon in Korea - Players of Black Desert Online's Korean version will get to start enjoying the Dark Knight on December 15th, but those of us over here in the states will have to…
Sea of Thieves announces its first technical alpha - After months of waiting and some tongue-in-cheek speculation that the game was nothing but a series of audio design diaries, Sea of Thieves is ready to start letting players on…
Revelation Online gears up for its second closed beta later this month - Weep no tears if you miss being able to play Revelation Online, for its closed beta will return soon. It's got plenty of improved localization! It's got your characters from…
Skyforge delays political system indefinitely - [AL:Sky]In a calendar year dominated by politics, one game is putting a hard stop to its own election process. Today, Skyforge announced that its in-development political system, the Council of…
Choose My Adventure: Assassinating randoms in The Elder Scrolls Online - It's weird how attitudes towards death vary depending on the video game and the structure set up. In Saints Row the Third, a friend and I played a madcap duo…
Ashes of Creation promises a sandbox MMO full of organic events - A wild MMORPG appears! Your excitement or skepticism is super effective! So here's your out-of-the-blue MMO reveal for Tuesday. The game is called Ashes of Creation, a relatively new project…
Former Cryptic devs form Cold Iron studio to build ‘AAA online action games’ - Every wonder what happened to Craig Zinkievich after he moved on from Star Trek Online and Cryptic Studios? Turns out he and several other former Cryptic bigwigs got busy building…
Jukebox Heroes: Massively OP’s guide to grabbing 120+ MMO soundtracks - One of the most common questions that I'm asked from my adoring throngs on the street is, "Justin, where oh where can I get some of these marvelous MMO soundtracks…
Gamers are trying to revive Hellgate: London – again again again - We all know that Hellgate: London has been revived and used at this point more than your average CPR training dummy. So while we're not here to tell you that…
Epic MMO Battles of History: Star Trek Online vs. Star Wars: The Old Republic - Asking whether Star Trek or Star Wars is the better science fiction series is like asking whether Game of Thrones or The Tudors is a better fantasy series. That hasn't…
EVE Online’s massive Battle at the M-O Keepstar has cost gamers over $7000 so far - [AL:EVE]Another massive battle has taken over EVE Online, this one likely to go down in EVE history as the Battle at the M-O Keepstar, what one player dubbed "the first…
Nostalrius is resurrecting next week. Your move, Blizzard. - After a yearlong saga that involved the shutdown of an illegal World of Warcraft emulator, fan outcry, Blizzard's high-profile meet-and-greet with the emulator's devs, a BlizzCon without any legacy server…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 94: Play this expansion, meatbag!
The Stream Team: Happy first birthday Devilian!
The Stream Team: Exploring ARK’s revamped ice cave
The Stream Team: Diving into Gigantic’s sorta open beta
The Stream Team: Sabotage in The Secret World’s City of the Sun God
The Stream Team: SWTOR’s SCORPIO says what needs to be said
The Stream Team: Black Desert butchery on the single server
The Stream Team: Post-con MechWarrior Online matches
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
WoW Legion’s legendary problem
Blizzard announces new book-publishing label: Blizzard Publishing
Know Your Lore: Magic in Azeroth
Every week, get caught up on the MMO genre’s latest news and Massively OP’s best content in our MMO Week in Review! Want more roundups of content? Try Friday’s Betawatch for MMO testing highlights, Saturday’s Make My MMO for MMO crowdfunding updates, and Sunday’s The MOP Up, which mops up all the little bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.
