This summer just keeps on keepin’ on with the big news. This week, Guild Wars 2 had a rocky launch for its latest content episode, Trion bought up what was left of Gazillion, the Final Fantasy XIV community was rocked by a scandal, Overwatch did the hamster dance, Legends of Aria got a huge graphics revamp, Trove launched its Geode expansion, Elite Dangerous launched a new chapter, and Fractured came to Kickstarter.
We also unveiled our newest editorial column, Vague Patch Notes, and delivered our big impressions piece on Bless Online. Plus Star Wars Galaxies celebrated what would’ve been its 15th birthday!
Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Trion just bought up Gazillion’s assets to beef up its MMO publishing arm - Did you see this one coming? VentureBeat has a piece out this morning interviewing Trion Worlds CEO Scott Hartsman, who's apparently just revealed that Trion's bought up all of Gazillion…
The Soapbox: The western port of Bless Online feels like a curse - To say that the development of Neowiz’s high-fantasy MMO Bless has been somewhat beleaguered would be an understatement. Since the Korean import’s Western release was announced in 2011, it has…
Vague Patch Notes: On balance and differentiation in MMOs - Do you like fighting games? I don't. Let's talk about fighting games. But bear with me because you'll get where this is going. While I might not personally care much…
Flameseeker Chronicles: Our preview of Guild Wars 2’s Long Live the Lich, now live - [AL:GW2]We've waited out the short delay, and today's the day when we get our hands on the third episode of Guild Wars 2's fourth Living World season. Long Live the Lich…
Final Fantasy XIV’s community is rocked by a fansite sexual harassment scandal - When it comes to ranking friendly, warm, and welcoming MMO communities, Final Fantasy XIV is right up there near or at the top of the list. Yet that doesn't mean…
Perfect Ten: The best MMO debuts by year, 1997-2006 - By now, many of you probably know that I'm the curator of the MMO Timeline on my personal blog. On this page, I've attempted to catalog the launches, expansions, business…
Interview: Worlds Adrift’s Bossa Studios on giving, griefing, and gittin’ gud - After the launch of Worlds Adrift but prior to E3, we sent off an interview to Bossa Studios and recently received our answers, complete with current news about how the…
The Game Archaeologist: Raph Koster on MUDs and Privateer Online - The release of Raph Koster's monster book of game essays, Postmortems, was of high interest to Bree and me for different reasons. For her, it was because Koster was a…
Overwatch’s next hero is a… hamster ball? - Remember Blizzard's tease from earlier this week, the one that set the internet to speculating on whether a wrecking ball might be Overwatch's next hero? Blizzard is adding more fuel…
Hyperspace Beacon: Memorable moments in Star Wars Galaxies, the original Star Wars MMORPG - Yesterday, the game that solidified my place in the MMO space would have turned 15 years old, and MJ, Bree, and I took a trip down memory lane by hopping…
The Crew 2’s official launch day and trailer are here, along with a trail of bad reviews - The Crew 2 has reached its official launch day for console and PC, but maybe don't be too anxious to press the buy button. As we noted on this week's…
Warner Bros. denies wrongdoing in Bethsoft’s Fallout Shelter/Westworld copyright lawsuit - Last week, we reported on an emerging lawsuit lodged over the new Westworld mobile game. Bethsoft is suing Behaviour Interactive and Warner Bros. over what it characterizes as copyright theft from Fallout…
Bless Online is rolling out a big update on July 4 - Whether you're having a lot of fun with Bless Online or wondering if its port is something of a curse, you probably would not object to the game having more…
Choose My Adventure: Capping things off in Final Fantasy XI - All right. When last I left off my Final Fantasy XI time, it was... wait, June 7th?! What the heck happened? If not for the fact that my posts still…
Chaos Theory: A year in the life of Secret World Legends - [AL:SWL]We've talked all about Secret World Legends' first anniversary party, but now it's time to talk about the game's first year. Fans can easily recall the fateful time of the reboot;…
The Daily Grind: Would you play Star Wars Galaxies if it relaunched today? - Star Wars Galaxies is 15 years old now, and it was just about seven years ago that SOE announced it was slated for execution. Naturally, it's been a big topic…
Legends of Aria has a huge graphics upgrade in store for closed beta as it kicks off a community scavenger hunt - Legends of Aria has a big reveal today: It's completely revamped its graphics ahead of its second closed beta. The word Citadel uses is "drastic," but, you know, the good…
The International Olympic Committee is hosting an e-sports discussion summit in July - Last summer the co-president of the Paris Olympic bid committee told the AP that it was considering bringing video gaming on board for the 2024 program in France. The International…
Shroud of the Avatar’s 55th release includes brewing and starter houses for everyone - Portalarium is shaking off its layoffs and plunging onward with the release of Shroud of the Avatar's 55th update. Release 55 should be live just as this post goes out,…
Elite Dangerous’ Beyond: Chapter 2 arrives today; here’s the launch trailer! - The second chapter in Elite Dangerous' Beyond content is due to land early this afternoon, with the Alliance Challenger as well as a "selection of new wing missions, installation interactions,…
Under pressure, Sony claims it’s looking into solving its crossplay dilemma - Under great amounts of pressure to reverse its anti-crossplay stance with the PlayStation 4, Sony has finally capitulated somewhat by saying that it is looking at possibilities and trying to…
Happy 17th birthday, Anarchy Online – Funcom is celebrating with a free-play week - If your first memory of playing Anarchy Online consists of a horrifying slog through alpha, as mine does, then you might be wondering how the heck the first big sci-fi…
Trove has just launched its exploration-centric Geode expansion and new battle royale minigame - [AL:Trove]The first leg of Trove's Geode expansion has launched today, with brand-new mechanics for the blocky-cute sandbox. "Players will find themselves on a brand new planet with a seemingly endless…
SuperData’s May 2018 revenue report shows Fortnite slowing down, Pokemon Go picking up for summer - May 2018 was good to Fortnite, again, SuperData's latest global revenue report shows, but its growth rate may be coming to a middle. "Fortnite hits a new high but growth…
PUBG Corp drops plagiarism lawsuit against Epic Games as Fortnite’s Playground goes live - It looks like the big legal feud between PUBG and Fortnite is already drawing to a close, as Bloomberg reports PUBG Corp. has withdrawn its lawsuit against Epic Games. PUBG…
World of Warcraft ‘not looking to compete’ with Discord but might be breaking your favorite addon - World of Warcraft Game Director Ion Hazzikostas sat down with Forbes this week for a two-part interview about some of the big changes with this summer's Battle for Azeroth expansion,…
BioWare: ‘Anthem is unlike anything we’ve ever done’ - Game Informer is enjoying a heapload of exclusives on BioWare's upcoming Anthem, including an interview with the game's leads. The studio said that the world players encounter is "unfinished," with…
ArenaNet on Guild Wars 2’s living story, Heart of Thorns vs. Path of Fire, security, and momentum - [AL:GW2]Though ArenaNet was technically at E3 this year, the group representing Guild Wars 2 was chiefly a marketing and business one, so they carted our interview questions back to team members more…
SpatialOS MMORPG sandbox Fractured has just gone live with its $116K Kickstarter - If you've been following Fractured and SpatialOS as long as we have, then you're probably right on top of the game's Kickstarter launch today. If not, then now is the…
Citadel of Sorcery shuts down after 14 years of development - Chances are that you have never heard of Citadel of Sorcery. MJ, our resident "has played every MMO in the universe" expert, only vaguely recalled this very indie title. But…
Warframe’s crackdown on platinum resellers wrecks their innocent victims too - [AL:WarF]A massive thread on the Warframe subreddit this weekend shows just the sort of problems MMO studios have waded into in their haste to crack down on goldsellers in order…
Dark Age of Camelot delays its free-to-play shift to 2019 - While we reported in December 2017 that Broadsword was aiming for a free-to-play option for Dark Age of Camelot, we haven't seen a lot of movement on that front --…
EVE Evolved: Will EVE Online’s Abyssal Deadspace ever be expanded? - [AL:EVE]EVE Online's recent Into the Abyss expansion has managed to grip me in a way that few expansions have, providing a challenging new solo PvE feature that's as addictive as…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 176: Guild Wars 2, The Crew 2, and Elder Scrolls too
Battle Bards Episode 123: Guild Wars 2’s Path of Fire
The Stream Team: Raiding ARK’s island ascension cave
The Stream Team: Sun and fun in LOTRO’s summer festival
The Stream Team: Friday is giveaway day with Wizard101!
The Stream Team: Bless Online’s return of the protector
The Stream Team: A second attempt at DCUO’s second part of The Death of Superman
The Stream Team: Showing off Conan Exiles’ cosmetic Khitan DLC
The Stream Team: Going to Trove’s Geode
The Stream Team: Ending SWTOR’s End Times
The Stream Team: Happy first birthday Secret World Legends
The Stream Team: Re-living Star Wars Galaxies memories in the Emu on the game’s 15th birthday
The Stream Team: Plundering an entire Path of Exile temple
The Stream Team: Creating a robot army in Outpost Zero
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
How do you feel about the WoW Order Hall experience?
Artifact Power items can now be sold; try not to think of how much gold you’ve wasted
BfA’s new Druids are delightful examples of nightmare-fueling design
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.
