We’re taking a time-machine back through our MMO coverage, month by month, to hit the highlights and frame our journey before we head into 2019!
There’s no good gaming take on June that doesn’t touch on E3, and this year’s was a doozy chiefly thanks to one of the best studio presentations we’ve seen in years. We’re talking about Bethsoft, of course, which not only fully revealed Fallout 76 as a multiplayer online survival game but announced multiple new DLC for The Elder Scrolls Online, in addition to the Blades mobile game and new titles for the rest of the company franchises (including the next single-player TES game!).
We also saw another big delay from Crowfall, layoffs at Shroud of the Avatar, the “gaming disorder” scaremongering, a rough launch for The Crew 2, and fresh content for Guild Wars 2, Trove, and Elite Dangerous.
Read on for the whole list from June of this past year!
TOP NEWS STORIES OF JUNE 2018
ZeniMax apologizes for Elder Scrolls Online spyware, says it was ‘erroneously added’ and will be removed
How the best devs are ‘fleeing in droves’ to escape the abusive games industry
Path of Exile’s Incursion update is live today
Champions Online is discontinuing its subscription too
Bless Online apologizes for poor game balance while players find novel ways to break the game
Lord of the Rings Online 22.2 update is live with sweeping class balance changes, wearable instruments, and new story quests
CCP Games announces EVE Online mobile game called Project Galaxy
Hi-Rez launches standalone F2P game Realm Royale, a mix of ‘open-world PvP MMO and your favorite hero shooter’
Steam’s new moderation policy is even less of a moderation policy than before
Wild West Online pivots away from faction system PvP, plans free trial
TERA’s Hero’s Oath is live today with a new dungeon and piles of new loot
E3 2018: EA confirms its open-world Star Wars game, Jedi Fallen Order
E3 2018: BioWare’s Anthem has soloable co-op open world, no lockboxes, a sweet trailer, and a February 22 launch
E3 2018: Fallout 76 is absolutely massive — and here’s the trailer
E3 2018: Elder Scrolls Online announces Wolfhunter and Murkmire DLC (oh yeah, and Elder Scrolls VI is coming!)
E3 2018: ‘Fallout 76 is entirely online’
E3 2018: Cyberpunk 2077 debuts its trailer, but multiplayer is nowhere to be found
E3 2018: The Division 2 shows off its story and its early gameplay, launches March 15 – with raids
The Star Citizen subreddit is in the middle of a massive flamewar as a big backer loses faith
E3 2018: Star Citizen’s ‘alpha 3.2 teaser’ trailer is gorgeous, and it’s not alpha 3.2
E3 2018: Fallout 76 confirms private servers, mod support, and no living NPCs
E3 2018: En Masse on TERA’s lootboxes, console port, PvE vs. PvP, and the June 26 Gunner class launch
E3 2018: Perfect World is paving the way to bring Steam to China
Steam’s new chat system just hit beta – will it pull you away from Discord?
Star Citizen and EVE Online players unite to call out lookalike concept ship
E3 2018: Nintendo thinks lockboxes are unfairly maligned, help ‘drive engagement’
Players petition BioWare for a console port of SWTOR
Star Citizen’s Around the Verse covers character concepts and the Vulture, while CCP throws shade
World of Warcraft Classic is still under development, will begin with patch 1.12
Crowfall delays again: ‘Soft launch is not going to happen by the end of this year’
The World Health Organization advances its ‘gaming disorder’ classification in spite of heavy criticism
More MMOs pledge to fully remove Red Shell spyware, including Secret World Legends
Video game industry groups across the globe reject WHO’s ‘gaming disorder’ classification
Shroud of the Avatar suffers layoffs, saying ‘right-sizing’ is needed ahead of episode 2
Elder Scrolls Online offers Steam downtime compensation as review-bombing hits ‘mostly negative’
E3 2018: Bill Roper on gaming’s smoke and mirrors, Worlds Adrift, and building on SpatialOS
Bethsoft alleges Behaviour and WB ripped off Fallout Shelter in the new Westworld mobile game
‘The pressure is on’ for Camelot Unchained’s beta test
Whatever happened to Tibia, The Realm Online, and Meridian 59?
Dark Age of Camelot delays its free-to-play shift to 2019
Trove has just launched its exploration-centric Geode expansion and new battle royale minigame
Final Fantasy XIV’s community is rocked by a fansite sexual harassment scandal
Interview: Worlds Adrift’s Bossa Studios on giving, griefing, and gittin’ gud
Elite Dangerous’ Beyond: Chapter 2 arrives today; here’s the launch trailer!
The Crew 2’s official launch day and trailer are here, along with a trail of bad reviews
Star Citizen’s 3.2 alpha contains utter rubbish, literally – and Squadron 42 won’t make 2018
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF JUNE 2018
Choose My Adventure: Final Fantasy XI makes me feel like dancing
The Game Archaeologist: The rebirth of The Realm Online
Jukebox Heroes: Six musical themes for upcoming MMORPGs
Wisdom of Nym: The non-combat side of Final Fantasy XIV patch 4.3
Tamriel Infinium: With Elder Scrolls Online’s Summerset, more of the same is a good thing
The Daily Grind: Would you play a new Guild Wars 1 expansion?
Perfect Ten: What I’ve always wished for in a Fallout MMO
The Soapbox: Do MMOs still fall victim to the copycat curse?
The Survivalist: Eight ways to give Just Survive a fighting chance
Massively Overthinking: Why is no one meeting the obvious player demand for big MMORPGs?
The Game Archaeologist: Myst Online
The Daily Grind: Is zone-wide chat a good thing for MMOs?
The Daily Grind: Will you sub to EA’s new ‘Origin Access Premier’ service?
EVE Evolved: The expert Gila’s guide to Abyssal Deadspace in EVE Online
E3 2018: Dissecting the Elder Scrolls VI teaser that broke the internet
Wisdom of Nym: Some story breakdown from Final Fantasy XIV’s latest patch
The Daily Grind: Will Fallout 76 be a griefer’s paradise or a gamer’s dream?
Flameseeker Chronicles: Discussing Guild Wars 2 content voids and cadence disruption
Perfect Ten: Ten things you need to understand about MMORPG Rogues
EverQuesting: A guide to EverQuest II’s new Oceansfull Festival
Tamriel Infinium: Unpacking the Elder Scrolls Online presentation at E3
The Daily Grind: What obligations do studios have to provide a griefing-free MMO environment?
‘Magic through serendipity’: Raph Koster on the glorious mess that was Ultima Online
E3 2018: hands-on with The Division 2 – a major upgrade over the original game
The Daily Grind: Does teaching toxic MMO gamers what they did wrong actually help?
E3 2018: Hands-on with Bethsoft’s Elder Scrolls: Blades (yes, in portrait mode)
The Game Archaeologist: The tangled legal history of Interplay’s canceled Fallout Online
E3 2018: Deep-diving Trion’s kid-friendly voxelbox Trove and its upcoming Geode expansion
E3 2018: Well-earned hype for Rend’s pets, construction, modding, and PvPvE
E3 2018: Hands-on with Ubisoft’s open-world pirate PvP game Skull & Bones
E3 2018: A second look at Trion’s Defiance 2050 reboot
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s lightness of dungeons
E3 2018: Hands-on with the superb (and hopefully Switch-bound) Black Desert Mobile
E3 2018: Hands-on with ReEvolve, Perfect World’s new mobile sandbox MMORPG
The Daily Grind: How much dough have you dropped on Steam in its lifetime?
E3 2018: Hands-on with Descent, the future of space mining
Hyperspace Beacon: Future plot points for SWTOR and other unanswered lore questions
Massively Overthinking: Massively OP’s E3 2018 awards
Chaos Theory: A guide to Secret World Legend’s first MEGAversary
E3 2018: Hands-on with Mavericks, the MMO battle royale hybrid
EVE Evolved: Will EVE Online’s Abyssal Deadspace ever be expanded?
The Daily Grind: Do you want to see a battle royale mode in any live MMORPGs?
Flameseeker Chronicles: Our preview of Guild Wars 2’s Long Live the Lich, now live
The Daily Grind: What are your ‘must have’ features for an MMO space sim?
Perfect Ten: The best MMO debuts by year, 1997-2006
Hyperspace Beacon: Memorable moments in Star Wars Galaxies, the original Star Wars MMORPG
The Soapbox: The western port of Bless Online feels like a curse
Vague Patch Notes: On balance and differentiation in MMOs
The Daily Grind: Would you play Star Wars Galaxies if it relaunched today?
Chaos Theory: A year in the life of Secret World Legends
The Game Archaeologist: Raph Koster on MUDs and Privateer Online
ALL 2018 YEAR-IN-REVIEW POSTS SO FAR
MMO Year in Review: The SWTOR sunset scare (January 2018)
MMO Year in Review: Dragon Bones, Funcom’s revival, and the politics of lockboxes (February 2018)
MMO Year in Review: Thieves, Avatars, and Gorgons (March 2018)
MMO Year in Review: Columbus Nova who? (April 2018)
MMO Year in Review: Mixed Bless-ings (May 2018)
MMO Year in Review: Fallout 76, Elder Scrolls Online, and Bethsoft’s bonanza (June 2018)
MMO Year in Review: So, uh, how ’bout that underwater combat balance (July 2018)
MMO Year in Review: Watching the world tree burn (August 2018)
MMO Year in Review: Literally the biggest news day in MMO history (September 2018)
MMO Year in Review: Gamigo’s gory Trion Worlds acquisition (October 2018)
MMO Year in Review: Blizzard and Bethsoft’s dumpster fire showdown (November 2018)
MMO Year in Review: Daybreak gonna Daybreak (December 2018)
