The good news is that it’s still apparently capable of pumping out brand-new online blockbusters.
Unfortunately, it will never, ever be good at naming them, and Apex Legends literally sounds like a guild put some random words together.
Read on to catch up with the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions today as every Sunday in Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review!
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Hands-on with Amazon’s New World sandbox – and its distinctively MMO mechanics - Can a survival sandbox game be an MMORPG? Until recently, the answer has been pretty much a big nope. Mostly that's because the game worlds haven't been massive by any…
The Soapbox: A pre-mortem for Star Wars The Old Republic, a game that never knew what it had - Would you believe that Star Wars: The Old Republic is shutting down? I'm going to bet that you could believe it, and I'm even going to bet that the majority of you read…
Activision Blizzard expected to slash jobs after flat sales, loss of Destiny 2 - Storm clouds are gathering above Activision Blizzard, a portent of bad sales and dire predictions: The publisher is expected to cut "hundreds" of jobs this week in an attempt to turn the…
Apex Legends passed 600,000 concurrent players in 24 hours - Amidst the bad news for Electronic Arts yesterday, there was a note of positivity when it comes to Apex Legends. You may remember the battle royale game from launching in full…
Vague Patch Notes: Why the social penalty for open PvP in MMOs never works - One of the most important things to have when you're thinking about games and their design is reference material. It's one of the things that the Vague Patch Notes column…
Interview: Black Desert’s Pearl Abyss on battle royale design, metrics, cron stones, and future content - Black Desert has had a wild ride over the last year, as has its home studio, Pearl Abyss. Not only did PA pick up CCP Games in 2018, but it…
LOTRO Legendarium: Is Moria amazing – or agonizing? - In about a month, Lord of the Rings Online's progression servers will unlock their first expansion and take us deep into the mines of Moria. It is then that these…
Leaderboard: Are you concerned about the health of the games market right now? - In the last couple of weeks, we've been posting what seems like an endless list of bad news from gaming companies insofar as their performance in 2018. From Activision-Blizzard and…
The Division 2’s private beta test is underway through next week - You've heard of an open beta, you've heard of a closed beta, but what the heck is a "private beta?" Sounds a little iffy, if you ask us. Suspicious. Actually,…
Star Citizen players will be able to communicate using American Sign Language - This week's Star Citizen Around the Verse kicks off not with development but with player footage of a 42-man dogfighter skirmish just above the surface of a planet, which looks…
Apex Legends continues to grow, reaching 10 million players in 72 hours - Newly released battle royale title Apex Legends announced the other day that it had amassed 2.5 million players and hit 600,000 concurrent players within the first 24 hours of its…
Square-Enix’s latest financials show a decrease in sales and profits for the past nine months - The latest financial report for Square-Enix is out for the prior nine months of operation, and it's not a great report for the company. Year-over-year, the company's net sales dipped…
Boy’s life proves MMOs are ‘a gateway to wherever your heart desires’ - I remember the first few years when MMORPGs were a going concern and how so many people back then used to justify their bad behavior in them by saying "it's…
Interview: Legends of Aria’s dungeon expansion, early access, ganking, housing, and cash shop philosophy - Indie old-school sandbox MMORPG Legends of Aria has become a household name among MMO players over the last few months, first rolling into early access just ahead of the holiday,…
Anthem previews its post-launch plans as release day approaches - We're just over two weeks away from the release of BioWare's multiplayer sci-fi shooter Anthem, but the devs are already looking past launch and toward the game's future. To give…
RIFT delivers a small patch, points to ‘future content releases’ - Out of Gamigo's purchases from Trion Worlds, RIFT has fared especially poorly with very little in the way of development (or developers) in the past half-year. Aside from a couple…
Finally, you can take more than one friend into Secret World Legends’ Occult Defense scenario as of today - Fans of Stonehenge and grouping in Secret World Legends, your prayers have been answered and the teases were true: With today's update, Funcom has turned the Occult Defense scenario back…
Perfect Ten: Hit franchises that were almost made into MMORPGs - For my money, there are few more tantalizing and agonizing thoughts than the great "What Ifs?" of the MMO genre. What if one title had launched while another did not?…
Pennsylvania legislators introduce video game ‘sin tax’ bill - Pennsylvania lawmakers have introduced a bill that seeks to institute a tax on mature-rated video games sold in the state. House Bill 109 would levy a 10% tax on mature-rated…
Classic Guild Wars just got another quality-of-life update and new Complete Collection edition - Although often overshadowed by its more modern little brother, ArenaNet's classic MMO Guild Wars is still trucking along in maintenance mode, and it's just received a new update focused on…
EA is focusing on Anthem and Apex Legends following disappointing quarter - Things haven't been going as well as planned for Electronic Arts lately, if its latest earnings report is anything to go by. The company has apparently had a "weaker-than-expected third…
Choose My Adventure: Stunning vistas and snotty elves in Elder Scrolls Online’s Summerset - Choose My Adventure is slowly becoming a source of delight for me, especially if I'm able to play games like The Elder Scrolls Online. Perhaps it's the timing, the location…
Wild Terra is going free-to-play next week as its ‘next stage of active growth’ - You might have wondered whether this was happening, given all the key giveaways, but yes, you were right: Juvty Worlds is taking its isometric sandbox MMO Wild Terra free-to-play as…
SWTOR avoids a formal 2019 roadmap but gives a peek at what’s to come - Star Wars: The Old Republic fans eager to hear a detailed roadmap for the game's 2019 run are bound to be disappointed by BioWare's response on the matter. The studio…
A Hi-Rez staffer has been arrested for alleged solicitation of sex with a minor in major sting op - Didn't expect to be catching this post tonight: Apparently a Hi-Rez employee has been arrested along with 20 other men accused of soliciting sex with a minor on dating websites…
Anthem explains its Alliance and Guild systems following its second demo, with hints about something more in the sky - While Anthem is not a game that will force you to play with others, it certainly wants you to, and part of that is down to the Alliance system the game sports. Producer…
MMO designer Raph Koster runs down the key mechanics that drive retention in online games - If last week's "games as a service" conversation piqued your interest, hop on over to Raph Koster's blog. The veteran MMORPG designer has a new piece up on retention specifically…
Wisdom of Nym: Impressions from the second Final Fantasy XIV fan festival - The experience of a Final Fantasy XIV fan festival is a distinct one, a strange beast that sort of creeps into your existence even if you're not actually there in…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 207: Bunny girls throughout Eorzea
The Stream Team: Timber goes the ARK forest titan
The Stream Team: Beating back bugs in Warframe’s Fortuna
The Stream Team: Checking out class ranks and cross-skills in AdventureQuest 3D
The Stream Team: Jedi and jumping puzzles in SWTOR
The Stream Team: Checking Outpost Zero’s base after a break
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
• How do you feel about giant, deadly roaming enemies in WoW?
• Method, Limit, and the high cost of world first raiding
• You can wear an eyeball on your head in WoW 8.1.5
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 bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.
