We’re taking a tour back through our MMO coverage, month by month, to hit the highlights and frame our journey before we launch into 2020 and a whole new decade of MMOs!
February sucked. Activision-Blizzard turned in a record financial quarter and promptly laid off 800 people in what devs called a “bloodbath,” prompting union organizers to call for Bobby Kotick’s job. Then Guild Wars 2 studio ArenaNet followed it up by laying off a third of the company and canceling several unannounced games. And then Daybreak delayed PlanetSide Arena to summer and refunded everyone.
On the upside, we began hiring new columnists, Elder Scrolls Online dropped its Wrathstone DLC, EA launched Anthem and Apex Legends, Funcom announced a Dune IP MMO, and we got a good look at Amazon’s New World.
Read on for the whole list from February of this past year!
TOP NEWS STORIES OF FEBRUARY 2019
Fallout 76 is now a gift with controller purchase in Germany as duping crackdown hits legit crafters. I am so tired.
FFXIV Fan Festival Paris 2019: Liveblog of the opening keynote
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers launches July 2 with Gunbreaker job and playable Viera
Rewatch the massive Marshmello concert held in Fortnite yesterday
A Hi-Rez staffer has been arrested for alleged solicitation of sex with a minor in major sting op
Titanfall dev’s new Apex Legends battle royale title snagged 1M players on day one
The day the music died: LOTRO nerfs Minstrels to the ground
EA is focusing on Anthem and Apex Legends following disappointing quarter
Classic Guild Wars just got another quality-of-life update and new Complete Collection edition
Pennsylvania legislators introduce video game ‘sin tax’ bill
Interview: Legends of Aria’s dungeon expansion, early access, ganking, housing, and cash shop philosophy
Square-Enix’s latest financials show a decrease in sales and profits for the past nine months
Apex Legends continues to grow, reaching 10 million players in 72 hours
Interview: Black Desert’s Pearl Abyss on battle royale design, metrics, cron stones, and future content
Star Citizen players will be able to communicate using American Sign Language
Activision Blizzard expected to slash jobs after flat sales, loss of Destiny 2
Travel to Bespin in one Star Wars Galaxies emulator… eventually
Star Trek Online players say they aren’t going for Cryptic’s lackluster $120 ship bundle
Fallout 76 fan discovers Vault 63 as more game copies are demoted to gifts-with-purchase
Shroud of the Avatar’s cash shop is now dispensing buffs when you buy stuff
Apex Legends grows to 25 million players, announces exclusive Valentine’s Day loot
NCsoft 4Q 2018: Mobile made almost twice as much as all NCsoft’s other MMOs combined
Activision-Blizzard Q4 2018: Activision-Blizzard posted record profits, layoffs begin anyway
Mortal Online devs say they’re building Mortal Online 2 and bringing existing lifers and wealth along
Blizzard devs characterize layoffs as a ‘bloodbath’ as pro-unionization effort calls for Bobby Kotick’s resignation
Nintendo unveils Tetris 99, wraps up the battle royale genre
Roblox appears to have banned PewDiePie’s name
Elder Scrolls Online: You could dive into Wrathstone’s dungeons, or you could just sleep on a bridge
Torchlight Frontiers’ third closed alpha begins in March – with no more NDA
Video game unionization effort starts petition to remove Bobby Kotick from Activision-Blizzard
Anthem’s early access launch is already suffering from connection issues
For Science: Yet another study finds no link between violent video games and aggression
Daybreak is delaying PlanetSide Arena again, this time to summer 2019, and it’s refunding preorders too
CIG summarizes development progress for Squadron 42
Neverwinter descends into the depths of Undermountain this spring in its ‘largest expansion ever’
Check out Anthem’s day-one patch notes as BioWare puts an end to gear farm cheesing
Project Gorgon dev on hiring and content cadence: ‘I can confidently say we are not gonna fail’
ArenaNet has revivified classic Guild Wars’ support website, vows support for ‘years to come’
Guild Wars 2 is releasing a new cat mount – but only through world vs. world PvP
Epic Games yanks Fortnite ads from YouTube over super gross child exploitation expose
Mobile MMO AxE: Alliance vs Empire launches today
Now confirmed: Guild Wars 2 studio ArenaNet is suffering heavy layoffs, but the game will continue
Anthem is finally officially launched, to the tune of lukewarm reviews (plus the launch roadmap)
Bethsoft says it’s ‘fully dedicated’ to Fallout 76 as it rolls out huge roadmap for 2019
Two weeks after Activision Blizzard’s layoffs, its stock price is barely higher than before the layoffs
143 ArenaNet and Guild Wars 2 devs have been laid off as fans express #LoveForArenaNet
Elder Scrolls Online’s Wrathstone DLC and Update 21 are officially live
Unionization group Game Workers Unite withdraws call for firing ArenaNet’s Mike O’Brien
Funcom saw record high 2018 revenue, inks deal for DUNE games including open-world multiplayer title
Experience Anarchy Online from the beginning with its upcoming fresh start server
Guild Wars 2 Game Director Mike Z promises ArenaNet is ‘still committed’ to Guild Wars 2 with ‘long-term plans’
Call of Duty swatter requests the minimum 20 to 25 year prison sentence
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF FEBRUARY 2019
Storyboard: Can you diverge from lore in MMORPG roleplaying?
The Game Archaeologist: Dungeon Runners
Jukebox Heroes: The Final Fantasy XIV soundtrack that disappeared
Wisdom of Nym: Impressions from the second Final Fantasy XIV fan festival
The Daily Grind: Who the heck are you people who buy stuff for MMOs you can’t play yet?
Choose My Adventure: Stunning vistas and snotty elves in Elder Scrolls Online’s Summerset
Perfect Ten: Hit franchises that were almost made into MMORPGs
Vague Patch Notes: Why the social penalty for open PvP in MMOs never works
The Daily Grind: What was the worst MMO newbie experience that you powered through anyway?
Hands-on with Amazon’s New World sandbox – and its distinctively MMO mechanics
The Soapbox: A pre-mortem for Star Wars The Old Republic, a game that never knew what it had
Leaderboard: Are you concerned about the health of the games market right now?
LOTRO Legendarium: Is Moria amazing – or agonizing?
The Daily Grind: Do you have any love for jumping puzzles in MMOs?
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s pre-Shadowbringers roadmap
EVE Evolved: How working with NPCs could improve EVE Online
The Daily Grind: Are you concerned about New World’s setting?
Choose My Adventure: Further bear adventures in The Elder Scrolls Online
Reverse Engineering: The science of Elder Scrolls Online’s dragons
Introducing AxE: Alliance vs Empire, Nexon’s next mobile MMO coming west
Perfect Ten: 10 MMOs I’m optimistic about in 2019
Vague Patch Notes: On play conditioning and the lecture of experience in MMOs
Tamriel Infinium: The many breeds of Elder Scrolls Online’s cat people, the iconic Khajiit
Massively Overthinking: Showing up vs. showing off in MMOs
The Daily Grind: How much does nostalgia drive your MMO play?
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s mysterious Hrothgar text has no good explanation
The Game Archaeologist: Terra, SubSpace, and Sovereign
EVE Evolved: EVE Online has a gambling problem
The Daily Grind: Are you concerned about the future of World of Warcraft?
Wisdom of Nym: The system changes I’d like to see in Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
The Survivalist: Astroneer adds whimsy to the enjoyable terrors of space survival
The Daily Grind: What MMO could really use a true fresh start server?
Choose My Adventure: Dungeon diving in The Elder Scrolls Online
The Daily Grind: What if World of Warcraft never launched?
Perfect Ten: The bloodiest MMOs of all time
Vague Patch Notes: Online games are a marathon, but they still need to start running
Leaderboard: How worried are you for PlanetSide Arena and Daybreak right now?
Massively Overthinking: Contending with the MMO genre’s ‘wowfugee’ crisis
WoW Factor: Why people are mad at Battle for Azeroth, part one: Combat
Jukebox Heroes: The 10 greatest MMO soundtracks of all time (as voted by you)
LOTRO Legendarium: Examining 2019’s amazing producer’s letter
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s Shadowbringers overhaul jobs, part one
Leaderboard: What’s your biggest beef with Anthem?
Perfect Ten: Ten steps for understanding MMO systems
First impressions of BioWare’s Anthem, a flawed piece of work with good bones
Reverse Engineering: Predicting Fortnite’s earthquakes… with science!
The Survivalist: When survival sandboxes are more MMO than actual MMORPGs
ALL 2019 YEAR-IN-REVIEW POSTS SO FAR
MMO Year in Review: Anthem’s approach (January 2019)
MMO Year in Review: The mass Blizzard and ArenaNet layoffs (February 2019)
MMO Year in Review: Black Desert’s console rollout (March 2019)
MMO Year in Review: City of Heroes’ resurrection (April 2019)
MMO Year in Review: EVE’s Invasion, WoW Classic’s beta (May 2019)
MMO Year in Review: Shadowbringers, Elsweyr, and Azshara (June 2019)
MMO Year in Review: Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO (July 2019)
MMO Year in Review: You think you do, but… yeah, you do (August 2019)
MMO Year in Review: Guild Wars 2’s saga and Astellia Online (September 2019)
MMO Year in Review: The month of gaming industry self-owns (October 2019)
MMO Year in Review: A ‘tough Hearthstone esports moment’ (November 2019)
MMO Year in Review: New World, Magic Legends, and ESO Skyrim (December 2019)
