If Daybreak’s been a bit of a punching bag in the MMO genre over the last five years, it’s only because of its long line of failures and shenanigans, from dumping EverQuest Next to fibbing about who owned it (and fibbing about not owning SSG!). But now, thanks to Swedish company EG7 buying up the entirety of Daybreak, the once-beloved MMORPG studio might finally be turning a corner, thanks to the extreme transparency we just got this in the form of EG7’s investor report, which as we covered at length includes revenues and playerbase sizes for all of the games. It sure would be nice to see Daybreak become the kind of company that wins best studio four years in a row once again.
Meanwhile, we also finished off our series of impressions for World of Warcraft Shadowlands.
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
Daybreak has been sold – again – this time to EG7 Global for $300M - Who had this on the end-of-the-year bingo card? Apparently, Daybreak has been bought out - again. The company holding the hot potato this round is EG7 Global, which you'll recall…
Console LOTRO and DCUO’s huge playerbase: Everything we just learned about Daybreak thanks to EG7 - MMO twitter has been ablaze since yesterday's announcement that Daybreak is being bought up in its entirety by Swedish games company Enad Global 7, largely thanks to the huge swath…
LOTRO, DDO, EverQuest, DCUO, and PlanetSide 2 studio heads reassure players about Daybreak sale - Following yesterday's revelation that Daybreak has been sold to Swedish company Enad Global 7 for $300M, the bosses at Daybreak's substudio have all now posted messages to their communities. Landon…
First Impressions of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, part three: Influences and summation - One of the things that I generally like to avoid doing is comparing World of Warcraft to other MMOs on the market. Even as we've moved on from the era when,…
First impressions of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, part two: Endgame experience - Once you get to max level in World of Warcraft, the game changes. This should not be a surprise, as it has been the case in every prior expansion and…
WoW Factor: The five paths forward for WoW Classic - Throughout its lifespan, WoW Classic has had an interesting relationship with the future. Not just because it is and always was an explicitly back-looking piece of World of Warcraft, but because…
Npixel reveals stunning ‘space-time’ MMORPG Chrono Odyssey - If you like Gran Saga but want something a bit less cartoony, you're going to want to feast your eyes on the second MMO coming from Npixel. The newly unveiled…
LOTRO Legendarium: What Daybreak’s sale revealed about LOTRO - Just when I thought we were getting to a quieter point in the year where I could engage in a leisurely wrap-up of the year in Lord of the Rings…
Massively on the Go: The rollercoaster that is Pokemon Go’s Go Beyond update - I've previously mentioned in this Massively on the Go column some unexpected bonuses popping up with the release of Pokemon Go’s Go Beyond update. Considering the daily additions of new features and…
Jukebox Heroes: The quieter side of Lord of the Rings Online’s soundtrack - Yes, I'm kind of nuts about the Lord of the Rings Online soundtrack. It could be because I've played this MMO more than most any other at this point, but…
SWTOR previews the login rewards and emote window of Update 6.2 - This coming Wednesday is an early Christmas -- or an early Life Day -- for Star Wars: The Old Republic players, thanks to the projected arrival of Update 6.2. It's…
Former Anthem studio director Christian Dailey promises ‘talented’ leadership is still in place - As people collectively adapt, digest, and armchair analyze the departure of two of BioWare's top executives, there is one rather important piece of the shift that might have slipped notice:…
The Daily Grind: Is MMO shoulder armor a little too much? - We've often poked gentle fun at World of Warcraft for its tendency to feature oversized shoulder armor on characters -- sometimes to the point where it has eclipsed the 1980s…
Bless Unleashed opens up pre-registration for its next PC closed beta and notes upcoming improvements - For those who are curious about Bless Unleashed but aren't curious enough to just play the game on console, then your time to add your name to the PC closed…
For Science: Researchers investigate why some players invert their directional controls - When you have an analog stick to control the camera, does pushing the stick forward tilt the camera up or down? The Guardian published a whole piece about inverting the…
Lord of the Rings Online boasts at least 11,000 quests - Maybe at this point, Frodo and Sam should feel some pity toward the rest of us. After all, Lord of the Rings Online players have gone on far more quests…
BioWare loses GM Casey Hudson and Exec Producer Mark Darrah - If you felt a seismic shift in the foundation of the world last night, it may be that questionable burrito you bought from 7-11... or it could be the departure…
Massively Overthinking: MMO cash shop confessions - Do you ever pick up a drink absentmindedly, thinking it's going to be something, but it's actually something totally different that you hate? You know that feeling of first surprise…
Indie MMO Gloria Victis has just rolled its way into beta - Happy beta launch week to Gloria Victis! No, really. The MMO has been in early access alpha since 2016, but it's finally moving out of alpha and into beta, though…
Changyou’s World of Shadowbane is gearing up for a global Steam launch in January - Remember way back in 2015, when Chinese studio Changyou bought up the rights to classic territorial warfare MMORPG Shadowbane and relaunched it overseas as World of Shadowbane? It was welcome…
The Soapbox: Red Dead Online is just not as fun as it should be - A few weeks ago, I detailed my newfound adventures in the single-player title Red Dead Redemption 2. More relevant to our interests here on MassivelyOP, when I purchased the game…
Skyforge has delayed its planned fall Nintendo Switch launch to February 2021 - One of the highlights of the end of 2020 was meant to be Skyforge's Switch launch, but unfortunately, My.games has opted to delay the release until next year. The hard…
Sea of Thieves announces Seasons, the arrival of a battle pass, and the end of active development for Arena - It's been some time since Sea of Thieves kicked out a news bulletin video -- three months to be exact -- but that time away has meant that the most…
Vague Patch Notes: You are and are not who you are in MMOs - If you've never been hit in the face, you're not really prepared for when someone does it, much less when it's a fist instead of an open-palmed slap. There's a…
New World of Warcraft trailers drop for WoW Classic’s Naxxramas and Shadowlands - Today is a momentous day for WoW Classic, as Blizzard is triggering the ultimate patch for the vanilla-era edition of the game. That's right, it's time to head into Naxxramas…
Red Dead Online is now just $5 as a standalone product, plus the bounty hunter expansion is live - If you haven't played Red Dead Online yet because you didn't want to shell out for Red Dead Redemption 2, now is the time to act: Rockstar has now made…
Lord of the Rings Online composer revives his music company after ponzi scheme fiasco - Two years after fraud ruined his company, Chance Thomas is back. [AL:LOTRO]The Academy Award-winning composer (and composer of great portions of Lord of the Rings Online's soundtrack) announced this week…
Desert Oasis: Black Desert Online should be 2020’s MMO of the year - Well here we are again, heading to the end of another year. And while many are eager for this year to end, us gamers have a tradition that can't be…
Camelot Unchained talks up development of new Verdant Forest biome and RvR map - The month of November saw the devs of Camelot Unchained improving the game's landmass quite a bit. In the latest newsletter, we get a look at the creation of the…
End-of-Year Eleven: The biggest MMO surprises of 2020 - Whew. We're finally getting close to the end of 2020, and I think I speak for all of us when I say that it cannot get here fast enough. This…
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go’s Go Beyond update is surprisingly solid for vets and newcomers alike - Yes, in case you missed it, Pokemon Go's Go Beyond update is live. My preview piece was updated right up to the release, so if you're not sure what all…
Fight or Kite: Albion Online’s mobile beta hits the sweet spot - I’m still in quite a lull when it comes to MMOs as of late. I don’t know whether it’s related to the time of year or I’m just heading towards…
CDPR frames Cyberpunk 2077’s multiplayer as a ‘standalone product’ - Cyberpunk 2077 is a game we've kept half an eyeball on over the last few years, basically entirely because of the lingering promise that it'll eventually offer a multiplayer option…
Tiny MMO Book of Travels releases a 30-minute gameplay video - Ready to see the pulse-pounding action of a "serene" online world? We hope you're awake, buckled into a safety harness, and biting down on a mouth guard, because Book of…
The Daily Grind: Which IP should never, ever be turned into an MMO? - Oh please please please don't ruin Farscape with a badly done MMO. I don't think there's any danger of this, I hasten to point out. The old IPs currently being…
Ship of Heroes’ latest video talks mission creation and likely 2021 launch - How do they make the sausage when the sausage is an MMORPG? Generally, gamers are quickly made to regret that question, but Heroic Games is giving a peek into the…
Fallout 76 drops Fractured Steel trailer for already launched Steel Dawn update - Last week, Bethsoft surprise-launched Fallout 76's Steel Dawn update after accidentally dropping it on Xbox. So you can already play it on basically every platform known to man except your…
WildStar’s devs and fans love on the game two years after its demise - This past weekend saw a special and sad date for WildStar fans, as November 28th marked the two-year anniversary of the game's closure. Some of WildStar's former developers and community…
Wisdom of Nym: Analyzing the last pre-patch Final Fantasy XIV producer’s letter - Well, it looks like we've got no actual new information on the next expansion. I'm not sure how to feel about that. I mean, sure, I didn't really expect to…
Star Citizen debuts new $600 gunship at this year’s Intergalactic Aerospace Expo - Just in case you weren't aware, this past Saturday, November 28th, was RSI day at Star Citizen's Intergalactic Aerospace Expo, the in-game event that also doubles as a free fly…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 299: Out of the Shadowlands and into the light
Battle Bards Episode 182: Last Oasis
The Stream Team: Going to see Conan Exile’s Judge
The Stream Team: AdventureQuest 3D’s brand-new Battleon chess
The Stream Team: Descending into Neverwinter’s The Chasm
The Stream Team: Fractured for friends
The Stream Team: EverQuest II’s Ruins of Ssraeshza
The Stream Team: Going on a post-holiday Heist ‘shopping’ spree in Path of Exile
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.
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