December’s many article roundups and awards always remind us that it’s hard to remember what happened last month, let alone what happened way back at the beginning. So! As we did in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 (yes we’re still going!), let’s poke back through our MMO coverage, month by month, to hit the highlights and frame our journey ahead of 2021, all the while hoping it’s better than 2020. Shall we start at the very beginning?
January was a month of rebirth for multiple games and studios. New World announced it was changing directions into more of a PvE title, Torchlight Frontiers dropped the “Frontiers” part and shed its MMO status, and it became clear Funcom’s DUNE MMO would be more of a survival title instead. Daybreak formalized its split into multiple sub-studios as well, and WoW’s Visions of N’Zoth released to dismal reviews. Then Camelot Unchained capped off the month by announcing a second game. Meanwhile, we were already seeing cons closing down in China as the first whispers of COVID-19 began.
Read on for the whole recap from January of this past year!
TOP NEWS STORIES OF JANUARY 2020
NCsoft follows up City of Heroes code copyright filing with fresh trademark application
Neowiz takes another stab at the Bless IP with mobile MMO Bless Eternal
Fun fact: Google search trends don’t tell you bupkis about MMO popularity
YouTuber examines why vanilla World of Warcraft dungeons were so long
Star Citizen SOCS socks promise to revolutionize foot warming in the first quarter of 2020
CNBC runs down the debate of violent video games and their effect on gamers
Crytek’s latest legal maneuvering against CIG suggests Squadron 42 won’t release this summer
Tales of Wind releases on PC, announces several updates and a server merge
Massively Uplifting: Gaming studios and communities support kids, trees, cats, STEM, and gaming grandparents
Escape from Tarkov confirms no playable female characters because of ‘game lore’ and workload
More older adults play games than ever before, according to AARP study of people over 50
Rend studio Frostkeep has apparently suffered a round of layoffs
The first gameplay footage of Magic: Legends is available now for your viewing pleasure
Cryptic’s Magic: Legends is an isometric RPG and not an MMORPG because of earth elemental butt
The Internet Historian takes a look at the fall and rise of No Man’s Sky (and reads a racy Sean Murray fanfic)
Crowfall preps beta, raises another $12M from investors to bring total funding to $35M
Magic to Master is a revived free-to-play MMORPG from 2009
PWE’s new ‘MMO’ Magic Legends confirms spring beta, PC launch in 2020, console launch in 2021
ArcheAge players score $420,000 in ancient class action suit over consumer law violations
World of Warcraft launches patch 8.3, Visions of N’Zoth, today
ESA responds to Sony’s skipping of E3 2020, saying the show will be ‘high-energy’
Blizzard is not planning World of Warcraft 8.3.5, so N’Zoth is the last big thing until Shadowlands
Over a million people subbed to RuneScape in 2019, with ‘many millions’ more playing F2P
Cyberpunk 2077 delayed to September 17, multiplayer to 2022 as crunch debate resurges
The Elder Scrolls Online announces Greymoor chapter, Harrowstorm DLC, and Dark Heart of Skyrim
Lord of the Rings Online players remember Christopher Tolkien
New World just took a hard turn away from a PvP slugfest, and hardcore PvPers are not happy
Tamriel Infinium: Elder Scrolls Online’s Rich Lambert on the Dark Heart of Skyrim
World of Warcraft’s Visions of N’Zoth is kind of a ‘horrific’ mess – where’s the old ‘Blizzard Polish’?
Guild Wars 2 subreddit goof helps re-confirm new ArenaNet game
Make My MMO: Looks like Edengrad and Divergence Online are abandoned
Last Oasis takes a cheeky jab at New World’s PvP about-face
Albion Online has officially deployed the Queen update today
Presidential hopeful Joe Biden calls out Silicon Valley game devs as ‘creeps’
Chronicles of Elyria dev blog’s ‘mood piece’ turns out to be ‘photobashed stock art’
Daybreak formally announces the new substudios for PlanetSide, EverQuest, and DCUO
Neverwinter’s Infernal Descent tabletop-inspired adventure is live on PC today
Daybreak says its studio split-up will have ‘no impact’ on Standing Stone, LOTRO, or DDO
Tencent wants to buy out the rest of Funcom as board recommends focusing on DUNE
Guild Wars 2 is spiffing up a weapon set after players complained about meh reskins
Temtem has had a bumpy but active early access launch
Interview: Star Trek Online’s Jarrod Fisher looks back on 10 years of MMO trekkin’
World of Warcraft took a tumble in SuperData’s December 2019 revenue rankings
Blitzchung: No regrets for speaking up for Hong Kong despite Hearthstone suspension
Saga of Lucimia announces tentative launch date of Q4 2021
Following studio layoffs, Frostkeep is sunsetting Rend in one week
EVE Online player makes a 1 million PLEX bid for charity
US Court of Appeals upholds decision that a RuneScape player’s muting did not violate free speech
League of Legends Chinese pro esports league suspends events over spreading coronavirus
Torchlight Frontiers launches this summer as Torchlight III – and it’s not an MMO now
Blizzard revamps and rereleases Warcraft III Reforged today
Google has fallen radio silent for 40 days after Stadia’s launch
Blizzard limits Warcraft III: Reforged’s custom game scene as players complain over missing features
Kentucky high school athletic commission bans Fortnite from high school esports competition
Dual Universe’s game-changing alpha 3 is officially going live today
Blizzard’s Overwatch League matches in China are on hold for two months for the coronavirus
Interview: Camelot Unchained’s Mark Jacobs just announced a new game called Colossus
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF JANUARY 2020
Perfect Ten: The best MMO updates and expansions of 2019
Leaderboard: Are you onboard with the online gaming industry’s new take on sequels?
Vague Patch Notes: How to make your corner of the MMO space more pleasant
Desert Oasis: Fun things to do in Black Desert in 2020
Massively Overthinking: Hopes and fears for MMOs in 2020
Storyboard: The future of MMO roleplaying in the new decade
Into the Super-verse: What superhero MMOs offer that other games don’t
Not So Massively: Lessons Torchlight Frontiers can take from its predecessors
Wisdom of Nym: The lore deep cuts we know of in Final Fantasy XIV’s next patch
Flameseeker Chronicles: Things to do when Guild Wars 2 feels stale
Choose My Adventure: Black Desert Mobile is absolutely crammed with stuff
Massively OP Podcast Episode 254: New year mysteries
Perfect Ten: Upcoming MMOs to watch in 2020
Tamriel Infinium: My favorite things in The Elder Scrolls Online
Vague Patch Notes: No, MMO lore does not excuse design decisions
Massively Overthinking: The best MMOs of the decade
Leaderboard: What would you want to see out of a new Star Wars MMO?
WoW Factor: What Warcraft’s Old Gods were and how we lost it
The Game Archaeologist: That time when MTV made a virtual world
Fight or Kite: Griefing! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.
Wisdom of Nym: The little-explained lore bits in Final Fantasy XIV
Choose My Adventure: The juggling act of Black Desert Mobile’s many advancement systems
The Survivalist: My top 20 survival game goals for 2020, part the first
Massively OP Podcast Episode 255: Girls, elementals, and other things that ruin MMOs
The Daily Grind: What are some genuinely creepy places in MMORPGs?
Perfect Ten: The MMOs with the most uncertain futures at the start of 2020
Desert Oasis: First impressions of Black Desert’s new Guardian class
Vague Patch Notes: Guild Wars 2 might be the MMO that defined the last decade
The Survivalist: My top 20 survival game goals for 2020, part the second
Massively Overthinking: Our favorite MMORPG bugs ever
WoW Factor: There is (not) much to do in World of Warcraft
The Game Archaeologist: Super-early versions of MMORPG websites
EVE Evolved: Fight or Flight is a season for change in EVE Online
Not So Massively: Magic: Legends isn’t at all what I expected – it’s better
Wisdom of Nym: Gunblades across Final Fantasy XIV
Lawful Neutral: Examining the ArcheAge class action lawsuit – and what it means for gamers
Choose My Adventure: Villagers & Heroes on mobile feels like a true themepark MMO (for better or worse)
Vague Patch Notes: Chronicle of a Daybreak death foretold
Why I Play: Is Star Trek Online worth playing in 2020?
Massively Overthinking: The one about MMORPG content roadmaps
WoW Factor: Oh no, Visions of N’zoth is real bad
LOTRO Legendarium: Rating the best active racials in Lord of the Rings Online
Fight or Kite: MMO PvP needs to be memorable or it’s not worth the bother
The Survivalist: So Funcom’s DUNE will be a survival game, not an MMO
Wisdom of Nym: What’s with all the secrecy around Final Fantasy XIV patch 5.2?
Flameseeker Chronicles: First impressions of Guild Wars 2’s Shadow in the Ice
Choose My Adventure: Comparing the cash shops of Black Desert Mobile and Villagers & Heroes
Massively OP Podcast Episode 257: Daybreakup
Tamriel Infinium: The biggest surprises from Elder Scrolls Online’s Dark Heart of Skyrim reveal
Perfect Ten: Tabletop RPGs that would make fun MMOs
Desert Oasis: Hands-on with Black Desert’s new Guardian awakening
WoW Factor: What if Shadowlands is also real bad?
Massively Overthinking: The undeath of the MMORPG genre
First impressions: Warcraft III Reforged is someone’s monkey’s paw wish
MMO Cartographer: Exploring Villagers & Heroes, our indie MMO of the year
EverQuesting: Building a story brought me back to EverQuest II
Lawful Neutral: Examining DDoS attacks and their impact on MMOs
ALL 2020 YEAR-IN-REVIEW POSTS SO FAR
MMO Year in Review: A new New World (January 2020)
MMO Year in Review: A ‘colossal’ announcement (February 2020)
MMO Year in Review: Gaming’s pandemic disruption (March 2020)
MMO Year in Review: Elyon’s pivot, Elyria’s fizzling storm (April 2020)
MMO Year in Review: ‘Technical clownshows’ for PSO2 and ESO Greymoor (May 2020)
MMO Year in Review: Solidarity (June 2020)
MMO Year in Review: Lord of the Rings Offline (July 2020)
MMO Year in Review: Business business business (August 2020)
MMO Year in Review: FFXVI, ArcheAge 2, and the Bethsoft buyout (September 2020)
MMO Year in Review: The Shadowlands delay (October 2020)
MMO Year in Review: Shadowlands’ arrival (November 2020)
MMO Year in Review: When Daybreak and Albion got bought out (December 2020)
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