COVID-19 blew up this month, to the point that we had to resort to roundups just to cover all the MMO and online games studios reacting to the global pandemic, from bonus events and revenue explosions and work-from-home to convention cancelations and record concurrencies and charity efforts.
Meanwhile, Chronicles of Elyria completely imploded, Last Oasis stumbled into early access, and Guild Wars 2 began its first teasing of its Cantha expansion while continuing to hide the defection of its senior leadership. Plus we finally got our hands on Phantasy Star Online 2’s western port, and Nexon admitted it was sunsetting MapleStory 2 already.
Read on for the whole list from March of this past year!
TOP NEWS STORIES OF MARCH 2020
Riot Games’ multiplayer FPS Valorant is officially unveiled with new screens, details, and gameplay footage
Fallout 76 studio is grumpy more people didn’t PvP
PAX East 2020: Marvel Future Revolution is Netmarble’s new open-world mobile MMO
Massively Uplifting: DragonCon announces official charity, more studios support Australian wildfire relief
New World lays out its argument for three-sided PvP
Black Desert patches in crossplay for both Xbox One and PlayStation 4
The coronavirus has shut down another six gaming and tech events
For Science: Academics blast APA’s updated resolution on games and aggression
Frontier tells Elite Dangerous fans there are ‘no plans’ to return GalNet and other lore initiatives to the game
Blue Protocol’s Japanese closed beta has been delayed nearly a month over coronavirus
Cryptic is killing off cross-game chat in Star Trek Online, Neverwinter, and Champions Online
Interview: Saga of Lucimia on funding, development, launch, and business models
Holly Longdale exits Darkpaw Games, bidding farewell to EverQuest and EverQuest II
City of Heroes’ Homecoming just outlawed video of their rogue servers
Ashes of Creation’s Apocalypse ends its beleaguered early access
Hardcore sandbox MMO Trials of Ascension is back under a new team – with yet another Kickstarter
MMO company Gamigo was just fully acquired by its primary shareholder
Bethsoft hopes Fallout 76’s Wastelanders is finally ‘Fallout with friends’
Interview: Saga of Lucimia on themepark design, SWG inspiration, and the MMO genre
TERA PC patches in Kaia’s Anvil as 28 days of dungeon runs begins
Coronavirus leads to E3’s cancellation, plus SMITE and Pokemon Go postpone events
Daybreak’s new EverQuest and EverQuest II boss Jennifer Chan addresses players in new dev blog
Coronavirus roundup: Virtual GDC, Overwatch League suspended, Crowfall and Funcom work-from-home
Guild Wars 2 just announced its third expansion, and it looks like Cantha
Chronicles of Elyria kicks off its Settlers of Elyria virtual land auction for a second time
Legends of Aria announces $19.99 Dark Sorcery DLC launching this month
Guild Wars 2 Game Director Mike Zadorojny and VP of Marketing Mike Silbowitz left ArenaNet
Warframe studio Digital Extremes cancels in-person TennoCon 2020, turns it fully online
New World’s director envisions an open world game where PvP and PvE players complement each other
CIG offers an update on Squadron 42 progress, plans changes to the game’s roadmap
Warhammer Online rogue server Return of Reckoning WAAAGHs its way to success
New World’s latest video dev diary covers weapons and specializations
Daybreak, Cryptic, City State, Frontier, and more MMO studios affected by worldwide pandemic shutdowns
EVE Online players recount a $5000 ganking and its aftermath on the victim
Nexon is sunsetting MapleStory 2 after less than two years online
Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online just made most content free for the next few weeks
Ship of Heroes just announced a ‘surprise beta’ for everyone during the pandemic
Our complete coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on gaming
Valve plans a wholesale reboot for its digital CCG Artifact
Kickstarted MMORPG Chronicles of Elyria halts development, lays off all employees
Blade & Soul launches the Forgotten Souls update today
Woodpunk survival MMO Last Oasis has officially launched on Steam early access
Guild Wars 2 Game Director Mike Zadorojny left for Amazon Games Studios – in November
Last Oasis goes offline for a week to fix problems, offers refunds
Star Citizen studio Cloud Imperium just picked up another $17.25M from investors
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF MARCH 2020
Not So Massively: First impressions of Wolcen, a familiar but fun ARPG
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV patch 5.2 in review – the story
The Daily Grind: What one thing in an MMO do you wish devs would delete instead of fix?
Choose My Adventure: Black Desert should have gotten MMO of the Year
Tamriel Infinium: The lore behind The Elder Scrolls Online’s Falmer
Perfect Ten: Pet peeves of doing MMO journalism
Vague Patch Notes: Why PvP is a cheap way to fill out a game’s content compared to PvE
Wandering Wraeclast: Musings on Path of Exile’s Metamorph
Massively Overthinking: How could MMOs combat endgame rushing?
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft expansion tour – Cataclysm
Warframe of Mind: Celebrating seven years with free styles, weapons, and a contest
Jukebox Heroes: Star Stable’s secretly amazing soundtrack
The Daily Grind: What’s the best type of MMO class for hiding scrubs?
LOTRO Legendarium: Five ideas for special servers in Lord of the Rings Online
Fight or Kite: Shining a light on Pearl Abyss’ Shadow Arena
Wisdom of Nym: Hints for our next destination in Final Fantasy XIV based on the past and what we’re ignoring
Choose My Adventure: An impressive and empowering first few steps in Albion Online
Perfect Ten: Son of conversations with anthropomorphic MMO studios
Desert Arena: First impressions of Shadow Arena, the Diet Black Desert of battle royales
Wisdom of Nym: Greedily anticipating Final Fantasy XI’s new scenario
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft expansion tour – Mists of Pandaria
Not So Massively: Delving into builds and endgame in Wolcen Lords of Mayhem
Wisdom of Nym: Impressions of the second set of Ishgard Restoration in Final Fantasy XIV
The Daily Grind: What MMO are you playing instead of going out right now?
Flameseeker Chronicles: First impressions of Guild Wars 2’s Visions of the Past Steel and Fire
Choose My Adventure: The end of the breadcrumb trail in Albion Online
Perfect Ten: Original MMOs that never came to be
Desert Oasis: How Pearl Abyss can guarantee Shadow Arena succeeds
Working As Intended: Deep-diving Star Wars Galaxies’ endgame crafting
Vague Patch Notes: Complaining about MMOs you don’t play
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft expansion tour – Warlords of Draenor
The Game Archaeologist: Shenmue Online
Into the Super-verse: Getting started with Champions Online in 2020
Wisdom of Nym: Expected expansion features still unseen in Final Fantasy XIV
The Survivalist: Last Oasis virtual dev tour highlights nomadic life and offline safety
Fight or Kite: Hackmud is more than a MUD – it’s a living cyberpunk world
Choose My Adventure: In which Albion Online decides to beat me up
Massively on the Go: Why MMO players will love Animal Crossing New Horizons
First impressions of the elusive Phantasy Star Online 2
Vague Patch Notes: Ambition is not delivery in MMOs
Perfect Ten: The stages of the MMO life cycle
WoW Factor: The World of Warcraft expansion tour – Legion
LOTRO Legendarium: Lord of the Rings Online’s Hytbold experiment
The Daily Grind: Are you angry about the collapse of Chronicles of Elyria?
MassivelyOP’s first look at Elder Scrolls Online’s Greymoor chapter and Antiquities system
Not So Massively: StarCraft II has quietly become Blizzard’s best-managed property
MMO Cartographer: Boldly going into Star Trek Online
Flameseeker Chronicles: Speculating on Guild Wars 2’s Cantha expansion features
Massively on the Go: How Pokemon Go is improving without all the ‘go’
EverQuesting: Looking back at EverQuest’s 21st year
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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