September was dominated by the ramp up of WoW Classic into its Wrath of the Lich King expansion launch, which was marred by entirely predictable queues and event bungles.
Meanwhile, Ultima Online turned 25 years old, Star Citizen’s crowdfunding total hit $500M, Bluehole gave up on Elyon, and we got launches out of Temtem, Dual Universe, and Fractured Online.
Read on for the whole recap from September of this past year.
TOP NEWS STORIES OF SEPTEMBER 2022
Activision-Blizzard’s Bobby Kotick downplays regulatory scrutiny, says Microsoft deal is on track for 2023
Conan Exiles enters the Age of Sorcery and launches battlepass seasons with today’s release
V Rising delays its first major content patch into 2023
PSO2 New Genesis’ launch to PlayStation 4 gets hit with brief server problems and the delay of a pack sale
World of Warcraft opens up the whole of Dragonflight for beta testing today
Bless Unleashed on console becomes the latest Bless title to shut down
Put on your shocked face: Halo Infinite has canceled local multiplayer
Lord of the Rings Online defends controversial Minstrel changes
MMO dev Raph Koster disambiguates sandboxes, themeparks, simulation, and stagecraft
Star Citizen says persistence is on ‘a straight line to deployment’
Riot Games’ animated series Arcane wins Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program
Temtem officially launches from early access today with 164 critters to collect
Elyon, once hotly anticipated as Ascent Infinite Realm, is sunsetting in December
World of Warcraft Classic players are still dealing with server queues even after a week
Lost Ark preps server merges and massive quality-of-life tweaks for today’s (eventual) update
Amazon canceled its Lord of the Rings MMO over Tencent complications, Smed’s new game is still in production
Foxhole makes its full launch on September 28 with the addition of factories and trains
Blizzard begs WoW Classic players to transfer away from queues as tech can’t resolve capacity chaos
NFT gaming consultant proposes conscripting poor gamers as MMO NPCs
Wrath Classic servers unexpectedly experience the Scourge Invasion ahead of schedule
Lord of the Rings Online is about to give soloers a way to earn raid gear
Black Desert celebrates 12 years and over 50M registered players with a free week on Steam
Monumental, the studio that bought Crowfall, just bought Boundless too
The Wagadu Chronicles’ second alpha kicks off today with a schedule of in-character and player events
WoW Classic’s abruptly started Zombie Plague event is already over
New World adds yet another server to handle increasing demand
Babylon’s Fall is shutting down on February 27
Wil Wheaton joins Star Trek Online as Mirror Wesley in next week’s Ascension launch
Fallout 76 officially opens up expeditions to The Pitt in today’s update
Self-described ‘infinite open-world MMO’ DreamWorld releases early access build and a free trial
World of Warcraft Classic opens new fresh start realms, offers free transfers to relieve population crush
Tabletop-like MMO Mist Legacy makes its way out of early access
Aion NA celebrates 13 years with a month-long celebration of currency drops and a reopened carnival location
Kakao and XLGAMES reconfirm that ArcheAge 2 is launching in 2024
New World adds three more new servers today – that’s seven in the last week
Elite Dangerous releases its 4.0 codebase update and Aftermath narrative to all PC players today
Kickstarted MMO sandbox Fractured Online swings into early access today
Tower of Fantasy launches update 1.5, Artificial Island, complete with your own house to build
Blizzard is considering WoW Classic Cataclysm, according to new survey
Lord of the Rings Online executive producer hints that 2023 expansion is ocean-themed
Stick and Rudder: ‘Robin Hood’ scammer claims he robbed rich EVE Online corp of $100 billion ISK
Whatever happened to Kickstarted MMO Destiny’s Sword? Well, for starters, it’s not an MMO anymore
Ubisoft CEO suggests harassment claims come from a generational divide as employees call out ‘superficial’ reforms
Star Citizen’s total crowdfunding just hit over half a billion dollars
Ultima Online delays New Legacy into 2023, hosts in-game faire to celebrate 25th anniversary
Roblox announces plans for ‘immersive ads’ and a marketplace with ‘scarcity’
Lord of the Rings Online opens preorders for the Before the Shadow mini-expansion
Bloomberg’s Twitch report exposes a platform rife with children and predators
US Department of Homeland Security issues a nearly $700K grant to research extremism in gaming
Raph ‘Designer Dragon’ Koster reminisces on 25 years of Ultima Online
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic is live now
WoW Classic’s Wrath of the Lich King launch dumped people into the sea – if they made it past the towering queues
Dual Universe debuts a new trailer and offers lapsed players free play time for today’s launch
NCsoft’s Throne and Liberty, still gunning for 2023, drops a new playtest gameplay video
Overwatch 2 plans to combat player toxicity and secure accounts with a ‘defense matrix’
Skull and Bones has been delayed into 2023 – its fifth major public delay since 2017
Google is sunsetting Stadia in January with mass refunds in the works
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight gets a November 28 release date
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF SEPTEMBER 2022
Vague Patch Notes: The gating of time in MMO content
Massively Overthinking: Who’s really paying for MMOs?
WoW Factor: When your MMO design is hooked on a feeling
The Game Archaeologist: How Ultima Online got made
The Daily Grind: What’s the MMO grudge you’ve held on to the longest?
Wisdom of Nym: Story impressions for Final Fantasy XIV’s Buried Memory
Fight or Kite: First impressions of Dysterra, a cybernetic post-apoc survival sandbox
Choose My Adventure: Hands-on with Temtem’s early access build before launch
Perfect Ten: Recent promising MMOs that died before they were born
Massively on the Go: Splatoon 3’s Tricolor demo makes double trouble
Vague Patch Notes: The MMORPG industry shockwaves that still reverberate
WoW Factor: What makes World of Warcraft in particular appealing?
Massively Overthinking: The weirdest ways we’ve leveled in MMOs
The Game Archaeologist: The legacy of Ultima Online
Wisdom of Nym: Making money in Final Fantasy XIV isn’t what you think
Vitae Aeternum: The best solo armor and magical weapons in New World
Flameseeker Chronicles: First impressions of Guild Wars 2’s restored S1E4 Tower of Nightmares
Choose My Adventure: Hitting the reset button and getting hit in return during Temtem’s launch
Perfect Ten: An MMO sunset tour for 2022 to date
Vague Patch Notes: Queues do not tell the story of an MMO’s success
Four Winds: What made Lost Ark so successful where Elyon failed?
Massively Overthinking: Have you ever returned to an old MMO and fallen in love?
LOTRO Legendarium: LOTRO’s Minstrel revamp is a master class in studio obstinance
WoW Factor: How much does World of Warcraft matter to Blizzard?
Massively on the Go: Splatoon 3 is dividing players in fantastic ways
Wisdom of Nym: Where Final Fantasy XIV’s tutorials really fall down
Fight or Kite: Warspear Online is a retro MMO that left me asking questions – mainly, ‘why?’
Choose My Adventure: The joy of hunting for new critters to add to the Temtem collection
Perfect Ten: 10 strategies to avoid getting fleeced in F2P MMOs
Vague Patch Notes: The perpetual MMO crowdfunding engine
Massively Overthinking: The MMO Kickstarters that let us down
WoW Factor: Just be honest about what WoW Classic is now
Some Assembly Required: What to expect from Dual Universe’s September 27 wipe and launch
Vitae Aeternum: The New Secret World
Wisdom of Nym: Sorting through Final Fantasy XIV’s current balance state
First impressions: Touring the features and firepower of Foxhole’s Inferno update
Casually Classic: The Death Knight starter experience is still the best WoW ever did
Choose My Adventure: Temtem is just not for me
Perfect Ten: 10 Final Fantasy XIV musical tracks that absolutely slap
LOTRO Legendarium: 23 LOTRO facts I learned from Scenario’s Casual Stroll video series
Vague Patch Notes: Mandatory content and game design in MMOs
Stick and Rudder: Venturing into EVE Online’s nullsec
Massively Overthinking: What do you think about MMO expansion prepatches?
Working As Intended: My 25 years of Ultima Online
THE FULL 2022 YEAR-IN-REVIEW
MMO Year in Review: Microsoft has entered the chat (January 2022)
MMO Year in Review: End of Dragons, Lost Ark (February 2022)
MMO Year in Review: From Ukraine aid to Throne and Liberty (March 2022)
MMO Year in Review: Leaky Blizzard and Lord Blockchain (April 2022)
MMO Year in Review: Press F for another Marvel MMO (May 2022)
MMO Year in Review: High Isle and Diablo Immoral (June 2022)
MMO Year in Review: Smedleyfaire (July 2022)
MMO Year in Review: DUNE, Neptune, and Island Sanctuaries (August 2022)
MMO Year in Review: The Lich King (September 2022)
MMO Year in Review: Embers and Brimstone (October 2022)
MMO Year in Review: Blizzard China (November 2022)
MMO Year in Review: The FTC strikes back (December 2022)
