New World picked October to launch its comeback with the Brimstone Sands launch that drove concurrency with a new leveling experience, zone, and weapon set.
Meanwhile, hardcore grouping MMO Embers Adrift made it to its official launch, Shroud of the Avatar suffered a catastrophic rollback after a botched patch, Star Citizen muddled its way through CitizenCon, The Sims 5 hinted at MMOsy features, and 25M people showed up for Overwatch 2 in spite of the messy launch and problematic security. Plus, WoW fans were treated to the Dragonflight prepatch, which was also messy, but talent trees mollified everyone.
Read on for the whole recap from October of this past year.
TOP NEWS STORIES OF OCTOBER 2022
Controversial ActiBlizz exec Frances Townsend moves roles to ‘senior counsel’ to Bobby Kotick
Google left Stadia devs in the dark over cancelation, studios race to port game saves
Shroud of the Avatar’s latest release was so ‘borked’ that it was down all weekend – and still is
Overwatch 2 outlines global release timing and a pre-launch checklist as the original shooter goes offline
Past Fate adds character saves and toughens combat but delays early access
Labor board determines Activision-Blizzard retaliated against unionizers, Microsoft launches acquisition website
Allods Online’s and Skyforge’s My.Games has been sold off for $642M
Pixel-art labyrinth-delving MMO Mythic makes its full launch
Overwatch 2’s launch is plagued by multiple DDOS attacks and connection issues
EverQuest II opens preorders for December’s Renewal of Ro, EverQuest announces Night of Shadows expansion
Genshin Impact developer confirms it’s not focusing on making new endgame content
Overwatch 2 partially rolls back SMS requirement, addresses stability and queues
Flagship’s dead MMO Mythos is back as a single-player RPG from Hellgate owner Hanbitsoft
New World officially announces fresh start servers coming November 2
Blade & Soul’s first-ever mounts are lockbox drops
Elder Scrolls Online players stuck on Stadia will be able to transfer to PC with all their stuff
Shroud of the Avatar says it ‘is not going away,’ but a ‘sanity test’ build rolls the MMO back into August
No Man’s Sky brings new game modes, a trade rocket, and a Nintendo Switch launch in its Waypoint update
Russian soldier captured by Ukrainian forces claims he joined the army to pay off a World of Tanks-related debt
Roblox faces lawsuit alleging it enabled the sexual exploitation of a minor
CEO of Platinum Games on Babylon’s Fall: ‘Live service games are definitely something we do want to do’
EVE Online introduces new multi-month Omega subscription plans
Final Fantasy XIV confirms Patch 6.25 for October 18, Fan Festival’s return in July 2023
DC Universe Online players take advantage of a 1 credit cash shop oops – and end up facing suspensions
Shroud of the Avatar is back online, but that ‘test’ rollback to August has become a live reality
Star Trek Online’s Enterprise-F confirmed as canon in Star Trek: Picard trailer
The foam pit at TwitchCon ended up being a landscape of serious bodily injury
Chimeraland is merging its global servers after just three months, and yes you might lose your house
New World’s server queue ‘heat map’ identifies which servers to flee ahead of Brimstone Sands
Legends of Aria’s blockchain mess gets a new name – BRITARIA – as its token sinks
Overwatch 2 suffers another DDoS attack, accidentally removes everyone’s earned heroes
Torchlight Infinite launches into early access with cross-platform multiplayer
Chronicles of Elyria dev celebrates dismissal of backer lawsuit as next phase of ‘hero’s journey’
Blade & Soul plays the Symphony of Destruction today – here are the patch notes
World of Warcraft will finally let Horde and Alliance share mob tagging with Dragonflight
Activision-Blizzard is being sued by yet another of its sexual harassment victims
Jennifer Hale returns to Guild Wars 2 to voice a child character based on a real kid for Extra Life
Overwatch 2 counts over 25M players in 10 days, announces double XP weekends to celebrate
Embers Adrift’s weekend launch actually went fairly smoothly
Kickstarted MMO turned single-player visual novel Destiny’s Sword silently arrives to early access
New World’s Brimstone Sands releases today with greatswords, improved beginner experience, and more servers
City of Heroes Homecoming has unleashed i27p5’s massive balance and powers level update
Record-setting data center fire disrupts some of Kakao’s online games (and its stock value)
Microsoft lays off nearly 1,000 employees across the entire company, including at its Xbox division
The next Sims game aka ‘Project Rene’ will apparently offer some sort of multiplayer
Blizzard Albany’s Diablo QA wins right to unionize as NLRB rejects Activision-Blizzard challenge
Magic Online has made its formal move to Daybreak Game Company
New World’s Brimstone Sands sees a peak of 65K players – and queues to match
Diablo IV begins sending invites to its endgame-focused closed beta test
Old School RuneScape officially opens its fresh start worlds today
Black Desert PC opens the door to an alternate world with Abyss One: The Magnus
Marvel Snap launches with a new trailer featuring Sam Jackson as Nick Fury once again
Lord of the Rings Online’s Before the Shadow begins public testing – with a few surprise features
Star Wars The Old Republic’s Galactic Season 3 is back online with new and adjusted rewards
Whatever happened to throne war MMO Crowfall?
Activision-Blizzard’s petition to dismiss discrimination suit was thrown out, company faces fresh unfair labor practice charges
World of Warcraft’s Dragonflight era gets off to a shaky start with buggy pre-patch
AdventureQuest 3D was temporarily de-listed from app stores because of… Elvira’s breasts, apparently
Halloween fun across the MMORPG genre, 2022 edition
Star Citizen reiterates anti-bigotry policy in response to toxic fan feedback on rainbow ship paint
Former ArenaNet co-founder Jeff Strain opens second game studio called Crop Circle Games
RuneScape’s Jagex heralds $143M in profits for 2021, will face RICO allegations in court in 2024
Myth of Empires devs copied ‘substantial portions’ of ARK’s game code according to expert testimony
The Secret World Classic won’t have a Halloween event this year thanks to… player feedback?
Black Desert is canceling its Halloween events and sales following Itaewon tragedy
Kakao Games’ sci-fi MMO Ares Rise of Guardians releases flashy class and gameplay preview trailers
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF OCTOBER 2022
The Game Archaeologist: Dark Ages, the weird lovechild of Celtic lore and Lovecraftian legends
Wisdom of Nym: The problem with Final Fantasy XIV’s consumables and buffs
Choose My Adventure: Returning to the very beginning of Lost Ark
Fight or Kite: Forget Overwatch 2 – Gundam Evolution meets your anime FPS needs
Perfect Ten: Ten quirky and interesting MMOs worth trying
Vague Patch Notes: Why are mobile MMOs Like That?
Massively Overthinking: Do you take vacation time to play MMOs?
WoW Factor: Is Dragonflight the last chance for World of Warcraft?
LOTRO Legendarium: Are LOTRO’s missions a little too good?
Stick and Rudder: Everything we learned from Star Citizen’s CitizenCon 2022 presentations
Wisdom of Nym: Looking forward to Final Fantasy XIV’s imminent patch 6.25
Massively on the Go: Comms failures exacerbated Pokemon Go’s underwhelming raid day
Not So Massively: Eternal Card Game is a solo-friendly hidden gem
Perfect Ten: 10 MMOs that went through complete technical clownshows
Vague Patch Notes: Finger-pointing in the MMO and multiplayer games industry
Four Winds: The refinement of item enhance systems in MMOs, from Granado Espada to Black Desert
Massively Overthinking: Do gaming ‘tourists’ ruin MMOs?
WoW Factor: Was the faction split ever good for World of Warcraft?
LOTRO Legendarium: Four options for character leveling in LOTRO
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s original Manderville Man
First impressions of Embers Adrift, the Kickstarted MMORPG once known as Saga of Lucimia
Choose My Adventure: Getting into the routine with Lost Ark’s Machinist
Fight or Kite: Hands-on with Nexon’s Warhaven – medieval arena mayhem with a touch of magic
Perfect Ten: 10 MMO haunted houses to explore – if you dare….
Vague Patch Notes: MMO quality and the bandwagon fallacy
Four Winds: Lost Ark and the refinement of MMO item enhance systems
WoW Factor: Thoughts on the two-pronged pre-patch rollout for Dragonflight
LOTRO Legendarium: 10 reasons to get psyched about Before the Shadow (that aren’t the new zones)
Vitae Aeternum: First impressions of New World’s Brimstone Sands and Nightveil Hallow
Wisdom of Nym: Taking stock of the additions with Final Fantasy XIV patch 6.25
Vitae Aeternum: First impressions of New World’s greatsword and world revamp
Choose My Adventure: Alone in the crowd of Lost Ark’s endgame
Perfect Ten: 10 things to understand about MMO Bards
Vague Patch Notes: Defining classic servers and progression servers for MMOs
Massively Overthinking: Do you have a love/hate relationship with specific MMO content?
WoW Factor: The Dragonflight pre-patch talent trees fix a lot of problems in WoW
Lawful Neutral: How extremism and terrorism slither into online gaming
The Game Archaeologist: The radically different design of early EverQuest II
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s potential future destinations and expansions for Variant Dungeons
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)
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