We’re continuing our tour back through 2024, one month at a time, in MassivelyOP’s MMO Year in Review today.
World of Warcraft took center stage in May, as it not only launched the controversial Cataclysm expansion for WoW Classic’s de facto progression serverset but also introduced a Pandaria Remix speed-leveling event for Retail WoW players.
Meanwhile, MultiVersus relaunched, Star Trek Online released its Unparalleled update, Wayfinder announced its Echoes plan, Diablo IV rolled out Loot Reborn, V Rising moved out of early access (finally), SWTOR patched in Desperate Defiance, and we learned Wagadu Chronicles was headed to its sunset.
And you guessed it – the layoff pile just continued to grow.
Here’s the whole recap from May of this past year, from our top news stories of the month to our best editorials.
TOP NEWS STORIES OF MAY 2024
It’s 2024 and the ESA is still fighting game preservation, forecasting a depraved ‘online arcade’
Star Wars The Old Republic’s GU 7.5, Desperate Defiance, includes a farming system and solo Ventures
Final Fantasy XIV’s studio and boss are getting a rename in a year of change for Square-Enix
EG7’s 2023 annual report claims Daybreak and SSG collectively count 264 staffers
Helldivers 2 delists from Steam in non-PSN countries as studio boss admits fault in debacle
Sony walks back returning PSN account requirements for Helldivers 2 PC players
Microsoft shutters multiple studios, abandons Redfall, bolsters Elder Scrolls Online staffing
Kickstarted afrofantasy MMORPG The Wagadu Chronicles is sunsetting before launch
Vampire survivalbox V Rising officially departs early access with the launch of 1.0 Ruins of Mortium
Helldivers 2 players try to undo reviewbomb damage and restore a fired community manager
Kakao Q1 2024: ArcheAge 2 and Chrono Odyssey are apparently back on track for 2025
Microsoft continues shrinking ZeniMax and Xbox with voluntary severance deals
EA wants to try in-game advertising again, but promises a ‘thoughtful’ approach this time
Pearl Abyss Q1 2024: Revenues hold steady as Crimson Desert gears up for reveals
Lightforge Games halts social RPG production, downsizes to a skeleton crew
Square-Enix Q1 2024: Profits plummet as it promises to ‘reboot and awaken’
Albion Online has broken its population record again with 358K concurrent players
Diablo IV’s ‘Loot Reborn’ overhaul patch arrives today
Valheim’s F2P Ashlands biome patch has finally launched after a year and a half wait
Wayfinder’s summer Echoes update banishes always-online and microtransaction components
Palia studio Singularity 6 has been slammed with yet another layoff round
Ubisoft cancels The Division Heartland in spite of record annual corporate revenues
Interview: Wayfinder’s AJ LaSaracina on the Echoes transition, launch, and long-term plans
EG7 Q1 2024: Daybreak still mum on PlanetSide 2, new H1Z1 game hires lead designer
World of Warcraft’s Pandaria Remix speed-leveling event is live this afternoon
Dauntless and Fae Farm dev Phoenix Labs has laid off another 100+ people in latest restructure
Full-loot PvP MMO Abyss finally rolls into early access after several delays
NCsoft Q1 2024: Guild Wars 2 is on one hell of a revenue streak as Throne & Liberty stalls
WoW Classic Cataclysm formally launches tonight as Blizzard tunes WoW Remix
EVE Online blockchain spinoff Project Awakening begins Phase III and ‘hackathon’ testing today
Amazon Games opens new studio in Romania to support ‘ambitious long-term roadmap’
Sand is an open-world PvPvE game where players build stompy robot bases to explore an alien planet
For Science: Fandom’s survey shows a majority of gamers play to unwind and de-stress
Legends of Aria Classic lays out massive June overhaul patch, postpones subscription
Nightingale’s offline mode and QOL-laden 0.3 update are now live
Co-op multiplayer RPG Wuthering Waves makes its global release on PC and mobile tonight
Puzzle MMO Islands of Insight is getting an offline mode ‘in the coming months’
World of Warcraft will finally implement story mode raids starting with The War Within
EverQuest launches Teek and Tormax, a new pair of time-locked expansion servers for subscribers
Overwatch 2 is killing its Hero Mastery Gauntlet PvE mode at the end of season 10
Shroud of the Avatar execs expand on Slayscape, a procedurally generated battle royale RPG
Lawsuit accuses Activision and Facebook of partial blame in deadly 2022 school mass shooting
Tarisland announces a global release date of June 21 – here’s the new trailer
Star Trek Online’s Unparalleled is live on PC today, helmed by Denise Crosby
Warner Bros. battler MultiVersus officially relaunches with cross-platform play
Star Wars The Old Republic’s GU 7.5 Desperate Defiance launches today alongside The Acolyte collab
Mike Morhaime’s Dreamhaven game studios open playtest sign-ups for their upcoming games
No Man’s Sky’s Adrift expedition offers a lonely and hostile ‘alternative universe’
Wolcen is stripping out multiplayer and heading into maintenance mode
Fallout 76 counts 20 million players as franchise interest continues to spike
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF MAY 2024
Perfect Ten: 10 times World of Warcraft was killed forever
Into the Super-Verse: A toast to City of Heroes’ 20th birthday
Why I Play: Stardew Valley is still something special
Massively Overthinking: The loss of ArcheAge
WoW Factor: There’s probably never going to be a World of Warcraft ‘Classic Plus’
Global Chat: How much is Fallout 76 benefiting from Amazon’s Fallout series?
Wisdom of Nym: How to prep for Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail right now
Second Wind: World of Warcraft’s radically casual new endgame
Leaderboard: Are you going to buy a Nintendo Switch 2 (or whatever it’s called)?
Second Wind: V Rising’s 1.0 build is a fangtastic revamp of the vampire survival sandbox
Choose My Adventure: Elsweyr questing and dragon slaying further solidify my Elder Scrolls Online love
Perfect Ten: 10 favorite features that pairs of popular MMOs share
Vague Patch Notes: The problem with forever adding classes to MMOs
Tamriel Infinium: Four reasons you should stop sleeping on Elder Scrolls Online
Massively Overthinking: Why and how we mod our MMORPGs
WoW Factor: How World of Warcraft makes you cheer for removing features
LOTRO Legendarium: Is it worth being a zone completionist in LOTRO?
Wisdom of Nym: Speculating on new job abilities for Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail
Fight or Kite: Hey now, you’re Brawl Stars, get your game on, go play
Choose My Adventure: Clearing Elsweyr and settling into tanking in Elder Scrolls Online
Perfect Ten: MMORPGs as fast food joints
Vague Patch Notes: There is no one-and-done with MMOs
WoW Factor: Guessing at World of Warcraft’s The War Within’s release date using math
Fallout 76 vs Fallout 4: Which is better to play in 2024?
Wisdom of Nym: What we learned about Final Fantasy XIV’s Viper, Pictomancer, and job updates from the live letter
Choose My Adventure: The Undaunted skill line chase introduces frustration in The Elder Scrolls Online
Second Wind: The problem with World of Warcraft’s Dragonflight’s class design
Vague Patch Notes: Why I am no longer anticipating Blue Protocol
Perfect Ten: My top 10 favorite MMOs across two decades
Massively Overthinking: Does challenging solo content belong in MMORPGs?
WoW Factor: Story Difficulty is a bad idea and a good idea all rolled into one
The Game Archaeologist: Runes of Magic, an MMO that made millions disappear
Global Chat: V Rising isn’t the Diablo clone you might expect
Wisdom of Nym: What other character jobs could Final Fantasy XIV pilfer in the future?
Choose My Adventure: Adventuring in Southern Elsweyr brings back Elder Scrolls Online’s simple pleasures
Perfect Ten: The 10 types of MMO guides you find in the wild
Fight or Kite: Rabbit and Steel distills the MMO raid experience into a flashy boss battling roguelike
Casually Classic: Three questions I have for WoW Classic’s probable Pandaria
Wisdom of Nym: Hands-on with the Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG Starter Set
Massively Overthinking: Is tab targeting a problem in MMORPGs?
Vague Patch Notes: Why do so many MMOs fail?
Massively on the Go: Pokemon GO enters its Shared Skies season without sharing much info
LOTRO Legendarium: Exploring Lord of the Rings Online’s enormous new Neaths zone
THE FULL 2024 YEAR-IN-REVIEW
MMO Year in Review: City of Heroes comes home (January 2024)
MMO Year in Review: PlanetSide on the move (February 2024)
MMO Year in Review: The bewildering announcement of Guild Wars 3 (March 2024)
MMO Year in Review: Stop killing games (April 2024)
MMO Year in Review: Cataclysm redux, Pandaria remix (May 2024)
