We’re continuing our tour back through 2024, one month at a time, in MassivelyOP’s MMO Year in Review today.
Following multiple delays, ArcheAge 2 morphed into ArcheAge Chronicles this month as XLGAMES tried to downgrade its upcoming MMORPG without losing its fanbase.
Meanwhile, we peeped the Throne & Liberty headstart, Black Desert launched its Land of the Morning Light Seoul expansion, Nightingale released Realms Rebuilt, Sony botched Concord badly, and Microsoft just couldn’t manage to go another month without laying off hundreds more devs and following it up with a $60B stock buyback. You know, like villains in a movie.
Here’s the whole recap from September of this past year, from our top news stories of the month to our best editorials.
TOP NEWS STORIES OF SEPTEMBER 2024
Final Stand Ragnarok re-emerges with a new champion, progression overhaul, and new game mode
Temtem’s final content update is live with selectable season passes and improved quality-of-life
Corepunk halts pre-orders, says ‘level of interest in the project has exceeded […] expectations’
Shroud of the Avatar adds $18 and $27 monthly subs to offset the costs of development
Sony is killing Concord on September 6 and issuing refunds
No Man’s Sky’s Aquarius expedition is here with fishing, diving, and skiffs
Seven-year-old multiplayer sandbox Astroneer announces its first DLC, Glitchwalkers
Minecraft is getting a live action movie April 4 and it looks like a fever dream
You have one year to move your Skyforge account and characters to the new publisher, starting… now
Mabinogi celebrates 20 years with an in-person event in Korea as the western version shares a roadmap
NetEase Q2 2024: NetEase’s MMOs propelled a revenue lift, but its stock dipped hard anyway
LOTRO devs tease housing estate system, reveal a ‘SMITE-like’ project abandoned a decade ago
Marvel Heroes emulator file project releases a new build with multiple gameplay elements
Interview: Wayfinder on the latest patch, October launch, mod support, and Critical Role collab
SAG-AFTRA union secures AI protections with multiple studios including ARK dev Studio Wildcard
SWTOR and SWG Legends fans mourn the death of James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader
Rumor: Star Citizen fans uncover a trademark filed by CIG for a potential third game
Ubisoft confirms offline mode for The Crew 2, The Crew Motorfest during Motorfest’s year 2 reveal
Former Sony exec suggests breadless game devs eat cake, Ubisoft investor demands more layoffs
Guild Wars 2 players are building absolutely INSANE houses with Janthir Wilds’ homesteads feature
Ghostcrawler makes the case for slower leveling in his upcoming MMORPG Ghost
Microsoft is laying off yet another batch of games division workers – 650 this time
Black Desert’s Land of the Morning Light: Seoul expansion has officially launched
Crimson Desert shares about an hour of new gameplay footage as it makes its way to TwitchCon
Early access survival sandbox Nightingale just released its huge Realms Rebuilt update
EVE Online blockchain spinoff Project Awakening rebrands as EVE Frontier ahead of ‘founder access’
New World’s Aeternum open beta on PC and console has officially begun
A year after vaporizing industry trust, Unity abandons runtime fees, raising subscriptions instead
Roleplaying Elder Scrolls Online players raise red flags over automated chat moderation
PlayStation 5 Pro’s $700 price tag fuels debate over PC rigs and console preferences
Diablo IV has made Blizzard $1 billion in revenue since launch
Splatoon 3’s Finale is the end of regular updates and the beginning of maintenance mode
How hyper investment and greed led to the games industry’s ‘GaaSacre’ and downward slump
EA says it won’t replace The Sims 4 with a sequel as it preps fall playtest for multiplayer Project Rene
Nintendo hit Palworld’s Pocketpair studio with a patent lawsuit in Japan
Microsoft inflates its stock price through a $60B buyback of shares in the shadow of 650 layoffs
NCsoft renames Blade & Soul Neo Classic to BNS NEO, confirms western launch
LOTRO gives a development update on kinship revamp delay, 4K resolution, and Elf avatars
Dungeons and Dragons Online gets ready to test its own subscription-only 64-bit server
Wizard battle royale Spellbreak survives as a free version after Blizzard buyout
Bohemia officially moves Vigor from PC early access to launch as Steam reviews tank
Rumor: Insiders leak details about Destiny Rising, an in-development mobile game by NetEase
Elder Scrolls Online has reportedly earned $15M in monthly revenue for over a decade
World of Warcraft data loss fiasco deletes items out of guild banks – and Blizzard can’t fully restore them
Legal analysts paint a grim picture for Pocketpair’s chances in Nintendo’s Palworld lawsuit
PlanetSide 2 studio Toadman was hit with some nasty layoffs and studio closures this month
Dual Universe marks its second anniversary with a guided tour of player-built locations
Wayfinder studio Airship Syndicate’s latest layoff cuts the teams down to 50 people ahead of launch
XLGames rebrands ArcheAge 2 as ‘online action RPG’ ArcheAge Chronicles, but it still sounds like an MMO
DC Universe Online launches new Harley Quinn episode – and controversial paid currency
Ultima Online devs are working with ClassicUO modders to rehab the ancient client and renderer
Throne & Liberty saw over 50K concurrent players last night – and it’s only going up from there
Fallout 76 surprises fans with the news of CAMP pets for 2024
Jason Schreier’s new book blames Activision – and the Titan MMO’s cancelation – for Blizzard’s degradation
‘Infinite sandbox MMO’ DreamWorld introduces AI-powered tools as it readies for an October 10 playtest
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF SEPTEMBER 2024
Wisdom of Nym: Let’s talk about Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail’s key artifact
Massively Uplifting: Labors of love, generosity, and grief in Warhammer, Terraria, Conan Exiles, Albion, ARK, and more
Choose My Adventure: Fractured Online offers a perfectly good PvE sandbox, so why am I not in love?
Casually Classic: The five World of Warcraft mods I use as a non-modder playing The War Within
Perfect Ten: The reward categories for killing a major enemy in MMORPGs
First Impressions: The War Within breathes new life into World of Warcraft
Massively Overthinking: Monetization dealbreakers in MMORPGs
Fight or Kite: Harry Potter Magic Awakened was the most full-featured MMO you never played
LOTRO Legendarium: The easiest LOTRO virtues to get as a low-level character
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s unavailable NPC jobs
Choose My Adventure: Once Human brings impressive atmosphere and routine survival beats
Vitae Aeternum: New World Aeternum’s open beta build is actually pretty good – but will it be enough?
Perfect Ten: The 10 crafting and gathering professions you find in every MMO
Vague Patch Notes: Leveling in MMORPGs is cool because it’s finite
Massively Overthinking: When the big five MMORPGs have five big expansions in the same year
Storyboard: Who gets to be the hero of an MMORPG?
Global Chat: Star Trek Online’s content problem
LOTRO Legendarium: How LOTRO’s cosmetic system should be overhauled
Wisdom of Nym: Speculating on the future of the next Final Fantasy XIV level cap increase
Fight or Kite: Guild Wars 2’s new PvP mode Push actually has a lot of potential
Preview: My Time at Evershine promotes players from cozy townie to ‘adventurous’ town manager
Choose My Adventure: Guided adventure, multiplayer hijinks, and pantslessness in Once Human
The Daily Grind: What MMO do you see yourself playing five years from now?
Perfect Ten: 10 Blizzard games that everyone forgets existed
Vague Patch Notes: When slow leveling is a problem in MMORPGs
Global Chat: The War Within continues WoW’s upward trend
Massively Overthinking: Our favorite MMO memories we never want to repeat
Storyboard: Understanding character goals in MMO roleplaying
LOTRO Legendarium: LOTRO’s five least-played classes – and why you should play them
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV v1.0 is gone – except when we’re told to think about it
Interview: Amazon on Throne & Liberty’s PvE vs PvP, lifeskilling, and small guild content
Massively on the Go: Pokemon GO’s Max Battles’ rollout shows Niantic is stuck in 2019
Vitae Aeternum: What new and returning players need to know about New World Aeternum
Choose My Adventure: The quest for power and pants in Once Human
Interview: New World devs on Aeternum’s features and regaining PC player trust
Perfect Ten: The MMO races that nobody ever seems to choose
Progress Bar: Nightingale’s Realms Rebuilt update is a strong step in the right direction
Vague Patch Notes: When leveling too quickly becomes a problem in MMORPGs
First Impressions: Throne and Liberty blends the overly familiar with the intriguingly unique
Massively Overthinking: Do you expect compensation for MMORPG trainwrecks?
Why I Play: Satisfactory scratches my MMO crafting itch
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go’s October outlook offers more tricks than treats
LOTRO Legendarium: Five ways to fully fix LOTRO’s virtue system
Global Chat: What’s World of Warcraft Cataclysm’s best 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)
MMO Year in Review: A Gold Road to a new New World (June 2024)
MMO Year in Review: Dawntrail, our summer destination (July 2024)
MMO Year in Review: War Within, Janthir Wilds (August 2024)
MMO Year in Review: ArcheAge Chronicles (September 2024)
MMO Year in Review: The rise of the Amazon MMORPG (October 2024)
MMO Year in Review: Moving house to Midnight (November 2024)
