If this week in the MMORPG industry had a theme, it would be “things fall apart” or perhaps “oh no honey no.”
First, Unchained Entertainment reportedly laid off a large chunk of its team (and hasn’t commented on what’s going on yet). Then New World botched its brand-new PvP season servers by accidentally allowing transfers to them. Then the controversial Quinfall bungled its early access launch. And the FFXIV community is brawling over the fate of a stalker-adjacent mod. Don’t even get us started on the state of Star Citizen. Come on, February, turn this around.
Read on to catch up with the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions today as every Sunday (since 2010!) in Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review!THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
MMO Hype Train: Why it’s hard to hold on to hope for Star Citizen - My very first PC was a 386 Pentium that I purchased with my own money in the early '90s. And I dearly loved that machine, reveling in the wonders of…
Indie MMO The Quinfall launches into $19.99 early access today - As promised, MMORPG The Quinfall has officially entered early access as of this afternoon. For those who don't quite remember The Quinfall, a refresher: Turkish studio Vawraek Technology announced the…
Camelot Unchained studio Unchained Entertainment reportedly laid off 40% of its devs - We've got some bad news for fans and followers of Camelot Unchained: It appears that Mark Jacobs' studio Unchained Entertainment has lost a large chunk of its team. Andrew Meggs,…
New World’s overnight update broke the PvP season servers, and yeah, it’s real bad - (Updated with Amazon's latest response at the end.) Amazon's overnight patch for New World seems to have unintentionally broken a few rather important parts of the game: Following the 2…
Vague Patch Notes: The war of the MMO builds - Talking about your build in an MMORPG can be oddly contentious with people. On the one hand, you are inevitably going to have people who will critique your build because…
Guild Wars 2 previews its PvP-focused class balancing arriving February 11 - It's that time once again, Guild Wars 2 players - time to take a look at the balance adjustments coming to the MMO's classes on Tuesday, February 11th, most of…
Past Fate talks up its latest development update with added jiggle physics - If you have been keeping an eye on the seemingly grim-and-grimy world of Kickstarted MMO Past Fate but held off jumping into the game because adipose tissue didn't sufficiently jiggle…
RuneScape delays combat mastery achievements feature to February 17 for fine-tuning - RuneScape players who were looking forward to the combat mastery achievements system projected for later this month are going to have to wait a bit longer, as Jagex has delayed…
Early access MMORPG Abyss Online resurfaces with a confusing trailer from the Taipei Game Show - Do you recall Abyss Online? It's had an... interesting... development track to say the least: We first caught wind of the game in 2023, which was described by developer Old…
Final Fantasy XIV is considering taking legal action against a stalker-empowering game mod - If you're a part of the Final Fantasy XIV community beyond a certain level of engagement, you are no doubt aware of the game's extensive modding community and the continuing…
Blizzard donated one million dollars to a relief charity supporting California wildfire victims - The response to the devastating Los Angeles wildfires this past month has been particularly strong from the gaming industry, owing to the fact that so many big game studios and…
Corepunk shares its plans for a new PvPvE dungeon experience, literally called Prison Island - Have you ever felt as if your real opponents in a dungeon were the other players, potentially rolling for the drops you wanted when you killed monsters? Well, Corepunk is…
Massively Overthinking: Has an MMO cadence switch-up ever actually worked out for the best? - When I was going through our historical awards for the debrief earlier this month, I had a little chuckle looking at the awards for Best Trend over the last 13…
Transfer or be transferred: Here’s what to expect from Throne & Liberty’s big server merge - Earlier this week, Amazon's Tico Talks video touched lightly on the studio's planned merges for Throne & Liberty's global edition, and now today, we're getting a granular look at what…
Mortal Online 2’s first 2025 roadmap promises optimization, combat updates, and overhauled chat - What's next for the current year in Mortal Online 2? Plenty according to the sandbox MMORPG's first roadmap, which sees several stages of continued development, improvement, and content. So, you…
DC Universe Online’s Day of Reckoning chapter gets a January 28 launch date - For the past few weeks, DC Universe Online has been weaving a murder mystery in the lead-up to its first story arc chapter. Now, we've got a bunch of fresh…
Warframe of Mind: The day Warframe’s story broke me - I am not someone who is an easy mark for breaking down as a sobbing mess with a sad moment in a story, which is why it surprised me when…
Palia’s New Beginnings update arrives today with Lunar New Year and a new discount loyalty club - Cozy multiplayer RPG Palia is rolling out the first beta patch of the new year today, and appropriately, it's called New Beginnings. As the teaser video makes clear, the update…
Stars Reach expands its pre-alpha to Kickstarter followers, begins refinery skill branch testing - Playable Worlds' Stars Reach has several news bits this week, and those of you tired of hearing about the Kickstarter that hasn't even happened yet will be happy to know…
Throne & Liberty’s lunar new year celebration and currency tab were supposed to go live today, but… - (We've updated the end of this article with the latest status as of Thursday night.) Throne & Liberty is launching its 1.13.0 update this morning, meaning the Lunar New Year…
Albion Online highlights its new season cadence as Rogue Frontier hits the PTS - With Albion Online now making sure its season releases align with major updates, you might be interested in hearing what head of production Moritz Bokelmann has to say about it…
Ultima Online just released a roadmap for updates 119 and 120 and for New Legacy’s next stage too - You know, I've been watching Ultima Online for over 27 years now, and I literally cannot remember any studio putting out a roadmap for the game. If this week's newly…
Jonathan Del Arco helms Star Trek Online’s 33rd season, Unveiled, launching February 11 - Everyone's worried about the future of Cryptic's MMOs post-Cryptic, including us, but Star Trek Online is forging onward into 2025 with the promise of a new update next month: Star…
Perfect Ten: 10 MMORPGs with creative idea hooks - There's so much blatant -- and lazy! -- copying in the world of entertainment and arts that anything novel is to be cherished. I've always thought that if you're going…
Nightingale teases an engine upgrade, dyes, customization, and a new Western tileset - "Ready to hit 2025 with everything you got and just get through it" - that's Inflexion Games' Aaryn Flynn take on his attitude for the upcoming year in the latest…
Eternal Tombs shares a two-minute progress video and promises ‘huge’ news for 2025 - When you've been out of touch with a developing MMO project for a while, sometimes all you want is a quick summary to get you up to speed. With brevity…
Throne & Liberty talks server merges and the coming Talandre expansion - Throne & Liberty released a new dev video this afternoon, and in it Amazon Globalization Design Manager Tico wastes little time leaping directly into the big issue for global players…
Lost Ark’s new raid, raid accessibility system, and third anniversary events launch tomorrowday - Lost Ark's Frosty Fate is not, in fact, a story about how the soft-serve chocolate malt you got from Wendy's is now in your stomach, but now I kinda wish…
For Science: GDC’s annual gamedev survey reflects anger with layoffs, disdain for gen AI - GDC's annual survey of the devs in the game industry is out today, with data reflecting polling and comments from over 3000 game developers. "The analysis of the State of…
Choose My Adventure: Necromancing in RuneScape is hella fun – so should I sub? - Well, that was another unforced error on my part: I had put the City of Um as one of the questing locations to shoot for in RuneScape this week, but…
Interview: Notorious’ Chris Kaleiki on the ‘MMO bones’ in extraction RPG Legacy Steel and Sorcery - If you’re a fan of extraction shooters but want more high-fantasy RPG elements then I’ve got something in store for you: Legacy: Steel and Sorcery, an upcoming multiplayer third-person extraction…
FFA PvP is at the heart of New World Season of Conquerors, live today - The long new content wait for New World players since the launch of Aeternum is finally over today with the release of Season of Conquerors, the game's seventh formal season.…
Two days after the Tik Tok ban, Marvel Snap is back online in North America - It's been a long two-day ordeal for Marvel Snap players, but now it's over. After the popular digital card game was taken down abruptly on Sunday due to legislation banning…
Final Fantasy XIV’s Crystalline Conflict Season 13 is off to a bumpy start over ranked server miscommunication - It's another patch day for Final Fantasy XIV, and this time around it's mostly all about PvP for the MMORPG, as Crystalline Conflict Season 13 is now underway for players…
Rumor: NCsoft may have canceled its unannounced Horizon MMO - For the last couple of years, we've had plenty of clues that Sony and NCsoft were collaborating on some sort of MMORPG in the Horizon universe - but those rumors…
MechWarrior Online promises more events, new mechs, and map updates despite its reduced staff - Earlier this month we reported on a slashing of jobs at Enad Global 7-owned studios Toadman Interactive and Piranha Games, the latter of which develops the mech-battler MMO MechWarrior Online,…
Last Oasis discusses balance adjustments to its PvP-focused Season 6 after latest testing round - Last September, developer Donkey Crew exhumed the body of its first early access survival sandbox Last Oasis with a call for testers to help with its Season 6 update, which…
Project Ghost’s Greg Street says gen AI won’t ‘bring any direct innovation’ for gamedev - Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street is running his own studio - Fantastic Pixel Castle - now, which means that he's basically able to put out opinions about the industry without too much…
Activision releases charitable cosmetic bundles in Call of Duty games to benefit LA fire relief - The fires that are continuing to threaten Los Angeles are still a focal point for game developers in the California area, as Activision has now put out some charitable bundles…
Wisdom of Nym: Speculating on the future of Echoes of Vana’diel in Final Fantasy XIV - The main problem with doing a Final Fantasy XI crossover in Final Fantasy XIV is that we've already had several, more or less since the game's relaunch. I don't just…
Star Wars: The Old Republic wields the Force (and a patch) against bad loot luck - If you've been there -- and chances are good you have -- you know that aggravating feeling of hitting a streak of bad loot drops and rolls in an MMORPG.…
Dungeons and Dragons Online hints at new race, possible megaserver - Dungeons and Dragons Online players are in a bit of a holding pattern for this year's producer's letter, which should be coming in the next few weeks. But until then,…
Genshin Impact agrees to pay a $20M fine to the FTC and halt gacha sales to players under 16 - Regular players of Genshin Impact already know that in order to add characters to the roster, they're going to have to buy currency to spend on gacha pulls, but the…
Marvel Snap details the compensation packages players are getting for the recent downtime - It's been a frustrating couple of days for Marvel Snap fans in the US as the mobile CCG went dark in the country as a result of a Congressional ban…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 502: Chronicling all the non-combat content in MMOs
The Stream Team: Driving around with a friend to tackle odd jobs in Motor Town
The Stream Team: More madness and fun with mind flayers in Dungeons & Dragons Online
The Stream Team: Backseat Streaming visits an Enshrouded dragon
The Stream Team: Heading into high rank in Monster Hunter World
The Stream Team: Journey into the Bloodstone Maw in Guild Wars 2
The Stream Team: Getting chummy in Warframe 1999
The Stream Team: The Legacy of Sir Lanceler in AdventureQuest 3D
The Stream Team: Vroom vroom goes the vehicle in Planet Crafter
The Stream Team: Wrapping up the week with some Final Fantasy XIV roulette runs
Every week, get caught up on the MMO genre’s latest news and Massively OP’s best content in our MMO Week in Review! Want more roundups of content? Try Friday’s Betawatch for MMO testing highlights, Saturday’s Make My MMO for MMO crowdfunding updates, and Sunday’s The MOP Up, which mops up all the bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.
