We’ve had one of the more bizarre MMO weekends just now, as survival MMO Dune Awakening opened its doors for widespread beta testing in apology for its launch delay, accompanied by the early access release of the horse-girl-friendly MMO Equinox Homecoming. I can’t really think of two games further apart on the MMO spectrum. That’s awesome, frankly.
Meanwhile, Pax Dei’s team was hit with layoffs, Neverwinter launched Red Harvest, and DECA announced it’s closing the forums for Neverwinter, Star Trek Online, and Champions Online in favor of Discord.
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
Dune Awakening’s first day of beta brings generally positive buzz as access opens to all pre-orders - As we've been noting all through the past day or two, Dune: Awakening has kicked off its large-scale beta weekend, and while the servers were unsurprisingly shaky, the hype is…
Cozy horse mystery MMO Equinox Homecoming leaps out of the gate into early access - "Welcome to Alderwood. Weird is what we do here." And welcome to Equinox Homecoming, the latest early access MMO on the market. Blue Scarab Entertainment launched the equestrian-focused "cozy mystery"…
Dune Awakening brings its opening gameplay beats in its weekend beta test, now underway - Today begins the big beefy beta test for the survival MMORPG Dune: Awakening, letting players kick the tires of Funcom's latest desert playspace, experience enough of the game to maybe…
Derek Smart unveils ACE Platform, a multi-blockchain ‘virtual town hall of engagement opportunities’ - Self-described internet warlord Derek Smart posted a blog earlier this spring. No, it's not about Line of Defense; the last word about that game was last year. No, it's not…
Pax Dei studio lays off nearly 30% of its team but says the MMORPG is still on track - Well, bad news for Pax Dei fans: Studio Mainframe Industries announced this morning that it's restructuring - which means the layoff of nearly a third of its workers, as the…
Funcom is already hedging on Dune Awakening’s place in the MMORPG genre - Funcom has been calling Dune Awakening a survival MMORPG for many years of development now. But it's also not an MMO. But it offers multiplayer gameplay on a massive scale.…
LOTRO Legendarium: Which LOTRO premium housing neighborhood is best for you? - So here's a weird thing to consider: It wasn't until October 2016 that Lord of the Rings Online introduced premium housing to the game with its Gondor-themed Belfalas homes. Before…
Neverwinter’s 31st module, Red Harvest, is live on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation today - Hey Neverwinter fans, heads-up: It's launch day! Specifically, it's launch day for Red Harvest, the MMORPG's 31st and latest module, live now not just on PC but on Xbox and…
Casually Classic: World of Warcraft retail vs. WoW Classic – which is better at what? - These days, I prefer to game with one foot in both versions of World of Warcraft. It's kind of like Almond Joy and Mounds; sometimes I feel like a Retail,…
DECA is closing the Star Trek Online, Champions Online, and Neverwinter forums in favor of Discord - As I type this, Another One Bites The Dust is going through my head, but I'm not talking about an MMO - just its forums. This afternoon, DECA Games, the…
Here’s what’s coming in Star Wars The Old Republic’s Update 7.7 Dynamic Worlds - The love for Star Wars The Old Republic seems as if it's on the rise these days, especially following a May 8th developer livestream that previewed the next major content…
Gachapwned: Examining the nature of gacha mechanics as a concept - If you mention the term "gacha" to most people, what you will get is a reaction somewhere between disgust and anger or one of confusion. This strikes me as a…
We finally have some clean numbers on how well EVE Online and Black Desert performed last year - Back in February, we were frustrated to see that Korean games company Pearl Abyss was breaking with tradition: Instead of showing revenues for Black Desert and EVE Online separately so…
Black Desert confirms its Heidel Ball for PC and console on June 28 - One of the major events for fans of Black Desert is on the horizon, and it'll be here sooner than you may think: The Heidel Ball presentation for PC and…
Massively Overthinking: Are you a random reward disliker in MMOs? - This week's Massively Overthinking comes to us via a phrase MOP's Eliot dropped back in April that leaped out at me. He was discussing Final Fantasy XIV’s Cosmic Exploration, and…
Valofe is sunsetting Kritika Zero – again – in August - Kritika Online is continuing to be kicked around by its publishers: We're sad to report that the latest version of the game is now being sunsetted. As MMO Fallout first…
Stars Reach game director Dave Georgeson talks material density, XP rates, and skill trees - The top of this month brought another update to the playtest build of Stars Reach, and in it there are some big top, big deal changes to... material heaviness. Apparently…
Kakao Q1 2025: Chrono Odyssey is finally aiming for closed beta in May - Kakao had a rough Q4 - and now it's having a rough Q1 too, at least in terms of its revenues. While the multimedia company saw revenues decline 6% compared…
Dune Awakening preps fans for this weekend’s beta with content details, PC specs, and an FAQ - Survival sandbox MMORPG Dune: Awakening - yes that's what it is in spite of Funcom's nearly impressive mental gymnastics - is heading for a large-scale beta this weekend, and that…
Vague Patch Notes: Challenge and rewards in MMOs are made up - All right, folks, pop quiz. I want you to name for me the first major raid in Ultima Online. That was the first game that was marketed as an MMORPG,…
Palworld confirms gameplay mechanic adjustments made in response to the Nintendo lawsuit - While Palworld developer Pocketpair is still resolved to fight against Nintendo's patent infringement lawsuit, it's also admitting that some concessions have been made in the interest of "[avoiding] disruptions to…
FTC ruling exposes the real price of getting a specific Genshin Impact character through the gacha system - How much do you have to spend in order to get a character you want from Genshin Impact? The answer might surprise you! Actually, no, it won't surprise you at…
Courts put an end to the FTC’s 2023 lawsuit against Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard - You'd be absolutely forgiven in assuming that all of the legal drama surrounding the 2023 Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard was done a while ago. However, just like a Starbucks…
Q1 2025: Roblox brought in over a billion dollars last quarter – and spent all of that and more - Roblox's quarterly revenues are in for Q1 2025, and it won't come as a shock: Roblox itself continues to pull in absurd sums of money. Roblox Corp. reported over a…
EVE Online marks its 22nd anniversary with widespread death and destruction - 'Twas May 2003 when a scrappy space MMO entered the scene, only to grow into an unstoppable PvP monster and generate decades of drama-infused tales. EVE Online is celebrating its…
Sony announces a new ‘lighthearted’ team shooter set in a new sci-fantasy world - "Didn't Sony just shutter a team-based action game," I asked MOP's Sam when he brought us this news. "Is it even a major studio if it hasn't shuttered a team-based…
Not So Massively: Stormgate’s campaign reboot is much better, but is it too late? - I hate what a cliche of cynical games journalism that headline is, but it really is the most accurate thing to say about the situation. Stormgate -- the early access…
Electronic Arts tells investors to prepare for ‘accelerated growth’ following mass layoffs - Electronic Arts execs didn't just say the quiet part out loud; they made it a feature part of their presentations to the flock of vultures that make up the company's…
Blade & Soul NEO will launch on Steam ‘soon’ as NCsoft confirms summer updates - NC America is really going all-in on its revitalization of its western MMORPG catalogue: Today, it's announced that it's putting Blade & Soul Neo on Steam. Readers will certainly recall…
Perfect Ten: MMOs (and MMO moments) that live in infamy - To a certain degree, MMOs have always existed in a state of infamy. People assume that the game requires hours of sitting and scowling at the screen, watching every element…
SAG-AFTRA’s voice actor strike continues with generative AI being the key sticking point - It's been just about a year since the voice actors' strike began, and the negotiations between studios and SAG-AFTRA (the union representing the actors) have spilled once more into the…
EVE Fanfest 2025: EVE Vanguard early access launches summer 2026 - Upcoming MMOFPS EVE Vanguard was on display this week at EVE Fanfest 2025, with attendees getting a chance to get hands-on with the game and learn more about what the…
Destiny 2 is swapping seasons for semiannual expansions – and collaborating with Star Wars - Bungie's Destiny 2 Edge of Fate reveal stream this afternoon is promising quite a major restructure of how the game delivers content - one that's going to sound extremely familiar…
Bohemia’s new multiplayer voxel sandbox Everwind just began a $35K Kickstarter run - Just a few weeks ago, we were surprised to learn that upcoming multiplayer sandbox SkyVerse, which is being published under the Bohemia Interactive banner, was getting a full rebrand. Polish…
Choose My Adventure: Lost Skies is almost immediately enrapturing and engaging - I try to take my time when it comes to putting together these Choose My Adventure columns. I try to nibble on the content leaves, absorb the atmosphere or story,…
Ashes of Creation heralds over 8,000 concurrent players in one realm during weekend testing - This past Saturday was an apparently busy and momentous one for the playerbase of Ashes of Creation, as creative director Steven Sharif announced on the game's official Discord that player…
Wisdom of Nym: The odd hole in Final Fantasy XIV’s 2025 plans - Peter Gabriel's song "I Grieve" has a bit of an odd history; the song was included on his 2002 album Up, but its first release was on the soundtrack for…
Defiance devs address everything they’ve fixed so far – and everything they’re still working on - Would you believe that Defiance has already been open for two whole weeks? I can't, but that's because April somehow felt like four months and four minutes to my brain.…
Pantheon commits to better internal comms and testers to combat ‘half-baked patches’ - If you've felt as if the patch updates coming to Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen haven't been clearing a particularly high quality bar, know that developer Visionary Realms agrees with…
Overwatch devs join Communication Workers of America to officially form a ‘wall-to-wall’ union - The unionization movement across Blizzard's developers has expanded once more, this time across those who work on the hero shooter Overwatch. The Communication Workers of America (CWA) has officially announced…
PAX East 2025: World of Warcraft confirms the development of Legion Remix - Were you a fan of how Mists of Pandaria got remixed in World of Warcraft last year? Well then you're in luck because Blizzard announced at this year's PAX East…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 517: We are EVE Legion
The Stream Team: Trotting headlong into the horse mystery of Equinox Homecoming
The Stream Team: Reclaiming Stormreach’s beacon in DDO’s Masterminds of Sharn finale
The Stream Team: Work and play in Split Fiction’s fantasy playground
The Stream Team: Running around the map seeking bugs to blast in Defiance
The Stream Team: Guild Wars 2’s The Head of the Snake
The Stream Team: Getting a Golden Pursuits house in Elder Scrolls Online
The Stream Team: Diving into the Dune Awakening beta weekend
The Stream Team: A first look at Cubic Odyssey
The Stream Team: Looking for a rematch against Rey Dau in Monster Hunter Wilds
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.
