Amazon Games continued expanding its games publishing arm in February of this year, owing to the anticipated announcement that it would be taking on western publishing for NCsoft’s Throne & Liberty – but the announcement was set against the backdrop of turmoil at NCsoft, whose western CEO was ousted amid more mass-layoffs.
Meanwhile, chaos around the Microsoft buyout of Activision-Blizzard was still swirling as Bobby Kotick swung by network news channels to insult regulators and whip up xenophobia, ABK’s financial results downplayed Overwatch 2 and WoW Dragonflight, and Mike Ybarra volunteered himself as the next corporate bad guy.
Here’s the whole recap from February of this past year, from our top news stories of the month to our best editorials.
TOP NEWS STORIES OF FEBRUARY 2023
Orna developers are working on Hero of Aethric, a pixel-art open-world mobile MMO
NCsoft West loses CEO, lays off 20% of staff, says Throne & Liberty is not impacted
The Sims 5 will be multiplayer – but not an MMO
PSA: World Eternal Online is actually just the blockchain MMO Core Loop announced last year
Fractured is on track for a March return after hasty backtrack from early access and Gamigo mess
Dauntless and Fae Farm studio Phoenix Labs just bought itself out
Path of Exile ties down dates for its next two expansion reveals and the ExileCon event
Square-Enix says net sales are down across the board because of ‘weak’ catalog titles and no MMORPG expansion
Workers call out Activision-Blizzard management as it reaches $35M settlement with SEC
Activision-Blizzard Q4 2022: Blizzard revenues, MAUs spike thanks to WoW Dragonflight and Overwatch 2
Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars 2 communities erupt over GShade malware mod drama
World of Warcraft is shutting down its integrated Twitter posting feature
Gloria Victis’ first day of full launch sees new servers, crafting quest overhauls, and connection problems
Activision-Blizzard’s Bobby Kotick predicts a bleak future for a UK that rejects the Microsoft merger
UK regulators find that Microsoft’s Activision-Blizzard buyout could harm UK market
Q4 2022: Krafton threatens to launch a ‘create-to-earn’ platform in 2023
Activision-Blizzard’s Bobby Kotick says Sony won’t return his phone calls
WoW Factor: Blizzard’s latest earnings report was mixed news for World of Warcraft
Q4 2022: Nexon counts huge YOY revenue boost, pushes harder into blockchain
UK regulators suggest Microsoft choked Google Stadia out of the cloud gaming market
Guild Wars 2 appears to be dropping living world structure in favor of larger, more consistent updates
Valentine’s Day around the MMORPG genre, 2023 edition
Activision-Blizzard is stuck with Bobby Kotick if the FTC blocks Microsoft’s takeover
NCsoft Q4 2022: Guild Wars 2 had a great 2022, Throne & Liberty is still launching by summer
Pearl Abyss Q4 2022: Revenues decline as Black Desert and EVE hold steady and Crimson Desert malingers
Lord of the Rings Online is adding the infamous wayward rock as housing deco
Crossplatform multiplayer monster-hunting game Wild Hearts is live today
Genshin Impact fires voice actor over allegations of grooming, harassment, and abuse
Ubisoft says it’s sitting on a ‘very strong improved version’ of Skull and Bones
Blizzard’s Mike Ybarra stuns devs with demoralizing bonus-slashing and return-to-work meeting
Final Fantasy XIV opens Fan Festival 2023 tickets registrations through a lottery system
Final Fantasy XIV’s Far Northern Attire is accused of appropriating Sámi cultural property by the Saami Council
EG7 Q4 2022: Revenues are up thanks to mobile as LOTRO sees ‘mainstream resurgence’
Gamigo is granting 15 free days of sub time to new and returning RIFT players
Microsoft and Nintendo ink deal to put Call of Duty on Nintendo consoles for the next decade
Amazon Games will publish NCsoft’s Throne & Liberty in the Americas, Europe, and Japan
No Man’s Sky adds a new spacecraft, enhanced VR features, and a new expedition with the Fractal update
Microsoft strikes deal to put Activision games on NVIDIA GeForce Now
Old School RuneScape celebrates 10 years with a cake-centered quest full of new cosmetic rewards
RIFT kicks off Carnival of the Ascended in celebration of its 12th birthday
Dungeons and Dragons Online’s Update 58 gives away a free dungeon and anniversary cosmetics
RF Online’s western version has been sunsetted thanks to an apparent contract issue
Games startup Elodie Games announces Project Skies, a ‘social cooperative action RPG game’
Baldur’s Gate 3 announces August launch date with multiplayer
X-LEGEND confirms its plans for a global re-launch of Eden Eternal
Embers Adrift lowers its box price and subscription price, maps out content for 2023
Former Wildstar devs call Wayfinder ‘the second coming’ of the sunsetted MMORPG
Destiny 2’s Lightfall and Season of Defiance are officially live
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF FEBRUARY 2023
Perfect Ten: 10 dead MMOs that should be revived for a second chance
Some Assembly Required: My journey through the housing system of Final Fantasy XIV
WoW Factor: The state of World of Warcraft’s Dragonflight, two months in
Massively Overthinking: What MMORPG content requires the most skill – and why?
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV addon cheaters undermine the game – and themselves
Wisdom of Nym: The powerful stuff in Final Fantasy XIV that went missing in action
Choose My Adventure: Global Agenda provides a classic MMO ass-beating
Massively on the Go: Preparing for Pokemon Go’s Las Vegas Hoenn Tour
Perfect Ten: 10 things I really dislike about Final Fantasy XI
Fight or Kite: Deckbuilder Ascension is far better as a video game than as a physical one
Vague Patch Notes: Diversions are what makes the MMO
Not So Massively: Dark Envoy’s demo is where RPG meets RTS
Massively Overthinking: That moment when you realize an MMO is truly something special
LOTRO Legendarium: Nine Lord of the Rings Online items with fun and helpful abilities
The Daily Grind: What are the pros and cons of console vs. PC MMO gaming?
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go’s Niantic seems to care more about data collection than public safety
Wisdom of Nym: Where else could we get a Final Fantasy XIV raid series from the franchise?
Tamriel Infinium: 18 activities to do at max level in Elder Scrolls Online
Not So Massively: Voidtrain’s Next Fest demo leaves a terrible first impression
Choose My Adventure: Slowly cracking the code of how Warframe works
Perfect Ten: Ranking 10 MMORPG map designs from worst to best
Tamriel Infinium: How Elder Scrolls Online’s quests go above and beyond the MMO norm
Vague Patch Notes: The three kinds of sunset in the MMO space
Why I Play: Black Matter’s shooter Hell Let Loose scratches my RTS itch
Massively Overthinking: What’s the ideal content cadence for an MMORPG in 2023?
Design Mockument: In which we do not design World of Warcraft 2
Leaderboard: Do you prefer first-person or third-person perspective while gaming?
LOTRO Legendarium: Why flying would have ruined LOTRO’s Middle-earth
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s unseen character is (not) the Warrior of Light
Choose My Adventure: Returning to Destiny 2 was both bumpy and engaging
Fight or Kite: The Witcher card game GWENT checks off a lot of the right boxes – but too many of the wrong ones
Vitae Aeternum: Previewing New World’s first season and updated 2023 roadmap
Perfect Ten: 10 things I really dislike about Final Fantasy XIV
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go’s Vegas Hoenn Tour was Absol-utely bad
Vague Patch Notes: MMO events are not for the high-level playerbase
WoW Factor: Does World of Warcraft need more classes?
Massively Overthinking: The MMO characters we want to love but don’t
Jukebox Heroes: Six great EverQuest II expansion tunes
The Game Archaeologist: The tale of Infinite Crisis, Turbine’s extremely short-lived DC Comics MOBA
Wisdom of Nym: Where is Final Fantasy XIV’s story going post-6.3?
Not So Massively: Impressions of Century Age of Ashes’ new PvE mode
Choose My Adventure: New tutorials and old habits see Destiny 2’s hooks set in
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2’s What Lies Beneath, the next End of Dragons story, has launched
Massively on the Go: Pokemon GO’s Hoenn Tours had the lowest value of all tours to date
THE FULL 2023 YEAR-IN-REVIEW
MMO Year in Review: NetEase versus Blizzard (January 2023)
MMO Year in Review: Amazon’s expanding empire (February 2023)
MMO Year in Review: Press F7 for E3 (March 2023)
MMO Year in Review: Crisis maps (April 2023)
MMO Year in Review: Second breakfast (May 2023)
MMO Year in Review: Returning to Morrowind (June 2023)
MMO Year in Review: Dawn of the Entrails (July 2023)
MMO Year in Review: The mage’s tower (August 2023)
MMO Year in Review: The next EverQuest Next (September 2023)
MMO Year in Review: Angry Earth, hungry Microsoft (October 2023)
MMO Year in Review: The Worldsoul Saga (November 2023)
MMO Year in Review: Come on baby Light No Fire (December 2023)
