It’s weird to think about, but I don’t really think MMORPGs are particularly innovative. Maybe they never have been. They’re always walking a fine line between genres, swirling all genres together under one big happy blended family, adding new things – but not too new that the entrenched playerbases revolt.
So even though we do this Daily Grind annually, I’m having a hard time coming up with anything particularly innovative this year. Lots of good industry trends, but innovation? I might give a nod here to something like Guild Wars 2, which continues to innovate in the flying mount space, or Lord of the Rings Online, which has been coming up with fresh ways to reinvigorate old world spaces. Maybe innovate isn’t the right word for these.
But it’s a big wide genre out there, and I’d like to know what other people have in mind. What was the most important innovation in MMOs in 2023?