MassivelyOP’s 2023 Awards: Most Anticipated MMO

December 27, 2023 11:00 AM

Welcome back to Massively Overpowered’s formal end-of-the-year awards!

Today’s award is for the Most Anticipated MMO, which was awarded to Soulframe last year. This award can be frustrating since many of the games and expansions we’re picking from here haven’t changed much as we’re still waiting on them. We’ll see how it goes in the future. Don’t forget to cast your own vote in the just-for-fun reader poll at the very end!

And the MassivelyOP staff pick for the Most Anticipated MMO of 2023 is…

NIGHTINGALE

Andy McAdams: LOL MMO, Pax Dei, Nightingale.

Brianna Royce: Nightingale, Light No Fire, Blue Protocol, EQ3, Koster’s MMO, Funcom’s DUNE MMO, Ashes of Creation. We have a lot of MMORPGs and pseudo-MMOs on deck, but if could pick just one, it’d be one that’s got a foot in multiplayer and a foot in MMO: Nightingale. I am holding my breath on this because if it’s as good as I think it’s going to be, it’s going to captivate my family for months. The aesthetic alone is worth the follow.

Carlo Lacsina: League of Legends MMO. Year three nominating this game for me! Some of my fellow writers in MOP would prefer they see some form of progress before giving the LoL MMO any sort of nod. Riot is a different company, though; it’s the type of studio that won’t say anything until there’s more to show and when there’s an actual playable game just around the corner. It’s how it’s done it before, and I just know that thing’s still cookin’. Take your time, Riot! I know I’ll be getting the last laugh here.

Chris Neal: Tarisland, Soulframe, Nightingale. Putting the gaslamp fantasy setting aside for a moment, the fact that Nightingale primarily seems to be focused on exploring completely wild and fantastical realms while looking (potentially) quite dapper at the same time hits gaming nerves that I didn’t know were unplucked. If this game can avoid the usual survival sandbox contrivances, then I’ll be a happy lamplighter.

Colin Henry: Corepunk, Soulframe.

Eliot Lefebvre: Blue Protocol. As I have said over and over, I will keep voting my conscience on this one and I expect to be disappointed but I want to not be so I am going for it. Whee! 2024, everyone.

Justin Olivetti: All of them? Seriously, I want so many of these projects to come to fruition. My most anticipated are Riot’s Runeterra MMO for its setting and the sheer muscle of the studio behind it, EverQuest 3 because hot dang do we need a new title in this classic series, Ashes of Creation because of its scope and imagination, and Monsters and Memories because no small studio’s made me want to root for a title harder than this one.

MJ Guthrie: My most anticipated games for 2024 are Path of Exile 2 (beta June 7th!), Souframe, and Nightingale. Of course, POE2 and Soulframe are not MMORPGs, so do they count here? And Nightingale’s switch to survival crafting… well, I guess they are still my best answers.

Sam: Pax Dei.

Tyler Edwards: Corepunk and Blue Protocol. Both are things that I suspect may not ultimately be to my taste, but they have appealing art styles and interesting ideas, and I’m keen to try them out.

Nightingale took our award for Most Anticipated MMO. What’s your pick?

Reader poll: What's your most anticipated MMO of 2023 and beyond?

Nightingale (4%, 48 Votes)
The Riot MMO (6%, 70 Votes)
Blue Protocol (3%, 36 Votes)
Tarisland (1%, 8 Votes)
Pax Dei (3%, 31 Votes)
Funcom's DUNE MMO (3%, 34 Votes)
Soulframe (2%, 25 Votes)
Light No Fire (4%, 39 Votes)
Throne and Liberty (3%, 28 Votes)
Monsters and Memories (30%, 329 Votes)
Ashes of Creation (6%, 70 Votes)
Corepunk (1%, 13 Votes)
FFXIV Dawntrail (5%, 51 Votes)
Wayfinder (1%, 6 Votes)
Path of Exile 2 (3%, 33 Votes)
EverQuest 3 (7%, 72 Votes)
Raph Koster's sandbox MMO (1%, 10 Votes)
Crimson Desert (0%, 5 Votes)
Chrono Odyssey (0%, 1 Votes)
Jack Emmert's War40K MMO (1%, 11 Votes)
WoW The War Within (2%, 27 Votes)
Wagadu Chronicles (0%, 5 Votes)
Star Citizen (2%, 23 Votes)
Greg Streets new Ghost MMO (1%, 6 Votes)
Anvil Empires (0%, 1 Votes)
ESO's next arc and chapter (1%, 10 Votes)
Rich Vogel's NetEase MMO (0%, 0 Votes)
Amazon's new LOTR MMO (2%, 24 Votes)
Skull and Bones (0%, 5 Votes)
ArcheAge 2 (1%, 7 Votes)
Jagex's secret MMO (0%, 3 Votes)
ZeniMax's secret MMO (1%, 7 Votes)
Blizzard's survival sandbox (0%, 3 Votes)
Ultima Online New Legacy (0%, 4 Votes)
Ship of Heroes (0%, 1 Votes)
Pantheon (3%, 31 Votes)
City of Titans (0%, 3 Votes)
Bellatores (0%, 0 Votes)
Loftia (0%, 2 Votes)
I'm cutting this at 40. If you have something else, tell us in the comments! (1%, 7 Votes)

Total Voters: 777

Loading ...

How does MassivelyOP choose the winner?

Our team gathers together to nominate and discuss candidates and hopefully settle on a consensus winner. We don’t have a hard vote, but we do include commentary from writers so that you can see our thought process. The site’s award goes to the staff selection, but we’ll include both it and the community’s top nomination in our debrief in January. Reader poll options include all MMOs nominated plus a few others we thought should be included.