interviews
Jack Emmert talks up NetEase support for his studio’s Warhammer MMO, talks down a PvP design focus
Back in May we caught wind of developer Jack Emmert's shift from Daybreak to the newly formed NetEase-owned studio Jackalyptic Games, which is starting...
WoW Factor: Overwatch 2’s failure offers a lesson for World of Warcraft
The weird thing about my current position is that for the first time in at least a little while, there isn't a new disaster...
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go’s Niantic is sleeping on summer
Despite Niantic telling Pokemon Go players that it has a "blockbuster slate of summer features" coming up, the summer has been quite a disappointment...
World of Warcraft’s leads are ‘skeptical’ they’ll ever get gearing right
With Update 10.1.5 out the door, World of Warcraft's dev teams have their hands full with the subsequent fallout and adjustments from this kitchen...
Lost Ark’s writers have written the story through the end of Chapter 3
With the big July release out of the gate, Lost Ark took players up, up, and away to the sky realm of Elgacia where...
Wisdom of Nym: The forgotten classes of Final Fantasy XIV
Machinist ruined classes forever in Final Fantasy XIV. But don't entirely blame that job; some of it was just a matter of figuring how...
Riot Games shares vague gameplay and design details for its in-progress Riot MMO
Riot Games has been pretty cagey about the details of its still-gestating Runeterra MMO for a while now, and that trend appears to continue...
Tencent insists Tarisland isn’t a World of Warcraft clone
When Tencent announced Tarisland back in January, just as World of Warcraft was being yanked offline in China, just about everyone, including us, called...
Funcom discusses Dune Awakening’s South Korean prospects and MMORPG elements
Those of us who live in western countries know very well the pain of watching games develop in Asia as developers hedge on whether...
Interview: Neverwinter announces 26th module, Demonweb Pits, with a new ‘post-leveling experience’
Neverwinter's 26th module is Demonweb Pits, and it's rolling out on July 18th, Cryptic and Gearbox announced today. Launching on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox,...
Massively on the Go: Pokemon Go’s Niantic does damage control as player spending weakens
Last week was a rough week for Pokemon Go and Niantic. The company tried to sweep the release and reversal of viewable pokemon's distance...
Massively Overthinking: Why don’t MMOs try harder to foster great guilds?
MOP reader Mahaf1089 posed an interesting question beneath a WoW Factor column earlier this month, one that clearly resonated with our readers because it...
Working As Intended: My 20 years of Star Wars Galaxies
Last year, when Ultima Online turned 25 years old, I did a piece reminiscing on those early days and marveling that so much of...
The Realm Online is shuttering its rebooted version at the end of June
Five years ago, a group of enterprising fans banded together to assemble and run an improved version of the classic MMORPG The Realm Online...
Microsoft admits Redfall is ‘a miss’ but reaffirms its support of the shooter’s development studio
It's a well-documented fact that Arkane Austin's multiplayer FPS Redfall has had a messy launch, with players and critics panning the game, Phil Spencer...
Reddit CEO remains unfazed by blackout protests, calls organizing moderators ‘landed gentry’
This week saw a pretty significant lashing out from the vast majority of Reddit, as multiple subreddits, including several that serve MMORPG communities, went...
WoW Factor: Age vs. World of Warcraft vs. player retention
In my time, I have gone from being a young man to an old man on the interwebs. I have gone from being a...
Mainframe’s Pax Dei is trying to revitalize the classic MMORPG sandbox in a big way
At this past weekend's PC Gaming Show, Mainframe Infustries' gorgeous MMO Pax Dei was one of the major stars, even if you're not an...
Dune Awakening video shows off its five pillars of design: ‘Play the way you want to play’
With Dune: Part 2 coming to movie theaters later this year, excitement for this long-running franchise is pretty high. That's especially true when you...
Union pressure forces Activision-Blizzard to share details of workers’ union rights
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) has filed unfair labor practice charges against Activision-Blizzard multiple times, but at least three of those ongoing ULPs...
