MMO Predictions 2013: Morituri Te Salutant

Predicting what is going to happen to the Western MMO market in 2013 seems a lot harder than doing the same for 2012. But when it comes to random guessing about stuff I only half understand, I’m going to give it my best shot. Continue reading →

Reviewing My 2012 MMO Predictions

At the end of 2011 I made a set of predictions about MMOs and the MMO industry. This is a pretty common thing to do, but I also feel I should own my predictions and actually check how accurate they were Continue reading →

2012: Your Year in Gaming Misogyny

In 2011 it looked a little bit like the gap in attitudes about women in gaming had started to close. Thank god 2012 came along and showed that the No Girls Allowed Club was still alive and kicking in video games. Continue reading →

The Witcher 2: No Sex Please, We’re Elvish

Just in case: ***PLOT SPOILERS*** for The Witcher 2 follow. If you haven’t played this title and like action RPGs, you really should. Continue reading →

Star Wars: The Old Republic – Our Meeting Was Not a Coincidence

Nothing happens by accident. Unless you are EA releasing a Star Wars MMO. Continue reading →

Point / Counterpoint: BioWare Before and After EA

With the news that BioWare founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzkya both announced their retirement from that company, it’s only fair to do a before and after. Continue reading →

Star Wars: The Old Republic – The Splinter of the Mind’s Eye for EA

Going back to October 2010 (and through to March 2011) I detailed five reasons why Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWOR) was a high risk MMO. Those reasons where: EA was funding SWOR for the wrong reasons – they weren’t looking to develop a profitable title, but instead create a WoW-level success with a financial … Continue reading →

Star Wars: The Old Republic – SWTOR vs. WAR!

… and Age of Conan, for that matter. EA announced during their earnings call that Star Wars: The Old Republic had sold over 2 million boxes and had 1.7 million subscribed players, beating EA’s internal projections. A lot of sources took that at face value as a great result, but was it? Let’s look at … Continue reading →

Reading the MMO Tea Leaves for 2012

In previous years I’ve spent a lot of time reviewing and writing up a year’s worth of Massively.com / other MMO sites news articles. Although this is very useful from an information point of view (particularly the “oh, I’d forgotten about that” articles) it takes a very long time. So, this year I’m still doing … Continue reading →

Star Wars: The Old Republic – Not Failing Isn’t Always A Guarantee of Success

We’re on the downhill run to Star Wars: The Old Republic’s launch. Soon the hype will be over and the hard part – delivering MMO services to paying customers – begins. I saw a report that stated industry analysts saw SWOR as a “little risk of failure” title. In some ways this is because if … Continue reading →