There was a time when almost every gaming-related news update was about a new MMO. A new game studio would come out of hiding to show their new creation and then the stories would begin with titles along the lines of “This Could Be The World of Warcraft Killer”. However, those days have long since passed. New single-player RPGs such as Horizon Zero Dawn, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Nier Automata are gaining all of the headlines now. Be that as it may, the MMO genre is not completely dead quite yet. With the help of some new game studios with some fresh ideas, MMOs may keep on breathing for at least a little while longer.
Soulbound Studios was founded in 2015 by two industry veterans, Jeromy Walsh and Eddie Smith. Their current project is the very ambitious Chronicles of Elyria. The studio is hoping to create a dynamic and immersive MMO in which the player characters will age and die, encouraging players to plan their gameplay beyond their first character. Other features not seen before in an MMO include a closed economy, finite resources, fully destructible environments, and even NPC-run families. If Soulbound Studios can deliver on all of their promises for this challenging project, they might finally dethrone the current long-standing money-makers.
Videos about Ashes of Creation by Intrepid Studios Inc. is suddenly appearing all over YouTube and it is quickly gaining a large fanbase. Ashes of Creation focuses on world structures which are built as a result of player actions. Additionally, players will be able to develop homesteads anywhere in the world where they can build a dream home or grow resources and craft supplies. Further still, quests will change dynamically and in real time depending on what the players choose to do during world events both individually and as a community. These are all things that had been promised with the release of EverQuest Next and it would not be surprising if the project is heavily inspired by the now-canceled game.
The biggest game studios in the industry may have seemingly backed out of MMO development and MMO news is dwindling. It is good to see that not all game developers have given up quite yet and they are willing to take big risks. Other companies have tried to make a splash before with new ideas, only to have their games go free-to-play to stay afloat. What made their projects crash and burn was the fact that their biggest innovations and never-before-seen features still resulted in a typical MMO that everyone had seen before. Perhaps Soulbound Studios and Intrepid Studios Inc. have what it takes to finally make waves in the MMO industry.
