The Matrix Online

What if somebody launched a new MMORPG and nobody noticed? That seems to be what happened to The Matrix Online, which launched two weeks ago, with a distinctive lack of fanfare.

I know very little about this game, but I haven't really searched much for information. I read occasional blurbs saying that the game is buggy, bland, and lacking features. A typical example that "brand" alone does not make a success. Although the brand "Matrix" has probably been ruined already by the second and third movie. From what I hear they launched the game with 20 servers, and ended up needing only 6 of them. And while I know that it is completely unfair to judge a game I never played, and only know rumors about, I still think this one has "flop" written all over it, and will probably not survive long.

And I *do* hope some game company executives noticed this. Because while it is good that World of Warcraft sent them the message that a MMORPG can earn millions and millions of dollars, it would be even better if they realized that this success doesn't come easy. You do have to make a good game to be profitable. Just taking a movie licence and slapping on a mediocre game doesn't cut it. Especially not in the MMORPG genre, where people are more reluctant to spontaneously buy a game, due to being scared off by the monthly fee. We really don't want a wave of bad WoW clones coming out in 2 to 3 years, and it is likely that many of them would do as badly as the bad EQ clones.
- posted by Tobold @ 2:29 PM Permanent Link