The MMOG Challenge
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For those within the industry, the advent of the MMOG hasn't panned out as well as some might have hoped. Just as massive multiplayer games are approaching mainstream popularity, the market has become so saturated that even Microsoft, with its highly anticipated Mythica, opted to throw in its cards and pack up its chips. Who could blame them? The structure of MMOGs all but requires consumers to choose one title to the exclusion of all others, and in a field of big names like World of Warcraft, EverQuest II, Final Fantasy XI and The Matrix Online, one would need a mind blowing execution or a unique and very well targeted angle, like City of Heroes, to get a piece of the pie. Factoring in the expense of providing servers, developing for the format looks like a much riskier proposition than most companies would like to attempt. So, how can game makers continue to use this business model without collectively suffocating?
