Funcom on MMO developers and “lacking” games

Should MMO players be worried about the uber fast rise of MMO games? Since online gaming is seen as a cash cow by many developers, it is only natural that some are lured to make their own MMOs. Funcom can be considered a veteran in the MMO industry with Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and Anarchy Online under its belt, but the company expressed concern about making “half-hearted” MMOs.

In a recent interview with CVG, Funcom warned that creating MMO games is not an easy venture. According to Funcom, MMO projects require huge resources – “massive” being the operative term. Funcom’s product manager, Erling Ellingsen expressed concern about the developers going into the genre with limited resources, and as a result, these developers won’t be able to live up to the market’s high expectations. He added,

Not necessarily because they’re not talented enough, but because they’re going into the genre with limited means. Creating these games takes a tremendous amount of resources, both people-wise and money-wise, but especially in terms of using the right technology. These games are hard to make.

Hmm… Sound advice. The MMO genre is still relatively young but it already has a good number of titles. Let’s hope that developers listen and go for quality instead of quantity so their games don’t fall short of what gamers expect.

Should MMO players be worried about the uber fast rise of MMO games? Since online gaming is seen as a cash cow by many developers, it is only natural that some are lured to make their own MMOs. Funcom can be considered a veteran in the MMO industry with Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and Anarchy Online under its belt, but the company expressed concern about making “half-hearted” MMOs.

In a recent interview with CVG, Funcom warned that creating MMO games is not an easy venture. According to Funcom, MMO projects require huge resources – “massive” being the operative term. Funcom’s product manager, Erling Ellingsen expressed concern about the developers going into the genre with limited resources, and as a result, these developers won’t be able to live up to the market’s high expectations. He added,

Not necessarily because they’re not talented enough, but because they’re going into the genre with limited means. Creating these games takes a tremendous amount of resources, both people-wise and money-wise, but especially in terms of using the right technology. These games are hard to make.

Hmm… Sound advice. The MMO genre is still relatively young but it already has a good number of titles. Let’s hope that developers listen and go for quality instead of quantity so their games don’t fall short of what gamers expect.