Bringing Down the Warhammer on World of Warcraft

Out of the Box With Warhammer Online
9/17/2008 7:40 PM | 2 Comments | Page 1 of 3

Is this the one? Is Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning the massively-multiplayer online game that kills World of Warcraft? It certainly isn't the first to try. In fact, every time a fantasy-themed MMO drops, that's the question that pops up: Will "[Insert Sword-Swinging Game Here]" finally knock WoW off its pedestal?

Dungeons & Dragons Online took a swipe. That seemed like a real no-brainer, didn't it? It's D&D -- the fantasy license! Millions and millions of role-playing fans have played and loved Dungeons & Dragons. It's part of the gaming vernacular. Of course, you need to build a good game around the license in order for it to have a chance against Warcraft. WoW flicked D&D Online off its shoulder like an annoying flea.

The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar threw a few hooks at the champ. Another popular and powerful license combined with a veteran MMO design studio (Codemasters) gave LOTRO a fighting shot, but it still didn't so much as dent the WoW juggernaut.

Conan? As much as Funcom wants people to believe that Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is selling like popcorn at the circus, fact is that Conan got swallowed up just like the rest of these games. Funcom at one point said that Conan had around 400,000 active accounts after launch, a very strong number -- and around 4 percent of the number of people currently playing World of Warcraft.

This isn't to say that fantasy-themed MMOs not called "World of Warcraft" are doomed to failure. D&D Online is still coming out with new content, Lord of the Rings Online is going strong, and Conan does have a slew of players -- but the only game that can kill World of Warcraft is World of Warcraft II. (Or maybe a StarCraft MMO.) When you look at the most recent MMO active subscriber charts, World of Warcraft dominates in a way unlike anything the industry has ever seen. Warcraft is the USA Dream Team versus a bunch of Angolas .

Here's how out-of-whack it is: According to MMOGChart.com, World of Warcraft has somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 million active subscriptions. It's the size of Belgium. More people play WoW (or at least pay for it) than live in the state of Virginia. So the next time you drive through Virginia, picture everyone you see as a Tauren Hunter or Orc Warrior. No other MMO has more than 1.5 million active accounts. Lord of the Rings Online is hovering between 200,000 to 300,000 accounts -- which is pretty darn good -- but WoW eats every MMO for lunch when it comes to user base. Frodo can't compete. And in reality, neither will Warhammer.

The goal for the folks at Mythic Entertainment shouldn't be to knock World of Warcraft off its throne, because that flat-out is not going to happen. It needs to find its niche, secure its user base, and go from there. If WAR establishes a solid user base of 300,000 players, it'll be a "Top 5" MMO. It doesn't need 5 million users to be a huge hit; if that were the bar, there'd only be one MMO currently in operation.