1-900-THE-FRCE

As is apparent to seemingly everyone except the people who actually develop MMOs, you cannot beat Blizzard at its own game. This doesn't mean that there's not room in the market for other subscription-based, fantasty-themed online role-playing game, but they should have no illusions about capturing a significant segment of the market. For all of the considerable time, money, and talent that went into Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning--two perfectly competent fantasy-themed, subscription-based online role-playing games that came out this year--they hardly seem like blips compared to the all-consuming popularity of Wrath of the Lich King. I'll admit that I haven't heard a lot of chatter about any of these games recently, but I suspect that no one's talking about AoC or WaR because no one's playing them, while no one's talking about Lich King because they're all too busy playing it. This is part of what makes MMO development so treacherous--since the experience usually hinges on the communal aspects, the game that's already popular will remain popular, and an MMO that no one's playing can be unplayable.

That said, there's a number of reasons that BioWare and EA's upcoming Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic, may have better than average odds of actually giving WoW a decent fight. I consider it being sci-fi instead of fantasy to generally be advantageous, and the fact that it's the most well-known and widely loved sci-fi universe ever doesn't hurt, either. BioWare's not Blizzard, but it's got excellent critical and enthusiast cache, and it's seen great success working with the Star Wars license in the past. Another unique angle that The Old Republic might have, according to a Shacknews report of EA's recent earnings call, is the absence of a recurring subscription fee, something that accounts for much of World of Warcraft's incredible profitability, and the allure of MMOs to publishers in general.

According to EA CEO John Riccitiello, the Old Republic publisher is considering a microtransaction-based model for the upcoming Star Wars MMO, though no further specifics were given. Based on what I've seen of The Old Republic's colorful, somewhat cartoony art style, I've had a sneaking suspicion that they were going more casual than the usual MMO, and an incremental pricing model like this would support such a theory. EA PR has since chalked up these quotes as a “misunderstanding,” though I'm not sure how one misinterprets a quote like this.

Other initiatives we've announced, for example [the] Star Wars online MMO, are mid-session games which are microtransaction-based. You'll be hearing more about those in the February [conference] call.

EA has shown its willingness to experiment with microtransactions and direct-delivery over the past year or so, though its track record has been spotty at best. I love that you can buy Burnout Paradise in its entirety over the PlayStation Network, and I see some great potential in Battlefield Heroes, but EA's practice of encouraging players to pay to unlock content that's already on the disc is unsavory, and the fact that it charges you $6 for the option to re-download PC games purchased through its online store just seems stingy. Hopefully EA's recent financial woes won't force it to be too evil with the pricing structure for The Old Republic.