MMO Reporter » MMO Reporter Podcast

It’s time for the annual MMO Reporter Predictions Show! We’re dragged Bill back out for a show to talk to Chris and Harry about last year’s predictions, and to comment on our predictions for 2013. Included in this show are MMO Reporter’s pick for best expansion of 2012, as well as MMO of the Year!

Listen now:

2012 Predictions

Big winners predictions:
Chris: TOR, The Secret World, GW2
Bill: Guild Wars 2, TOR
Harry: TOR, Guild Wars 2

Surprises:
Chris: End of Nations
Bill: Planetside 2
Harry: Wildstar, Core Blaze, everquest next

Fails:
Chris – Wrath of Heroes.
Bill: Tera online
Harry: Final Fantasy XIV, Eligium, Mists of Pandaria

What will eat up most of your time in 2012?
Chris: In order – Rift, TOR, LOTRO, GW/GW2.
Bill: TOR, LOTRO, GW2, … , WoW
Harry: TOR, LOTRO, GW2, EVE, Hello Kitty Online

What game won’t release in 2012?
Chris – GW2
Bill: Mechwarrior online
Harry: Warhammer 40k

Will Blizzard remain the 800lb gorilla in the room in 2012?
Chris – No, down to 6 million subs by the end of the year. TOR + GW2 will take up the slack, combining to take about Blizzard’s dominance. Biggest /= dominant.
Bill – Yes – 6 million will still make it the biggest subscription MMO in the world
Harry: The decline in WoW subs will motivate Blizzard to reveal Titan, and will offer some kind of bundled deal for WoW year-subs to include free or discounted access to Titan, re-establishing itself as the king of the hill.

Question Marks?  What can’t you quite put your finger on:
Chris -Shadowrun Online – What’s the gameplay going to be like from an isometric perspective.
Bill: Neverwinter – shift in gameplay design, 2012 release (short dev time), Cryptic = good, Perfect World = ??
Harry: Secret World, world of darkness

What game could be announced that we haven’t heard about yet?
Chris – Palladium Books Rifts MMORPG – OMG “YES!”
Bill: Elder Scrolls MMO
Harry: New sandbox MMO from SOE, TOR expansion

Predictions for 2013

Big Winners:
Chris: Guild Wars 2, Firefall, Neverwinter, Planetside 2
Harry: Guild Wars 2, Hello Kitty Online

Big Fails:

Chris: The Secret World, TOR
Harry: Rift, FFXIV

What will eat up most of our time in 2013:

Chris: Guild Wars 2, Rift,  Neverwinter,LOTRO
Harry: LOTRO, Guild Wars 2

What game(s) won’t be released in 2013?

Chris: Elder Scrolls Online, Shadowrun Online, World of Darkness
Harry: Titan. EQ Next

Expansion of the Year:

Chris: Storm Legion
Harry: Riders of Rohan

MMO Reporter Official Expansion of the Year for 2012: Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan

Will Free to Play be the dominant/default business model by the end of 2013?

Chris: Yes, but there will still be several games that stick to the purchase/sub model. When a game can get a certain number of subs, its a more stable income stream that leads to more stable content releases.
Harry:Yes, but more companies will  adopt the Guild Wars model, rather than gimping their game. In fact, this will show the Asian model was correct all along, except for all the grinding.

Question Marks?  What can’t you quite put your finger on:

Chris: Mechwarrior Online – Why are so many games calling themselves MMOs when they barely have any of the aspects of an MMO?
Harry: Why haven’t we seen any viable console MMO yet?

What game could be announced that we haven’t heard about yet?

Chris: Madden the MMO
Harry: EverQuest Next, Guild Wars 3: Guild Warsinganating Harder: Reloaded: The Sequel, part deux  point 5, this time it’s personal. Now a Trillogy!, Fallout MMO

MMO of the Year:

Chris: Guild Wars 2
Harry: Guild Wars 2

MMO Reporter’s official MMO of the Year 2012: Guild Wars 2