Everquest Next was supposed to be the first MMORPG compatible with Oculus Rift.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – It seems that massive multiplayer on-line role-playing games enthusiasts will have to wait longer for an installment as good as WoW as Daybreak canceled Everquest Next. According to the official announcement made on the company’s website, the MMORPG was canceled because it didn’t seem like it would entertain the players as much as previous franchises.
The MMORPG genre is slowly dying, and it’s being replaced by fans of massive multiplayer on-line squad-based tactics first player shooters, like Tom Clancy’s The Division.
When World of Warcraft was first released in 2004, gamers worldwide were lining up to buy monthly subscriptions. Every DLC, every expansion pack were met with enthusiasm and gaming conventions were filled with WoW cosplayers.
But now, the times they are a-changing. Warcraft is losing fans, and other MMORPG alternatives like Black Desert, Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars II and Lineage are not standing up to the level of Blizzard’s baby.
And Daybreak Games is a company that keeps its word and only has the players in mind, at all time. So the news that Daybreak canceled Everquest Next didn’t come as much of a shock.
Back in 2010 when the game was in its early developmental stages, the company had a lot of fun, great, and innovative ideas for their project. They wanted Everquest to be the first MMORPG compatible with the Oculus Rift technology.
Also, they were planning on bringing additional innovative features to the game such as mobs being able to leave their spawning areas if they were excessively farmed by other players. They were even advocating for the use of a free-to-play model.
Upon taking them separately, these features sound like a lot of fun, and they seem to promise at least an exciting gaming experience. But the president of the gaming company, Russell Shanks, declared that individual features and scenarios were promising, but when the developers decided to put all of the pieces together, they realized that the new MMORPG would lack the “fun” component.
This is why Daybreak canceled Everquest Next because they felt like if they launched the game, they would have disappointed the fans that were expecting something at least as good as World of Warcraft.
Maybe the market for MMORPG games is oversaturated, and MMOSBTFPS series like Tom Clancy are more appealing to the younger generations. Dystopias scored better than fantasy worlds in the late years.
Maybe WoW still has a chance of revitalizing its players after the movie comes out in December.
Image source: YouTube