MMO (massively multiplayer online) games have existed since 1985 when Island of Kesmai was first developed by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor, but have they finally served their time as the video game giants they once were or are they still thriving today? Let’s talk about that.
World of Warcraft is the most popular MMORPG of all time. Its subscriber base begun fairly low in 2005 at just over a million and Peaked at the end of 2010/ beginning of 2011 and has slowly descended until the end of 2014 where subscribers dramatically rose. The Subscriber base has taken a nose-dive since then with just over 5 million subscribers when at its peak was well over double that as this chart suggests.
When you think about it, 5 million subscribers may not really compare to when the game peaked with over 12 million in 2010/ 2011 but it is still nowhere near dead. World of warcraft is the 3rd most played pc game in 2015 on the online gaming platform raptr with players spending 5.35% of their time on it. Final Fantasy XIV and Star Wars: The Old Republic are also among some of the most played video games of 2015. Although MMOs still have some fight in them, it seems that MOBAs are taking over as they provide the gameplay presented in MMORPGs in a more accessible, less time-consuming fashion.
League of legends is the most played pc game by far in 2015 with 21.92% of play time on raptr. Heroes of the storm, DOTA 2 and Smite are also among some of the most played PC games of 2015. It is definitely possible that MOBAs may steal the mmo’s throne by producing similar gameplay to MMORPGs in smaller bursts suiting a more casual audience but at this point it is still alive and well and hopefully it remains that way
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