A “Brand New Day” For Marvel Online
By 
Hib in
Marvel Comics, World of Warcraft, features, wtf on
February 12th, 2008
Apparently, the folks at Microsoft have been keeping up with the current storyline in Spider-Man, since they’ve apparently made a deal with Mephisto to make Marvel Online go away.
“Marvel and [Microsoft] have agreed to end development on the MMO,” Microsoft Game Studios Corporate Vice President Shane Kim told MTV. “It’s just something that we felt that, for us and for them, it would be better if we ended development.”
What could have led to wiping the Marvel MMO from existance? A cosmic cube? The Beyonder, back for another perm? Well, would you believe…because if Microsoft can’t be top dog, they don’t want to play?
When we first entered into the development and agreement of the development of ‘Marvel Universe Online,’ we thought we would create another subscription-based MMO. And if you really look at the data there’s basically one that’s successful and everything else wouldn’t meet our level or definition of commercial success.
Did you catch that?
“And if you really look at the data there’s basically one that’s successful and everything else wouldn’t meet our level or definition of commercial success.”
Translation: “If we can’t be ‘World of Warcraft’ successful, then we’re not going to bother.”
The MMORPGs currently making a profit are many, but “a profit” isn’t good enough for The Gates Squad. The only MMO that meets Microsoft’s “level or definition of commercial success” is WoW. Period.
If I were Turbine, SOE, NCSoft, etc., I would be calling a press conference to pronounce Microsoft “boogerheads”. So no one has a true MMO “commercial success” but Blizzard?
Note to Microsoft: No, WoW is the biggest commercial success story in MMORPGs, not the only.
Boogerheads.
I would worry that this type of attitude could poison the world of game development, leading to the eventual depredation of a genré of gaming I love dearly.
Of course, then I remember that this is the same company that thought Vista and the Zune were good ideas, and relax.
Seriously…am I missing something here, guys and gals?
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February 12th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Funny first line. Also, fix the spelling of my name in the freakin’ link. Noobsauce.
And… yeah, it annoys me when people talk about WoW like it’s the only successful MMO ever. A lot of the first MMOs are still successful in that they turn a profit. If you make a game with the expectation of making WoW money, you’re dumb.
February 12th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I didn’t even realize I had done that, Ryan….it’s now fixed, Mister Schwaidor!
February 12th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
This is kinda sad that this project isn’t going forward. I was looking forward to trying this game out. I love marvel comics and was excited to paly…alas, it was not to be.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:12 am
While I agree Microsoft is being dumb concerning the MMO thing… I happen to like Vista, and I absolutely prefer the Zune to the iPod.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Good post! Not a MMORPG player myself, but definitely a big comics fan and Marvel Zombie, not to mention continually disappointed by MS’ abuses - which started at least 30 years ago and have no end in sight. That being said, this story would have flown right under my radar, had I not seen your post on BlogEngage!
Good work and I hope to hear from you on my blog and see more from you in the future!
June 24th, 2009 at 12:51 am
Thanks for this. Just subscribed.