Ring of Elysium is a 3D battle royale shooter set in a snow-covered mountain. Players scavenge for weapons, ammo, and gear and fight it out for one of four spots on the rescue plane while staying ahead of a frigid snowstorm.
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Publisher: Tencent Games Playerbase: Medium Type: 3D F2P Battle Royale Release Date: September 19, 2018 Pros: +High quality graphics. +Robust character creation system. +Spawn with a pistol. +No parachute drops. Simply choose your starting position. +Player skills/equipment. Cons: -High system requirements. -Lag and FPS drops. –Limited hairstyles.
Frostkeep Studios released their early access development roadmap today for their sandbox faction based survival game Rend. The game has been available through Steam early access for about 2 months now and despite a strong start the game's playerbase is in decline, averaging about ~240 players online at any given time.
Some of the key targets and objectives in the development road-map are:
Comprehensive Combat Improvements
Streamlined Features
Legendary Artifacts
Dynamic Siege Combat
Refined Social Mechanics
Rend is a buy to play survival game that mixes Rust like survival elements with larger scale faction based gameplay and persistent MMO elements.
NCSoft USA announced today that Aion: Awakened Legacy is launching on October 24th, 2018 which is the biggest update of the year for the game. Awakened Legacy, better known as 6.0, increases the game's level cap to 80, introduces the new Lakrum zone, adds new skills, gear, items, and more. It's a massive update and to celebrate the occasion, NCSoft is giving away free awakened gala gift packs (visit the splash page to get them).
Aion: Awakened Legacy Teaser Trailer
The European version of Aion through gameforge received this exact same update early last week, so the North American version is a tad late. Still, better late than never. This is the first time the game has increased its level cap since 2016, so it's a massive update. Mark your calendars!
While we knew WildStar was shutting down, we didn't know exactly when. At least until today. NCSoft announced today that WildStar will be shutting down for good on November 28, 2018. Anyone who spent money on the game since July 1st on either Steam or through the official website will be getting refunds. From now until the game shuts down, WildStar will be hosting some fan favorite in game events as a farewell to their loyal players. Rest in peace WildStar (2014-2018).
Battlerite's Battle Royale game mode, Battlerite Royale, officially launched on Steam early access today as a standalone game as is off to a fairly strong start (3360 peak players on launch day). The game is available for $19.99 and mixes the MOBA elements found in Battlerite with popular battle royale mechanics from hit titles like PUBG / Fortnite. While the game costs money today, it will be free to play after it launches sometime in 2019. The game's current early access build features 20 unique champions along with similar combat mechanics from Battlerite, although with some tweaks to make every character viable.
“We’ve taken MOBA and battle royale and blended the best of both worlds to create something different and worthy of all MOBA fans,” says Peter Ilves, Game Director at Stunlock Studios. “Featuring a third person perspective, unique combat, and MOBA elements, Battlerite Royale is a truly unique take on the BR genre. The Early Access version not only plays smoothly, but is already visually captivating, and so we look forward to players joining us on this journey in bringing Battlerite Royale to its complete release next year.”
It's a bit odd that Battlerite Royale is available as a standalone game. I figured it would be included in the base game, but it looks like Stunlock Studios is shipping them as 2 separate products. I suspect they're doing so monetize the early access period for Battlerite Royale, as once it fully launches, it'll be free to play.
30 months after Microsoft opened up the Xbox ecosystem to cross platform play, Sony finally decided to follow suit. Initially, Sony was able to maintain its walled-garden approach due to its massive lead in this generation's console market. The massive success of Fortnite changed that. Millions of gamers were frustrated that Sony was standing in the way of PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch users playing together.
Today's update serves as a beta for cross-platform play and only applies to the smash hit Fortnite, but cross-play will soon become a feature for any 3rd party developer who chooses to support it. In their official announcement Sony claims cross-play was a feature that they have always worked towards, but its clear the real reason for the the sudden change is Fortnite's enormous success. That means even those of us who don't play the hit Battle Royale title still owe it a debt of gratitude.
It should be noted that PlayStation users could previously cross-play with those on the PC, iOS, and Android platforms. The new update completes the circle by also allowing Xbox One and Nintendo Switch cross-play as well.
World of Warcraft has had a great month. The release of Battle For Azeroth has seen the game's subscription numbers swell to a 4-year high and overtake League of Legends in revenue for the month of August according to SuperData research.
This year's Blizzcon, scheduled to start November 2nd, should give both old and new World of Warcraft fans a reason to celebrate the game's continued success. According to an official BlizzCon preview video, a demo for World of Warcraft Classic will be playable at the convention. What's more, all virtual ticket holders will be able to try the demo from home from November 2-8th.
Both BlizzCon attendees and virtual ticket holders will also receive in-game items including a cloak and war banner displaying symbols of either the Alliance or Horde factions.
The convention will also hold panels on the state of Classic WoW development and the challenges the team faces in recreating the 2004 experience. Both technical and design challenges are likely to be covered.
While we do not know how far along in development Classic WoW is, the fact that we'll have a playable demo within months bodes well for our predicted launch in time to celebrate the game's 15th anniversary on November 23, 2019.
MMOs.com Podcast – Episode 166: Are MMORPGs Back, Raiding, Bless KR, Lost Ark, & More
MMOs.com Podcast Episode 166 - Omer (@remotayx) and Erhan (@Ehaltay)
This is episode one hundred and sixty six of the MMOs.com Podcast and we look at the most recent news and happenings in the MMO and gaming world. As always we jumped right into the Weekly Raid, "Are MMORPGs Making a Comeback?". We discussed the latest Superdata report which shows the 2 highest grossing PC games in the world being MMORPGs (Dungeon Fighter Online and World of Warcraft). We then discussed Bless Korea shutting down and how the game has been a scam from the get-go. Lost Ark's South Korean open beta and potential U.S. release was also a topic of discussion.
SuperData released their monthly digital games market report earlier today and its filled with good news for the MMORPG genre. World of Warcraft surged past League of Legends and Fortnite to claim the #2 spot for highest grossing PC game for the month of August. World of Warcraft brought in $161 million in August, not counting Battle for Azeroth pre-orders. WoW's subscription numbers hit their highest point since 2014 when Warlords of Draenor was released.
Dungeon Fighter Online, the 2D brawler MMORPG that's 'big in China' took the #1 spot again. Another China-focused MMORPG, Fantasy Westward Journey Online 2, claimed #6. All told, that's 3 spots in the top 10 for a genre that many have written off for years now.
What's more, we have an ever expanding list of MMORPGs in various phases of the development cycle. These upcoming MMORPGs aren't all indie titles either. Many, like Ashes of Creation, Crowfall, and Camelot Unchained now have large teams and extensive financial backing. A few even have enough of a backing to potentially go toe-to-toe with WoW. New World has just entered Alpha testing and with Amazon's backing it likely enjoys unlimited access to hardware, bandwidth, and money. There's no guarantee any of these titles will find a large audience, but the odds of at least a single success increase with every new project.
The slowing of hardware improvements and convergence between PC/console capabilities also bodes well for the MMORPG genre. Many MMORPGs, especially free to play ones, have found success with their console ports. Neverwinter, Tera, and Skyforge are all great examples. With the next generation of consoles likely only a few years away, its likely we'll see even more PC MMORPGs make the leap, opening the genre up to tens of millions of new players.
Older players are also being drawn back to the genre with the help of classic servers. Old School Runescape (OSRS) still commands a massive audience. Lineage 2 has a classic server in the works, and EverQuest has found enormous success of years with its progression servers. Even Blizzard has finally understood the logic of classic servers. An official 'vanilla' World of Warcraft service was announced last Blizzcon and will likely bring many veterans back to the game.
With so much going well for the genre, is the genre finally 'back' from its dark ages?
MMOs.com Weekly News Recap #166 September 24, 2018
Weekly MMO News Recap #166 - September 24, 2018
A look at MMO News and updates for the week ending September 24, 2018. This is episode 166 in a weekly series every Monday that will cover all major MMO news and updates. The games covered this week were: Bless, Magic: The Gathering Arena, Perfect World, Lost Ark, Soulworker, Elder Scrolls Legends, Lineage 2, Rift, Neverwinter, World of Warcraft, New Wargaming MMO, Blade and Soul, and Waven. Links to individual news articles we covered this week:
