WOW is not the "end of all things"

By Oli Welsh Published 25 March, 2008

But it is the best, says Trion boss.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Trion Networks chief Lars Buttler has stressed that World of Warcraft is not the be all and end all of the MMO market.

Buttler, formerly an online gaming exec at Electronic Arts, was following up his previous suggestion that Activision's claim that it could cost a billion dollars to top WOW was a "bluff".

"Saying WOW is the end of all things would be like saying Mario or The Sims or Madden or any other great franchise are the end of all things in their particular categories," Buttler told GI.biz. "There will always be new and great developments. In the games world, that's particularly true because technology evolves so much."

He did acknowledge that WOW's domination of MMOs has happened for a reason, arguing that it's the only MMO to date to achieve the same quality level as offline games.

"I think it's because no one has really launched a great product in the online gaming space yet other than WOW," he said.

"Look at all the stuff that has been launched and apply one simple bar - could you sell this at retail if you stripped out all the online components? In other words, is it a good game? I don't think that any other MMO could then stand...Or very few exceptions."

However, Buttler also feels that Blizzard may struggle to repeat WOW's success. "In many cases, the biggest obstacle to future success is current success," he said. "If you look at EverQuest, that's exactly what people thought. They thought you can't beat EverQuest. If that logic applied, then EQII should be owning the market."

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (3) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Trikk #1 4 years ago

    Very true, but I still feel that WoW is far from what people really want. Even if they don't know it.

    Player versus Player interaction is too stale. Players who will go from WoW to WAR or AoC will realize how much fun PvP can be when put into context and having real risk/reward mechanics. After the coming generation of MMOs, I predict the next generation will be back to the roots - UO style hardcore PvP with full loot and endless potential in Player versus Player interaction. Then MMORPGs will have come full circle.

    WoW is the best MMO to start with, but I don't see it having much value for the hardcore player in a year or two. Even today, I think most people would prefer Everquest 2 or DAoC for their PvE and PvP needs respectively. The thing is that very few have actually heard of them, even fewer have tried them. WoW is a beast and will always have millions of players. No question. But there's room for more.

  • Wyrm #2 4 years ago

    SWG's player run economy and un-defined class structure was/is the perfect antidote to the WoW system.

  • mingster #3 4 years ago

    Maple Story is...