What CAN Make it in Today's Market?

As an avid gamer throughout the years I have watched the industry ebb and flow in some pretty significant ways but none quite as extreme as the changes we're seeing these days. For me, there has always been an expectation of quality coming at a price; games that were worth my time often demanded a significant portion of my money. This both encouraged me to spend my time in-game to make sure I was getting my money's worth and it also kept companies accountable to their subscribers.

This standard has gone through a complete shift in the past few years as more online games embrace a free to play model of business. So what does this mean for the players? What about future MMO's? Will online games hold themselves to the standards that they did in the past or become bland in the absence of motivation?

It's important to keep in mind that with the hundreds, even thousands of online games available for people to play that it's going to become even harder for a new MMO to achieve any sort of success as most players already have their online home away from home established. There is a significant level of brand loyalty that comes along with the games people play. You find players investing their time and often money into building a better experience for themselves within the game world they inhabit. Even with the free to play model becoming more common players spend money in virtual cash shops for special items, which generates the bulk of the revenue an online game produces but I digress.

What can actually make it these days? In the days to come we will see Star Wars: The Old Republic transition to a free to play model and, quoting my good friend Kemp, "If Star Wars can't do it WHAT can?". Good food for thought, arguably the most popular, well known license can't even maintain a pay to play status then how could anything else, especially new concepts, hope to find success?

Personally, I hope this forces developers to realize that it's time to take things to the next level with online gaming. We have such great tools at our disposal that now, more than ever, we need to innovate and rethink what online games are. Just some food for thought.