A few too many games

     

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games are hot right now. No doubt about it, games like Everquest have managed to start a revolution in the PC industry. It seems every game developer in the U.S. is working on a new MMORPG. The market is quickly becoming on its way to becoming over saturated. The question arises, how many MMORPGs can the industry handle? Anyone who has ever played an MMORPG like Evercrack (Everquest's pet name by hardcore fans) knows they are extremely time consuming games. Once you commit to playing one, you can easily find yourself having little time for anything else. The problem here is that there are only so many PC gamers out there who want to play these types of games. Think about it like this. Let's say there are a couple million MMORPG gamers in the U.S. currently. Each one is going to more then likely only have time to play one game of this type at a time. That leads to a market that can only support a few strong players. Everquest is currently the top dog in this area with a large, loyal, fan base to call its own. While old by video game standards, Everquest is still the champion to beat in the MMORPG world. I believe the reason behind this has to due less with it being the best, there are currently a lot more sophisticated and better looking MMORPG's out there, and more so with the fact the players don't really want to move on to anything new. Unlike other online games out there, the MMORPG generally costs an ongoing fee to play and as of such leads to hassle of changing games. Who wants to open credit card accounts with a bunch of new, untested, games when you can just keep playing what you know? People are generally fickle with their money and as of such it makes it hard for new comers to succeed. Don't get me wrong; I am not saying it isn't impossible for more companies to have luck with these games. Games with a lot of hype, and potential, like Star Wars: Galaxies and Word's of WarCraft will surely do well. Others, no one can say. MMORPG's are exciting games that offer game play beyond the norm that can keep you engrossed for many, many hours at a time. They are grand, too grand for they're to be too many competitors at a time. The next year is going to be interesting. Expect a lot of companies to lose a lot of money when their games don't succeed in the market. When the dust settles, only the best of the best will be around for play.