NCSoft Exec doesn't believe the MMO genre is dead

As always, check out your friends who play MMOs. In recent years, it's a genre that has proven repulsive to new games trying to grab a piece of the market, leaving those looking for new experiences empty-handed. New World is a recent example that collapsed a few years after launch, while others such as Amazon's Lord of the Rings MMO and Fantastic Pixel Castle canceled the project.

There are many reasons for the persistent failure of new MMOs. First, they are expensive and complex to create, and second, most MMO players have communities in other games that they are already rooted in, which means that something new has to be very compelling to get them to turn their heads.

This has led to a situation where new players aren't excited about playing decades-old MMOs, but the core audience isn't willing to switch either. This created negative feedback in the MMO community and contributed to the feeling among players that the genre was in permanent decline.

Mainstays of the genre like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy 14, and RuneScape all still have massive player bases, despite some doom and gloom surrounding MMOs in general.

The CEO of NC America believes the genre still exists

However, CEO of NC America – NCSoft's US branch, developer of Aion 2 and Blade & Soul – Jeonghee “JJ” Jin is optimistic about the future of the genre.

In an interview with Wccftech, Jin expressed her belief that there is a “real chance” for a new Western MMO to actually last more than a few years.

“What we've seen is a cyclical pattern, and I believe we're at the bottom of that cycle,” Jin said. “Huge numbers of players still spend a significant amount of time in games that are 10 or 15 years old. That tells you there's a space there. There's an audience that's loyal, they form real communities that make games a part of their lives. That's exactly the audience MMORPGs speak to.”

The white-haired character from the Aion 2 movie trailer.

The launch of Aion 2 was so disastrous that it knocked NCSoft's stock price down

Pay-to-win, pay-to-play, no matter how long you pay.

“People say it's an old genre, a niche, made for an older generation. Maybe. But trends in any creative industry are coming back. Younger players are growing up on Roblox and Minecraft, and they already understand what it means to belong to a gaming world and a community. I think that's good for MMORPGs in the long run,” she continued.

The sequel to NCSoft's long-running MMO, Aion, was released in South Korea and Taiwan. An international release is set for later this year, although there has been controversy surrounding the monetization and recreation (and subsequent sexualization) of real-life individuals.