The next big game

Throughout, my time in MMO's I have watch game developers create great games with such promise and then fall short when it comes time for release. They often fail to realize that an MMO is not like other games. Only a handful of developers truly understand the genre, and fewer still are creating new and innovative game mechanics. Most are simply experimenting with the business models believing that it is the subscription that keeps people from exploring the genre. Considering that tens of millions of players are paying subscriptions today for the various games out there, then maybe the issue isn't convincing people to pay a subscription for a game, but creating a game that player will pay a subscription to play. I have seen many aspect of this genre over the years. Many of the games released made promises that the technology of the time simply could not keep. By combining some of those promises into a single game, Blizzard has turned World of Warcraft into a cash cow that will fund their various projects for years to come. But, as well as Blizzard has done, there are still promises that have not been fulfilled. And the MMO community is waiting and primed for the next firestorm game to take them and challenge them all over again, just as it was when WoW was released. The "next big thing" will be a game that delivers on those promises. And it will make the success of WoW seem quaint.