Astroneer is heading to the Nintendo Switch in early 2022
As much fun as Astroneer can be, you currently have to settle in at home in order to play the game, so clearly modern society has somehow failed us. Fortunately that's a temporary problem, as the game has been announced for release on Nintendo Switch in early 2022, thus ensuring that you can just take […]
Blizzard apparently ousted three more key devs, including Diablo IV's game director
Kotaku is reporting that Blizzard has parted way with several more high-profile developers this week: Luis Barriga was game director on Diablo IV, while Jonathan LeCraft and Jesse McCree were designers on World of Warcraft. "We can confirm Luis Barriga, Jesse McCree, and Jonathan LeCraft are no longer with the company," a Blizzard rep told […]
Twitch streamers agitate for more revenue and better controls against harassment of marginalized casters
A hashtag has been making the social media rounds as Twitch streamers are trying to call awareness to several problems they have with the streaming platform. The #TwitchDoBetter hashtag — a reference to a 2018 tweet from Twitch that asked users to "watch [the company] closely and hold [it] accountable" as it planned to implement […]
Former Stadia first-party developers claim Google balked at the investment required to make first-party development work
Holy wow, did you know that developing video games is expensive and takes some time? It turns out that Google might not have known this when it started investing in first-party development in Stadia, according to former Typhoon Studios developers Reid Schneider and Alex Hutchinson. Both of them paint a picture of a company that […]
Final Fantasy XI deploys its August update with more story and Ramuh
It's time to fight Ramuh again in Final Fantasy XI! Sure, you might have already fought him to unlock him as a summon at this point and maybe a few more times for various reasons, but this time he's the more challenging Ambuscade battle for the month. But if you don't want to deal with […]
$40M of Nexon's $100M bitcoin investment poofed in the last four months
So Nexon's had an interesting financial quarter. Its revenues for Q2 were down quarter over quarter, in line with expectations. Why? Well, it turns out to be several reasons. First, Nexon notes that its incomes underperformed thanks to that weird investment it made last spring into bitcoin – to the tune of $100M US. At […]
Swords of Legends Online is launching two new easy- and normal-mode raids tomorrow
Swords of Legends Online is due for a big patch tomorrow that ought to make raiders happy. The patch notes introduce the Waves in a Tempest and Horror of Huaixiu raids, following on the heels of the Xuanjiu Jade Palace raid at the end of July. Waves in a Tempest is in the Shanghuai Grassland; […]
The Stream Team: Further pirating life in the Sea of Thieves
It's time once again to unfurl the sails and hit the Sea of Thieves! Join MOP's Chris and his good friends in the Porg Squadron as they set sail for the next leg of the Pirate's Life Tall Tale… or anything else that might strike their fancy! The anchors are aweigh at 2:00 p.m. EDT! […]
Perfect Ten: MMORPGs that would actually benefit from a Classic server
Here's the thing about having a classic server for a lot of MMORPGs: It doesn't actually do much. In order for a classic server to really make a lot of sense, you need to have a game that's been through substantial enough changes that the current game in someway does not resemble the original version […]
Blizzard denies rumor that Overwatch League will take year-long hiatus after current season
If you're still a big fan of Overwatch and the competitive Overwatch League, we may have some bad news for you. A rumor being reported now by GGRecon is that sources within the league have stated the fifth season will not be starting in its usual time, delaying into 2022 until the release of Overwatch […]
Old School RuneScape talks up its third raid, RuneScape details a mini dig site and Nodon Front fixes
The week's news for both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape are mostly about things that are coming soon as opposed to what's new. At least, the larger pieces of news; there's still things for players to look forward to this week as well, of course. The big news out of OSRS was the reveal of […]
Congress asks publishers to self-regulate lootboxes via a UK regulation that has nothing to do with lootboxes
There are some Democrats in the US Congress that are hoping to do something about lootboxes in the country. That's good. They even went so far as to send a letter to major games publishers to try and convince them to self-regulate the monetization scheme. That's also good. However, they're doing it by asking a […]
Here's how getting into a fight – and getting out of one – works in Book of Travels
If you thought Might and Delight's Book of Travels was going to be all walking and talking and no fighting, well, you're wrong. A new dev blog from the studio this week explains that while you won't be ganking each other in the idyllic, painterly setting, you will very definitely be fighting the monsters and […]
Activision-Blizzard shareholder group blasts response to scandal, demands board reshuffle
There's already a would-be class-action lawsuit from shareholders against Activision-Blizzard alleging that the company withheld important information about its legal turmoil, constituting fraud against investors. But even shareholders not yet part of that class-action aren't thrilled with the way the company is handling the fallout since California filed its whopper of a sexual discrimination/harassment lawsuit […]
Blade and Soul's Hongmoon Resurgence event goes live today
While it's not the incredibly anticipated Unreal Engine 4 update that Blade and Soul has been hyping, today's Hongmoon Resurgence update is giving fantasy players something new to fill the time as they wait. At the core of this update is the titular event, which is running from August 11th through September 8th. By completing […]
Black Desert's Corsair awakens today on PC – yes, it's otter time
Happy Corsair awakening day! She's got pirate hats, she's got gunblades, she's got adorable otters, she's got rapiers, she's got mermaids… wait. Wait. Go back to the otters thing? Yes, Black Desert's latest toon gets her awakened version in today's patch. As we've noted, the awakened version of this mermaid pirate queen uses gunblades and […]
Guild Wars 2 confirms End of Dragons' Necromancer elite is the Harbinger
Speculation has run rampant over the two elite specs that ArenaNet has been teasing ever since its Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons reveal in July. We thought we'd have to wait until Friday to get a look at what has been presumed to be the Necromancer and Guardian specs, but as it happens, Guild […]
Lineage II's casual-friendly edition launches today
How about a beefy MMO launch to spice up your Wednesday? That's exactly what Lineage II is providing, as the game is pushing out a brand-new version that's specifically tailored for solo and casual-friendly play. Lineage II Aden is a completely separate edition of the MMO not only scales down the difficulty so that you […]
The Daily Grind: How many MMOs have you played this summer so far?
I've always seen the summer as a time to branch out and get in as much MMORPG gaming as possible, especially with all of the extra releases and launches that tend to happen in this corridor. The fall? The fall is a time to go back to old favorites and settle into comfort zones. Anyway, […]
Warhammer Online's Return of Reckoning rogue server starts the second part of its Stronghold Saga
If you haven't been paying close attention to the Return of Reckoning rogue server of Warhammer Online, then you're probably not one of the game's old regulars. If you are, then you already know about the game's most recent live event known as the Stronghold Saga, which first kicked off in July with the Dwarves' […]
TitanReach adds new items and critters, updates its launcher, and sells alpha access for a limited time
There have been a couple of smaller patches applied to TitanReach. So small, in fact, that the notes for both were shared on the same post. That said, there are things of importance to call attention to, such as the addition of three unique "design an armor" sets along with a Founders Armor and Golden […]
OrbusVR plans Highsteppe release and new content updates through 2021
Are you looking forward to what's next in the VR MMORPG OrbusVR? Then you'll definitely want to take a moment to look at this update roadmap post, which lines up the content headed to the game for the remainder of this year. Starting things off will be the addition of Highsteppe on Tuesday, August 31st, […]
Sandbox MMO Profane discusses how players will acquire cosmetics
As we've touched on many times, dressing up your MMO avatar is the single most important thing you can do in-game. Mercifully, the devs working on Profane appreciate this most vaunted of MMO features and have once more taken to Twitter to write about how the upcoming PvP title will approach cosmetics. The devs at […]
Massively OP Podcast Episode 334: New World's fourth delay
Justin and Bree discuss Bless Unleashed's PC launch, Blizzard's financials and Brack's departure, New World's latest delay, Dungeon and Dragons Online, the gender and survey, with adventures in Ship of Heroes, LOTRO, FFXIV, Albion, CoH, and SWG Legends, plus mailbag topics on deadly difficulty in LOTRO and why FFXIV has become the landing zone for WoW refugees.
Black Desert Mobile opens Lahn and Crimson Lily pre-creation with contest
You think you can make a rather nice-looking character in Black Desert Mobile, do you? Well the game itself is asking you to prove it with its latest community challenge now that pre-creation is open for the Lahn and Crimson Lily. Each region of the game (Europe, America, and Asia) will have a prize for […]
So Netmarble is getting into the social casino gaming business
Our inbox here at MOP gets flooded with three things that are the equivalent of nails-on-a-chalkboard to me: requests for sponsored content, requests for blockchain content, and requests from online casinos. So the word "casino" in this press release automatically put me on edge and had my finger hovering over the delete button, but it's […]
Starbase's first big patch since early access is now live
It hasn't even been two weeks since Starbase finally rolled into early access, and now it's already getting its first big patch – but then again, if you saw the game's impossibly ambitious roadmap, that won't surprise you at all. The update includes a huge boon to base crafting as that's been sped up by […]
Galaxies of Eden is a new sandbox MMORPG with all the Star Wars Galaxies trappings
So here's a new MMO that just landed in our inbox: It's called Galaxies of Eden, and studio MIR Cybernetics Corporation is billing it as an Unreal Engine "social sandbox" with everything from housing and vendors skills to dancing and character customization and a player-run economy. It doesn't exactly say it's paying homage to Star […]
Choose My Adventure: A sample platter of classes and a taste of Geode boredom in Trove
You know what the problem is with Trove in the beginning? It just throws so much stuff at you that when you do something else that feels slow by comparison, it feels… well, boring if I'm perfectly frank. That was the problem I ran in to when I started out this week's adventure, hopping into […]
Star Citizen's community-run Daymar Rally race announces its return on January 15
It's time for a bit of in-game sci-fi off road racing action. Fans of Star Citizen are likely familiar with the Daymar Rally, a community-led event that sees three classes of vehicles — buggies, rovers, and bikes — race across a moon to get to checkpoints in the fastest time possible. Those fans now have […]
Into the Super-verse: First impressions of Ship of Heroes' mission beta
With other City of Heroes spiritual successors lagging behind in development, the weight of our hope for the future of superhero MMOs lays upon the shoulders of Ship of Heroes. Heroic Games is making great strides in bringing this title to market, although it's not quite there yet. What is here, however, is Ship of […]
Valheim's Hearth and Home update changes up the food system
When a hard-working Viking is done with a day of slaughter and plunder, it's nice to come home to warmth, food, and probably Netflix. Valheim's been big on letting players create their own dream house, and with the upcoming Hearth and Home update, it's only going to get better from here. Scheduled to arrive in […]
Blizzard workers address the drawbacks of boycotts, gamers lament WoW's deep decline
Ever since California filed a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard in July, the industry has been appalled, but it's also been squabbling over what exactly to do. And as the word "boycott" has floated up into our field of view as one option, some Blizzard staffers have agitated against it. Axios has a […]
LOTRO devs talk housing improvements and hook consolidation
Housing may not be at the forefront of Lord of the Rings Online's feature set, but believe it or not, there are some very passionate people about making homes in Middle-earth — both on the side of SSG and the community. In a new interview at Deco du Milieu, the devs fielded many questions about […]
You can start testing the first three Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons' elite specs next week
So who's ready to see the first three End of Dragons' elite specs confirmed? Not today, Guild Wars 2 fans – but soon. ArenaNet is taking the wraps off the first three later this week, and then you'll get to play them next week. "The first Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons™ elite specialization beta […]
PAX Australia 2021 has been canceled due to COVID, replaced by online event
PAX Australia has canceled its in-person event originally planned for October 8th through 10th, Reedpop announced late last night. "At the start of the year, we were optimistic that we'd all be able to come together in person this October," the company says. "We've been working hard with our partners and exhibitors to deliver the […]
Astellia Online has now officially announced an October 29 sunset
Yesterday afternoon, the MMO community raised a collective eyebrow at the realization that Astellia Online and Astellia Royal had vanished from Steam without so much as a word. Further digging provided the knowledge that the game's Reddit was dead and spammers were picking the carcass of the official forums clean. Late last night, the company that […]
The Daily Grind: Has there been a demographic shift in who plays MMOs, and why?
I feel as if we've heard thousands of arguments about shifting demographics in the MMO industry. The prevailing wisdom is that many gamers "age out" of the genre or at least some corners of the genre, that their changing life priorities – jobs, houses, spouses, children – make playing certain old-school, time-intensive, grindy games unpalatable. […]
Star Trek Online shares some epic Klingon heavy metal
It's time to bang your bumpy, circlet-adorned, honorable combat-loving head. Star Trek Online was apparently in the mood to rock when singer/songwriter Jason Charles Miller and actress Mary Chieffo unleashed the song Steel and Flame, a metal ballad in the game's House United update that describes L'Rell's return and rise to power within the Klingon […]
Starbase releases hotfixes for research trees, markets, and miscellaneous bugs
With Starbase officially in early access, it would make sense for the devs at Frozenbyte to make updates and adjustments as players work through the sci-fi building sandbox. To that point, there have been a couple of hotfixes recently applied that aren't necessarily huge in terms of content but are useful for addressing some bugs […]
Fiesta Online pushes out huge Realm of the Mad Gods expansion
Gamigo's anime MMO Fiesta Online is having a heckuva month, as the colorful title just got its biggest expansion to date: Realm of the Mad Gods. This is an actual expansion, starting with the addition of three new zones in the titular divine realm — Teva, Apoline, and Cypian — that come with over 100 […]
Vendetta Online adds a new ore, capital ship changes, cargo tractor beams, and instant travel in Deneb
Have you been keeping up with the updates applied to space sandbox of Vendetta Online? If not, then you're in luck because the game's latest newsletter is full of details on what's been introduced to the game recently. One of the first things pointed out is the addition of a new Sammic ore, a highly […]
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis drives SEGA profits in Q2 2021
Despite falling off the radar due to how much has happened in the MMORPG space this summer, Phantasy Star Online 2's New Genesis re-launch proved to be a financial boon for parent company SEGA. The studio posted its Q2 2021 financials, noting that the MMO "strongly performed" during this quarter as its number two top […]
Voidtrain is a survival sandbox where players build an interdimensional train and explore islands by rail
Looking through the description of Voidtrain and watching video footage, the closest I can come to in terms of a summary is that it looks a bit like Worlds Adrift meets Raft but in a vaguely steampunk style, and even that might be short shrift since this survival sandbox appears to be a pretty unique […]
The Elder Scrolls Online previews one of the lorebooks of the Waking Flame DLC
We all know why you play The Elder Scrolls Online. It's not for exciting combat, it's not for boundless exploration, and it sure as heck isn't for immersive crafting. It's because you want to read in-game lore books, and gosh, does the upcoming Waking Flame DLC ever deliver on that particular goal. But if you […]
Neverwinter is selling charity item bundles to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of America
Would you like to get your Neverwinter character a big fluffy stag mount and a bunch of other goodies while also helping out a good cause? Then you're going to want to know about the game's latest charity initiative, which is letting players buy up some unique packs to help out a good cause. The […]
Whatever happened to Astellia and Astellia Royal?
So it's been quite some time since we heard anything about Astellia (which is buy-to-play) or its free-to-play cousin Astellia Royal, hasn't it? And unfortunately, sometimes looking into the questions of what might be happening doesn't actually result in a happy story. Longtime friend of MOP Connor over at MMO Fallout noted that both games […]
Fight or Kite: Crowfall's latest release brings RvR and 'pop-up PvP' to the forefront
It's been about a month since the release of Crowfall, and the team at ArtCraft hasn't let off the gas yet. This past week we saw the completion of the first post-launch campaign and an update called The Shadow. The Shadow brought with it a new campaign refocusing players attention on some traditional RvR style […]
Unsealed court documents outline Google's consideration to buy 'some or all' of Epic
Most of the headlines regarding the Epic vs. Apple vs. Google antitrust lawsuits have been focused on the spat between Epic and Apple owing to it making the most noise, but we can't forget that Epic is taking Google to court over pretty much the same matter. When last we looked, Google tried to dismiss […]
Massively on the Go: Niantic's response to Pokemon Go's community is painfully deficient
Well, the timing of my last Pokemon Go article on the release of the ill-timed spin/interaction nerf was interesting in that it coincided with what felt like a last-minute, 24-hour boycott of the game. Good on the streamers who organized this, but it won't be enough. The game's rating on Googleplay hasn't dropped even 0.1 percent since […]
