It seems that every new massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that comes is always compared to World of Warcraft (WoW). But this comparison is no longer valid. And, in fact, WoW has become somewhat of a virus and annoyance lately.
The game has gone backward significantly. Raids have been nerfed (made easier), classes have been destroyed and levelling speed has been boosted substantially. It’s like nothing is really balanced anymore. People in guilds and with heirlooms have great advantage over the average new guy joining the game. People with the money to buy gold online can buy items on the auction house others can only dream of and gain considerable advantage.
For Southeast Asia, new price changes.
Prices effective starting May 1st, 2026.
Replies(1)Looks like PlayStation took a hit with Marathon and is now quietly adjusting prices worldwide to recover the losses
Lets be honest raising prices doesn't do that when no one's buying it. I imagine the profit it greater selling 10 times more at a lower price
LMFAO Your comment alone says a lot more about you than anything else. When has one game not selling 10 million copies made a company raise the prices of their console? Then Xbox would be costing $5000 by now lol. You remind of the crazy drug addicts on the street rambling on about conspiracies. xD You sure you don't need a hug, buddy?
One game that Sony payed $200 million for. lol
Also, you sure were quick to get triggered. Maybe your the one who needs a hug?
If nothing else, we should be united against the real issue here. AI and unnecessary tariffs that are effecting all gamers.
The price increases are due to the RAM demand associated with AI and the US-Iran war. You can look to any business news website and local news to see that. Heck, even the 2026 Asus Zenbook Duo I've been eyeing has faced delays and has had a price increase of $400; that laptop has two specs. Asus is doing a staggered release with per-orders for the lower spec now and shipping in May and pre-orders for the higher spec that I'm eyeing starting in June. Basically, all computer manufactures are affected. It'll most likely start affecting smart phones too if it hasn't already. I can't remember the last time any major console maker (Nintendo, Sony, Sega, etc) increased the price of their console mid cycle outside of Microsoft just to make more profit.
War is causing gas prices to rise. Transport of everything requires gas so the prices of those items go up as well. So it does have an impact
The blockage of the Straight of Hormuz due to the US-Iran war has affected raw components used in semi-conductor manufacturing such as bromine, aluminum, and helium. Iran had attacked the liquified natural gas (LNG) plant in Qatar which is a large producer (1/3 globally) of helium which is used in semiconductor etching. So it's the both the war and the RAM crises.
Fans of World of Warcraft now chase a fresh goal. Thanks to a recent tie-up between Fanta and Xbox, gamers can grab special online prizes at no cost.
Former Xbox executive Ed Fries comments on the early days of Xbox, the opinion of Japanese game companies, and more.
Replies(2)I dont think that'll ever happen. But i must say back in the day, they were definitely trying because they were more cash rich than their competitors.
I think MS were and still are the richer company. They tried to acquire Sega back in the day (and considered doing so again more recently), they obviously bought exclusivity to Halo which was originally shown as a Mac title. I don’t think as a company MS can claim the moral high ground here. It’s a wilful lack of self awareness.
Of course Sony would try exactly the same if they had the resources, but when the PS2 dominated the industry was in a much healthier place with an abundance of great third parties.
This has been a depressing generation as far as first party decisions are concerned. The fact we are debating business plans rather than which game is better is a sad reflection of the state of things.
There was Nintendo as well, Sony wouldn't have had a monopoly. In fact, the world would be better today if Xbox never existed in the first place. They pretty much brought all bad practices we have today. We might have gotten all of it either way, but not this early. In term of franchises, I don't think there is anything Microsoft released that would actually be missed if it didn't exist. Even Halo the world wouldn't notice if Halo didn't exist.
I think almost everyone will agree that a monopoly is not good for the industry. But that being said, the competition needs to be smart and strategic with their business. Simply buying up publishers and traditional third-party studios just to keep them out of the other companies reach is not a sustainable practice. That goes for all parties so don't think I'm just referring to Xbox.
I'm no business guru by any stretch of the imagination but I firmly believe that the best way to drive consumers to your software and hardware is to invest smart in your first-party studios. Give them full support and guidance in making unique, fun games that are only available to play in your ecosystem and the gamers will come.
But first party studios aren't enough. They only make up a small portion of the industry. Without 3rd party there would be no industry for Microsoft or sony.Developing games take time and money and sometimes you gotta make moves to stay competitive.
Nah, I never said first-party was enough. I said it’s the ‘best way’ to drive gamers to your platform. 3rd-party is a free-for-all and there’s no guarantee that gamers will use your hardware to play the game. If you want to push your own software and/or hardware you need first-party, or at least exclusive deals with third-party studios.
Then why be so emotional and continue to talk about it. Xbox will never die be ause it stays in so many people's head.
How can you even see him being "emotional" in that comment?
If anything, you're the emotional one, constantly trying to go at anyone that says anything against Microsoft. So when you call him emotional, it comes off as deflection
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This article is more about what's wrong with WoW than why the comparison is lame. Imho though, I think that if people/developers/publishers etc want to stop being compared to WoW, they've got to stop trying to copy WoW. If you make a realistic driving sim you get compared to GT and Forza, if you make a football/soccer sim you get compared to fifa, if you make a run and gun shooter you get compared to cod, if you make a linear theme park mmo you get compared to WoW.. the gaming industry has always been like this.
Yeah I hear a lot of QQing in this article.
But to enlighten the author, games of a genre are compared to games of the same genre. So, MMOs will be compared to WoW simply because, right now, WoW is the king of MMOs that ALL new MMOs aspire to become or dethrone.
I don't see the problem honestly, WOW was compared to Everquest when It first came out, We comepare it because thats all we have to base things on, whether or not the game is good or not. Worth quiting one, to play the other.
But I agree WOW has been so dumbed down that its best to compare with it 2 years ago instead of today.
Lots of new MMO's have come and gone because they only offered 1/4 of what Wow offered, for the same price.
When your asking for $15 a month, you'd better bring something to the table. I've tried a handful of MMO's after WOW and I honestly don't feel those games where worth asking $5 a month for, let alone the $15 they really want.
Thanx for the comments :)
I get what you guys are saying, it's a pretty obvious thing, MMORPG's will be compared to the biggest MMORPG naturally. This is why I've said that the people who've played WoW from vanilla would compare new games to it.
It was quite hard to say what was on my mind in this article, I guess for me it's just not worth comparing new games to WoW as it is today, if you did, you'd compare it to it's earlier days :)
@DeeBee - I am QQing yeah, because I used to love WoW so much and am in fact very sad that it's not what is used to be :S
@Mikeyy I do agree with your last statement, WoW has such a vast variety of features and gameplay. A big and beautiful world, unlike I've ever seen before or after.