The new MMO New World has had great success on Steam. This has also caught the eye of the makers of other online games, such as the creative director of Elder Scrolls Online. However, Rich Lambert feels that New World’s success is quite good, both for the player and for his game.
New World is so successful:
On September 28th, New World was released and entered the steam charts at number 1, even displacing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for a short time. At its peak, New World had over 913,000 simultaneous players. The rush on New World was so great that huge queues sometimes tied the players for hours. New World is now struggling with a number of problems, but is in the process of solving them.
In an interview with the Washington Post, ESO’s creative director, Rich Lambert, spoke about his own game and the success of New World. He also explained what makes a good MMO anyway.
Competition is “good for the consumer”
This is what the creators of ESO says: Actually, the conversation was about the upcoming ESO expansion Deadlands. However, Lambert also mentioned the new MMO New World and its success. When asked what he thought of it, Lambert replied:
“First of all: competition is good. Healthy. Good for the consumer. The second you no longer have the feeling that you have to prove yourself and improve your product is the second at which it goes downhill. So I think [the success of New World] is great and we need more successful games in the genre to get the trust of the players. To shake things up a little, to let the creative juices flow and all that. “
How does it make ESO and other MMORPGs better? Lambert explains that the success of an MMO depends on giving the community what it wants. A look at a strong competitor can provide an insight into what is currently being popular.
The conversation is about Final Fantasy XIV, for example, which recently received a surge in new players. Lambert says: “You are generally doing a lot right. They know what game they want to be. They welcome that too. And the fans who want a game like this know where to get it. ”
“The key is to understand the community”
What makes a good MMO? For an MMO to be good, the development teams would have to understand their community and give them what they want. That makes a good game. That and to show that you are constantly working to improve everything.
For ESO, that means working more on the story. According to Lambert, this is what the players are currently most into – or at least that is the assessment of the team. That is why two of the 4 annual updates focus on the history of ESO.
New World also seems to be on the right track here. At the moment there is a need to play with friends or an already known group. That was hardly possible because of the full servers at release and many groups were frayed.
Now developer Amazon brings free server transfers with which players can come together again. These transfers should then be able to be bought later – or even become free again, should the need arise.
What’s next for ESO and New World? New World is currently working on mending the release issues and fixing bugs. Some players have already reached the maximum level, but most are still on the way there.
Then there are a number of endgame activities available to them, which Amazon will probably add next.
ESO, on the other hand, is working on the final of the current expansion. With Deadlands the story of the deaths of Oblivion is to be ended – and fans meet again the great villain Mehrunes Dagon, who this time they put in his own realm.