EA Mythic: WoW has made it easier to develop MMOs
Josh Drescher, senior designer, talks about developing Warhammer Online and how World of Warcraft made a "larger" and "more tolerant" market
EA Mythic's senior designer, Josh Drescher, has told GamesIndustry.biz that Blizzard's hugely successful title World of Warcraft has made it easier for others to develop MMOs.
During an interview, Drescher talked about developing fantasy MMOs - a genre dominated by World of Warcraft - saying that Blizzard's MMO has created a "larger" and "more tolerant" market.
"If you actually look at the MMO-sphere right now, that is since WoW launched, the vast percentage of MMOs that launched after it have been successful," Drescher explained.
"Obviously no one has eclipsed the 10 million subscriber number, but there have been numerous titles that have come out on different platforms and multiple genres all over the world that have been far more successful than MMOs had been previously."
EA Mythic is currently developing Warhammer Online, a fantasy MMO based onf the Games Workshop tabletop game, which hopes to compete with WoW.
"The market is much larger now and as a result is much more tolerant of unique and interesting ideas... If you have a major industry leader that gets out there and gets attention it's much easier as a developer to then capture the additional attention from that audience," Drescher added.
"So the post-WoW world is a great world to be making MMOs in."
The full interview with Josh Drescher is now online.