What IP Will Receive the MMO Treatment Next?

February 13, 2009 LHStaff General 0

It’s no secret that if you base your game off a well established IP (intellectual property) that you have a much greater chance of success then if it’s based off of something completely new.  Developers know it, publishers know it and gamers certainly know it.  While creating a MMO based off a already existing world might give your game some good buzz and built in interest, the bottom line is if the game isn’t good people aren’t going to play it.

With IPs being turned into MMOs quicker then Michael Phelps apologizing, I’ve decided to take a look to see what IPs should be made into MMO’s next.

Starcraft

Blizzard has done it before with Warcraft, so why not with Starcraft?  In fact Blizzard might already be well into development of a Starcraft MMO as they have not yet released the name of their new MMORPG.  Since Diablo 3 has already been announced, I very much doubt that they would also be creating an Diablo MMO.  That leaves only Starcraft or possibly a brand new IP, but I’m leaning towards a SC MMO.

The Terminator

A Terminator MMO would work if you set it after all the movies during the actual war between man and machine.  This would definetly make for a kick ass MMOFPS especially if you allow gamers the option to become the robots.

Halo

Yes, another Sci-Fi IP.  There’s really not much to say about this one.  I’m sure everyone has played at least one of the Halo games and if you have it’s very easy to see why this would make for a great MMOFPS.  Aliens vs Humans is always a crowd pleaser especially when the world and storyline are as good as they are in Halo.

Underworld

Vampires versus werewolfs, who doesn’t think that would make a awesome MMO.  You could even throw in humans as a playable race and have a 3 way war.  Undeworld also is flexible with its time-line so the game can either take place back in medieval or modern times.

Those are the big four that I think would make excellent MMOs,  however I also think Wing Commander and Willow deserve honorable mention.  What do you think, any good IPs not yet tapped?

12 Comments

  1. There’s already been a Halo-MMO in production that’s already been cancelled – luckily, I’d say, but that’s just my general dislike of Halo talking I suppose. And when it comes to Underworld, CCP is working on a World of Darkness-MMO for all of us old Vampire: The Masquerade-fans.

    And when it comes to Starcraft, I actually wrote a bit about the potential that the “next-gen MMO” that Blizzard are working on might be just that – http://blog.dontfearthemutant.com/?p=79

  2. I agree that Starcraft is more likely over Diablo for MMO candidate’s. If only becasue Diablo would end up cannibalizing more of the WoW audience than Starcraft. Both IP’s have games coming out soon, I would count them both out, except Blizzard has confirmed another MMO is in the works (look at Blizzard’s job openings). And it’s not like they create new IP’s very often. Unless its a Lost Vikings MMO… Maybe some kind of offshoot from one of their IP’s in the same way that Ghost was an offshoot of Starcraft.

    I like your wing commander idea, Jumpgate sounds similiar to what I would expect from that anyway…

    Ive always thought some kind of mech game would make a great MMO, be it Mechwarrior or whatever. A character system similar to Eve would be at home here.
    …
    I would never go near it, but I’m surprised that Pokemon or something similar has not become an MMO already. Maybe it has and already went under though…
    …
    I doubt it will ever happen, but I would love to see a party based MMO. Something like Baulder’s Gate where you control an entire party. Be hard to implement unfortunatly.
    …
    I think Fallout 3 proved the appeal of a post-apocalyptic world. I would not be surprised to hear of a Fallout (or other post-apocalyptic world) MMO.
    …
    Hell, Mechs and the aftermath of a global war go together quite well.

  3. Since White Wolf and CCP merged there has been a bit of news and rumor about a World of Darkness MMO, which is an IP that served as ahm, “inspiration” for Underworld. Provided the WoD MMO isn’t completely Hot Air Underworld would probably suffer from that.

    An IP that on the one hand all but screams MMO material is the world of the Malazan empire, Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont’s collective brainchild. I’d really love that if done well, but I also greatly fear it’d get screwed up.

    Also an IP that would be splendid is Fasa/Microsoft’s Shadowrun, but I get the impression Microsoft’s backing away from MMO’s for the foreseeable future. The Halo and Vanguard projects both failed and I seem to recall a third cancelled project?

  4. I can’t believe they haven’t milked Starcraft more. I don’t think it would make a good MMO, maybe an MMOFPS like Planetside?

  5. Harry Potter is just asking to be done. They’ll need to hurry up and release it before the last movie comes out though, because the iron is getting colder by the minute. Ideally that game would have shipped about 6 years ago.

  8. OH man, I can see how Underworld would make a great mmo! It seems there is a large demand for vampire / warewolf type MMO’s but nobody is making any! Dark Eden is farm from perfect and Bloodlines lacks plenty. I wish a good game developer would come out with something like underworld only with customizable characters – your suggestion for three races would be great! Until that day comes, I’ll be playing other combat games as wow got kind of old and boring.

  12. Ever since “Werewolf the apocolypse” was Deleted,(I KNOW ITS NOT A MMO)their has not been any werewolf MMOs…All people want is to be a werewolf that can roam HUGE worlds and kill humans andor vampires.(Thats what we’ve been waiting for for years,i wounder why no one every tryed making one…(bigest question of the universe)

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