MMOs Against the World (Of Warcraft)

World of Warcraft is a freak of MMO-nature. In a good way. There is no MMO out there that is near as popular, recognized, or profitable as it. That simple. And so while many MMOs out there are purported to be WoW killers start off strong, drawing part of Azeroth's population away for a time, they ultimately end up dipping down a few months.

I think one little fact makes it possible for Blizzard to remain the 12 million lb gorilla in the room. System requirements. Why do so many more people play this over the other, more graphically appealing games? Because they can. They don't need a major upgrade to their systems to experience most of the game. Let's face it, the majority of the online community don't have the best gaming machines because they don't need it. If they can read blogs, watch youtube, and tweet on their paltry little processors, they're unlikely to get anything bigger, because it's an unneeded expense.

Then let's take a look at most of the pay-to-play games. If you're trying to get it to the widest audience possible, you need it to appeal to the widest audience possible. Paying for the software, and the monthly service charge, and any possible expansions only to find out that you now need to pay for a little extra-memory or a new graphics card on top of all that is simply not appealing. Nor is finding out that even if your little system can run the game without upgrades, you will still have major lag. This isn't fun, and will drive most people to the one game on the market that does work well with what they have.

You cannot kill WoW if their audience cannot play your game. Even if they grow bored of Azeroth.