Oct 18, 2007

There's a glut of fantasy-based MMOs out there, and more are on the way. But for every announcement we receive about a new MMO, it seems that there's another for one that's been delayed, gone free-to-play, or even cancelled.

Are these signs of an imminent MMO bubble burst akin to the death of the dot com boom? Is there really room for so many new - and similar - titles for a genre that's known for sucking you in with its never ending content and making bank on monthly fees and micro transactions?

We posed the question to Adam Mersky, Director of Communications for Turbine, the developer of Lord of the Rings Online, and got some surprising answers.

Above: Not every MMO is as successful as WoW or LOTRO, but according to Mersky, there's no big MMO bubble on the verge of bursting

"While you're seeing a lot of titles on the horizon, you're going to see a lot of them slip. Gods and Heroes is going away, Warhammer just turned off their beta, and Conan has had multiple delays. It's hard, you know? There were a lot of titles that were supposed to come out this year, and they're not. I think people are starting to understand that these are very hard things to do. It's one thing to make a great game. It's another thing to make a great service," said Mersky.

"We're the savior of PC games. These types of [online] games - that's what's going to bring PC gaming back... I sense that people feel like there's this MMO bubble but I say 'You couldn't be further from the truth,'" continued Mersky.