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Funcom's Erling Ellingsen, product manager for Age of Conan, sees his mature-rated game as a progression of the MMO genre.
"There are so many MMOs coming out, more and more every year, and they're all 12-rated games," he told GamesIndustry.biz.
"Ageof Conan is really the first mature MMO title to hit the market, and Ithink that if it does really well, that's definitely going to open upthat market for the competition."
Ellingsen said researchshows that the average MMO player is in the mid-twenties, creating anuntapped market for more mature content.
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"There are so manychoices right now in terms of other MMOs that people want something newand get a new experience, and I think Age of Conan is going to be ableto give them that," he said.
Ellingsen also pointed out that themillions of World of Warcraft players are growing up, having played thegame over the past four years.
"Perhaps they were 14 then, butthey're 18 now, and ready for something new. I think the market ismaturing, and I think you'll see more mature MMOs," he explained.
Can WoW Be toppled?
World of Warcraft is a PC gaming phenomenon. Three years since itsrelease and the online game is still riding high, but could 2008finally see it face some competition?
Blizzard, the creators of WoW, and their cleverly designed virtualworld have blown the Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) genre wideopen. Previously a niche gaming offshoot, it is now worth more than$1bn in the west alone.
World of Warcraft is primarily responsible for this growth, addingpolish and accessibility to the rough template originally developed bypioneers like Everquest.
"With World of Warcraft we tried to maximise the fun, pick-up-and-playaspects, and make an MMO that was as approachable as possible withoutlosing that lasting depth," said the game's lead producer, J AllenBrack. "That resounded with players on a much greater scale than we'dever anticipated."
A new expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King, is due out later thisyear and is likely to shoot to the top of the charts. But by this timeWoW will face the first batch of credible challengers to its onlinegaming crown.
The biggest is Warhammer Online. The game has a similar look andfeel to WoW but has far more emphasis on player versus player battle.This large-scale combat will see groups of opposing players battling itout for land and virtual bragging rights. Throw in the Games Workshoplicence and you have a potentially worthy competitor.
Oli Welsh, MMO editor of Eurogamer.net agrees: "Warhammer will probablyget a little closer to World of Warcraft because it specificallyappeals to hardcore fans who are pretty bored with WoW at the moment."
Another challenger due at around the same time is Age of Conan. Thisgrittier take on fantasy allows players to build and conquer cities,and boasts a more dynamic combat system than the online gaming norm.
Elsewhere, NCsoft's Aion has the potential to add more depth to theusual conflict with three factions - two playable and onecomputer-controlled - battling for control.
There is also a substantial new update due for Lord of the RingsOnline, which was originally released in 2007 and has quietly built adecent reputation - even if the subscriber numbers are dwarfed by WoW."The Lord of the Rings Online isn't just combat," says Ed Relf, whoheads up the project for publishers Codemasters. "The focus is onfaithfully recreating the fantasy world of Middle Earth in an onlineuniverse."
The consoles will also provide some belated competition when NCsoft launches its MMO title for the PS3 in 2009.
Publicly, at least, most of the competitors see WoW as a positive for the market.
"World of Warcraft has been a blessing for the genre and has opened upmassively multiplayer gaming for millions of people all around theworld," said Erling Ellingsen, product manager at Conan developerFuncom.
And Blizzard itself is magnanimous: "Rather than look at the newwave of titles as competitors, we see them as games that will furtherbroaden the overall appeal of online gaming - and we're looking forwardto playing them too," said Brack.
But while the market currently remains dominated by swords andsorcery the real growth is likely to be in less fantastical settings."I expect The Agency (spies), All Points Bulletin (crime) and LegoUniverse to do really, really well," says Eurogamer.net's Welsh.
Titles aimed at casual and younger gamers are another growth area.Disney's Club Penguin and Toontown Online have been successful inattracting the pre-teen audience - and the latter has over a millionsubscribers. Jagex's Runescape, which takes the more traditionalrole-playing setting and repackages it for a younger age group, has asimilar number of paying players.
Relf recognises the trend: "One of the biggest growth opportunitieswithin the online gaming space is represented by the relativelyuntapped younger or more casual gaming audience."
Welsh sounds a word of warning though.
"There's no such thing as a casual MMO player. Successful MMOs turncasual gamers into hardcore gamers - it's how they work, economically."
So what happens next in online gaming? Ellingsen thinks diversity iskey. "If the message the market receives is that you need to createWorld of Warcraft in order to be successful, no one is going to dare doit. I truly hope that we will see a lot more niche online games thatwill get a healthy number of players."
Welsh argues that price is the real driver. "The growth of thefree-to-play market in the west will really help grow the audience forthis kind of gaming."
Diversity, price and big brands like Lego will all help widen theonline gaming market, but Relf urges caution to any potential entrant."World of Warcraft is the iPod of the MMO genre. It's a phenomenon thatmay never be replicated again in this space."
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