Why Your Favorite IP Won’t Become An MMORPG

Yes, yes, I realize that only about a week ago, I wrote a piece about how Sony should make The Legend of Dragoon into an MMO. But that doesn’t mean I think it’s likely to happen. The truth is, most MMO fans have done the same thing. At some point, we look at our favorite stories and go, “Yes, I’d like to live in that world, please.” In some cases, this pans out. Obviously, games like Star Trek Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and DC Universe Online are proof of that. It’s not like it’s completely impossible, but it is unlikely – particularly if the IP you have in mind is something more niche.

If you want an example of that, I’ve always wished I could have a Babylon 5 MMO. But if I’m being realistic – which I’m not when I’m wishing for it – Babylon 5 probably isn’t as well-suited to be turned into an MMO as I’d like. For one thing, it almost exclusively takes place on a space station more or less in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, some stories take characters to other planets. But it’s for short visits. There’s also space combat, but that’s typically only happening right around the station.

Of course, a B5 MMO could expand on the original story and let players spend more time in some of the places we only got to see a bit of in the series. But that would take a good bit of extra world-building. And it may not be worth it for an IP that’s not as well-known as some of the others listed, with a fanbase that’s probably going to be extra nitpicky.

Of course, there’s another, bigger roadblock in the way, and that’s the rights holders. Not everyone who owns a property is interested in trying to turn it into a game. Games are notoriously difficult and costly to make. Converting an incredibly popular one into a profitable enterprise is difficult enough. (If that weren’t the case, SWTOR wouldn’t have gone free-to-play in one of the worst ways possible.) Making that niche IP into a profitable MMO would be nigh impossible.

Beyond that, there are already a lot of MMOs fighting for player attention, and only so many MMO players to go around. MMORPGs are time sinks. They require a lot from players, and a lot of players don’t want to invest time in that way anymore.

The “big” MMORPGs are big because by this point, they have an invested player base. Even if the games aren’t hitting the same as they used to, they still retain a decent number of players. And the minute it looks like they might be turning things around, the players that drifted away come back.

When new MMORPGs come out, they will pull players from those other games – because everyone’s at least curious. But if they don’t do something special, those players will likely drift back to their original homes when a new expansion hits.

When it comes to existing IPs, the IP itself can limit what the devs can do to make them stand out. There’s also the whole problem of not only having to deal with the game dev executives pushing for what they want to see out of the game, but also the IP owners themselves. And as we all know, when too many executives get involved, the quality of the game can easily be disrupted.

So, as disappointing as it might be, the chances of our favorite IPs becoming MMORPGs are pretty slim. We’re honestly more likely to get some sort of battler, a stand-alone RPG, or something of the like. Or… It could end up becoming part of an existing game in a crossover.

But, perhaps that’s for the best. Sometimes, getting the thing you want isn’t nearly as good as you think it would be.