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Champions Online and DC Universe Online: Doomed for failure or breaking new ground?
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While superheroes are the hot thing right now, and would seem to go hand-in-hand with RPGs, there hasn't been quite the rush by the gaming industry to truly embrace the genre beyond your standard movie-based games. In fact, other than City of Heroes/City of Villains, the MMO space for superhero games is mostly bare.
But Champions Online and DC Universe Online are set to change that.
Champions Online is being developed by Cryptic Studios, the guys that brought us City of Heroes, and is due to be released sometime later this year. (Right now they are targeting September.) In addition to the PC, Champions Online is also being developed for the Xbox 360.
DC Universe Online is targeting a console too. Developed by Sony Online, makers of EverQuest and EverQuest 2, DC Universe Online will come out for both the PC and the Sony PlayStation 3. It is due out in late 2009 or early 2010.
But are these games doomed for failure?
MMOs are a different breed of game. Because they are intended to be played for months and even years, they put the emphasis on more than just fun gameplay. A normal game might get away with repetitive game play so long as it is a real hoot to play, but an MMO that doesn't evolve in gameplay quickly gets blasted as having a boring treadmill. And while having a smooth way to find other players online is important for any multiplayer game, the birth of a strong community is vital for a successful MMO.
In many ways, both Champions Online and DC Universe Online are "dumbing down" the MMO for the console. Because console players are restricted to what their controllers can do, the games are designed to give the player far fewer powers at their fingertips, which is in sharp contrast to a game like Everquest 2, where a player might have 30 or 40 powers on their screen at all times.
This will ultimately lead to less variety, which could hurt the games in the long run. As soon as the game turns from fun to work, players tend to stop playing. (Or, in the case of MMOs, go back to playing WoW.)
Could simple be better?
There is certainly no rule of thumb that says a game must be complicated and filled with dozens upon dozens of skill and options to be fun. After all, a game like Call of Duty: World at War is quite simple by MMO standards, but it still has the ability to draw people back to it for months and months and even year after year with new games in the series.
And rather than look to other MMOs for inspiration, Champions Online and DC Universe Online will need to look outside of their genre for inspiration if they want to be successful.
Could the PC actually be holding them back?
PCs are the platform of choice for MMOs, so it is no surprise that both these games are clinging to the PC. After all, releasing an MMO solely for a console is quite a risk, and MMOs already present quite a risk for game developers. While games like Age of Conan and Warhammer Online have showed that WoW gamers are ready to try something new, they also showed just how quickly those same gamers will go back to World of Warcraft.
But in this instance, sticking to the PC could do the game more harm than good. An MMO designed with the console in mind will not be successful. It will be half-an-MMO to PC gamers and half-an-MMO to console gamers.
To be successful, an MMO needs to be designed specifically for one or the other: console or PC.
Both Champions Online and DC Universe Online do seem to be embracing many of the concepts needed for a successful console MMO. They are being designed with limited access to powers, and with a more action-oriented twitch-based gameplay in mind. It remains to be seen if they cling too much to their PC roots to go the extra step and really embrace the console gaming experience.
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