NCsoft Interview

OGaming has conducted an interview with NCsoft's Jeremy Gaffney, in which the vice president of product development addresses questions about their current massively multiplayer titles, as well as the future of the MMO industry. Here's a bit to get you started:
Q: Not but 2-3 years ago, everyone was pulling out of the MMO market and citing that they were worried about its potential. Why do you think the business is enjoying such a sudden resurgence now?

A: Let's face it - you can count the number of successful MMOs that have come out in the last two years on one hand, so there I wouldn't say there is a great resurgence.

What I would say is that there has been a winnowing of the market so that there are fewer MMO publishers, but the games that are coming out are at a higher quality. Making MMOs is an expensive and time consuming venture, so it's not a business for everyone. NCsoft now has four top-notch games on the market, which represents a pretty high margin, so if there is any resurgence it is being driven by NCsoft.

With the worldwide success of games like Lineage 2 and World of Warcraft, you'll probably see a lot more people coming into the space again but doing these right and competing with the Big Boys is very difficult and expensive!