Five years in the making and with a hefty $50 million production budget, DC Universe Online was finally released today. And, as reported by the LA Times, there’s a lot riding on the game’ success. Sony Online Entertainment used to dominate the online-games market — their Everquest series predated World of Warcraft by half a decade — but more recent games failed critically and commercially, all while Blizzard’s Warcraft series expanded to over 12 million subscribers. DCUO certainly looks impressive, and its superhero creation system could be addictive. But the question remains: Can any online RPG beat back the World of Wacraft juggernaut?
As the Times profile indicates, DCUO is purposefully intended to be a bit more friendly to casual (read: non-geek) gamers than World of Warcraft. It’s set in a recognizably real modern world, and it prominently features DC mainstays Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. The look and feel of the game is comic book-perfect — legendary artist and DC co-publisher Jim Lee had a big role in the game’s design, and Blackest Night mastermind Geoff Johns was one of the principal writers. You could certainly make the argument that there’s a population of gamers who might be interested in an MMORPG, but who also find Warcraft‘s fantasy world impenetrable. Perhaps they’ll be intrigued by a game set in the movie-fied world of DC Comics (which, like Entertainment Weekly, is owned by Time Warner). And since DCUO is being released on the PS3, it has access to the console market, whereas Warcraft is still computer-only.
Still, DCUO hits stores just a month after Warcraft released its latest expansion, Cataclysm, which purposefully redesigned the early level-up system to make the game more approachable, not to mention more fun. (Unsurprisingly, huge sales ensued.) In a grander sense, it’s still unclear if the success of World of Warcraft has created a generation of people who enjoy playing online RPGs — or a generation of people who enjoy playing World of Warcraft. (Consider how Facebook’s success did not exactly lead to a bumper crop of competitive social networks. Once you have Facebook, why would you need anything else?)
PopWatchers, will you be playing DCUO? Are you excited by the idea of making your own superhero? Warcraft players, is there room for two MMORPGs in your heart, not to mention your bank account?
I wish I had the money to.
Yes, I’m really looking forward to the game!
i’m buying it friday!
No, this will not be the next WoW. I’ve played the beta of this and it lacks any sort of mission variety, crafting system or long term end game.
As a big-time WoW player I’m not yet inclined to buy it. What they SHOULD do is what WoW does and offer a 10 day free trial for people to see if they like it.
If they did that, I would be glad to download it and see if I like it.
DarkElfa wat do u mean the game lacks end-game content,It just came out today,The end-game content,hasnt been released yet you goofy duck&As far as mission variety goes U have a great point but im hoping they get better creating missions,instances&raids as the game goes along&they gain experience creating them.Also since there alot of action&PvP I think they should add n leaderboards to give players another reason to play
The game’s been in beta testing for months. Some people have been playing it already.
DarkElfa wat do u mean the game lacks end-game content,It just came out today,The end-game content hasnt been released yet &As far as the mission variety goes U have a great point but im hoping they get better creating missions,instances&raids as they gain experience .I also think they should add n leaderboards to give players another reason to play since there is alot of action&PvP involved
I play City of Heroes and love it, so I think I’ll give this a try.
omg the batman game it is so raw
No Mac support, looks like. That’s one less thing it has going for it running against WoW.
The problem that DCUO faces with the comic book crowd that is no doubt one of their primary target market,is what types of heroes are you going to make? Because obviously not everyone its going to be a batman or superman. The concept isn’t new as we’ve already seen city if heroes and city if villains. The only thing DCUO brings to the table is an interesting plot with familiar characters we’ve grown up with. Only rome will tell
Love it. Already have a couple of characters (heroes), 1 in Gotham 1 in Metropolis.
If you see Avalokitesvara or Hayagriva, that’s me.
I hope so!
First Cataclysm private server free
Play with an goblin or an Worgen character right now!
Are you serious? Legions of games have come before DCUO looking to take down WoW and all have failed. I really question if the author A) has any clue about the gaming industry, B) came up with this thought himself, or C) was fed this idea by an SOE PR release.
SOE has been on the decline overall in the online gaming space for some time. This won’t save them, and it won’t even dent WoW.
Rift, on the other hand, is the one to watch.
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