Icarus Studios News

World of Warcraft changed the way people look at MMORPGs when it launched on November 23rd, 2004. Since that time, according to our game list, 174 new MMOs have been launched and survive to this day. Of those launched prior to World of Warcraft, only 63 continue operation. Sure, there are other games we have not listed yet (we’re working on it) and quite a few games have launches and died (I’m looking at you Tabula Rasa). I’m also suffering from some North American bias and only counting the games on this side of the pond. Still, that’s a fantastic number of games in only five years that have either made it or – worst case – not died since WoW launched. Yet, despite the 174 new entries, not one has even flirted with a fraction of WoW’s success, let alone matched it critically or commercially.

What follows is purely my opinion and I looked over every game on our list with a launch date after WoW. There are some obvious omissions, so yes, if it's not there, I did consider it. I have done my best to include games of all types and not just those I necessarily personally enjoyed. For some, it’s been a dark period for MMOs. Many hardcore forum posters and journalists, myself included, are often guilty of a bit of nostalgia. We tend to glorify the Dark Age of Camelots and the Ultima Onlines. So today, I let this period in gaming stand on its own two feet. I’m setting aside every game launched before November 23rd, 2004 and running down my totally subjective ranking of the Top 10 MMOs Since WoW.

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#9 – Fallen Earth: It’s tough to list a game that just launched a couple weeks ago, but Icarus Studios became one of the first independent American studios to launch a new game in quite some time. Fallen Earth has the deck stacked against it. It’s not fantasy. It’s not class based. It’s not traditional level driven. But what it is, at least so far, is a good bit of fun. Will it succeed in the long term? Hard to say, but all indications are that Fallen Earth is off to a strong start. It has received vocal player support, a decent ranking on our MMORPG.com game list and what early reviews are in seem to be quite positive. It offers players something different, which is rare on a list where almost every game you’re about to read about is fantasy. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic future, boasts a skill based system, and is one of the few true sandbox style MMOs out there.