MMO Week in Review: Ashes to ashes

Nicely, we had been all ready to have a good time this week in the MMO Week in Evaluation, owing to the stable and pig-filled launched of Venture Gorgon, the return of Jack Emmert to Cryptic, and the massive information from the World of Warcraft State of Azeroth stream. Nevertheless, Saturday night time, Ashes of Creation exploded in a terrific massive fireball seen from area because the Kickstarted MMORPG’s crew was laid off and Steven Sharif resigned in protest of what he mentioned was the corporate’s Board’s (we assume it’s the buyers). Both approach, the drama has solely simply begun.

Learn on to meet up with the perfect of this week’s MMO information and opinions as we speak as each Sunday (since 2010!) in Massively Overpowered’s Week in Evaluation!

THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES

Ashes of Creation’s Steven Sharif simply resigned ‘in protest,’ claims his Board is doing a ‘mass layoff’ – Kickstarted early entry MMORPG Ashes of Creation is on fireplace tonight as apparently its founder and boss Steven Sharif has abruptly resigned from Intrepid Studios. “I could make a restricted…

Interview: MMO veteran Jack Emmert has returned to helm the newly revived Cryptic Studios – We have some juicy information for MMORPG followers – and particularly followers of the Cryptic MMORPGs that simply received snatched again from Embracer and returned to their rightful Arc Video games/Cryptic…

The important thing takeaways from World of Warcraft’s State of Azeroth 2026 stream – A full month into 2026, it is lastly time to hear what Blizzard has in retailer for no less than the quick way forward for its World of Warcraft franchise. This is every little thing you…

Indie MMORPG Venture Gorgon is ready to launch early this afternoon – The MassivelyOP crew has been overlaying Venture Gorgon since even earlier than MassivelyOP was born, so it is with aid and cheering that we’re happy to say Venture Gorgon is certainly…

Casually Traditional: Blizzard as soon as once more pushes WoW Traditional to the again of the category – After watching the latest State of Azeroth tackle, two issues turned clearly obvious. One, Blizzard is super-duper psyched about World of Warcraft: Midnight and particularly its housing system. And two,…

Venture Gorgon’s contemporary begin will flip veteran gamers into pigs to stage the taking part in discipline for newbies – On this week’s MOP Podcast, we joked about how Venture Gorgon may be the one MMORPG on the market the place you’ll be able to legitimately play as a Pig – not only a…

Vitae Aeternum: New World gave us one of many MMO style’s finest villains – I have been going by the highlights of my time with New World. Previously couple items, I talked about some locations in that sport that felt particular to me,…

Imprecise Patch Notes: You can not make different MMO gamers play your recollections – I am actually joyful that my niece likes video video games. Like, that is simply an apparent factor for the 2 of us to share and check out to bond over; it’s one thing…

Mortal On-line 2 unveils Sarducaa, the upcoming new ‘huge dry ocean of respiration dunes’ – Once you begin life off in Mortal On-line 2, you start in the realm of Haven after which transfer over to the realm of Myrland to start the remainder of…

Palia teases subsequent week’s Lunar New Yr occasion and a brand new ranching critter, the Roli – Lunar New Yr kicks off this 12 months on February seventeenth, so you understand we’re about to begin getting deluged with worldwide MMORPGs rolling out the themed occasions. In actual fact, one…

Roblox’s Steal a Brainrot landed a film deal for some motive, gamers revolt over new ‘dynamic heads’ – Sure, expensive readers, Roblox has made silly headlines as soon as once more, however no less than this time round they don’t seem to be concerning the sport or the corporate being (allegedly) terrible in methods we have…

Google’s AI device that makes ‘playable worlds’ through prompts is already changing into an IP plagiarism engine – It is mentioned that imitation is the sincerest type of flattery, however there’s additionally some extent when imitation transforms into straight-up copyright infringement and plagiarism. It appears as if that silly…

Ashes of Creation is engaged on cheats and bugs, guarantees Q1 plans February 13 – Ashes of Creation has had an fascinating first seven weeks of early entry, with a launch peppered with DDOS assaults, hack and dupe waves, RMT issues, layoffs, and over 200,000…

RuneScape Dragonwilds will launch three new areas in 2026, the primary of which is Dowdun Attain – We have lined the plans for Jagex’s different two video games, however there’s a third in the chamber: survival sandbox RuneScape Dragonwilds, which has additionally had its personal “summit” occasion that…

Guild Wars 2 exhibits off the brand new trend template system launching subsequent week – Some time again, MOP’s Justin and I had been chattering on about wardrobe and tmog and cosmetics choices in MMORPGs, and I used to be complaining about Guild Wars 2’s system, which was…

AI-powered MMORPG Epitome makes grand guarantees as its Kickstarter seeks over $100K – Final month began our protection of Epitome, a creating MMORPG from Polish studio Epitome P.S.A. that leans closely on LLM-powered NPCs and quests as its main function whereas additionally making…

Massively Overthinking: I don’t need to play your early entry MMO – The issue of early entry MMORPGs has been one thing we have talked about many occasions, together with right here in the Massively Overthinking column. We have talked about what we count on vs. what we…

Highguard updates with graphics QoL as Steam evaluations glow purple and devs decry dogpiling – We proceed to monitor the heartbeat of Highguard, the 3v3 FPS that developer WildLight Leisure launched earlier this week. With about three days beneath its belt, we’re beginning to see…

PSO2 New Genesis brings a stage cap increase, quality-of-life additions, and a returning enhance occasion in February – It’s time but once more for gamers of Phantasy Star On-line 2: New Genesis to get their superior take a look at the stuff coming to the anime MMORPG for the following…

Venture Gorgon’s launch sees new concurrency peak as devs promise a contemporary begin server subsequent week – With the launch of Venture Gorgon yesterday afternoon got here the anticipated inflow of gamers: In accordance to Steam Charts, the indie MMO noticed a peak of 704 gamers on Steam final…

Storyboard: How critically ought to MMOs take critical topics? – This week noticed the latest installment of the continuing Phantom Weapon questline in Remaining Fantasy XIV, and that is vital as a result of it options various quests centered round everybody’s favourite blacksmith,…

Kakao’s Chrono Odyssey outlines plan to repair sluggish fight and character motion in beta – Kakao is again with one other developer weblog for the now long-delayed Chrono Odyssey, persevering with its mission to define the huge fight modifications en route to the sport earlier than its subsequent…

Casually Traditional: Rating all six variations of WoW Traditional (to date) – When WoW Traditional got here out in 2019, I do not suppose anybody — Blizzard included — thought that there can be a superb half-dozen variations of the legacy MMO by 2026.…

‘You will be superior’: Guild Wars Reforged provides an Ironman mode referred to as Melandru’s Accord – Guild Wars Reforged followers received a bit deal with this week, and we do not simply imply the information that ArenaNet was fortunately overwhelmed by hungry gamers on the launch. Nope, in…

Throne & Liberty’s newest replace is right here with the Tower of Greed and participant housing QOL perks – Throne and Liberty was offline all night time and returned to service on the break of day. And what did it convey you? A patch, after all, or we would not be…

Former Diablo and Torchlight vets announce new co-op OARPG Darkhaven – You’ll have caught wind of teases from Moon Beast Productions earlier this week, but it surely’s occurring now: The previous Diablo and Diablo II builders behind the studio have formally…

Dune Awakening units Chapter 3 replace for February 3, confirms the top of base taxes – The tail finish of final 12 months noticed Dune Awakening promise gamers that, no child, its endgame can change, come again sweetie by the automobile of its Chapter 3 replace, which…

UK class motion that alleges Steam overcharges shoppers and controls PC sport costs marches on – Final 12 months, we reported on the beginning of a category motion lawsuit in the UK that accuses Valve of participating in anti-consumer practices in the nation through Steam by overcharging…

Excellent Ten: The unwritten social guidelines in each MMO – There are guidelines in MMOs. I imply, you understand that. There are all the time sure guidelines, and infrequently they arrive down to a well mannered go to from the native GMs asking what, precisely, you…

WoW Issue: World of Warcraft’s Devourer Demon Hunter has a powerful basis however wants refinement – In case you search for on the ol’ byline, you will observe I am a brand new face right here in MassivelyOP’s WoW Issue column. With New World winding down and Midnight returning World of…

Guild Wars Reforged’s December 2025 launch generated greater than a ‘16000% enhance’ in gross sales – When ArenaNet and 2weeks introduced after which launched Traditional Guild Wars as Guild Wars Reforged on the finish of 2025, it shortly turned one of many highlights of the entire…

Terraria’s Larger and Boulder replace is dwell with new world seeds, new objects, and extra options and secrets and techniques – It is mentioned that good issues come to those that wait, and we actually hope that replace 1.4.5 of Terraria is superb to followers of the side-scrolling multiplayer survivalbox, contemplating…

Dawn says it’s skipping EverQuest and EverQuest II roadmaps in 2026 to keep away from ‘redundancy’ – You might need observed that we’re virtually to February and we nonetheless do not have roadmaps for the EverQuest franchise – one thing Dawn has been offering commonly for years now. It…

Remaining Fantasy XIV brings a brand new Cosmic Exploration vacation spot, new phantom weapons, and new objects in patch 7.41 – It is time for the fantasy in Remaining Fantasy XIV to get much more sci-fi with the discharge of patch 7.41, which has launched the tentpole attraction of its subsequent Cosmic…

‘PvP raid shooter’ Highguard formally launches as devs declare, ‘We’re not going away’ – Do not look now, however a brand new team-based hero FPS has landed on the gaming world from seemingly out of nowhere. Highguard, the debut sport from WildLight Leisure that was first…

Select My Journey: Dungeons & Dragons On-line decides to naked some enamel out of nowhere – Over the previous whereas, this run of Dungeons & Dragons On-line has been fairly serene. Not precisely senseless, but additionally probably not that taxing both – which is not a criticism…

Co-op airship sandbox Echoes of Elysium enters early entry this afternoon with an bold roadmap – It is early entry launch day for Echoes of Elysium eventually. Readers will do not forget that the MMO-inspired co-op airship sandbox flew into view approach again in 2024 however was pretty…

TERA Console studio Krafton insists it’s by no means given any non-public servers an settlement to function – In case you’re among the many small variety of western MMORPG gamers who nonetheless comply with TERA Console following Krafton’s closure of the PC service again in 2022 (one thing many people are…

RuneScape’s Jagex vows to by no means use AI to generate property in its video games – It is actually obnoxious that at this level an excessive amount of hay should be made about whether or not or not a given studio has promised to not use generative AI when…

Knowledge of Nym: High quality-of-life options that I’d love to see in Remaining Fantasy XIV – On the finish of the day, having glamours fully separate from job issues was a quality-of-life function for Remaining Fantasy XIV. It does not actually alter how the sport performs in a…

THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS

Each week, get caught up on the MMO style’s newest information and Massively OP’s finest content material in our MMO Week in Evaluation! Need extra roundups of content material? Strive Friday’s Betawatch for MMO testing highlights, Saturday’s Make My MMO for MMO crowdfunding updates, and Sunday’s The MOP Up, which mops up all of the bits of stories we didn’t cowl anyplace else.