Hello! In this post I will talk about the upcoming MMO game project type, which is the feature I'm currently working on.
The purpose of this game project type is to provide players with more ways to progress their studios, as well as something to sink their money into when in late game. Unlike regular game projects, MMOs will require more preparation. First of all, in order to launch a MMO, you'll need to either setup a server room in one of your offices, or rent servers.
Both have their ups and downs, for example, setting up your own server room will cost you less in the long run, but it will be using up that precious office space, which could be used to have more workplaces. On the contrary, renting servers will use up no office space, but you'll have to pay rent each month, and the more servers you rent, the higher the rent will be. Additionally, the more complex the MMO is, the more server capacity will be required for each player, meaning that you'll have to expand your servers to keep up with the player count.
When setting up the MMO project, there will be unique tasks for it, of which 3 categories will be mandatory to pick. Each MMO-specific task matches together with each genre, and selecting tasks which don't work well with the specific genre you've picked for the MMO will shorten its lifespan. Conversely, picking tasks that match well with the selected genre, will extend its lifetime. Even if you make a great game, if the selected tasks don't match well with the genre, it will die off earlier.
Right before releasing a MMO, you'll need to select the monthly subscription fee that your players will have to pay to keep playing. Selecting a fee that's too high will result in less people buying the game, and the MMO dying off earlier in general. On the other hand, selecting a low fee will ensure your MMO stays alive for longer, but it might not cover the server expenses if it's too low, and in that case you'll be operating at a loss.
There are a lot of other various factors that take part in affecting the game sales and subscriptions, and I think if I spoil everything here, it won't be as fun for you to discover everything once this new game project type is ready and released.
Thank you for reading, see you in the next progress report!