Perfect Ten: MMOs whose sequels struggled to land
It kind of surprises me how often some video games barely got sequels. Like, at this point the fact that there were tons of Mega Man games on the NES seems like an obvious win, but the first game barely justified the development and release of Mega Man 2. You’d think that it was normally just a complete layup, but nope. That’s kind of the inverse of today’s list because here, we’re talking about times when a popular MMO or multiplayer game got a sequel that just… didn’t catch on the same way.
Now, to be clear, we’re not talking about games where the sequels are necessarily bad games in any way; rather, these are titles whose sequel landed and players didn’t flock to it as expected. Sometimes that sequel in the title doesn’t actually result in players migrating over after all, and sometimes everyone expects the new title to pull the old players and it just… doesn’t.
1. MapleStory 2
I always feel bad about the fact that I never gave MapleStory 2 a shot, but in my defense, I kinda thought that I was going to have more time to do so. As it turns out I had about a five-minute window to play before it got unceremoniously shuttered on the basis of its not being an enormous runaway success like the original game, which seems less fun and appealing to me on every level. Is this unfair to the sequel? I can’t say. I never gave it a shot, see, based on the fact that I had a five-minute window to do so. I know I just mentioned this.
2. Path of Exile 2
A lot of what is currently holding Path of Exile 2 back is, I’m sure, that it’s currently in early access and buy-to-play. That is a barrier to entry compared to its predecessor. At the same time, its predecessor kind of hit the brakes for a long while prepping for the sequel. There is a narrative of this having been the big thing that was meant to be a new dawn for the game and the community, and I feel like that hasn’t actually quite happened yet. Maybe that’s uncharitable, maybe it’s too soon to be looking nervously at collapsing Steam numbers, but it still feels tangible to me.
3. Overwatch 2
Hey, speaking of games that completely abandoned the original for an extended period of time to develop the sequel, here’s another one! But bonus point, the sequel wound up ditching basically everything that was promised for the sequel, making the entire exercise a complete waste of time, hence the game recently just rebranding and hoping to pretend that none of that ever happened. But we remember. And by we, I mean I. I remain laser-focused.
It happens sometimes. Usually it’s focused around robots. In this case, it’s focused on collecting outdated and irrelevant grudges. It’s honest work, I guess.
4. Asheron’s Call 2
I feel like the original Asheron’s Call was already a fever dream. It was unabashedly weird at the same time that it felt like there was a distinct push to get MMOs onto a unified page, and so it’s not surprise that its sequel was also unabashedly weird and going in its own direction. Unfortunately, that didn’t pay off for it in the end, and that – combined with some truly atrocious luck – meant it never really landed. A pity, but we’re all enamored with the spiritual sequel these days.
5. EverQuest II
Wait, wait. Calm down. I said calm down. No, this isn’t just because I dislike this franchise; it has nothing to do with that. No, I want you to stop and take a breath and just think about this for a second. This is not a list of sequels that are bad games but sequels that didn’t connect like the original did, and while I’m sure EverQuest II fans would be happy to point out the things it does better than the original… that doesn’t change that it didn’t connect like its predecessor.
Consider that there was a period of time when “EverQuest” could conceivably just mean “MMORPG” in the same way that “a Nintendo” could conceivably just mean “a video game console.” That isn’t the case any more. You can argue that it is, you can argue whether it’s deserved, and you can even feel free to have never liked this franchise. But you can’t argue that the sequel made as big an impact as the original did in that regard.
6. Lineage III
“I don’t remember this game even existing,” you say, and that’s because it’s Throne & Liberty. Yeah, this one struggled to connect in development; that’s how nuts this path was. Obviously it’s done all right for itself since then, but it apparently didn’t catch on with the franchise itself properly.
7. Torchlight Frontiers aka Torchlight III
So back in the long long ago, the first two Torchlight games were much loved by those who were very upset that Diablo III was not actually a thing yet, and the developers really and truly wanted to make an MMORPG out of the universe. How did that work? We’ll… uh… we’ll never know. Things went off the rails pretty thoroughly to the point that Frontiers was turned into Torchlight III and kinda bombed. I wouldn’t say that it was because of Diablo III actually existing, but it wasn’t not because of that? I wasn’t a part of this group, but when you interview people about this, it’s like people who came back from World War I. There’s a haunted look in their eyes.
8. Ragnarok Online 2
This one is just a series of oofs, in part because there are actually two games that could own the title of Ragnarok Online 2. The first one was so loathed that the developers scrapped the entire thing, just threw it all out and started over from scratch. Then there was another one, which apparently played much closer to the original despite having an updated graphical engine. But why do I say “played” there? Well, because it went into maintenance mode some time ago due to, you know, not connecting with its core audience.
I want you to think about that for just a second. Imagine that you basically burn your entire sequel to the ground and start over from scratch, and then the second try still doesn’t land like the original. That’s gotta sting.
9. Lineage II
Yes, I like putting curveballs on here! And here’s the thing. You might think that this one has connected just fine, but do you take a look at NCsoft’s financial statements? Because we do every quarter, and it turns out that the original Lineage frequently matches or exceeds its sequel in terms of revenue… and that’s the original game that isn’t even available here any more. When your international sequel can’t keep up with the original game that is now region-locked, I’m sorry, you have not quite hooked into the same essence. No matter how often you let me fight Flag Guardian Greg.
10. H1Z1
“Wait just a second. This isn’t a sequel to anything!” Yes, but John Smedley said it would be a new home for Star Wars Galaxies fans! I hope everyone had a hearty laugh at that, possibly transitioning into angry shouting. I sure did.
Everyone likes a good list, and we are no different! Perfect Ten takes an MMO topic and divvies it up into 10 delicious, entertaining, and often informative segments for your snacking pleasure. Got a good idea for a list? Email us at justin@massivelyop.com or eliot@massivelyop.com with the subject line “Perfect Ten.”
