Talking with Funcom's Jorgen Tharaldsen
DateTime:1/7/2009 11:45:13 AM
IGN speaks with Funcom's Jorgen Tharaldsen to pick his mind on the state of the MMO, subscription models and Triple-A games.

What do you think constitutes a Triple-A game for an MMO?

Jorgen Tharaldsen: It depends a bit on the approach you take. On a gameplay level I would say that WoW has changed things quite a bit; we are all compared to it, and with that come certain expectations on features, polish and quality. The challenging fact is that all new MMO games launching today are not compared to what WoW did at launch, but to what WoW is today, many years in. This means that to be perceived as Triple-A, you need to compete with WoW's level now, and there you have it. Otherwise you need to go your own way and find your own approach, which is what we did with some of the things in Conan, i.e. the combat system, stories and engine (and those things we did in a great way, I think). While it's not without risk and complexity to choose such an approach, I believe it gives you more freedom down the road...