New 'action MMO' TERA will "hack off a bloody big hunk of the MMO market", reckons ex-Blizzard veteran Patrick Wyatt.
Wyatt - who helped create Warcraft, wrote Diablo's multiplayer code, scaled up Battle.net and founded ArenaNet during his time at Blizzard - recently joined new publisher En Masse entertainment.
En Masse is now readying the release of TERA, developed by Korean firm Bluehole Entertainment.
"I think that TERA specifically has the potential to do more than carve a niche - I think it's going to hack off a great big bloody hunk of the market," said Wyatt.
"It's got the eye-popping graphics needed to attract attention, but it doesn't end there; the combat system is going to draw from some existing MMOs, but I also think we'll pick up console gamers because of the more visceral, intense action.
"Ultimately, if we demonstrate that we can release a high-quality game and support it well, there's plenty of space for us in the market without having to unseat anyone else."
Check out our full interview with Wyatt later this week, when he reflects on his time at Blizzard - and discusses why En Masse isn't daunted by his ex-employer.
I think we have all heard such bold claims before from various other developers, I would love to be proved wrong and have a new fantastic MMO turn up, would make a change from the dross that has been shat out in the last few years, but I am just to cynical thanks to WAR, AoC, Aion and the likes, I doubt this will be any different.
"It's got the eye-popping graphics needed to attract attention, but it doesn't end there; the combat system is going to draw from some existing MMOs, but I also think we'll pick up console gamers because of the more visceral, intense action."
So basically it's the same as most other MMOs on the market but in a prettier wrapper? Great... I wish somebody would try something different with the genre.
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