2020 is Looking Good for MMOs and MMORPGs..

Alright, so some of you – you guys know who you are, don’t pretend you don’t – doubted me when I mentioned last month that 2020 was going to be pretty good year for MMORPGs. I think it’s accurate to say that 2019 sucked, seriously, it’s okay to admit it.
We had games like DK Online, Guardians of Ember, Warlords Awakening.. games that had all launched in the past and failed, relaunched to attempt to milk gullible gamers by selling them Founder’s Packs, having pay to win cash shops, or.. worse.
Funny enough, all of those games have shut down or are currently in the process of shutting down, which goes to say something about their longevity.
Then we had the cancellation of several highly anticipated titles like Peria Chronicles, Dragon Hound, Monster Hunter Online and Dragons Dogma Online.
Lost Ark likely won’t be releasing in the West this year.. or the forseeable future apparently. Ashes of Creation released their Apocalypse Battle Royale into Early Access and has like 10 people playing it, and.. yeah, it was a crappy year. A real crappy year.

2020 though. This year looks significantly more positive in terms of releases. And I know people say that about each year. “Next year will be different!” So allow me to show you why this year looks so promising to me..

Phantasy Star Online 2 just held their very first closed beta test for the official English version of the game, after almost a decade of waiting. Granted, this was for the Xbox One version – the PC version and further, the remaining console versions of the game will release over the course of the next year.
Blue Protocol has a confirmed English release.. essentially. Bandai Namco are not only looking for staff to overlook the localization of the game, but they also recently registered the Blue Protocol trademark in North America and Europe. The game doesn’t currently have a confirmed release date, but they’re expecting to release it within Japan this year.
Project TL has been confirmed by NCSoft to be releasing within South Korea this year. While this isn’t a confirmation that we’ll be getting an English localized version any time soon, it’s promising to know they’re finally approaching development completion. Plus.. worst case scenario, we’ll be able to play via VPN.
Pearl Abyss went on to reveal 4 brand new upcoming games, 2 of which are MMORPGs. Or, kinda MMORPGs. DokeV is a monster-collecting MMO like Temtem, but without the whole “gym” or “dojo leader” dynamic, and Crimson Desert is a cross between a single-player game and an MMORPG, with Pearl Abyss stating that the game will have traditional MMORPG features.
Gran Saga is one of two brand new cross-platform Anime MMORPGs along with Project S being developed by NPIXEL, a new South Korean developer that has obtained tens of millions of dollars of funding to produce games en masse.
Temtem launched into Early Access last month and to quite the success. As of this minute, the game has upwards of 20,000 players playing concurrently.. which a month later, is pretty damn good. It is expected to remain in Early Access for approximately a year before fully launching.
Genshin Impact – while now confirmed to not be an MMORPG, but a large, open-world 4-player cooperative multiplayer Anime RPG is having its closed beta in the first quarter of this year, with a release date expected later this year.
New World, the Amazon-funded MMO.. kinda MMORPG? Still not entirely certain what to label this as, is holding a closed beta test in April, with the game fully launching in May 2020. That’s right around the corner!
Corepunk is a brand new MMORPG announced in.. December 2019 I believe? The game is essentially going to be Path of Exile or Diablo.. if they were full-MMORPGs. The game is in the process of undergoing internal alpha testing, but they are looking to have closed beta tests for the game available later in the year.
Ascent: Infinite Realm has undergone beta testing in several countries by this point, but players have been wondering when it’s going to show its face in the West? Well.. closed beta testing in North America looks to be happening this year, so.. I guess stay tuned for a more specific update in the coming months!

I’d speak a little more about indie MMOs but honestly.. the ones I’ve been following, Pantheon, Crowfall, Camelot Unchained, Ashes of Creation, Chronicles of Elyria.. There have just been repeated setbacks, delays, and.. I dunno. I feel like we won’t really be seeing much from them this year.
However, I’m looking forward to a few games – non MMO games more specifically, and I know a lotta you are as well. This year isn’t just looking promising for MMOs!

League of Maidens should be holding beta tests this year. When specifically is unconfirmed, but with how much progress has been made.. it’ll hopefully be sooner rather than later.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is probably the RPG most of you are looking forward to. It’s perhaps the most anticipated RPG of the year, maybe of the last few years. Square pushed the release date back until April 10th, but if that makes for a more polished experience.. I’m all for it. And seeing Tifa in all her HD glory.. worth for that alone.
Tales of Arise looks like it could be the best Tales of game since Vesperia. I was a huge fan of Phantasia, Symphonia and Vesperia.. with other titles being great as well, but Arise looks incredible. It doesn’t have an official date confirmed for its release, but it will be available in 2020 nonetheless!
Project Sakura Wars released in December in Japan, but will be available internationally this year. I’ve never played a Sakura Wars game before, but the trailer has me incredibly hyped to try this out as my first.
Ghost of Tsushima is essentially if Assassins Creed were set in feudal Japan… and my god, my body is ready for this. It doesn’t have an exact date specified for release, but it is confirmed for 2020.
Granblue Fantasy Relink – while again, it doesn’t have a specific release date mentioned, is going to be available in 2020. If you’re not hyped for this one.. you should watch the trailer, because you should be.
Trials of Mana is a remake of the Seiken Densetsu 3 Mana game released back in 1995. It’s a completely overhauled title with voice acting, new features, and better yet is releasing on April 24th!

While almost all of the aforementioned games are RPGs.. I feel as though that’s a genre we most closely relate to as MMORPG players.
While there are no doubt going to be some great FPS or strategy games releasing this year, I’ve always found myself enjoying RPGs, and more specifically, JRPGs like the Tales of games, Final Fantasy games, Legend of Dragoon, Suikoden games…
You could almost go out on a limb here and say that 2020 might be my favorite year in recent memory. There are so many good games, both MMO and non-MMO coming out that I almost don’t think I’ll have the time to dedicate to them.
However, that is why after all you buy what you like.. and put them away until you’re ready to play them, right?

While I’m sure that, at least pertaining to the MMOs, some of them will likely stand the test of time and largely appeal to the masses, I’m sure some will also fail to take off – or employ poor monetization methods that force the game to buckle under the pressure of negative player feedback and reception.
Hopefully this year provides some form of excitement for you guys. I’m looking forward to quite a bit – I’m quite an Anime fan, honestly, and I love RPGs and JRPGs specifically. So the combination of so many Anime-inspired MMOs and JRPGs has my appetite sufficiently whet.
But I know Anime isn’t everyone’s cup of tea so some of you might not be interested in those. Thus I pose a question to all of you: Regardless of this list of games that I’m excited for, what games, specifically, are you excited for?
What MMOs, what non-MMOs are you looking forward to releasing this year? Not next year – with a confirmed release date this year. That way maybe I can take a look at them, as there are still plenty of games I’ve missed.

And that’s pretty much everything I wanted to talk about. I just wanted to make kind of like a.. list of games that I was excited for in 2020. I just wanted to show you all that 2020 is going to be a pretty decent year in terms of game releases, MMO and non-MMO alike. So there’s something to hope for, something to be excited for.
I know that even with the revelation that this year looks solid enough there will be people that somehow find fault with or find reason to think this year’ll suck but hey, cheer up. I’m sure there’s something here that’ll interest you.