The Escapist : Evolve or Die

The Escapist : Evolve or Die: "Back in the ancient times of the late 1990s, 3D graphical MMOs were these fantastic worlds you could inhabit only if you paid a monthly fee. Games like Ultima Online and EverQuest were expensive undertakings, but their makers became extremely rich from the fees they charged. Then, in 2004, one world was created whose success quickly eclipsed the rest. Blizzard's World of Warcraft stole time and money away from the creators of the other worlds; games like Age of Conan and Warhammer Online tried to gain enough subscribers to stay afloat but ultimately they were unable to compete. Developers looked to Asia and Europe, where games fueled by microtransactions had flourished, for inspiration, and the evolution to free-to-play saved many MMOs from destruction. The games that evolved survived in the new ecosystem, while those that did not still struggle."