Why the promised new Magic MMORPG will not become an MMORPG

The new game “Magic: Legends” was announced in 2017 as a next-gen MMORPG. But the gameplay now showed an action RPG in the ISO perspective. This disappointed many MMORPG fans. The developers explain what led to the change in the plan.

So the game was announced: In June 2017, Cryptic Studios (Neverwinter, Star Trek Online) announced together with Perfect World an “MMORPG” that would play in the world of Magic: The Gathering. The online role-playing game should appear for PC and consoles.

The genre term MMORPG was underlined, the announcement left no doubt that it was a “new free-to-play action MMORPG.” Even Next Generation MMORPG was mentioned.

Magic: Legends had a special position after the announcement

So that’s a big deal: The last “MMORPGs” released in the west by established companies came out in 2014: The Elder Scrolls Online and WildStar.

In the years that followed, the development of Everquest Next and Titan was discontinued. They were supposed to be the next big MMORPGs from the West.

Magic: Legends was there after the announcement the “first MMORPG of a large western studio” in 5 years: A big thing.

So it was then: Now appeared a few days ago Gameplay trailer that showed Magic: Legends. But that was not an MMORPG in the usual “3rd person perspective”, but looked like an action RPG in the iso perspective. Commentators compared the optics to a “mobile MMO.”

The game is no longer described as an “Action MMORPG”, but rather as an “Online Action RPG”, so it goes more towards Diablo.

Decision between MMORPG and action RPG went back and forth

How did that happen? The developers gave the print magazine Game Informer a long interview.

Cryptic Studios are said to have had a lot of freedom in designing the game. The team was looking for a way to best implement the “Magic” experience in a playful way. There have been several changes between:

• a classic, proven traditional MMO camera, the MMORPG design
• and a traditional isometric action / RPG format

Ultimately, Cryptic Studios chose the “Action / RPG” format because players associate Magic with being able to summon many creatures. The ISO perspective would give players a better way to stay on top of things when a lot of creatures walk around.

Executive producer Stephen Ricossa jr. is quoted:

Because you summon so many things, and especially big exciting monsters, you often looked at the butts of Earth Elementals and things like that while running around to look for things to fight against.

Stephen Ricossa Jr., Executive Producer, to Game Informer

That is behind it: In the West, the MMORPG term is inextricably linked to the “3rd person” perspective. Virtually all successful MMORPGs have this perspective: WoW, Final Fantasy XIV, ESO, Black Desert, Guild Wars 2.

There are said to be some from Asia now MMORPGs in ISO perspective (Project TL and Lost Ark) coming, but it will probably take a while until they really count as MMORPG.

For developers, the question of perspective may be one of many decisions that were made for rational reasons, for many MMORPG fans the difference between “MMORPG” and “Action-RPG” is noticeably larger.

The decision changed the status of Magic: Legends:

• from the “first western MMORPG in 5 years”
• to another “action RPG” when so many new ones are coming