THQ has claimed that new MMO Warhammer 40,000 could have a lifespan of seven years - and confirmed that it will be showing the title off at E3.
Speaking in a call to investors last night, THQ boss Brian Farrell said:
"The highest ranking revenue opportunity for us clearly is the Warhammer 40k MMO. Again, I encourage you to come by and see what we are seeing at E3 with that when we fully unveil it, but we think we are going to have a very competitive MMO.
"As you know, one of the big wins there is when you are successful with those properties, you have a long life on both revenues and cash flow, that's not just one year or two years it can go, five, six, seven years. So that's probably the biggest opportunity."
Very little is known about the MMO, except that it's due for release in the next two years.
Farrell added: "The Warhammer 40k MMO that we have developed at our Austin Studio - the studio that built Darksiders - [is] in investment mode."
The thing is, the standard MMO combat system doesn't work for 40k. It's supposed to be fast-paced and visceral, so clicking "auto-attack on" and sitting back while your guys fire their guns or swing their chainswords goes against the entire ethos.
I'd love to see a 40k MMO, but I reckon it'd need to be done more like Mass Effect to really work in that universe. Keep the player in control but use stats to determine weapon accuracy and skill damage. Then it might work.
I'd be intreasted to see a 40k MMO, 40k is the coolest scifi there is. Only problem is that the combat system would need to be way better than what is on offer at the moment, a cross between gears of war and dantes inferno would be good. Would need to be brutal and loud, and be on such an epic scale,I struggle to see how such a game could be made.
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