They survived the MMO bloodbath of 2025, however 2026 goes to be a tense 12 months for WoW and FF14: And for fully completely different causes
Harvey Randall, Employees Author
This week I am – on vacation, really. I wrote this prematurely. I am the ghost of videogame takes previous. OooooOoo.
Final week I used to be: Coping a little bit about Hades 2.
2025 was a bloody 12 months for MMORPGs as a style. And by bloody, I really imply catastrophic: New World introduced it might be closing, Greg Avenue’s MMO had its funding pulled, that ZeniMax sport was killed earlier than it might even hit the market, and a Warhammer MMO was cancelled.
However World of Warcraft and Ultimate Fantasy 14 survived—which… is not actually any kind of shock, actually. On the planet of MMOs, the previous guard will at all times stand robust. It will take greater than a deeply ominous state of the trade (and the truth that no-one appears to get to make MMOs anymore) to take these massive boys down.
But there’s bother in paradise: In a captivating little bit of coincidence, each World of Warcraft and Ultimate Fantasy 14 are in for a really fascinating 2026 (and past). How both sport is dealt with on this fateful 12 months will set the tone for years to return.
Turning that ship round
Ultimate Fantasy 14 has, as I and my fellow FF14 enjoyer Mollie Taylor have usually mentioned on this web site, been in a bizarre state. It has been in a bizarre state for the reason that aftermath of Endwalker, thoughts—however the cracks have solely been deepening. There’s a couple of contributing elements to this.
To try to summarise it: Ultimate Fantasy 14 is a sport that has lagged behind its friends when it comes to each design sensibility and precise content material cadence—as I identified again in 2024, Blizzard has mainly been working circles round Artistic Studio 3 on the subject of the sheer quantity of stuff to do.
Sheer scale and growth heft is the primary hurdle. WoW’s an even bigger sport, helmed by a studio that was bought for over $68 billion and has been having fun with an enormous quantity of funding from Microsoft for that very cause—in the meantime, FF14 has been a breadwinner for Sq. Enix, and but, it has been taken as a right; Its funds have been seemingly siphoned off to ill-fated tasks, and in the event that they have not? Then, uh, I am unsure what Artistic Studio 3’s been doing with all that cash.
However the different drawback sits squarely in design philosophy. Till as lately as patch 7.35, which got here out in October of this 12 months (virtually a full 12 months after I wrote that 2024 opinion piece) Artistic Studio 3 was nonetheless divvying up content material on a casual-hardcore line.
In case you are unfamiliar, mainly: Fashionable MMO design sensibilities state that you’ve got gotta use the entire cow. Launch a raid? There needs to be completely different difficulties for all talent ranges. Individuals are each higher at videogames, and have much less time to play them. If you happen to go to the difficulty of constructing property, designing encounters, and fleshing out bits of the world—it’s best to ensure there’s one thing for everybody there.
Essential reception to Dawntrail appears to’ve given Yoshi-P the kick up the butt he wanted to start out adjusting his previous assumptions
FF14 has… not been doing this, past frankly dated regular/Savage buildings for sure fights. This got here to a head in patch 7.25’s Forked Tower, a straw that broke the camel’s again: Arduous to entry and punishing to finish, but additionally tough to organise for, a vanishingly slim quantity of gamers really noticed the dang factor.
Which is ok for, say, WoW’s Mythic+—however in the event you really wished to do the Forked Tower raid in any respect, you had been caught on that issue, which is absurdly wasteful on Artistic Studio 3’s half. An entire chunk of very onerous work and encounter design, all for the service of—on the time within the story linked above—roughly 2% of the playerbase.
That appears to be altering. Pilgrim’s Traverse launched with a variable issue, aimed toward permitting informal gamers to discover most of what is on provide with a tough-as-nails struggle for the sweats to chew on on the finish and, bar a couple of points with the rewards? It went down nicely.
Different issues, like the sport’s stagnating job design and scared cows, additionally appear to be underneath director Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P)’s crosshairs. The following growth, which is able to possible launch both late December subsequent 12 months or early January 2027, is claimed to have a job overhaul within the reworks.
And, as confirmed by the newest patch‘s modifications to glamour, vital reception to Dawntrail appears to’ve given Yoshi-P the kick up the butt he wanted to start out adjusting his previous assumptions—lastly letting go of a design philosophy you’ve got held for 10+ years is an indication that issues are about to alter, even when it is simply style.
In abstract, Ultimate Fantasy 14’s been floundering—and 2026 will decide whether or not Artistic Studio 3 is able to correctly turning the ship round and getting her in the appropriate path, once more. World of Warcraft, then again, has already received itself away from its crash-course. Now it simply must keep away from slamming right into a second cliff.
AddOn-B-Gone
It actually has been a miraculous turnaround for ol’ WoW, given how actually dire issues regarded throughout Shadowlands—an growth so disastrously unhealthy it drove a literal exodus of gamers to Ultimate Fantasy 14, and noticed the studio rethinking each design philosophy it had. Dragonflight was a strong growth, The Conflict Inside constructed on its successes, and now Blizzard’s poised to launch into the second a part of a three-year saga that may genuinely stick the touchdown.
What’s extra, Blizzard’s managed to maintain loads of gamers comfortable by spinning a number of plates directly. If you happen to’re subbed to WoW, you are additionally been having access to Traditional, Season of Discovery, and the occasional Remix—all of which have acquired strong updates and assist.
Here is the issue, although: There’s a very actual likelihood that Blizzard may screw the whole lot the hell up.
See, as has been introduced, Blizzard is taking over the enviable problem of taking out many of the sport’s fight mods, or “AddOns”. A transfer that, in equity, has been lengthy overdue. The prevalence of issues like WeakAuras has stored Blizzard complacent on making the sport’s many specialisations usable, and has additionally meant the devs have needed to design its hardest content material round utilizing them.
Nonetheless, these exact same AddOns offered loads of assist for each accessibility and quality-of-life. If you happen to did not like one thing about how a spec was dealt with, you possibly can at all times automate it—like, I performed an Outlaw Rogue. I couldn’t inform you what the buffs of my Roll the Bones do. I simply hit the button when the humorous Weakaura tells me to as a result of my rotation’s busy sufficient as it’s. Anyway, there’s already been panic earlier than these modifications even made it off the take a look at server.
Not solely that, Blizzard’s taking a number of big-boy swings on the identical time. Participant Housing’s an enormous one (and it has been going decently nicely, thus far) however the dev can also be fiddling round with how glamour works. And, genuinely, I can’t overstate how bloody necessary style is to MMOs. If you happen to piss off the fashionistas you’re in deep trouble.
I am in full assist, thoughts. As somebody who has watched FF14 make so many conservative, status-quo sustaining selections it is practically spun itself into an early grave, I believe Blizzard is correct to up the ante. Whenever you’re on a profitable streak, you do not get cozy—you retain attempting to make stuff higher.
Nevertheless it does put the sport in a precarious state of affairs as a result of, as we have seen earlier than, WoW gamers don’t forgive and they don’t overlook. A few of them could even be shaking their heads at me for the straightforward sin of daring to name their sport good (sorry, it objectively has been, even in the event you’ve been having issues with it, I do know. I am upset too). They maintain grudges.
But these grudges did not sink WoW via the worst of instances so, hey—who is aware of what it will probably endure.
Make or break
In summarisation: 2026 goes to be a extremely, actually fascinating 12 months for each of those titans. Each are tackling long-standing issues, each try to make massive, sweeping modifications to the best way they run enterprise, and each are playing with their fame and stability by doing so.
However whereas Ultimate Fantasy 14’s attempting to dig itself out of a ditch, WoW’s been out of the ditch for some time now and is attempting to protect momentum—the factor these video games have in frequent? They exist in an trade that has not, in any respect, been form to the style they nestle in.
It is onerous to think about WoW or FF14 falling, and I am not saying it is even possible in 2026 for both of ’em, even within the case of disaster—but additionally, I determine people sitting in Rome felt the identical manner about… nicely, Rome. And everyone knows what occurred there.
Personally, I am hoping each survive and flourish—I would like what’s greatest for everyone, the times of unhealthy blood over repping your favorite MMO are over. However I am going to even be bracing for influence, as a result of whoo boy. Nothing might be taken as a right, anymore.