“Pirates of the Caribbean” has gone MMOG.
Disney on Thursday launched a “massively multiplayer online game” based on the popular series of movies, which in turn are based on a popular Disneyland attraction.
After downloading the game from PiratesOnline.com, players can create their own pirate, captain their own ship, and “assemble a crew of fellow rogues in an effort to become the Caribbean’s most legendary pirate,” Disney said.
“Along the way, players will interact with characters made popular by the films, like Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan, and will also encounter a host of new characters and enemies unique to the game.”
A portion of the game is available for free. Unlimited access costs $4.95 for the first month and $9.95 after that. Disney says the game, which is rated E10+ (for everyone 10 years old and up), has lower Windows and Mac system requirements than other MMOGs, “allowing for easier access to a broader range of players.”
In Orange County, home of Blizzard Entertainment, the biggest name in MMOGs with its “World of Warcraft,” or WoW, series, developers welcomed Disney’s entry into the medium.
“If they pull off a great game, it’s going to bring more people into this market and really expand things for them as well as us,” said Eric DeMilt, producer with Carbine Studios, an Aliso Viejo startup that is developing an MMOG.
“People who are comfortable with the Disney brand and are willing to give it a try, maybe they give one of our products a try when we come out with that, so for us it’s great,” DeMilt said.
Mark Kern, president and CEO of Red 5 Studios, another Aliso Viejo startup, said in a statement:
“Disney did a remarkable job with Toontown and making it safe and accessible for kids. The fact that they are doing Pirates is just good news for (MMOGs) in general. They are priming whole generations of kids for more sophisticated and rich virtual worlds where companies like Blizzard and Red 5 like to play.”
A Blizzard spokesman emailed this statement:
“As gamers we always look forward to seeing the ideas other developers come up with. Also, we feel there’s room for a number of successful titles in the online-game market, and it’s possible that this release will help expand the market by appealing to players who might not have tried online games in the past.”
Both Carbine and Red 5 were founded by former employees of Blizzard. Neither has disclosed details of the games they are developing.
“We’re still early in preproduction,” DeMilt said. “We’re not really at the point where we’re going to talk about the game or the potential release date.”
The upside potential for MMOGs is huge.
Blizzard’s original WoW has more than 9 million players.
In August, Blizzard welcomed more than 8,000 gamers to the Anaheim Convention Center for BlizzCon, the industry’s ultimate fan fest.
According to Red 5, the online game market was $2.4 billion worldwide in 2004, when there were 4.5 million subscribers.
That is expected to grow by 2008 to $15.5 billion and 25 million subscribers, according to Red 5.
Contact the writer: 714-796-6045 or agalvin@ocregister.com
