Ensemble Studios is looking into entering the massively multiplayer online game market. The company's been putting off the idea since Ultima Online hit, but it looks like they're finally getting serious about it.

"It's always been a risky kind of market to look at." (Patrick) Hudson admits. "And then you see WoW come out, and turn the industry on its head, and you start to reevaluate. 'Wait a minute, there's a true business case out for a game like this.'"

"Maybe it's not crazy to go spend thirty or forty million bucks to actually make one of these things." Hudson points out, "At some point, they'll get tired of WoW and want to play something else."

"We haven't settled on anything," Hudson cautions. "It's safe to say we won't be chasing the fantasy genre. It seems like there are so many coming out. [We're] still pretty far out from even thinking of taking that prototype to a greenlight phase."

As for monthly subscription fees: "Yeah, I think that's the business model we mostly believe in," Hudson says. "There could be things that come along and change our mind, but there's a lot of people trying different things... If anything, WoW is charging too little, not too much."

WoW is either going to destroy the MMO market or spur it to greater heights, I'm sorta leaning toward the latter.

Ensemble Goes MMO [Blue's News]

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