MMOs smaller than the ones made by the heavyweight players - which is to say most of them - have fled for the U.S. free-to-play market, the co-founder of MMO-maker Reality Gap told Gamasutra.
Reality Gap, whose free-play offerings include the MMO Monato Esprit (above), also faces competition in ports coming over from the more developed Asian free-play market. Korea's, especially, is "super-saturated. He seems to decry the "schlock" that arises when rampant me-tooism meets an already crowded space. But he adds they're also competing with some Asian market winners that turn into duds in the U.S.
"It's not just schlock. There are some good games that have come over here, but they weren't good necessarily for the U.S. market. A lot of things we've found, [like games based around] vanity items and things that are very, very popular in Asia … aren't necessarily as popular here. Things that are more important here are actually how the game plays, getting yourself more advancement and skill. So, it is really different."