World of Warcraft has 10 million or more paying subscribers. That's 10 million people paying more than 10 dollars a month to play a PC game, not counting the cost to actually purchase the title and its associated expansions. That's big money no matter how you slice it. So big that it's no surprise that MMOs continue to be developed. There's even been talk of a great disturbance in the Force: Bethesda, developer of almost exclusively single-player titles in the Elder Scrolls series might be planning their own.

If the rumors are true, it shouldn't be that surprising. Titles like Morrowind and Oblivion were already large virtual worlds in their own right, so why not funnel all that effort into something that could generate even more revenue? Even if the rumors turn out to be false, I can't imagine that their corporate leadership hasn't at least given the issue some thought…[read more]