When World of Warcraft was in development, the folks over at Blizzard had gingerly hoped the game would land around 200,000 subscribers. With that many players, they thought, the game would break even and help fuel their other developments. As we all know, WoW ended up with far more than 200,000 players—about 11.8 million more.

At the time, it was an insane idea. MMORPGs belonged to a niche crowd, and weren’t the most profitable titles in existence. No developer was in a hurry to make an MMO. But World of Warcraft’s success demonstrated that the mainstream audience of game players was ready for the genre, and the game’s surging subscriber numbers pushed glowing dollar signs into the eyes of publishers everywhere. Now, the entire industry is on the MMO train.

Sure, not every game is an MMORPG. But plenty of games have MMO elements—in Call of Duty, for example, you level up, unlock gear and equip your character. Battlefield has classes. SSX’s Global Events challenges pit you against thousands of other players, simultaneously. In fact, any modern game with a multiplayer mode is a massively multiplayer online game, regardless of whether or not it has a persistent world. It’s not about “creating an immersive world” or “inspiring cooperative play between players,” it’s about monetizing the publisher’s investment. And nothing is safer than a couple million recurring subscription fees.

So it’s no surprise that Bethesda would be crafting an Elder Scrolls MMO—MMOs are the thing to do right now. And transforming an enormously popular franchise into an online game is a surefire way to land yourself a few million dollars, even if players lose interest after the initial surge (just ask BioWare and EA). An MMO, as long as the name is familiar and the game isn’t completely awful, is an easy way to earn some capital for your other projects.

We knew an Elder Scrolls MMO would eventually come. Just like a Mass Effect MMO will come. Frankly, in five years it will be more interesting to see which big franchises haven’t been adapted to MMOs rather than exploring those that have.

MMOs are nothing new. They’re just the current most efficient method for taking your money and wiring it directly to a publisher’s pocket.

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