I crossed off one of my blog to-do items this week by giving the MMO Timeline page a pretty big overhaul. I’ve always wanted this to be an easy-to-read layout of MMOs throughout the last 40 years — when they launch, when they released expansions, and when (if ever) they closed. I’ve been continually adding to it over the years, of course, but it needed some attention.
So here’s everything that I did for the revamp:
- Created a new header graphic
- Created new graphic headers for every year (much bigger than the older ones) that feature a major MMO release from that year
- Cross-referenced Raph Koster’s MMO timeline for some additional dates and changes (we disagree on a few dates and his focus for that list is a little different)
- Added several games (especially older titles) and changed the dates for a few things, probably about two dozen new line items in all
- Decided to list early access “launches” from the past few years since studios are treating these as major release events
Check it out and let me know if I’m missing any important games or dates!
Bio Break 
It makes me so happy to read about two MMO historians disagreeing on timeline, that’s what makes the study of history so interesting anyway.
Hopefully one of these days I have reason to cite the Olivetti vs. Koster debate of 2016.
My guess is that you have a Wildstar image for 2014 because it is the new game that year that really resonated for you, but I am curious whether it or ESO was the objectively bigger title. I wish there were numbers for both at their respective peaks as well as 1-year out from their release and currently.