Why PC Gamer’s Top 100 Excluded MMOs: 3 Theories Explained
▼ Summary
– The publication’s 2025 top 100 games list contains no MMOs despite the genre being in a healthy state with popular titles like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14.
– Staff members lack sufficient free time to properly engage with MMOs due to their massive time requirements and responsibilities to cover new game releases.
– The MMO genre is aging, with most popular titles being over 10 years old and few new successful MMOs being developed in recent years.
– A new “Freshness” scoring category emphasizing uniqueness heavily penalized MMOs for using established templates and mechanics rather than innovating.
– The absence resulted from combined factors: staff time constraints, the list’s focus on newer games, and scoring system changes that disadvantaged MMOs’ traditional design approaches.
Anyone scanning PC Gamer’s freshly released top 100 games list for 2025 might notice something missing: not a single MMO made the cut. World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars 2, and The Elder Scrolls Online, all absent. While the genre itself remains vibrant, with popular titles receiving regular updates and dedicated communities, the list’s composition reflects the particular tastes and practical constraints of the editorial team rather than any objective decline in MMO quality.
The first explanation boils down to a simple reality: time is a scarce resource. Compiling the top 100 involves passionate staff presentations advocating for personal favorites, a process that favors games you can reasonably expect colleagues to try. MMOs demand hundreds of hours just to form a solid opinion, making them a tough sell in a busy office. Team members already juggle subscriptions to several MMOs while staying current with new releases, leaving little room to dive deep enough for a persuasive pitch.
Another major factor is the age of the MMO genre. Most leading titles are over a decade old, with some approaching their twentieth anniversary. New MMO launches have slowed considerably, meaning the pool of recommendable games in the category remains static while the overall number of games grows. The list intentionally emphasizes discovery, aiming to highlight exciting new experiences rather than re-endorsing established classics year after year.
A change in the ranking system also worked against MMOs. This year, the “Freshness” metric replaced previous scores for “Hotness” and “Playability.” Freshness evaluates how unique and distinctive a game feels, accounting for 20% of the total score. Since MMOs pioneered systems now common across live-service games, many were penalized for feeling familiar rather than novel. Internal scoring revealed most MMOs struggled to surpass a six in freshness, despite solid marks in quality and importance.
Ultimately, the omission stems from a blend of limited time, a focus on newer titles, and a scoring system that prioritized innovation. MMOs remain popular and well-supported, but this particular list celebrated different strengths this year.
(Source: PCGAMER)
