I've got three pieces of MMO news to chew on for today, pointing to some industry trends. First up? Penguins.

Disney Buys Club Penguin. The media giant bought out the game for $350M, with the promise of an additional $350M if the company meets some revenue goals. Think about THAT: That's nearly three quarters of a billion dollars for a kids' online game that has 700,000 paying subscribers. I've blogged about this trend before, but mass media is definitely investing BIG into the online space. Viacom/MTV are launching new MMO games seemingly every month. Disney had a lot of success with Toontown Online, just released Pirates of the Caribbean Online, and now the company has bought Club Penguin. Disney sees online games as a huge way to keep kids and families close at heart... expect other big media conglomerates to follow suit.

This also points to a really cool trend, however: Club Penguin is an experimental little game done on a relatively small budget. The creators are now multimillionaires. That bodes well for gamers like you and me -- it can lead to a lot of innovation and new games!

Bethesda's Parent Company, Zenimax, Forms New Online Development Company. We all know Bethesda as the creators of gorgeous games like Oblivion or the upcoming drool-worthy Fallout 3. The new sister-company, headed by Matt Firor (one of the founders of Mythic), will create online games. Will we see an Elder Scrolls Online? Possibly. There's a trend here, though: Big game development studios are branching out with separate divisions to handle MMO games. Last year Bioware unveiled a new Austin-based MMO division. I expect to see more, especially since Blizzard has already proven that a successful game developer can create a mega-hit by taking an existing property online. If they're smart about it.

And finally, Hero Online Bonus Content is Available for all FilePlanet Readers over at the FilePlanet Free MMO Club. Hero Online is a martial arts epic with fast customizable combat. There are two trends of note here: first off, hundreds of MMOs have been created in Asia, and the best ones are being translated for American and European audiences (this one is kind of fun once you get used to the mouse-driven movement.) Secondly, as a way to stay competitive with so many games on the market, I'm sure we'll be seeing more and more games using the 'free-to-play' model. Hell, the Free MMO Club already lists dozens.

Oh, brave new worlds!

      -Fargo