Speaking with Eurogamer.net, some of the senior members of Blizzard’s World of Warcracft team spoke out today about the state of competition in the MMO gaming market.

Earlier this year, analysts and game publishers alike began to complain about the apparent monopoly that Blizzard has on the MMORPG space with WoW.

But Blizzard’s own staff disagrees, saying that newer MMOs, such as Age of Conan and Warhammer Online have a great chance of succeeding alongside World of Warcraft.

J. Allen Brack, producer of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, wants to see more MMOs make it:

“The worst thing for our industry is for online games to come out and fail. They cost so much money to develop, and it’s so difficult, and it’s such a huge labour of love to launch an online game, for it to fail is sad for everybody.”

Game designer Jeff Kaplan credits WoW’s success to the strong dedication that Blizzard has to quality, and challenges other companies to match it:

“No hard feelings when a game comes out and beats WoW, it’s going to have to be a great game.”

As game developers and publishers continue to make attempts at this risky business, it’s natural to blame the one company that’s had the greatest success in the market — but Blizzard won’t have it. I think publishers are starting to get it, and are working much harder now to come up with original concepts and quality gameplay.

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