In this editorial, ZAM takes a retrospective look at Star Trek Online success as a "AAA" title and looks toward the future

Cryptic Studios' latest generation of MMOs, Champions Online and Star Trek Online, enjoyed a moderately-successful launch followed by a bumpy period of balancing, tweaking and fixing various issues that arose after release. Throughout development, both MMOs were anticipated by the fan community as "AAA" titles, which are great for marketing and publicity's sake, but it also elevates games to a whole other league of expectations; a "AAA"-branded MMO will usually be held accountable to a stricter set of criteria than the rest, especially if it's a subscription-based game. After Champions Online launched, in September 2009, fans vigorously embraced it as the first "next-gen" superhero MMO, forging ahead in a genre that hadn't been revisited since NCsoft’s City of Heroes franchise.

Six months later, Champions Online doesn't have the same momentum it had at launch, but it does have the benefit of time. Cryptic worked diligently to squash hundreds of bugs and gameplay issues, and the developers introduced dozens of highly-requested features and enhancements to the MMO. It might not be enjoying the same number of dedicated subscribers as Aion, but Champions Online has found a decent and comfortable subscriber base for the time-being (and it's still attracting new players). Can the same be said of Star Trek Online, which launched in early February? Prior to launch, STO had an even bigger following than Champions Online, thanks to the iconic franchise it's based on. Will STO be able to maintain its success and contend with the top-tier MMOs throughout 2010, or has it already lost the vital momentum it needs to keep subscribers coming back for more?

Unlike Champions Online (among many other MMOs), Star Trek Online had a special, established fan base years before it actually launched. Similar to the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic, MMO gamers weren't the only ones looking forward to its release; legions of die-hard 'Trek fans were eager to play it as well. Games like STO are a boon to developers like Cryptic because of the pre-established fan community, but on the other hand, many of those fans are more critical than the rest.

Long before STO's release, 'Trek fans were dissecting every piece of news they could get their hands on, speculating about things like gameplay, adherence to Star Trek "canon" and other issues. When Cryptic announced the details of STO's relation to the "new" Star Trek timeline created by J.J. Abrams in the latest Star Trek film, the majority of fans were happy that the MMO would co-exist with the reboot, but still take place in the "classic" Star Trek universe. We explored this trend last summer in an editorial about STO's influences, following a series of community chats with the MMO's executive producer, Craig Zinkievich.

At launch, Cryptic's version of the Star Trek universe in STO was widely-received as faithful to the original IP, at least superficially. In most reviews, the MMO was praised for its attention to detail; the art and visual effects team reproduced the 'Trek world with familiarity in mind. Starfleet uniforms, character modeling and interior design looked great, despite the obvious resemblance to the Champions Online graphics engine. The space gameplay and ship combat also looked great while still bearing a stunning similarity to the original TV shows and movies.

One of the earliest things that fans complained about, though, was Cryptic falling short of its attention to detail of Star Trek ideology and gameplay themes. Many players felt that STO was too combat-oriented, claiming the developers failed to draw upon some of the more thought-provoking aspects of the original franchise, like diplomacy and exploration. A big part of Star Trek's success has always been its delicate balance between action and drama; a show that rewards viewers who watch with their "thinking caps" on.

This is one of the issues we raised in our "Community Issues and Concerns" Q&A with Zinkievich just a few days after STO's official release. First, Zinkievich confirmed what many fans had anticipated about STO's launch; Cryptic was fighting the clock to ship the MMO by February. Later, a significant portion of the player community blamed STO's release schedule for its shortcomings; Cryptic should have waited a few more months to refine the game, but Atari (the game's publisher) was pressuring the developers for an earlier release, they claim.

Although Cryptic and Zinkievich tackled this question eloquently in interviews ("we made a commitment to our fans to ship the date in February, and we did it," Zinkievich told ZAM in an earlier Q&A), the launch schedule remains a topic of debate among community members, citing the lack of "diplomacy and exploration" and other issues as a result of premature launch.