World of Warcraft in 2008: to be or not to be?

The inspiration of the game industry that followed the sudden popularity of the large-scale multiplayer game World of Warcraft, has been replaced by gloom. Just a couple of years ago, there were regular reports on new MMO projects, but now there are more and more news of the closure of failed projects.
For three years the number of active users of World of Warcraft has grown to 9 million. To estimate this figure, you need to know that none of its predecessors had been able to attract more than two million users. And none of the followers managed to repeat its success however many of them would like to try. Vanguard, developed by Microsoft and Sony, turned out the greatest failure, while the popularity of Lord of the Rings Online is still impossible to be compared with the popularity of World of Warcraft.
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Lord of the Rings Online
The main problem of most imitators of World of Warcraft was exactly their being just imitators. The developers Lord of the Rings Online were so scrupulous in their copying the popular MMO that a few of their findings were almost invisible, but every shortcoming burst upon the eye. However, a few projects made in a totally different style seem to have even more unenviable fate.
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Star Trek Online
The closed Star Trek Online was considered by many as a potentially strong competitor to World of Warcraft. This game was supported by an extremely popular license with many loyal fans, who can be compared with those of â€œStar Warsâ€ and â€œLord of the Ringsâ€. However, the strong license is not at all a panacea: it did not save Star Wars Galaxy and Lord of the Rings Online, as well.
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Warhammer Online
So, what is left? The most anticipated MMO, being in the stage of development, perhaps, remain Warhammer Online and Age of Conan. To the contrary of World of Warcraft, the most elaborated part of which has always been PVE, these games focuse on the PVP. However, responses to the beta version of Age of Conan were contradictory, and Warhammer Online was even sent to further development, when it turned out that most beta testers found the game boring. But even the expectations are unreasonably high, the two games can shake the dominance of World of Warcraft, and this it the â€œPVP-factorâ€ that could be the decisive component.
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Our old, dear World of Warcraft
However, World of Warcraft does not seem to have any intentions of being buried and forgotten so far. A year has passed since the release of Burning Crusade, the first addon to the game, and this year another one is expected: Wrath of the Lich King. Thus, can the still popular, but growing older day-in-day-out MMO resist its strong competitors? â€“ that is the question.