Having played dozens of mobile games that label themselves as “MMOs”, I’ve been pretty disappointed with many game developers that use the term “MMO” too liberally. Having played games like Outcast Odyssey and Unison League, It’s easy to realize that these games aren’t exactly MMOs.
They’re certainly online RPGs, but they lack the key element of a game that actually makes it an MMO and that’s a persistent world. I’ve played Unison League on and off for a while and it’s a surprisingly fun game. It’s just not an “MMO” because it doesn’t have a persistent world. Instead, it has a persistent hub where players can interact, but much of the gameplay takes place in instanced zones. A bit like Dungeon Fighter Online and Dragon Nest actually.
Anyway. Having played dozens of non “MMO” mobile games, a game like Avabel Online is a pleasant surprise. Avabel is a traditional MMORPG with a large persistent world and thousands of players online at any given time. My only real complaint with Avabel is that playing it on a smaller screen, like the Iphone 4, is extremely difficult. It’s a lot more fun and more efficient on the iPad or a larger phone like the Galaxy Note.
You’d be surprised how few actual MMOs are on the mobile platform. Games like Monster Strike bring in like $3.8+M a day in revenue and bring little new to the table. If you’ve played Puzzle & Dragon or Brave Trials, Monster Strike isn’t exactly anything new, but still brings in the big bucks. It’s weird how successful these games are, but there are only a handful of actual MMORPGs on mobile.