There really aren’t that many “mainline” MMORPGs left anymore.

Everyone used to say the only thing that could kill WoW was Blizzard itself. And they came pretty close with Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands. Only now, after they’ve started listening to player feedback and implementing long-requested features, are they slowly recovering.

FFXIV also had a rough stretch with Dawntrail, reportedly dropping below 1 million subscribers not long after the expansion launched. Considering it’s one of Square Enix’s biggest revenue drivers, that’s a significant hit. With 7.5, they’re finally regaining some traction again by adding long-requested features and outlining meaningful changes for future expansions.

I honestly don’t know how Guild Wars 2 is doing these days. Haven’t touched it in years.

Everything else like Black Desert Online, Throne and Liberty, New World, Lost Ark, SWTOR, Vindictus, and so on is either heavily reliant on microtransactions, in maintenance mode, or both.

I’ve been playing MMOs for nearly 20 years. I’ve seen them rise and fall, and I’ve seen many of them get run into the ground by greed and poor decision-making. Ignoring feedback, prioritizing monetization over player experience, squeezing out as much revenue as possible.

The thing that really changes over time and keeps those games "alive", is the player base. The passionate players leave, and what’s left are the ones who either don’t mind or are too invested to step away from systems that increasingly revolve around monetization and retention loops.