In what Marvel COO Bill Jemas referred to as 'by far the largest and best electronic game deal in the history of Marvel,' the 'House of Ideas' has licensed Vu Games, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal to create a worldwide, multi-lingual, massively multi-player on-line game based on Marvel's universe of more than 4,700 characters. The massively multi-player online games' segment has been one of the fastest growing segments of the electronic gaming industry thanks to successes like the fantasy game Everquest (see 'White Wolf To Publish Everquest RPG'). Everquest has become so successful and popular that detractors often refer to it as 'Evercrack,' thanks to its addictive powers and hold over hundreds of thousands of players, who pay a monthly fee to play and have to pony up for extra charges to 'improve' their character's online power and position.
While the Marvel universe is undoubtedly a potential goldmine as a setting for a MMORPG, it alone does not provide the proper incentive to rush out and buy Marvel stock. For one thing the Marvel MMORPG isn't due until 2005, so any effect it will have is at least several years away -- and while Everquest is highly successful, many other attempts at duplicating its success have failed. Even the MMORPG pioneer game, Ultima Online, has had tough sledding in the recent past.