Interviews

Gareth Wilson, VP of Games at MetaGravity — Interview Series

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MetaGravity

MetaGravity, the team behind the revolutionary HyperScale Engine—a game-changing system that allows existing and fresh IP to “scale to millions of concurrent users, AI and digital objects with ease and simplicity”—is currently gearing up to launch its player-driven MMORPG, Edge of Chaos. To learn more about the upcoming title, I decided to reach out to MetaGravity VP of Games, Gareth Wilson.

Thanks for speaking with us! Before we delve into the specifics surrounding the launch of your latest medieval MMO, please could you tell us a bit more about yourself? Who are you, and what brought you to MetaGravity?

Gareth: I’m Gareth Wilson, VP of Games at MetaGravity, leading the development of the Edge of Chaos franchise. With 25 years in the gaming industry, I’ve always been drawn to the potential of emerging technologies to revolutionise gaming experiences. Throughout my career, I’ve directed launch titles for Xbox and Nintendo consoles, as well as contributing to cutting-edge advancements like Xbox Live and Kinect. When I first saw MetaGravity’s HyperScale technology in action last year, I was blown away. It’s unlike anything I’ve encountered before, and I knew immediately that I wanted to be a part of it.

Let’s talk about Edge of Chaos. What’s the story here, and what should we know ahead of its global debut?

Gareth: Sure! Our goal is to create the world’s first truly player-driven medieval simulator, with limitless scale. Imagine Eve Online meets Valheim in an authentic medieval setting. It’s an ambitious project, so we’re rolling it out in three phases.

First, we want to demonstrate to gamers that our technology can support thousands of players coexisting in a single world. Second, we’ll deliver an epic mass combat experience, which will be released as Edge of Chaos: Apocalypse. Finally, we’ll evolve that proven gameplay into a fully persistent, open world where players can build villages, towns, and eventually form player-controlled kingdoms and communities.

It’s been noted in earlier elevator pitches that Edge of Chaos will be laying the foundations for a game that “virtually every gamer has always dreamed of playing.” Could you tell us what you mean by this?

Gareth: Edge of Chaos is the game I’ve wanted to play ever since the early days of MMOs like EverQuest and Anarchy Online.  Those games had incredible communities, but they were always constrained by the limitations of networking technology, which capped the number of players in a single area or shard. Even today’s MMOs face similar restrictions, where large-scale encounters or truly bustling cities are technically impossible.

The consequence of this per-area density limit translates ultimately to limits in player freedom within a virtual world. It is impossible to have mechanics that foster player-cooperation and competition that meaningfully impacts the world, such that these changes persist within the world over time. As such these avenues in game design are completely abandoned by developers in favour of more transactional and temporary models of player interaction, and this compromises the premise of a true virtual world. This is a topic has been talked about in MMO communities for a long time and in fact the precursor to MMOs, the text-based Multi-User Dungeons or MUDs, tended to have richer simulation within the world than later graphical MMOs, thanks to text-based games being computationally easier to scale.

With Edge of Chaos, we’re breaking through those barriers. In our early playtests, our HyperScale Engine has already proven it can support a population of thousands in the same space. This opens the door to massive, movie-like battles or giant cities where every person you meet is another player. It’s the kind of experience I dreamed of back when I was playing PvP in Dark Age of Camelot – epic, immersive, and limitless.

Are we right in thinking that Edge of Chaos will be an ever-evolving MMORPG, too? Tell us, what influence will players have over the natural progression of the world?

Gareth: Yes! While our immediate focus is on showcasing the power of our technology with large-scale mass combat for the initial release, the ultimate vision for Edge of Chaos is far more expansive. Our Hyperscale technology is not just for player numbers, but can also simulate an entire ecosystem at a scale and fidelity that wasn’t possible. We aim to create a fully autonomous open world where every player’s actions can affect the ecosystem.

For instance, overhunting deer might force predators to attack settlements in search of food. As players build villages and expand into forests, they’ll disrupt wildlife patterns and the migration of herd animals. To thrive, players will need to form villages, towns, and eventually city-states and kingdoms to manage resources effectively. This dynamic will naturally lead to conflict, as players compete for control, survival, and dominance in an ever-evolving world.

Please could you tell us about some of the rewards and in-game perks that players will be able to earn over the course of their journeys?

Gareth: We are building a dynamic, living world. Players will have the power to come together and self-organise to shape the socio-political and economic landscape of this world. The game’s design fosters power hierarchies to form very much imitating medieval feudalism. The greatest perk will be status and wealth accorded to royalty or high-ranking nobility within the game world – control of land translates to control of resources and people. However, we want to build a world that suits all playstyles as we feel a true virtual world should ultimately engender total player freedom. As such, you could be an accomplished warrior with the finest arms and armour, a rich merchant, or an adventurer and purveyor of rare artefacts, reagents, and oddities. Different aspects of these playstyles will come online at different stages of development – we have a phased approach – but our vision and creative direction of the game is to create a rich template within which players themselves decide their role and seek their own rewards.

We’d love to grab a few pre-download pointers, if that’s okay? Do you have any words of advice for those who are looking to plant roots in Edge of Chaos?

Gareth: I’d say buckle up and get ready for a wild ride. We’re running a very open development process with Edge of Chaos, where we’re actively engaging with our community at every stage to gather their feedback. We want players to take an active role in shaping the game and influencing the decisions we make, ensuring that their voices are heard as we bring this ambitious vision to life. 

We’re curious to hear more about what the future has in store for Edge of Chaos. With that being said, could you tell us what you have planned for the MMORPG? What are the next steps for MetaGravity?

Gareth: As mentioned above, this is an incredibly ambitious project, and we didn’t want players to have to wait until the full vision is realised. That’s why we’re taking a phased approach, releasing key aspects of the game as we progress. We’ll start by focusing on our groundbreaking technology of scale, followed by a fully playable, epic mass combat experience. This will eventually evolve into the expansive, open-world experience we have planned, allowing players to engage with the world and shape it as it grows and unfolds.

So, how can we stay connected with MetaGravity? Are we able to share any social channels, streams, or upcoming live events with our online community?

Gareth: The best way to stay in touch with us is via our Twitter [https://twitter.com/EdgeofChaosGame] and Discord [https://discord.gg/officialmetagravity]. You can also subscribe to our YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@edgeofchaosgame] channel, where we post trailers and development updates.

Before we head out, is there anything you would like to add for our readers?

Gareth: For those who want an exclusive early look at the game, the best way to do that is to join the HyperScale Alpha testing program [https://www.edgeofchaos.io/playtests], where we test out the HyperScale Engine via development builds of Edge of Chaos and other games by MetaGravity’s partners. In September we have tests coming up for both Edge of Chaos and Star Atlas, where thousands of concurrent players can interact and experience the games’ worlds and gameplay.

Thank you so much for your time, and best of luck with Edge of Chaos!

 

For more information on Edge of Chaos, be sure to visit the official MetaGravity social channel here. Alternatively, you can check in with the website for even more coverage and roadmap updates here.

Jord is acting Team Leader at gaming.net. If he isn't blabbering on in his daily listicles, then he's probably out writing fantasy novels or scraping Game Pass of all its slept on indies.