A Spongebob MMO? Really?

Spongebob Squarepants

Sure. Why not. I guess. Why shouldn’t there be a Spongebob Squarepants MMO? Nevermind that it’s a completely frivolous yuk-fest with no built-in structure for ongoing goals – the lifeblood of MMOs.

Is anybody else kind of weirded out by this? I mean, it’s not the craziest thing ever or anything. If Star Wars: The Clone Wars can have its own MMO, then I suppose it’s inevitable that other kids’ shows would want to jump on the bandwagon. And if Nickelodeon is going to do it, Spongebob is their most popular property. So fiscally, it makes sense.

But practically? You have to assume that the game will allow players to create their own fish-like denizen of Bikini Bottom, and then give them the ability to interact and play together at accomplishing various goals. Is the world of Bikini Bottom really big enough and interesting enough to sustain the kind of daily interest (obsession?) that MMOs rely on for success?

Viacom, Nick’s owner, is developing the game with GigaMedia Limited and BlueArk Entertainment, which they plan to publish throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The developers also have an iOS mobile game planned. The MMO is being built using the Unity engine, the same browser-based 3D game engine used in the Battlestar Galactica MMO.

No other details are planned to be announced for the game until sometime next year, but we do know that it will be free-to-play.