Curious: I think M&M3 was probably the best game in the series.
But as for M&M9: Trip Hawkins, who owned 3DO, purchased New World Computing, the folks that did the M&M series. He used it basically as a cash cow for his foundering company, running the brand down into the ground with a lot of small, piecemeal releases based on the HOMM engine.
When it came to M&M, he took it away from the NWC team, and gave it to a group of smart but untried developers. They didn't finish the title, were ordered to get it out on the market, and did so. Many of their ideas frankly weren't very good, but their AI was noticeably better than that of the earlier M&M games. There were even instances of major quests that only required you to step literally around the corner for solutions: blatant examples where the programmers simply tied up loose ends to get the product out the door. It was panned by most magazines and webzines--deservedly so, in my opinion.
I strongly doubt that another M&M title will appear. For one thing, NWC's own last few titles in the series were getting redundant. Part of the game's pleasure came in my opinion from the old animation that left the product when they moved to the clunky 3D engine with M&M6. And Jon van Caneghem, the original designer/owner, is now working on MMORPGs along with that renowned sourpuss, Richard Garriott. I think we're more likely to see a revival of The Magic Candle series than Might & Magic--not that the other is likely to happen, either.
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