User blog comment:Videogamep/The Next Big Three/@comment-1940096-20140606174800/@comment-2226235-20140606191520

That premise is actually even older than Btooom!; the .hack franchise has the same premise and the first game came out in 2002. Also, I hadn't heard of either of those going in to SAO so I had no idea the premise had been used before. I only started SAO because a friend mentioned he had watched it so I didn't know about all the hype it had gotten and went in with no expectations. That might actually be a case where the hype hurt the show since it isn't as good as some of the fans say.