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Title: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 25, 2008, 04:25:06 PM With Hellgate:London shutting down in January, I was reminded we don't have a good list here for MMOs that have shut down. Maybe one exists somewhere? All I've got though is the one I've built over the years.
There's no real agenda here, though there may be some interesting corrolations that come from this when compared against schild's history of bad design (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=15082.0). First, some rules: 1) For the first list, the game had to actually go live. Anything that was a far-along playable game that didn't launch goes in list #2. 2) For the second list, some citation about it being heavily hyped or some actual proof the game was playable would help. 3) Pipe dreams don't count. Games that were shut down
Eastern imports that never gained any traction That's what this below list feels like. It could be the different cultures have different sensibilities (ie, grind as a badge of honor vs grind as an alienator), or business model (ie, microtransactions still are taking hold and a hard sell to veterans in the Western markets, or what the company thinks is worth $14.99/mo isn't). Not really sure if these are worth adding to either major list.
Not sure what to do with these These titles at the same Global MMO site (http://www.globalmmo.com/mmorpg-list/mmorpg/cancelled) seem like indie/garage titles that never had a serious chance. No slight on the sweat and tears put into them of course. But if we listed every single title ever conceived, this list would quadruple to include dozens of titles that even now are under consideration.
Some errors The GlobalMMO list (http://www.globalmmo.com/mmorpg-list/mmorpg/cancelled) has mostly good info but a few errors:
I feel like I’m missing baseball game of some form or another. And the one game I can’t seem to get a solid status on is Ryl. Finally, I’m also sure there’s a few dozen fly-by-night MMOs from the East that are missing. So who’s got more infoz? Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Sir T on October 25, 2008, 04:28:52 PM Space cowboys: Fee Mmporg. Was shut down but due to some backwards shinanigans its has been largly relaunched in a near identical form by another company under the name Air Rivals.
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Xuri on October 25, 2008, 04:33:23 PM Are you including MMOs that were never released in this list of yours? If so, you have to include UO2 and UO2 (take 2, also known as UXO).
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Velorath on October 25, 2008, 04:54:31 PM Are you including MMOs that were never released in this list of yours? Looks like it since he included Mythica. Of course that would make the list much longer, with stuff like Imperator, True Fantasy Live Online, the Marvel MMO, etc... Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 25, 2008, 04:55:10 PM Yea, good point. Maybe I'll add some ground rules. To your question though: yes.
Edit: Ok, modified the first post Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Wasted on October 25, 2008, 05:05:41 PM Codemasters are closing their RF online servers in November, Mythos is dead along with Hellgate?
It gets a bit murkier when you look at games like Saga of Ryzom that closed and then got restarted as a free to play game, or like Rubies of Eventide which did the same thing. For the sake of this thread I checked the site for Irth Online which seems dead and done. The number of smaller games that didn't get any attention to start with that puffed and died is probably pretty long, but then again a lot of them seem to attract just enough people to have someone donate a free server or something to limp along. I just check and saw that there is still a Dransik classic server still running it seems Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 25, 2008, 05:13:00 PM Yea, the above list is a snapshot. But to your point, Eventide, Ryzom, and I think even Horizons all closed and re-opened (and Horizons' name changed). If you or anyone can think of one or two more games that did that, then I'll add a third list :-)
Irth's site is still up but the Play button is dead :awesome_for_real: I don't think real tiny hobbiest startup games count at this point, but someone could argue that ATiTD falls into that category even though it's done much better (at its scale) than merely "limp along" all these years. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: LC on October 25, 2008, 05:15:05 PM For the second list:
NM guess you had it, and I missed it somehow. What about The Sims Online? Realms of Torment/Mourning/Thrones of Chaos Africa, Phylon, and The Chronicle from Rapid Reality. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Wasted on October 25, 2008, 05:27:51 PM Oh yeah, how could everyone forget Fury? :awesome_for_real:
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 25, 2008, 05:32:48 PM For the second list: NM guess you had it, and I missed it somehow. What about The Sims Online? Realms of Torment/Mourning/Thrones of Chaos Africa, Phylon, and The Chronicle from Rapid Reality. Wow, forgot about EA Land. What were those other two? Can you provide some details? Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: LC on October 25, 2008, 05:45:22 PM There's not much information left on Rapid Reality, and their multiple mmo projects. They claimed that they had developed technologies that would allow them to release a new MMO every 3 months. Their first game was supposed to be "The Chronicle", but it was never released. They did release Phylon, but it was just Endless Ages with new textures. After Phylon was cancelled they announced that they were going to focus on "Africa", but their site went offline shortly after that.
http://www.warcry.com/news/view/69435 Realms of Torment/Mourning/Thrones of Chaos was the over-hyped hardcore pvp mmo that came before Darkfall. They changed the name at least four times, but I can't remember all of the names. It was developed by Romanian Gypsies or something. Eventually they stole all of the pre-order money, and rode off into the sunset. http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/37720 Later it was renamed (Thrones of Chaos) again, but they couldn't steal any pre-order money. There's a thread about it here if you use search . Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 25, 2008, 05:54:40 PM There's not much information left on Rapid Reality, and their multiple mmo projects. They claimed that they had developed technologies that would allow them to release a new MMO every 3 months. Their first game was supposed to be "The Chronicle", but it was never released. They did release Phylon, but it was just Endless Ages with new textures. After Phylon was cancelled they announced that they were going to focus on "Africa", but their site went offline shortly after that. http://www.warcry.com/news/view/69435 Oh, yea, the MMOcenter guys. I put them in the same category as Atriarch, though of course the latter was development hype rather than business hype. I'm inclined to disqualify Phylon because while it was nuked it kinda was reborn as Endless Ages III and is therefore still active (in the way Ryzom is active). What do you think? Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Trippy on October 25, 2008, 05:59:33 PM Majestic (yet another failed EA MMO :awesome_for_real:)
Launched July 31, 2001, closed April 30, 2002. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_(video_game) Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: LC on October 25, 2008, 06:00:09 PM Oh, yea, the MMOcenter guys. I put them in the same category as Atriarch, though of course the latter was development hype rather than business hype. I'm inclined to disqualify Phylon because while it was nuked it kinda was reborn as Endless Ages III and is therefore still active (in the way Ryzom is active). What do you think? I believe some fans bought Endless Ages. It doesn't use the updated textures from phylon. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: LC on October 25, 2008, 06:09:39 PM Dawn or Rune Conquest?
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Wasted on October 25, 2008, 06:20:21 PM I actually did some work for you this time Darniaq!
Mimesis online:released Jan 2002 closed March 2005. Post-apocalyptic mmo from Tannhauser Gate. http://web.archive.org/web/20051030153131/www.thgate.com/mimesis.php (http://web.archive.org/web/20051030153131/www.thgate.com/mimesis.php) Face of Mankind: released March 2006 closed November 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_of_mankind (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_of_mankind) Another down and up again game, The Realm Online, I was sure that was closed down for a long time Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Jamiko on October 25, 2008, 07:25:59 PM Mimesis Online
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: schild on October 25, 2008, 07:48:47 PM Majestic (yet another failed EA MMO :awesome_for_real:) ARG meets MMO was such a sweet concept though. The tech just wasn't there yet.Launched July 31, 2001, closed April 30, 2002. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_(video_game) Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Lantyssa on October 25, 2008, 08:22:22 PM How is Gods and Heroes in list One, while Wish is in list Two? Wish was in beta. Do betas go to One or Two?
Add Multiplayer Battletech 3025 as cancelled in beta. It was supposedly close to release when EA killed it unexpectedly. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Votan on October 25, 2008, 08:51:57 PM As for closed games you forgot one of the worst disasters of all time.....Mourning.
Sorry Mourning deserves a line to itself.......Other closed down games (least western servers) Ragnarok Online, Face of Mankind Games in the development stage that got canceled...Trials of Ascension. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Numtini on October 25, 2008, 08:59:33 PM While somewhat forgotten because it was bizarre and early, Underlight shut down last year after a quite long run
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: UnSub on October 25, 2008, 09:27:17 PM AHHHHH WHY DOESN'T THIS FORUM SAVE POSTS SO IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY HIT THE BACK BUTTON YOU DON'T HAVE TO RETYPE EVERYTHING AHHHH
http://www.globalmmo.com/mmorpg-list/mmorpg/cancelled http://www.gameogre.com/mmograveyard.htm Citizen Zero: Bought out by Microsoft (who bought Microprose to get access to the BigWorld set of tools) and existed in name only for quite a while before officially being killed. This was back when there was going to be a MMO on the Xbox. :awesome_for_real: Fung Wan Online: Based on an Asian comic book series, you picked one of five classes and five clans to be part of alliances and wars against the other clans. And hang on: it's not dead (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fung_Wan_Online), just reborn under a different name with a different studio. (http://fwo.com.my/main/english/index.htm) Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Xuri on October 26, 2008, 01:18:40 AM AHHHHH WHY DOESN'T THIS FORUM SAVE POSTS SO IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY HIT THE BACK BUTTON YOU DON'T HAVE TO RETYPE EVERYTHING AHHHH Pick a better browser.Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Koyasha on October 26, 2008, 02:02:19 AM I would put the original Horizons design on that list, if only for the 'big hype' part, since I don't think it ever got very far along in development. The Horizons that launched was, as far as I am aware, a complete redesign (or even a completely new design) of the original idea, and about the only recognizable feature was 'playable dragons'.
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Ratman_tf on October 26, 2008, 05:10:33 AM Man, there was a game called The Second Age or The Second Coming that was out around the time of UO/EQ. Top down sprites. It was an MMO without a server. (The business plan was to make the game available to ISPs themselves instead of running their own server farms.
Not sure what became of it, and nothing on google. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 26, 2008, 09:20:05 AM Good updates. In a bit I'll edit the original post. Some questions/comments:
Majestic: Personal bias here, so please argue me down: but the above list was more based on persistent graphical MMOs than in the quasi-ARG stuff. Diablo 2 is to me much more an MMO than Majestic was. Plus it could be argued they simply changed the scope of the game by releasing it complete as a CD-ROM instead of backing it with The Game-esque service. But again, just a bias. Lemme know the collective wisdom. Microprose was bought by Spectrum Holobyte not by Microsoft. Thanks for the list from Global MMO. Good stuff. I know dickall about Realms of Mounring, but since it's come up again if someone can post a deeper history than just it being an over-hyped PvP MMO that'd be great. Mimesis Online- I remember the title but nothing about the game. Details? Horizons changed in scope but didn't die really. Sorta like Ryzom for a time. Lantyssa: good point about G&H. Will fix. And will add Battletech. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Rasix on October 26, 2008, 09:26:00 AM Wasn't there a Microsoft Battletech 3025 MMO that was playable at some point and got canned?
Hero Quest and Atriarch.. any movement on those lately? Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 26, 2008, 09:39:20 AM Latyssa got Battletech, but thanks.
I just realized there was something else: One the inspirations for this list was dispelling the notion that no MMOs have ever been canceled. But the closure of a game few know about and the closure of one everyone wanted to play are radically different in terms of their impact on understanding what works and doesn't in this medium. Anyone want to take a stab at rating the list as it grows between those titles only the real geeks like us know about and those that companies themselves would be concerned about continuing/cancelling? Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Goreschach on October 26, 2008, 11:51:51 AM Wasn't there a Microsoft Battletech 3025 MMO that was playable at some point and got canned? It was more finished than most MMO's at release. Yeah, I'm still pissed. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 26, 2008, 02:20:23 PM Updated above list, created new one, all sorts of stuff.
Goreschach: how far along exactly? Near-done like G&H or playable-Alpha? Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Baldrake on October 26, 2008, 02:45:13 PM Annoying pedantry:
-- Depending on your definition of MMO, you can include Neverwinter Nights (the AOL one) -- Technically, M59 was shut down and then restarted -- SWG was shut down (and replaced by another game sharing many of the same art assets) :grin: Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 26, 2008, 03:58:11 PM Funny :-)
I was considering NWN from AOL actually, but I'm really not sure how far back to go. I mean, do we start when the term "MMORPG" emerged? Start when graphical persistent worlds began (I think it was The Realm but there could be one of those graphical chat spaces from the late 80s that could apply too)? And M59 I left off because it did come back, like Ryzom. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Wasted on October 26, 2008, 04:38:32 PM Quote Mimesis Online- I remember the title but nothing about the game. Details? I think they where a Polish company and it really only got an audience over there, got a bit of a mention around the traps for a while and open beta and clients on magazine discs etc. I tried the beta for like half an hour I think and all I really remember where the horrible animations that had you walking like a gorilla. The site is all down for the game now, so I couldn't find anything up to date. Here is another list site that could be helpful http://www.gamerifts.com/links/gamelists.shtml (http://www.gamerifts.com/links/gamelists.shtml) Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: UnSub on October 26, 2008, 05:42:15 PM Microprose was bought by Spectrum Holobyte not by Microsoft. Sorry - I confused Microprose and Micro Forte (http://www.corp.bigworldtech.com/index/index.php). I think a list like this needs the big names as well as the small ones. It's important to recognise that just because it might be cheap to buy and convert an SE Asian MMO for the Western market, doesn't mean it will catch on. Also, I'd go back as far as graphical MMOs would let me. That'd be The Realm as the first one, as Darniaq said? The current reality is that few dev studios appear to learn from the MMOs that failed - actually, it is probably true of most industries, where failure is often treated as contagious. But a number of these cancelled titles did have some great ideas, but were let down by shoddy execution and / or the industry at the time. I mean, if Motor City Online launched with a new graphics engine and updates to the core concept (e.g. $5 a month to sub to, also reflect the differences in how people play MMOs since MCO was cancelled), I think it would be a notable success. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 26, 2008, 06:09:15 PM I agree. I'm now wondering if the next major update to the list includes why these games got canned or closed. Wikipedia itself only has about 1/3 of the listed games.
In general, I'm big on post mortems. But I mostly see people so happy a project is over that they just don't want to talk about the damned thing anymore, so much so they're not even paying attention to the results of that project to the customer using it. And yes, I'm using vague terms like "project" and "customer" because to UnSub's point, this happens in a lot of industries. And it's been going on for so long that between that and the politics I've been following, it truly is apparent that nobody learns from history. It's not that the history isn't there to be learned, it's that nobody wants to bother. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Slyfeind on October 26, 2008, 07:12:42 PM Man, there was a game called The Second Age or The Second Coming that was out around the time of UO/EQ. Top down sprites. It was an MMO without a server. (The business plan was to make the game available to ISPs themselves instead of running their own server farms. Not sure what became of it, and nothing on google. http://www.the4thcoming.com/ Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Xerapis on October 26, 2008, 08:24:37 PM Charr: The Grimm Fate
What? Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Goreschach on October 27, 2008, 12:43:12 AM Goreschach: how far along exactly? Near-done like G&H or playable-Alpha? It was in open beta, and was basically ready for release. Nobody even bothered to explain why it was shut down, although the rumor is it had to do with EA/Microsoft cockfighting over the IP. Everything was going awesome, then one month the press release was basically 'Game over, servers shutting down next month. GTFO'. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Sunbury on October 27, 2008, 05:12:32 AM On a side note, Turbine bought new hardware and moved all the Asheron's Call 1 world and character data from Washington State to Mass. a couple of weeks ago. It was fairly trouble free, minor hiccups.
Appears AC1 is going to be around a while. I'm glad since I resubbed and just hit Level 100 (really slooowly since I've been playing on and off since 1999, although I've purchased the base game 4 times over the years and there are 275 levels now!) Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Ratman_tf on October 27, 2008, 07:09:49 AM Man, there was a game called The Second Age or The Second Coming that was out around the time of UO/EQ. Top down sprites. It was an MMO without a server. (The business plan was to make the game available to ISPs themselves instead of running their own server farms. Not sure what became of it, and nothing on google. http://www.the4thcoming.com/ My god, it's still alive. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Mrbloodworth on October 27, 2008, 07:15:29 AM Reclamation. Sequel to underlight. Its was a fund project, and i was lucky enough to do some world building for them. How ever the project was canceled just after underlight went down.
A purely player driven game just doesn't work in modern times i guess. http://www.reclamationgame.com/ RIP:07 Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Modern Angel on October 27, 2008, 07:24:33 AM Don't forget the original Warhammer Online which was canceled. It had a couple years dev time and, in some ways, looked a bit more ambitious in a storytelling sense than WAR. Based more on the RPG than the TT game.
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Endie on October 27, 2008, 09:45:19 AM Of games that actually launched, is Seed a record for rapidity of closure?
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Oarix on October 27, 2008, 10:35:50 AM Don't forget the original Warhammer Online which was canceled. It had a couple years dev time and, in some ways, looked a bit more ambitious in a storytelling sense than WAR. Based more on the RPG than the TT game. Beat me to it. As a painter of said Warhammer fare, I was actually looking forward to this iteration of Warhammer (from Climax Studios) far more than Mythics. Climax's Warhammer was grittier and darker. Something Mythic's Warhammer Online is not, which is to say it's a graphics engine that looks exactly like World of Warcraft. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Mrbloodworth on October 27, 2008, 10:44:12 AM Of games that actually launched, is Seed a record for rapidity of closure? It was dam quick, but it really had little to do with the game its self. (i am sure more initial sales would have helped lol). Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Endie on October 27, 2008, 11:27:32 AM Don't forget the original Warhammer Online which was canceled. It had a couple years dev time and, in some ways, looked a bit more ambitious in a storytelling sense than WAR. Based more on the RPG than the TT game. Beat me to it. As a painter of said Warhammer fare, I was actually looking forward to this iteration of Warhammer (from Climax Studios) far more than Mythics. Climax's Warhammer was grittier and darker. Something Mythic's Warhammer Online is not, which is to say it's a graphics engine that looks exactly like World of Warcraft. This is exactly my feeling. The screenshots, particularly of the undercity-type areas, were atmospheric and the design was ambitiious. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: 5150 on October 27, 2008, 01:11:00 PM If you are including the first Star Trek online should you not also include the first Warhammer online?
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 27, 2008, 05:37:05 PM Good question. I suppose that makes sense; however, would we then need to include Sierra Online's Middle Earth Online? Thoughts?
@Mrbloodworth: Reclamation's on the list already, thanks though! Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Lantyssa on October 27, 2008, 06:05:21 PM Maybe a separate category for MMOs that don't make much past design and prototypes?
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: UnSub on October 27, 2008, 06:26:40 PM Good question. I suppose that makes sense; however, would we then need to include Sierra Online's Middle Earth Online? Thoughts? Yep, include it. Especially if you can link in the story of MEO buying some other fantasy title, doing some reskinning, then possibly showing it off to Tolkien's estate as what they'd been working on. (http://programmerjoe.com/2007/06/03/middle-earth-3/) Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Grimwell on October 27, 2008, 09:13:06 PM I'm going to wager the answer is "No" due to the obvious nature of the list you have in place, but...
Is this list only for games launched at the North American market? English only? Etc. Or are international entries welcome too? Not that I have a huge list of them, but they exist (just not in Engrish). Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Phred on October 28, 2008, 05:42:36 AM SOE or 989 had at least one MMOG they canceled after several years of development but I can't remember the name. It sounded like an attempt to put a graphic frontend on the old university Empire game. I believe it was Smedley's.
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 28, 2008, 05:54:28 AM I'm going to wager the answer is "No" due to the obvious nature of the list you have in place, but... Is this list only for games launched at the North American market? English only? Etc. Or are international entries welcome too? Not that I have a huge list of them, but they exist (just not in Engrish). The list started as as particularly biased to the U.S. market. And it kinda still is because I lumped all of the Korean imports under that "weren't going to work here anyway" heading. I'm somewhat ambivalent about it though. And really, at this point, this is our list, it just happens to be in a topic I wrote :-) Personally, as much as the Asian market matters in the grand scheme of globalization, I can't help but shake the feeling that the type of games they enjoy over there are just not going to appeal over here. We'll import the IP and the Manga, but looking at todays kids and tweens in the U.S, I can't see them growing up into a world of whatever follows the fly-by-night MTX-supported MMOs. Not unless more of them go to console by default. I think the biggest impact for MMO gamers in the West is more resources shifting to make games for the East. And this doesn't even consider the India implication (yet another billion people who, along with being an actual Democracy, will be coming into their own in a few years). That's my long-winded way of asking: does listing every title matter? I'm sure there's a few dozen I couldn't even pronounce much less would ever consider playing. Since this thread is largely only ever going to be read by gamers in the West anyway restrict it to the markets that matter to us? Edit: Updated original list to include original Warhammer Online and Middle Earth Online. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: damijin on October 28, 2008, 07:39:24 AM If you have Air Warrior on there, you should also include Legends of Kesmai, created by the same folks.
It died with Air Warrior when Kesmai (the company) was purchased by EA and the Gamestorm service was shut down around 2001 I believe. It looked like this: (http://www.blackthorn.com/images/wornstrs.jpg) Was available on Gamestorm and AOL. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on October 28, 2008, 07:57:26 AM Good one. Thanks.
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Ubvman on November 01, 2008, 12:40:44 PM SOE or 989 had at least one MMOG they canceled after several years of development but I can't remember the name. It sounded like an attempt to put a graphic frontend on the old university Empire game. I believe it was Smedley's. The game was called Sovereign. It was supposed to be a persistent world RTS. You set up stuff, and the server AI would run the place while you logged off. Early screenshots had aircraft carriers and shit like that, and Smedley was madly hyping the game soon after EQ1 was launched as part of Verant's madzor plans to take over the online world in 1999. Here is what I found via google: Sony Online Entertainment and Verant Interactive Announce New Massively Multiplayer Strategy Game, Sovereign (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_July_28/ai_55289769) Here is what happened soon after in 2000: http://www.fatbabies.com/rumors_may-june00.html (http://www.fatbabies.com/rumors_may-june00.html) Quote For all the craziness going on at its headquarters, Verant was calm at the show. But their Sovereign MMP RTS game looked like shit. Shown on 2 game stations, it looked to have very little gameplay (just setting up battles and watching the results), and the graphics were incredibly poor (small models, bland colors, and simple world geometry). Verant claimed Sovereign would be released this Winter, but it is clear they are smoking some crack, as it will be lucky to make Christmas of NEXT year. Cancelled quietly around 2001. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Phred on November 02, 2008, 10:52:39 AM The game was called Sovereign. It was supposed to be a persistent world RTS. You set up stuff, and the server AI would run the place while you logged off. Early screenshots had aircraft carriers and shit like that, and Smedley was madly hyping the game soon after EQ1 was launched as part of Verant's madzor plans to take over the online world in 1999. That's the one. It sounded so much like an attempt to copy multiplayer empire like they did the diku mud and bring it to the world. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: UnSub on November 02, 2008, 06:31:16 PM Just found one: Ballerium. It was an MMORTS that shut down in July 2008. The project had lurched from publisher to publisher, I think it had some players paying to play directly, but if it was ever officially launched it was never particularly well marketed / announced. From my beta test of it, it had a lot of potential but there was little given to new players on how to play or what to do when you started.
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Bokonon on November 02, 2008, 07:09:39 PM Lost Continents (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/lostcontinents/index.html). Had a fan site, and some early alpha screenshots/video, and then their parent company went belly up.
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: UnSub on November 02, 2008, 09:35:49 PM Lost Continents (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/lostcontinents/index.html). Had a fan site, and some early alpha screenshots/video, and then their parent company went belly up. I remember that one. The original screenshots were isometric or overhead or something like that, then they went to 3D graphics. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on November 03, 2008, 06:11:57 AM Added Ballerium and Sovereign. I think Lost Continents is too far into the land of pipe dream though. Let me know if you disagree.
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Comstar on November 03, 2008, 07:58:25 AM Sony(?) : 10*6 (?): a MMRTS (I think you controlled 10 different tanks and were supposed to team up with other people, sort of like a MMOG Global Conflict). The 10*6 refered the the alleged 1,000,000 players it could support, though I think it never got over a few 1000. Easy MMOG, cancelled around 2000(?)
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Cheddar on November 03, 2008, 08:27:41 AM The original Neverwinter Nights. My first MMO :grin:
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Rasix on November 03, 2008, 08:32:09 AM I feel like I’m missing baseball game of some form or another. http://www.playrealbaseball.com/ Quote from: link The service for Cal Ripken's Real Baseball is currently halted until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience. This from searching here was Ultimate Baseball Onine just reskinned to add Cal Ripken's name. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Bokonon on November 03, 2008, 01:41:07 PM Added Ballerium and Sovereign. I think Lost Continents is too far into the land of pipe dream though. Let me know if you disagree. Well, hard to say. It certainly didn't get far. It was a legit funded development project, by all accounts, even if it was only funded for about a year. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on November 21, 2008, 11:37:07 AM Added Tabula Rasa.
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Draegan on November 21, 2008, 11:50:05 AM You can add The Shadow of Yserbius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_of_Yserbius) from Sierra. Shut down in '96. Had cool Bard's Tale graphics and was playable on a 2400 baud modem :grin:
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: tolakram on November 21, 2008, 12:01:19 PM You can add The Shadow of Yserbius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_of_Yserbius) from Sierra. Shut down in '96. Had cool Bard's Tale graphics and was playable on a 2400 baud modem :grin: That was the name of that game, thanks. I played that and Red Baron on Sierra Online (or whatever it was called). Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Signe on November 21, 2008, 12:16:56 PM I bet Draegan hardly ever played Yserbius. I bet he hung out in LarryLand all the time! You perv, you! :drillf:
Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Ubvman on November 23, 2008, 01:59:21 PM Add this to MMOGs that was killed at development:
Imperator (http://www.imperatoronline.com) Roman empire in space - science fiction alternate future theme, what if the Roman Empire never fell. Mythic Entertainment. Development was killed in July 2005 when Mythic managed to get the Warhammer Online license. Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperator_Online (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperator_Online) http://www.imperatoronline.com/pressrelease/ (http://www.imperatoronline.com/pressrelease/) http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Imperator-Online (http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Imperator-Online) Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: eldaec on November 23, 2008, 02:30:07 PM UO:X, went the way of UO2 in summer '04.
Does Marvel Universe Online count? Cancelled and cannablized for Champions online. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Xuri on November 23, 2008, 04:58:29 PM You mean UX:O (aka Ultima X: Odyssey).
"UOX" is something almost related, though not really :P Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: UnSub on November 23, 2008, 05:55:59 PM UO:X, went the way of UO2 in summer '04. Does Marvel Universe Online count? Cancelled and cannablized for Champions online. Marvel's MMO has been started by 3 different companies: Wolfpack (Vivendi held the license for a while), then Sigil (under Microsoft), then Cryptic. It deserves and honourable mention somewhere. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: shvmoz on November 28, 2008, 06:08:51 PM SOE or 989 had at least one MMOG they canceled after several years of development but I can't remember the name. It sounded like an attempt to put a graphic frontend on the old university Empire game. I believe it was Smedley's. The game was called Sovereign. It was supposed to be a persistent world RTS. You set up stuff, and the server AI would run the place while you logged off. Early screenshots had aircraft carriers and shit like that, and Smedley was madly hyping the game soon after EQ1 was launched as part of Verant's madzor plans to take over the online world in 1999. I have first-hand knowledge that it was still under development at least as late as May of 2002, FWIW. Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Falconeer on January 21, 2009, 11:48:12 AM Motor City Online is back!
The game you ALL missed in 2001 because you were busy trying out elf ears, thanks to kind Electronic Arts is back! http://www.gamestooge.com/2009/01/19/motor-city-online-is-back-in-china/ Now, wait... what? China only? Oh... what a mooooove EA :why_so_serious: Actually it all reeks of crap: the press release mentions a "Need for Speed: Motor City Online", but MCO was never part of the NFS franchise. Meh! Title: Re: List of cancelled/closed MMOs? Post by: Venkman on April 17, 2009, 06:06:08 PM Updated to include Shadowbane per Waylander's thread (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=16715.0).
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