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[Column] General: Four MMOs That Died Pre-Launch

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

Over the past couple of decades, quite a number of MMOG projects have suffered the rather ignominious fate of being canceled during development. It's difficult if not impossible to say which ones didn't deserve to make it to launch. That said, here are four, listed alphabetically, that particularly interested me. I wish they had been able to overcome the issues that led to their respective early demises.

Read more of Richard Aihoshi's The List: 4 Wistfully Remembered MMOGs That Died Pre-Launch.

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Comments

  • UO4everUO4ever Member Posts: 38
    Tabula Rasa was the first game to spring to mind when I saw the title.  Enjoyable beta but there was never going to be enough content at release..  :(
  • falc0nfalc0n Member UncommonPosts: 385
    Actually tabula rasa did release if im correct.
  • CrazKanukCrazKanuk Member EpicPosts: 6,130
    Project Copernicus. Would someone pick up this IP and release that game please? 

    Crazkanuk

    ----------------
    Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
    Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
    Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
    Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
    Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
    ----------------

  • TheLizardbonesTheLizardbones Member CommonPosts: 10,910

    Masthead is the devil.  Well, really just not a great developer.  Earthrise made it to release, but it never should have.

     

    A game that (I think) was missed here was Pitch Black Games' Dominus.  They shutdown before release, and Sanya Weathers was the community manager for them.

    http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/30/pitchblack-games-dominus-abruptly-shutting-down/

     

    These two things, Masthead and Dominus are related in my mind because the promise of Earthrise looked like it would actually be fulfilled in Dominus, but never was.  Here's to hoping the Repopulation actually does something.

     

    I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.

  • bcbullybcbully Member EpicPosts: 11,843

    Project Copernicus - 38 studios, canceled because Curt Schilling (owner) thought it was not fun.

     

    It reminds me of Wildstar. Knowing what we know now. I bet he wished he would have went ahead and advertised and released it.

  • LacedOpiumLacedOpium Member EpicPosts: 2,327

     

    Ignominious fate. 

    Nice.

  • VonatarVonatar Member UncommonPosts: 723
    Originally posted by bcbully

    Project Copernicus - 38 studios, canceled because Curt Schilling (owner) thought it was not fun.

     

    It reminds me of Wildstar. Knowing what we know now. I bet he wished he would have went ahead and advertised and released it.

    Not to say I know much about it, but I thought Copernicus wasn't cancelled, it's just that 38 Studios went under? I read somewhere that they're keeping the assets of Copernicus alive in the hope that someone will buy them.

  • ReizlaReizla Member RarePosts: 4,092
    Middle Earth is listed to be renamed later into Middle Earth online and was canceled..? Not really... Turbine bought it and released it as Lord of the Rings online...
  • Viper482Viper482 Member LegendaryPosts: 4,101
    Originally posted by UO4ever
    Tabula Rasa was the first game to spring to mind when I saw the title.  Enjoyable beta but there was never going to be enough content at release..  :(

    Tabula Rasa released in 2007 and close in 2009. It was actually a pretty fun MMO. Even though GW2 claims to have invented this whole "dynamic" questing thing, UO was the first to do it with town invasions, and Lord British carried that to Tabula Rasa with npc's invading bases. I enjoyed the game. 

     

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  • DevilwrathDevilwrath Member Posts: 1
    World of Darkness... never heard of it?
  • HolyTrevorHolyTrevor Member UncommonPosts: 55
    Originally posted by Vonatar
    Originally posted by bcbully

    Project Copernicus - 38 studios, canceled because Curt Schilling (owner) thought it was not fun.

     

    It reminds me of Wildstar. Knowing what we know now. I bet he wished he would have went ahead and advertised and released it.

    Not to say I know much about it, but I thought Copernicus wasn't cancelled, it's just that 38 Studios went under? I read somewhere that they're keeping the assets of Copernicus alive in the hope that someone will buy them.

    yeah it was something to do with the failure of kingdoms of amulur

  • meonthissitemeonthissite Member UncommonPosts: 917

    Tabula Rasa did release and actually thrived for a time. It had a terrible budget however and it was right around the time that subscriptions started to dwindle and the central model for all game titles. (to answer someone above not the writer)<br>

    As to the writer I would have loved to have seen a separate and updated game for Tolkien's storyline about the ring and it would have been wonderful to see it out of the hands of Turbine which I feel has stagnated it in their design with all of the problems that game has today the biggest of which is leveling to end game and the lack of changes made to the game to make that possible without a huge understaking. <br> 

    Sandbox game players are the new PVPers in that they are a niche group with very big demands on the developers and why the developers listen to these people while making a game is beyond me because as the posts about the economy in forums like Archeage we see how they are really adamant about games being released even when they have questionable business practices in place. Simply because a game is labeled sandbox doesn't make it better to have it released immediately without thinking of math.

  • Ombr4Ombr4 Member UncommonPosts: 3
    There was a game about Stargate that never came to life. 
  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,857

    There were many more than those four. And some of them were more anticipated as well, as mentioned by several posters above.

    I was actually pretty psyched for Dominus.

  • SovrathSovrath Member LegendaryPosts: 32,942
    Originally posted by HolyTrevor
    Originally posted by Vonatar
    Originally posted by bcbully

    Project Copernicus - 38 studios, canceled because Curt Schilling (owner) thought it was not fun.

     

    It reminds me of Wildstar. Knowing what we know now. I bet he wished he would have went ahead and advertised and released it.

    Not to say I know much about it, but I thought Copernicus wasn't cancelled, it's just that 38 Studios went under? I read somewhere that they're keeping the assets of Copernicus alive in the hope that someone will buy them.

    yeah it was something to do with the failure of kingdoms of amulur

    I think it had more to do with the idea that they needed more money so they decided to release Kingdom's of Amular so that they could get an infusion of cash. While Kindoms of Amular received decent if not awesome reviews, it did not bring with it enough cash to reinvest in the company. The company then went under Because they couldn't make a loan payment of about 1 million dollars or so.

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  • VolumendsVolumends Member UncommonPosts: 41

    well, I think your info about Fallout online is quite wrong.

     

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    Servers are mostly filled with Czech, Poland and Russia players.

     

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  • centkincentkin Member RarePosts: 1,527
    Ultima Online 2 was a game I was really looking forward to playing.  It is a real shame that it never released because it could have shifted the way that games went. 
  • DaakkonDaakkon Member UncommonPosts: 607
    Anyone remember WISH? That game kicked ass and was a successor to UO imo. Jumpgate Evolution was also on my list of games to look forward to. Hero's Journey, Dragon Empires, Atriach, and Citizen Zero.
  • GueberGueber Member UncommonPosts: 37
    R.I.P. Stargate MMO, not even an honorable mention.
  • MyrdynnMyrdynn Member RarePosts: 2,483

    Dominus, talk about a title ruined by a single person, I knew it was ruined the first time I talked to Sonya in game

     

  • CrazKanukCrazKanuk Member EpicPosts: 6,130
    Originally posted by Vonatar
    Originally posted by bcbully

    Project Copernicus - 38 studios, canceled because Curt Schilling (owner) thought it was not fun.

     

    It reminds me of Wildstar. Knowing what we know now. I bet he wished he would have went ahead and advertised and released it.

    Not to say I know much about it, but I thought Copernicus wasn't cancelled, it's just that 38 Studios went under? I read somewhere that they're keeping the assets of Copernicus alive in the hope that someone will buy them.

    Correct, the IP is still up for sale. Someone had gameplay footage of it posted up somewhere at some point. 

     

    Apparently there is one dude right now who maintains this game while it waits for a potential buyer. 

     

    IDK what it would take, but you'd think that dropping a few million on it would get you a return, at least. There was so much hype around this title that I feel like that'd carry it through on it's own. Too bad you couldn't do a kickstarter to raise money to buy it. Even though, you'd probably be hosed anyway, since you'd have no clue how to actually do anything with the game, lol. 

    Crazkanuk

    ----------------
    Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
    Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
    Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
    Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
    Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
    ----------------

  • MrBum21MrBum21 Member UncommonPosts: 405

    my two would have to be Charr: The Grimm Fate, which was nothing but vapor ware, but man did it sound awesome

    and Dragon Empires.  This game made it to beta, but CodeMasters decided to give it the axe :(

    the missing link in a chain of destruction.

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  • thinktank001thinktank001 Member UncommonPosts: 2,144

    Why did Allods not make the list?    That game had enough hype for people to call it a WOW killer, then the cash shop got implemented, and after two weeks the hype was dead.  

     

    I have yet to see such a thing happen with any other game.

  • lovebuglovebug Member UncommonPosts: 260
    there was 2 I remember but forgot the names one 1 a Viking mmo and the other was an ultima 3d one not the look down view one
  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,857
    Originally posted by thinktank001

    Why did Allods not make the list?    That game had enough hype for people to call it a WOW killer, then the cash shop got implemented, and after two weeks the hype was dead.  

     

    I have yet to see such a thing happen with any other game.

    because http://en.allods.com/

    Although, it's interesting to note, it's no longer published by g-pot (Which is now webzen)

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