7 Promising MMOs That Didn’t Survive the Hype

While the big number of MMORPGs has succeeded in recent years, many of those games could not capture enough interest to keep the game running. Some of them have been shut down even before they came out of development.

Here is the list of 7 significant and promising massive multiplayer online games that haven’t survived the initial hype.


Asheron's Call 2


First victim was Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings, a sequel to 1999’s fantasy MMORPG Asheron's Call. The game was released on November 22, 2002 and shut down three years later, on December 30, 2005 mostly due to lack of sales caused by a poorly coordinated marketing campaign and an insufficient retail presence.
Also, game received negative reaction from fans, who were frustrated by the radical changes in gameplay and the game world, claiming that Asheron’s Call 2 was a sequel in name only. Everything from content and graphics to gameplay dynamics was changed greatly from its predecessor, so the fans stayed with the original game.




Seed


Aiming for a different approach in MMOs, Seed was focused on character interaction and politics rather than combat that was entirely removed from the game design.
Beta testing of the Seed game started on February 1st, 2006 with open beta in April 2006. The game was released to the public on May 2nd, 2006. However, due to lack of finances, game developers Runestone decided to file a bankruptcy, which led to game closure in September 2006.
Promising concept and creative comic book-like design (see the picture) unfortunately never got second chance and Seed was shut down forever. Perhaps players still prefer games with grain of combat.



Auto Assault


Inspired by Mad Max series and Greek Mythology, Auto Assault was a MMO that combined vehicular combat with role-playing elements. Players were allowed to explore a post-apocalyptic future in customizable cars, motorcycles and tanks.
Despite positive reception and promising concept, game never got necessary support from the broader player base. Lack of subscribers led to game closure in August 2007.





Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising


Gods and Heroes game was originally planned for release in the 4Q of 2005, and then pushed again for 2008. Developed by Perpetual Entertainment Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising was put on hold indefinitely in October 2007, because of Star Trek Online that had higher priority. Gods and Heroes game was combining the ancient history with mythological elements had been in closed beta since October 2006, but was shut down the day of hold announcement.
That’s a shame considering that the game was well-received at 2006's E3. Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising received Allakhazam's Best of Show Award, TenTonHammer's Best of Show Award, MMORPG.com's Game of Show and Best Graphics Awards, Stratics' Best Gameplay Award and Game of Show Runner-Up, and finally GameAmp's Best Gameplay Award.




Hellgate: London


Hellgate: London was a promising dark fantasy themed action role-playing game with multiplayer online support released on October 31, 2007. It was developed by a team headed by former Blizzard Entertainment employees, some of whom worked on the Diablo series. In 2008 game developer Flagship Studios filed bankruptcy and all intellectual property was seized because it was used as collateral for funding. The development of the game also halted.
Company Namco Bandai provided free ongoing US/EU server support until 31 January 2009, when the US/EU multiplayer game servers and websites were taken offline. However, HanbitSoft has since acquired properties to the game and it is being developed and still played in Korea to date.



Tabula Rasa


The most recent closed game and that game followed by the biggest interest and hype was Tabula Rasa, another project of Ultima Online creator Richard Garriott. Tabula Rasa was shut down on February 28, 2009. Prior to closure, servers became free to play on December 23, 2008.
As of this date, no Tabula Rasa servers are active, meaning that the game can no longer be played, though there are some private server projects in development according to the rumors.





Shadowbane


Game that is still alive, but it’s counting its last days is Shadowbane. Published on March 25, 2003 by Ubisoft, Shadowbane was a top-10 best selling PC game at launch.
Also, there are two more things making Shadowbane a sort of pioneer game. First is open PvP combat that is allowed in majority of the game world. Second, Shadowbane was first MMO to offer dynamic world content as a primary feature of the game. Most MMOs are static, meaning the world itself does not change based on player actions. But, dynamic worlds, as in Shadowbane, allow player to change the game world itself; morphing terrain, building and destroying buildings, etc.
Shadowbane was considered a "cult hit" and still sustains a small base of devoted followers. But technical issues followed the game from the launch, failing to retain much of the early fanbase.
On 17th April this year, developers announced that Shadowbane will be shut down on 1st May 2009. However thanks to the fans’petitions, and due to support and enthusiasm of the remaining player community, few days after the initial announcement it was announced that Shadowbane shut down would be postponed till 1st July 2009.
So, whoever wants to try the game, there are few weeks left until permanent shut down of this promising and great game.