Top 10 Multiplayer Games KILLED By Their Developers
We would have been happy to play some of these games forever...but alas it was not meant to be. Welcome to http://WatchMojo.com and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 10 Multiplayer Games KILLED By Their Developers.
Special thanks to our user “MikeyP” for suggesting this topic using our interactive suggestion tool at http://WatchMojo.comsuggest
#10: “Tabula Rasa” (2007)
Richard Garriott, who popularized the MMORPG genre with Ultima Online, was the lead designer for this Sci-Fi adventure in 2007 and gained some great press prior to its launch because of it. Despite decent ratings for its solid gameplay and flashes of creativity, this MMORPG didn’t set the world on fire. Worse still, publisher NCSoft allegedly forced Garriott out of NCSoft while he was being quarantined after returning from space. Only weeks after this incident, developer Destination Games slated for shutdown on February 28, 2009. With the game coming to an end, Destination made the game free to play. They also rewarded loyal players with one final stand against the alien alliance, the Bane before the game became a blank slate.
#9: “Halo Wars” (2009)
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Already seen as the underdog for being a rare RTS on a console, Halo Wars had to also contend with criticism of using a different developer. Yet, the game found its fanbase anyway due to simplified RTS controls and the continuation of the Halo lore told through very pretty cutscenes. It wasn’t even a year later that Microsoft decided to close the website HaloWars.com on December 15, 2010. The plan was to use Halo Waypoint as a universal hub for all Halo games. This decision came at the cost of lost user accounts, statistics, ranked match records and forums, which were not maintained or replaced. Despite in-game servers still being online, Halo Wars wasn’t the same afterward.
#8: “The Matrix Online” (2005)
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Just as icons in gaming can’t save games from the fate, film series rarely do any better. Launched in 2005 this MMO was the canonical sequel to the Matrix film trilogy, though the second and third films were some of the most divisive films in cinema. For what it was, the Matrix Online gave players the experience they expected when they swallowed the red pill and more. Offering real-time hand-to-hand combat, bullet time and an ongoing plot, the game did try to be the One. After four years of mediocrity and waning interest in the entire franchise, Sony Online Entertainment pulled the plug on July 31, 2009.
#7: “Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning” (2008)
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Based on the tabletop gaming franchise created by Games Workshop, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning did pretty well in the cutthroat MMORPG market, well at first. Developed by Mythic Entertainment and released in 2008, Age of Reckoning, sold over 1.2 million copies, received stellar reviews and won several awards. That said, there were a few issues with its gameplay, PVP and quests being the primary focus. These issues, in part, caused a loss of 300,000 players. As the game limped along, it became free-to-play and offered new battles for player, but it wasn’t until Mythic’s licensing agreement with Games Workshop expired that the game was shut down on December 18, 2013, with many remaining players gathered together in solidarity.
#6: “PlayStation Home” (2008)
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PlayStation Home was an online world within the PlayStation 3. Acting mostly as a waystation before getting started with a video game, Home amassed 41 million members during its seven-year run. Similar to Second Life, players could create avatars that could interact with other avatars and places in Home’s virtual hub and they could make an in-game purchase using real-world money. As novel as the idea was, Sony never got PS Home past the beta stage. With Sony focusing more on the PS4, players said their final goodbyes to their home away from home on March 31, 2015.
#5: “City of Heroes” (2004)
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Not even the likes of Darkseid and Thanos can cut down so many heroes at once the way NCSoft had. The publisher dealt quite a blow to this creative superhero themed MMO and its spin-off, City of Villains. Due to budget cuts, NCSoft let go of the team working on the game and closed developer Paragon Studios’s doors. But the thing is, the game was actually doing very well, as it was highly praised by critics and had amassed a large fan following, making the decision to shut down the game very questionable. Still, on November 30, 2012, City of Heroes went out with a massive influx of heroes awaiting the end at City Hall.
#4: “Star Wars Galaxies” (2003)
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The Force was not quite strong enough with this one. With an MMORPG as expansive as you expect it to be with “galaxy” in its title, Star Wars Galaxies had comprehensive gameplay and the backing of the lore of the Star Wars universe. For all of its critical acclaim, however, the game suffered from bugs and not every detail worked as well as players would have liked. Developer, Sony Online Entertainment fixed these issues only to end also altering thing players liked about the game as well. Cutting their losses, as EA and BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic was a week away, Galaxies became a Force Ghost on December 15, 2011.
#3: All Wii/DS Online Games (2014)
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May 20, 2014, millions of Nintendo fans have that date etched in their minds. On that day Nintendo discontinued to their Wi-Fi Connection service for all Wii Nintendo DS online games. Sadly moving on to the next generation of consoles always has its casualties, and with the Wii and DS family discontinued, Nintendo merged the service with the Nintendo Network. We understand that they need that bandwidth for games on the Wii U, Nintendo 3DS family and more recently the Nintendo Switch, but after so many hours of playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl, this one kinda stings.
#2: “The Sims Online” (2002)
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In theory, it seemed like a genius idea to make Maxis and EA’s life simulator into a massively multiplayer online game. Sure, enough, they gained a good amount of players for the service but it also gained mixed reviews regarding its gameplay. With the release of Second Life in 2003, EA and Maxis were starting to feel the pinch. Unable to keep up with Second Life’s customized content, the game was re-branded to EA Land in 2008. Shortly after it’s re-branding the MMO formerly known as the Sims Online was shut down on August 1 of that year.
#1: “Halo 2” (2004)
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In a similar situation that Nintendo had with their Wi-Fi Connection service, Microsoft announced the shutdown of Xbox Live for all of the original Xbox games April 15, 2010. Out of all the titles affected, it was Halo 2, the most popular game on the platform who’s shutdown was the most notorious. Die-hard Halo players were determined to enjoy the game as long as they could, with 51 loyal fans prolonging their final match for weeks, refusing to give in and turn off their consoles. Eventually, Microsoft had enough and they would bribe and kick out the players until the last man stood on May 11, 2010. For everyone who had lost a multiplayer game they loved, this was a small victory.
