Originally posted by Stradden

Originally posted by nodamnspam

I can tell you with authority  as I had an inside sources in Mutable Realms - Wish was canceled due to lack of interest from the potential subscribers. Not enough people  signed up for the beta. Those people who were invited into the beta didn't stick around long, - some only played a couple of days. I think the writing was on the wall. If people wouldn't play for free, they wouldn't pay to play. While promising, it didn't have the word of mouth buzz and hype needed to get a large number of people to come and try it. It was determined the game would likely not be profitable, and the plug was pulled.

Must be nice to have sources on the inside... Turns out, I was actually on the dev team for that one when it was cancelled and I don't recall getting a reason. 

I don't remember exactly how many people signed up for beta, but I DO know that it was quite a large number for an indie company at the time, and I remember that people were pretty pleased with it

Guess your sources must have been better than mine. In the office I worked in. I'm not saying that wasn't the reason, I'm just saying.

My source was in upper management. I spoke with him the day the game was canceled and he relayed the explanation above. I was in no way involved in the project mind you, just knew the guy personally, and was in the beta. Once I heard the news, I contacted him. He wasn't in the Halifax office, however, but I am sure you knew who he was.

What no mention of Mythica? Man I was so looking forward to Mythica. That game was going to be so damn awesome.. I believe it was cancelled because Mythic sued them over the name and won...

http://web.archive.org/web/20040820185833/mythica.com/gallery/screenshots/default.htm?c00=0

Good read, funny one too, because I have been playing MMOs since 2003 and I only recognised one of the games on that list.

If one were to have played in the early stages of the Vanguard beta, I'd put that on the list of greatest MMOs that never were.

In it's origional design it was fantastic.  The fun I had in the beta, over one year before it's launch, was far greater than that of the release day version.  It was sadly killed by exactly what everyone fear.  Populist game design instead of the targeted "hard-core" audience approach that Brad McQuaid preached up until the final 6 months of development when he suddenly went silent.

Microsoft must have felt it would lose on the title, when they dropped out and SOE was brought on board... the losing began.  I'm not your typical SOE hater, but they did wrong with Vanguard.

#1 MMO that never was... Vanguard, Circa 1 year BV

Originally posted by Thranx

If one were to have played in the early stages of the Vanguard beta, I'd put that on the list of greatest MMOs that never were.

In it's origional design it was fantastic.  The fun I had in the beta, over one year before it's launch, was far greater than that of the release day version.  It was sadly killed by exactly what everyone fear.  Populist game design instead of the targeted "hard-core" audience approach that Brad McQuaid preached up until the final 6 months of development when he suddenly went silent.

Microsoft must have felt it would lose on the title, when they dropped out and SOE was brought on board... the losing began.  I'm not your typical SOE hater, but they did wrong with Vanguard.

#1 MMO that never was... Vanguard, Circa 1 year BV

Ultimately, niche games tank at the box-office. Companies are in the business of making money. That's always been the bottom-line, and it always will be.

Right then, prepare for a rant.

You know how I found this article/thread? I google'd "Live Content MMORPG" to see if one existed. Thanks to reading through the comments I realise that there still isn't anything that matches the grand scale that Wish could and would have achieved had it made it to retail. That's right folks, I'm a former Wish Beta tester. I was there for 1.0, I was there for 1.5 and I was there right at the bitter end.

Sure it was a beta, but what other game can you say "I was there..." for a moment that changed the story with hundreds of other players? Hell, I can reel off some from this game right now. I was there when Harborview was attacked by wave after wave of creatures as the players who called it home defeanded it at the gates. I was there when the 4 Town War roared. I was there when Lord Essex betrayed Harborview and left us to be the only player run town. I was there when we finally hunted Essex down. I was there when the GM's created Garry-zilla. And that was just Beta 1.0 (and just from one viewpoint from one town, I'm sure the other 3 had their own unique stories to tell.) In 1.5 I even got a mention in the in-game newspaper for defending a town and saving a story NPC from assassination.

There are plenty more moments I could list, but I think I've shown my point; in a time when MMO's are about following the breadcrumbs the devs leave for you and getting the best loot by repeating the same thing over and over, Wish gave the opportunity to be a part of and change the world around you with its Live Content. It was an actual RPG.

Now don't get me wrong, Wish was far from perfect at times. Its learning curve was higher than a lot of games at the time and finding your own path in Ganadaen was pretty harsh if you didn't know what was going on. The Live Content was also more heavily favoured towards the US than the rest of the world (which made it challenging for me, being in the UK, to take part in all of it) and the hardware specs made anything other than the latest PC's cry when the huge battles took place. And, you know, the bugs that riddled the game (although hey, it WAS a beta after all!

While the economy was broken during testing (as evident by the fact you could get buy items in one town, go to another and then sell them for twice the price, rinse/repeat) had it been fixed it could have been something similar to EvE Online's, which if you think about it is a very similar game in nature. Small Community (well, in comparrison to other MMO goliaths) that has grown over time with support and care, no real classes, a chance to make your character exactly what you want it to be, a single shard, and a rich backstory that the players have the chance to be a part of. EVE's existance is proof that given time, Wish could have been sustainable. All it needed was a little faith. Unfortunately that's not good business sense and, like it was already stated in the thread, it's all about the money

Will something like Wish with Live Content ever emerge? I really hope so. MMO's have left out the true RPG element for a long time. That's not to say MMO's are all bad. I still subscribe to WoW because it's fun to play with my friends, but if I was given the choice of playing WoW or Wish, you can bet I'd be subscribing to Wish in a heartbeat

And that folks is my rant over. I blame the Wish OST coming on iTunes yesterday when I was in a shuffle mood.

It's a decent list. 

I think the original Tabua Rasa should have made the cut along with Mythica and Dragon Empires.

I guess I wouldn't put Imperator on it since it was only in the air for a while and never really made headway. 

Originally posted by WarpHunter

What no mention of Mythica? Man I was so looking forward to Mythica. That game was going to be so damn awesome.. I believe it was cancelled because Mythic sued them over the name and won...

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20040820185833/mythica.com/gallery/screenshots/default.htm?c00=0

Microsoft was bailing out of the MMO business after Asheron's Call 2. 

Originally posted by Stradden

MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood counts down the top five games to be cancelled in mid development, never to see the light of day.

Everyone that follows MMORPGs can probably list a handful of games that have died an ignoble post-launch death, but what about the games that just didn’t make it? We followed these games that, for whatever reason, never made it to release. Some had their licenses moved on to other companies, some are pipe dreams of franchise fans and some just faded into obscurity, never to be heard from again.

Today, trapped in a sadistic bout of nostalgia, we take a look at what we consider to be the Top 5 of these games. Highly anticipated by their fans and yet left squarely on the design room floors:

Read the Top 5 MMOs That Never Were

i would alter the list as follows:

Ultima Online 2

Ultima Online Odyssey aka UO X

Whish

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I do not know why you did not mention Hellgate: London. 

Hellgate: London had so many people playing it you would not believe.  AND so many people who loved the game and were upset when it was announced it was closed. 

There seems to be a downfall or downturn at FPS MMOs.  HL was a damn good game and don't be surprised that you do not see some private organizaiton someday pick it up again.

My number vote is Hellgate: London. 

Originally posted by Kalay

I do not know why you did not mention Hellgate: London. 

Hellgate: London had so many people playing it you would not believe.  AND so many people who loved the game and were upset when it was announced it was closed. 

There seems to be a downfall or downturn at FPS MMOs.  HL was a damn good game and don't be surprised that you do not see some private organizaiton someday pick it up again.

My number vote is Hellgate: London. 

I am dumb founded on what to say. Are you serious??? I was in beta for HGL and the game was a fucking disaster. Release was worse and I am honestly unsure what the hell you were actually playing because it could not have been the same HGL everyone else played...

Originally posted by lokideshadow

 Two words for you.

Dragon Empires. 

It was a Codemasters game canceled in beta due to server/network issues when hitting X number of players online. Oh, what could have been had it been completed? It had a huge following through forums and roleplaying in the forums was beyond anything I've seen pre-release as clans formed. It definately had a hype like I havn't seen before or since with the fanbase, including myself.

GreenDragon, Order of the Bone Dragon 

 

 

It's the game I can rarely recall the name of and yet I was really looking forward to it.  It had potential but alas it never made it.

I was in the beta for wish and was sad when it was cancelled. 

Not sure if anyone mentioned it but what about the first Warhammer Online by Climax. I recall really following that game and was so disapointed when it got axed. It was being done different than what we got out from Mythic. It was supposed to be more dark and gruesome etc... Oh well here is some nostalga.. check out their last E3 video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkQvPQJ1_Dk

dont be so modest MMORPG.com TEAM.. WISH should be #1 !!!!

I see that a lot of ppl who work here were in the team...I hope that you guys have one day

another chance to work on a project like this.

The game is still around the web and a lot of ppl were sad about the cancelation...me too.

I am sorry about Wish, but happy about this awesome website!!!! 

Great article!

Chalk me down as another pre-Trammel UO player that was extremely disappointed UO2/UXO never saw the light of day.  Someone really needs to kick those responsible square in the bits over that.  Someday maybe....

Wish looked great and sounded great but I was not able to get into beta(QQ).  I still wondered if what they proposed to could be pulled off.  It seemed very ambitious and I was skeptical but hella interested.  Hopefully it sees the light of day one day.

my list would be:

1. Mythica

2. MEO

3. UXO/UO2

4. Dragon Empire

5. <insert whatever you like>

What! No mention of the Climax Warhammer Online or Mechwarrior 3050 (or whatever-it-was-called)?