Rank 3: Warhammer Online
Developer: Mythic Entertainment | Platform: PC | Release Date: September 18, 2008 | Payment Model: Buy2Play | Status: Closed (December 18, 2013)
What do I need to know about the license? Starting as a tabletop game in 1983, Warhammer has become one of the largest pop culture brands in the world, with variants for both SciFi and fantasy enthusiasts. The number of game adaptations and novels is virtually uncountable. Animated series regularly appear on warhammertv.com. However, for cinema, the IP is probably too gory.
What do I need to know about the game? Warhammer Online was an MMORPG from Mythic Entertainment that was released in September 2008 and was intended to be the unofficial successor to Dark Age of Camelot from 2001. Again, the war between the factions was the focus of the story and some content.
At its peak, it was reported that around 800,000 subscribers were playing the online role-playing game – a number that would be tremendously strong today. However, publisher EA apparently expected more. When the license acquired from Games Workshop expired after 5 years, the publisher pulled the plug despite the solid foundation and enormous potential.
A significant plus was how wonderfully the game implemented the source material. This can be seen, for example, in the selection of classes and races: All 6 races (Dwarfs, Empire, High Elves, Chaos, Dark Elves, and Greenskins) offered 4 classes each, filling the roles of tank, melee fighter, ranged fighter, and healer. Included were: Rune Priests, Slayers, Choppas, Chosen, White Lions, and many more.
Additionally, quests and their backstories allowed one to immerse deeply into the fantasy universe of Warhammer and learn more about its rich lore. How well this still works and draws players in (thanks to private servers) was summarized by colleague Benedict a few weeks ago: Playing the MMORPG about Warhammer today is like sightseeing for nerds and costs nothing
