Wildstar
- Release Date: June 3, 2014
- Discontinued: November 28, 2018
Wildstar was one of the last major MMORPGs developed in the West. The developer Carbine Studios, which was part of NCSoft, was behind the game.
It was a colorful sci-fi game that featured one of the best combat systems in the genre. You had to be alert and have good reflexes to master the action fights and succeed in the very challenging raids.
Furthermore, Wildstar boasted a good housing system.
The difficulty of the content and the subscription model initially meant that Wildstar could not captivate a large number of players. A switch to Free2Play was intended to bring about the change, but it did not succeed.
In November 2018, it was then discontinued. Today, many players wish for a private server for the MMORPG.
EverQuest Landmark/Next
- Release Date: June 2016
- Discontinued: February 2017
Landmark was the ambitious attempt to develop a sandbox for players to give a taste of EverQuest Next.
The game began with its first beta tests in 2014 and was officially released in June 2016. However, the pure sandbox simulator failed to convince.
Because EverQuest Next never appeared, Landmark was also discontinued shortly after its release.
Worlds Adrift
- Release Date: May 24, 2017 (Early Access)
- Discontinued: July 26, 2019
Worlds Adrift was a sandbox MMO that had been available on Steam in Early Access since May 2017. The focus was on the islands floating in the air that could be explored. Players could strap on wings or build airships.
The sandbox even went so far that players could create and upload islands into the game. Few games have offered such freedom.
However, the MMORPG was not profitable. Since the developers did not want to release an incomplete game, they decided to discontinue it.
Bless Online
- Release Date: May 30, 2018
- Discontinued: September 9, 2019
Bless Online was a AAA MMORPG from developer Neowiz, which reportedly cost $61 million. It looked graphically attractive and created a small hype in 2018.
Here in the West, people waited desperately for a new MMORPG. Although Bless was already struggling in its home country of Korea, anticipation was high in this country. This was partly because the developers gave players hope for a version of the MMORPG tailored for the West.
However, Bless faltered due to technical issues, lack of content, and faulty localization. Even a switch to Free2Play did not provide a future for the MMORPG, and it was discontinued in September 2019.
Currently, Neowiz is trying to keep the franchise alive with games like Bless Unleashed for Xbox or Bless Eternal for mobile.
Astellia
- Release Date: May 30, 2018
- Discontinued: September 9, 2019
Astellia was a traditional theme park MMORPG from Asia. At launch, you could choose from 5 classes, with which you followed a linear story about the battle of good against evil. Astellia’s combat system relied on tab-targeting.
The highlight of the MMORPG were the Astels. These were small, magical companions that could take on the role of tanks, healers, or DPS. You could collect and level these.
Otherwise, Astellia featured classic MMORPG content such as:
- Dungeons that were sometimes intertwined with the story, and legendary dungeons with higher difficulty levels
- World bosses
- Avalon, a PvP area with 300v300v300 battles
- A simplified crafting system
- A achievements system and a compendium for completing areas
Astellia had few fans from the start. This was also because it was announced shortly after the discontinuation of Bless Online. Trust in Asian MMORPGs was understandably shaken at that time.
Furthermore, Astellia did not really advertise itself with innovations or new ideas, but rather aimed to do old things right and without pay-to-win. However, the extremely linear story and rather boring gameplay made matters worse. The often very childish Astels were also an issue.
In the end, Astellia simply could not excite enough players and could not re-finance itself.
Swords of Legends
- Release Date: July 9, 2021
- Discontinued: December 7, 2022
Swords of Legends was an Asian MMORPG that placed great importance on a traditional Chinese story. You experienced a classic “good versus evil” fight and had the choice of 7, later up to 9 different classes.
In the endgame, dungeons and raids in three difficulty levels, housing, various life skills, and PvP in arenas, battlegrounds, or endgame areas awaited. Real highlights were the fair gear system, an even fairer shop, and the nice graphics. However, there were also some problems.
A big problem was already the leveling phase. It was quite monotonous, very linear, and was maximum fun during the first playthrough. For twinks, however, the same quests had to be played in the exact same order. Anyone who had already played the beta had little desire to level in the live version.
However, you had to reach the max level to unlock relevant content like dungeons, life skills, or housing. At launch, there were also errors in localization and some performance issues.
In the endgame, the content was delivered too slowly for hardcore players, while at the same time hardly any new players were coming into the MMORPG. Furthermore, achievements in a game that hardly anyone actively plays meant virtually nothing. The race for world firsts eventually ceased.
Moreover, in terms of marketing, Gameforge was clearly outdone by the larger titles that were released shortly after, such as New World in September and Lost Ark in February 2022, which came just before the first SOLO expansion in March. Both relied on large Twitch streamers and contests on social media.
Elyon
- Release Date: October 20, 2021
- Discontinued: December 7, 2022
Elyon was originally to be called A:IR and was supposed to be a game with aerial combat and steampunk elements. However, about a year before its release, a complete rebranding took place. In the end, it became a generic Asian MMORPG with few features and open PvP.
The only memorable feature was the skill system, where each skill had three different versions. Some skills could hit three targets with low damage, one target with high damage, or temporarily CC three targets. You therefore had a lot of flexibility.
In the endgame, the game emphasized open-world PvP, where you could lose 5% of your experience points, but not equipment.
The entry into Elyon was extremely confusing, the gear could break during upgrades, there was open PvP, and the monetization was not well received in the West. The absolute nail in the coffin, however, was the release of New World, which took place just three weeks earlier. The MMORPG peaked at over 930,000 simultaneous players on Steam, while Elyon only reached about 15,000.
Therefore, Bluehole decided to discontinue Elyon in the same year as TERA.
Have you had experiences in these games yourself? Would you want to see the return of one of these MMORPGs? Please let us know in the comments!
If you’re looking for good MMORPGs, you’ll find them here: The 10 best MMORPGs 2023 – Which one is right for me?
