The Matrix Online
Setting: SciFi | Developer: Monolith Productions | Release Date: April 15, 2005 (EU) | Discontinued: July 31, 2009 | Payment Model: Pay2Play
You can certainly criticize the entire series, but at least the first Matrix film is one of the most impressive cinema experiences and most significant works in film history. Accordingly, the hype was immense when the industry veterans from Monolith Productions (F.E.A.R., No One Lives Forever) announced an MMORPG for the Matrix franchise. Hype!
At that time, the Matrix world was still intact:
The plan was to build the game on the Matrix storyline and continue it. HYPE! It was to feature a unique class system where you “upload” a selection of skills, similar to how Neo does in the film. The disks with the skills are produced and sold by the Coder class. And of course, the action was meant to be as stylish as in the film.
Why was Matrix Online a flop? The MMORPG disappointed right from the start with an enormous number of bugs and other technical shortcomings, missing content, and generic missions that constantly repeated. In direct comparison, even Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions seemed like masterpieces.
This led to mixed reviews at launch. Player numbers fell faster than Neo through the rabbit hole. When the service was shut down after just four years, the MMORPG had fewer than 500 active players. To end on a conciliatory note, there’s now a fun trivia article about the Matrix: A legendary film series sacrificed 300 cars for a single scene, and you thought it was CGI
