Tabula Rasa
Setting: SciFi | Developer: Destination Games | Release Date: November 2, 2007 (EU) | Discontinued: February 28, 2009 | Payment Model: Initially Pay2Play, then Free2Play starting January 2009
A developer veteran stood behind the MMORPG Tabula Rasa, from whom many genre fans had high hopes. Richard Garriott had not only made Ultima one of the most popular role-playing series but had also created one of the most important western pioneers for WoW and Co. with Ultima Online.
The gameplay trailer for Tabula Rasa:
The hype intensified when it became clear that Garriott had 100 million dollars at his disposal to implement his MMORPG shooter. The special twist of the game: all humans from a fictional Earth must work together to fend off an alien invasion. Therefore, PvE was prioritized. Eight different classes were available, including Xenobiologist, Guardsman, and Sniper.
What caused the failure of Tabula Rasa? At launch, feedback from both the press and players was relatively positive. Especially the action-packed fights, the unusual character system, and the diverse, dynamic quests were well-received.
However, at high levels, there was too little content. Additionally, the MMORPG struggled with technical problems and a lackluster performance. Constant lags torpedoed the otherwise fast-paced gameplay and shootouts.
The biggest problem was likely that Richard Garriott wasn’t fully passionate about the project. Instead of addressing numerous launch issues, he disappeared for a short trip into space.
The executives at NCsoft were not pleased with this at all. They reportedly announced the departure of the lead developer in an open letter. Shortly afterward, they took the servers offline. By then, Tabula Rasa had only earned about 10 of the invested 100 million US dollars. You can find more details here: How could one of the most expensive MMORPGs of all time fail?
