The Realm Online is considered the grandfather of MMORPGs, but after 27 years, the game is now shutting down the servers.
What kind of game is this?
- The Realm Online is regarded as the “grandfather” of MMORPGs and was released in 1996 for Windows PCs.
- The game was developed as a graphical MUD (multi-user dungeon with computer graphics) by Sierra Entertainment before the term MMORPG was commonly used.
- Games such as Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot were also considered graphical MUDs in the past.
- In The Realm Online, combat is turn-based. Additionally, it is regarded as the online game that invented the concept of instances.
- Currently, the license for The Realm Online is held by Norseman Games and is being developed by “Realm Worlds LLC”.
Realm Worlds LLC announced in a statement that they are shutting down The Realm Online. The game servers and the game’s website will consequently be taken offline on June 30, 2023 (via realm-worlds.com).
Even though The Realm Online is bidding farewell, there are still some MMORPGs that continue to be played even after many years:
Why are the servers being shut down? As Realm Worlds LLC announced, the team has been in talks with Norseman Games since March 2023 to acquire the license for the MMORPG.
However, Norseman Games has provided little feedback on the submitted offers and made no counteroffer. Furthermore, no details were mentioned as to why the offers made to Norseman Games were declared insufficient.
This has led to Realm Worlds being unable to acquire the license for The Realm Online and unable to continue working on the MMORPG:
The current agreement with Norseman Games does not give us the opportunity to acquire the IP. This prevents us from investing more money in the development of content for the game. As the revenues from the game decline year by year, the effective percentage of revenue that goes to Norseman increases, making things even more difficult. None of the [Realm Worlds] LLC members have received compensation for over a year.
Realm Worlds LLC via realm-worlds.com
What happens next for the grandfather of MMORPGs? Realm Worlds LLC remains interested in keeping the game alive. They hope to be able to return soon despite the current farewell.
Additionally, the team announced that they will keep backups of the last five years to ensure that the game world returns in the same state that players left it, including saved character data.
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