The Free2Play MMORPG Runes of Magic was for many, including in Germany, the entry into the world of MMORPGs. About 10 years ago, it was considered a Free2Play alternative to World of Warcraft. Now the servers in the homeland Taiwan are going down. The MMORPG is closing. Here in Europe, however, Runes of Magic is supposed to continue.
This is Runes of Magic: Runes of Magic is a fantasy MMORPG from Taiwan. It was developed in 2009 for the German and English markets by Frogster. They were acquired in 2011 by the Karlsruhe entrepreneur Gameforge, which operates several Asia MMORPGs in Germany.
Runes of Magic was released here in 2009 and was then considered a Free2Play alternative to the then highly popular World of Warcraft, which experienced a “golden age” in retrospect with Wrath of the Lich King.
At its peak around 2010, the Runes of Magic community had 4 million players. Since 2012, the game’s star in Germany began to slowly decline. Since 2014, the MMORPG has become hardly relevant.
In 2015, developer Gameforge announced an expansion – since then, we have hardly followed Runes of Magic on MeinMMO.
Free2Play MMORPG attracted many
What was so attractive about Runes of Magic? In 2009, it was primarily the relatively new “Free2Play” system in an MMORPG. One could play Runes of Magic without having to buy it or maintain a subscription.
Therefore, Runes of Magic especially attracted young players who did not want to explain to their parents why they absolutely needed money to buy an MMORPG. They already had a reputation for consuming a lot of time and transporting players into a foreign world. Therefore, they were viewed skeptically by some parents.
Runes of Magic has always been considered expensive – because through “cashing”, players could buy advantages.
A distinctive feature of Runes of Magic was that one could play multiple classes with one character. And also that there were virtually endless possibilities to improve one’s equipment.
This is coming to an end: As Runewaker Entertainment announces, the original servers in Taiwan will close shortly before the 10th anniversary of the MMORPG. It is over on September 3, 2019.
This is part of a general MMORPG dying in Asia where mobile games have now surpassed PC titles and some “long-standing MMORPGs” have ridden off into the sunset in recent years.
Runes of Magic continues in Europe
What about the German version? Our version of Runes of Magic is still run by Gameforge. There were rumors in the forum that the German version would no longer be developed. However, this was quickly dismissed by a community manager.
The European version continues and is also further developed, it is said. Everything else should be relegated to the realm of legends. Players should take off their aluminum hats again.
