The German company gamigo has announced the discontinuation of several MMOs and online games. Among them is the shooter Defiance, which is considered a precursor to Destiny and The Division.
What is happening right now? gamigo is the publisher of various MMOs and online games, some of which they have also acquired:
- In 2013 they acquired Aeria Games, the developer behind the MMORPGs Last Chaos and Echo of Souls.
- In 2018 there was the acquisition of Trion Worlds, known for Rift, Archeage, and Trove.
- In January 2021, they bought the studio Kinglsle Entertainment, which developed Wizard 101 among others.
However, according to gamigo, not all games can cover their costs. Therefore, at least 4 titles will be discontinued.
Which games are being discontinued? We at MeinMMO have already reported that the old shooter S4 League will not survive April. It became known mainly through a television commercial.
In addition to S4 League, the following will also be affected:
- The MMORPG Eden Eternal
- The anime MMORPG Twin Saga, which was released in Europe in 2016
- The shooter Defiance
All of them will shut down their servers on April 29.
The discontinuation of Defiance is particularly sad, as the shooter did many things right at the beginning, but missed the MMO shooter boom. If you want to take another look at the game, here is a video from YouTuber TheLazyPeon:
Defiance was “ahead of its time”, then lost to Destiny
What kind of game was that? Defiance was a buy-to-play MMO shooter that was released in 2013 for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 and together with a TV series.
The game emphasized role-playing content and exploring a game world, which was rather unusual at the time.
There were countless quests in the open world, dynamic events with dozens of other players, instanced missions, and PvP matches. Instead of classes, gameplay changed through skill builds and weapon switching.
The GameStar rated Defiance 2013 with a 77/100 and praised the game for its unique approaches. However, there was also criticism for average technology, cumbersome menus, boring AI opponents, and the limited scope of content.
What happened to the game next? In 2014, Destiny made the MMO shooter genre popular, but Defiance lagged far behind. In 2014, the shooter switched to a free-to-play model to attract more players.
Initially, it was said that the shooter would benefit from the boom. But the game continued to struggle with technical problems and limited content. Moreover, it completely missed the new console generation.
Only in July 2018 did Defiance 2050 release a version for PS4 and Xbox One. This was after the release of Destiny 2 and much too late. The developers from Trion Worlds later claimed that Defiance was ahead of its time.
Defiance is not the only shooter with sad news to share. Anthem, which according to BioWare was supposed to run for 10 years, will no longer be developed:
EA officially halts work on Anthem and its rework
