The 5 MMORPGs that died the fastest

Rank 2 – Landmark

Developer: Daybreak Games | Release: June 10, 2016 | Shutdown: February 21, 2017

What kind of game is this? Landmark was originally intended as a sort of extension for the planned MMORPG Everquest Next, which was a major hope for Daybreak Games at the time. With the Landmark tool, you were supposed to create content for Everquest Next and shape your own landscapes, literally creating landmarks.

The gameplay felt somewhat like a very early New World without combat. You spent a lot of time gathering resources, building structures, and exploring in the large sandbox world. There were no different classes or a sophisticated combat system.

Even when Daybreak announced that they would stop the development of Everquest Next, Landmark was supposed to continue to run as a standalone game, allowing fans to keep playing in the big sandbox. However, the initial enthusiasm did not last long.

You can watch the trailer for the game here:

Why is the game dead? The obvious reason, namely that the game for which Landmark was just meant to be a tool was not further developed, was not the only reason. Daybreak Games was undergoing a shift during this time, and the then CEO John Smedley and many developers who were responsible for Landmark left the company.

Ultimately, the game also simply lacked players in the long run, which is why Daybreak decided to shut down the MMORPG in February 2017, not even a year after its official release.

Rank 1 – Seed

Developer: Runestone Game Development | Release: May 2, 2006 | Shutdown: September 28, 2006

What kind of game is this? Seed took a rather unusual approach for an MMORPG, namely, there were simply no fights in the game. Instead, the game’s role-playing aspect was supposed to take center stage. Therefore, you had to rely on politics, skillful negotiations, charm, and new technology to survive in the inhospitable world.

By the way, it was so cruel to you because you were stranded on a planet you were not supposed to land on. On behalf of humanity, it was up to you to establish a new colony in a distant world, but you ended up on a different planet than planned. Nevertheless, you remained true to your mission and did what you could to secure the survival of your community.

For this, you teamed up with other players to explore new things and gradually work together toward common success.

Why is the game dead? The developers behind the MMORPG simply ran out of money to continue funding the game. After just 4 months on the market, Runestone Game Development filed for bankruptcy. The servers were shut down as part of these measures and never reestablished.

Special Case – Dark and Light

Developer: NPCube | Release: June 6, 2006 | Shutdown: Sometime in 2008

What kind of game is this? First of all, we need to mention that this is not the same survival RPG Dark and Light. The developer Snail Games secured the naming rights in 2008, but the games have nothing to do with each other.

Dark and Light was an MMORPG that used a medieval fantasy setting. The game offered 12 different races, of which you could even choose your gender for 10 of them. It also featured 14 different classes that were divided into the various types of fighters, hunters, healers, and mages, functioning as a classic Holy Trinity.

Besides that, the game featured crafting, PvE, PvP, various quests, and a 39,000 square kilometer open world. This was one of the main selling points of Dark and Light. However, the game was released with technical errors and poor graphics, which was not the only reason for its demise.

You can watch a trailer for the game here:

Why is the game dead? On the one hand, the game did not go down well with players and the press at the time. The poor graphics, even for that time, were often criticized. But many technical issues also plagued Dark and Light. The publisher Farlan Entertainment even had to release a statement saying that the game was published too early and thus had many problems.

All players were then given 3 months of free playtime for the pay-to-play title, and they sought help from publisher SnailGame Entertainment to improve the graphical quality of the MMORPG. However, the developers faced an unexpected lawsuit.

The software manufacturer VWORLD sued the company, claiming that the SCAPER technology was allegedly used for Dark and Light, which had not been licensed. VWORLD then demanded €710,000 in damages from the developer of the MMORPG.

Although SCAPER had not been used in Dark and Light at all, the studio lost the case as it had used other content from VWORLD without acquiring it. NPCube subsequently had to pay €50,000 to VWORLD, which seemingly led to the downfall of Dark and Light.

Why is this a special case? Whether this is actually the reason for the shutdown is known to probably only a handful of people, which is also why Dark and Light appears as a special case for us. The game was simply shut down wordlessly sometime in 2008. The servers are still dead to this day and never came back online.

There has been no explanation or even an announcement from the publisher or developer to this day. What is clear is that Dark and Light has not been playable since 2008. We could not find out when exactly during our research.

These were the 5 MMORPGs that died the fastest. Do you know of any other titles that ended very quickly? Do you miss one of the titles or have you played it yourself? Feel free to write it down in the comments here on MeinMMO.

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