The western MMO Wild West Online (WWO) faced heavy criticism and even allegations of fraud even before its launch. There seemed to be an attempt to be close to Red Dead Redemption 2. Accordingly, the game performed poorly, which led to the halt of its development. However, this does not mean the end of the title.
The developers managed to close a deal and will soon bring Wild West Online back – but in two parts. One of them focuses on Battle Royale.
Much criticism from the start regarding Wild West Online
What happened? The plan was to make Wild West Online a kind of Red Dead Redemption 2 for PC. The game was supposed to fill the gap that PC gamers felt, since RDR 2 had not yet been announced for PC.
Catastrophic reviews at release in May due to a completely unfinished game and allegations of fraud against Wild West Online quickly knocked the game off its saddle.
Wild West Online has often been rumored to have a connection to War Z producer Sergey Titov, who misled players with empty promises and dubious microtransactions. While such a connection could never be proven, the rumors further burdened the already struggling Wild West Online.
Catastrophic player numbers and devastating reviews were the result.
However, the team continued to work on the game and even wanted to switch to the Free2Play model. Since then, it has been quiet about the game.
Three months without pay
Now it is known: Development was halted in August. The employees have not been paid since then, some were without pay for over 3 months, the company was virtually closed and support for Wild West Online was discontinued. Mr. Black announced this on the forum.
WWO returns
A sign of life: Now the team has returned in the form of Mr. Black. In the forum on the official website, the developers talk about the future of Wild West Online.
- The team was able to enter into a partnership with Free Reign Entertainment, which allows for further development
- Those who already own WWO can continue playing with their account after the restart. You will also receive some rewards for your loyalty
- However, you will need to download the game again
- The client will then give you access to the two “parts” of Wild West Online, Frontier and Magnificent 5
- Frontier is basically the well-known online game in an open world with a focus on PvP, crafting, hunting, and survival
- Magnificent 5 is a battle royale variant in which 20 teams, each consisting of 5 players, compete against each other on a large map, build forts, and search for artifacts. It is said to play similarly to Fortnite
- WWO will be released as a free-to-play game on Steam
When will it continue? As the team explains, Magnificent 5 will start as a test version next week. Frontier is expected to follow in November. Both titles will then still be in an open beta version.
Players react skeptically
This is how players are reacting: After everything that has happened regarding Wild West Online so far, players are extremely skeptical about the restart.
The cooperation with Free Reign Entertainment is also viewed critically. The studio released the shooter Shattered Skies on Steam, which disappeared from the platform due to technical issues and a lack of players.
Moreover, Free Reign Entertainment belongs to the Arktos Entertainment Group LLC, a company in which Sergey Titov is involved. This again reinforces the indications that he was and is also involved in Wild West Online.
Conga-Line Bob says on Steam: “HAHAHA – So Free Reign Entertainment wants to save their own game? That’s ridiculous. It’s like Disney saying they’re saving ABC. Wild West Online was a Free-Reign game from the start. So Titov is now claiming his own game is his own game, that’s the only difference here. “
rojoArcueid writes on MMORPG.com: “No matter what they claim. To me, it’s War Z: Cowboy Edition. Burn it with fire!”
