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Myst Online

The story of Myst Online, despite being fraught with disappointment, is perhaps as unique as it is inspiring. The game originally began development back in 1997 under the title “Ages Beyond Myst: Uru Live” and was intended to be the first multiplayer title to take place in the then-chart-topping world of Myst. Over the years, developer Cyan Worlds experienced a turbulent development process, as well as disagreements with their publisher, Ubisoft, over the single-player aspects of the title. Ultimately, the game ended up being released without a multiplayer component as "Uru: Ages Beyond Myst" but developers at Cyan Worlds refused to abandon further development of the title. It took them almost a decade, but in 2006 they announced a partnership agreement with the online game service GameTap, and a working published version of the multiplayer title “Myst Online” was finally released to the public in February of 2007,all thanks to the tenacity and passion of Cyan Worlds and their dedicated fans and supporters.


Sadly, that’s not the happy ending to the tale. Despite the rabid dedication of their small market of players, GameTap was forced to shut down their support for the title in February of 2008 due to concerns regarding continued content delivery and creative disagreements. And yet, even with this setback, the plucky Cyan Worlds team refused to throw in the towel and re-acquired the rights to Myst Online free of charge after a few months of negotiation. In February of 2010, a small private server was brought online, and the game was republished under the title “Myst Online: Uru Live Again.” The game is now free to play, though no new content is currently being developed. Cyan Worlds has announced their intention to release the source code for Myst Online, however, which could potentially lead to user-generated content at a later date.

… more to come!

It is strange to find such a varied collection of stories in a single business model. From companies actively seeking to scam investors and line their own pockets, to developers that care so much for a title that they release it free to the public after more than a decade of hard work, these tales show us a glimpse of the best and worst that this genre has to offer, and many of the perils that any upcoming title has to overcome in order to finally stand by its brethren on the shelves of retail stores around the world.

But for every shared story dozens more go unspoken. And for every story of success, there is at least one failure that we never got to play, or that passed into obscurity before its time.