by Karen Hertzberg on Feb 13, 2008
How the Mighty Have Fallen
Only a few short hours ago, it was announced that Marvel Universe
Online was being discontinued. In a recent interview, Shane Kim, VP of
Microsoft Game Studios, gave the official confirmation, and now eagerly
awaiting comic book fans have to sit back and watch as the
truth behind the cancellation begins to unfold. Despite Mr. Kim's
discussion on wanting to discontinue the game due to the lack of a
flexible payment model behind the game, Microsoft's track record with
MMORPGs is far from spotless. Cody "Micajah" Bye explores the
discontinuation of the comic book based game in his editorial, "The
Demise of Marvel Universe Online".
Microsoft doesn't have a tremendously solid track
record when it comes
to massively multiplayer games. From their first efforts with Asheron's
Call, Microsoft has either canceled or sold off every single massively
multiplayer game that they've touched. And it's a fairly extensive
list: Asheron's Call, Asheron's Call II, Mythica, True Fantasy Live
Online, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. For many individuals, the Marvel
Universe Online cancellation will serve as another reminder of the
massive games that Microsoft decided to drop before their time.