Delayed MMORPGs: 5 MMOs in Deep Freeze

Have you been waiting for a particular MMORPG for what seems like years? Why is it that some games get stuck in development with a perpetual ‘Coming soon…’ tag on their official sites? Let’s take a look at five games that seem to be frozen in time…

1. Priston Tale 2

The original Priston Tale was released in South Korea back in 2001. The game made its way to the West where it enjoyed some success. The English servers closed on 2008, but were reopened by SubaGames, a new free MMO publisher. SubaGames also announced Priston Tale 2 some time later, but it has yet to launch. Priston Tale 2 isn’t in development — the game launched in Korea in 2008. So why can’t we play it yet? The official site simply says ‘coming soon.’ European gamers can play the game, but IP blocks keep North American players out.

2. Dance Groove Online

Dance Groove Online looked like one of the more promising free to play dancing MMOs. Audition Online, 5street, and Dance Online were all developed by Asian studios, but Dance Groove Online was different. Designed by Electronic Arts, it was to be published by Outspark. Everything seemed to be on track, and the game was even playable during two rounds of closed beta testing. The final one ended about six months ago, but the official site still says ‘open beta coming soon, JOIN NOW!’
This isn’t Outspark’s first frozen MMO. They were supposed to publish the MMOFPS Blackshot in North America. Technical issues and conflicts with the Asian develop caused that project to fall through, but Outspark left the preview site up for a year before finally removing it. Will history repeat it self, or will Dance Groove Online be spared the axe?

3. Huxley: The Dystopia

First announced way back in 2007, Huxley: The Dystopia was originally announced as a cross platform MMOFPS for the Xbox 360 and PC. The game was developed by Webzen using the Unreal Engine 3 and is supposedly being published in North America on the IJJI free MMO portal.

While it has already undergone several rounds of closed beta testing, and an open beta was promised towards the end of 2009. Three months into 2010 and still no word of an open beta. The game has already had a whole host of features cut. A large persistent world was originally planned, but the game is now reduced to a lobby system. Will it ever see the light of day? Don’t hold your breath.

4. Dreamland Online

Dreamland Online has been on IGG’s upcoming games list for longer than I can remember. The publisher has announced, tested, and released several games since first putting the Dreamland Online teaser site up. When will it come out? Who knows. The official story is that they are still adding features to the Chinese version, and that they are on the third testing round. When the third test is completed, they’ll start ‘alpha testing’ the English version.

5. Kart Rider

Does anyone else remember playing Kart Rider on Nexon’s North American service? It was a fun, simple kart racing MMO. Players could race with or without items enabled and the gameplay resembled Mario Kart in many ways. Kart Rider was one of the few MMOs that could genuinely be enjoyed by non-gamers. The open beta lasted several months and was then shut down. I imagined it would only be a matter of time before the game officially launched.

Kart Rider was, after all, immensely popular in Korea. It boasted millions of players. Even a sequel called Air Rider was released in Asia! Imagine my surprise when the game was finally removed from Nexon’s homepage. Looks like the game won’t be hitting Western shores anytime soon. Eager players can still access the Chinese service, but the language barrier and high ping make it a frustrating experience.

Were any of you looking forward to these games? Do you think they’ve still got a shot at release? Are there any other MMORPGs that have been in development for a long time with no sign of release? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

This Editorial Was Written on March 27, 2010

By, Erhan Altay