The MMO Graveyard – Dead MMORPGs
Even though the free to play MMORPG market has grown considerably over the last few years – not every MMORPG is a success. The games below have been shut down by their respective publishers – meaning for all intents and purposes they’re dead. This page will be updated as more and more games shut down. Games that were never officially released will not be included in this list nor will games that never left the beta phase. The games below are in no particular order. Also, we only list dead ‘free to play’ MMORPGs and MMOs. Dead pay to play games will not be listed here.
The MMO Grave Yard
This 3D anime inspired MMO ‘brawler’ game. Players had to battle it out Super Smash bros style against other players. The game has the same premise as other fighting MMOs like Rumble Fighter and Splash Fighter – except with much worse execution. The game suffered from many technical issues as well as a lack of players. I remember when the game was around – it was nearly impossible to even find even ONE other person to play with – as the servers were dead empty. The game was published by ‘Inix Game’ who also publishes Kal Online, a much more successful fantasy MMORPG. Vanilla gate was shut down on November 17th, 2009.
I’m surprised Aeria Games even decided to launch Stone Age 2. Since day 1 – the game was.. well.. dead. No one played it. The game felt more like a single player RPG than an MMO – but not the good kind with epic storytelling or anything.
Pi Story was a neat little side scrolling 2D anime inspired MMORPG by Aeria Games. The game sort of played like Dungeon Fighter Online – except with a more ‘up beat’ and ‘bright’ theme. Like Stone Age 2 though – the game had a very small playerbase and didn’t really catch on with gamers – so it was really doomed to failure from the start. The game is fairly popular in Japan though – so the game itself can’t be bad.
This was a neat little free to play MMORPG with fast XP gain and some interesting gameplay. It played like a 3D Diablo – the graphics were quite poor, but the gameplay wasn’t terrible. The game was available to North American players through Netgame.
I’m actually surprised this game got shut down. Like Legend of Ares – Holic Online was published by Net Game. Unlike Ares though – Holic Online had some really gorgeous cel shaded anime graphics and some genuinely fun gameplay. The game had a medium sized playerbase as well – so the fact that the game was shut down did come as a surprise. Hopefully the game will return one day – as it was one of the few games on this list that people actually played. A similar game, called Cloud Nine, is expected to launch soon and is supposed to be ‘Holic Online 2′ – so the game may yet live on.
Fury
Fury originally launched as a pay to play game back in 2007 and was shut down about 10 months after release. Before it got shut down though – the game did go free to play for a while. Aside from the fact that the game received terrible reviews from practically every media outlet – the game itself had very little content. Fury also had a small playerbase – so it’s no surprise that the game was shut down.
Shadowbane
Shadowbane originally launched as a PvP heavy pay to play MMORPG that was designed to compete with Ultima Online back in 2003. The game only went free to play during the its last year or so. The game’s servers were officially shut down on July 1, 2009.
Survival Project
Survival Project was a moderately paced 2D action MMO where players would fight it out in a Super Smash Brothers style format – except with an overhead camera. The game was originally launched in 2003 – but was later shut down on October 31, 2007.
Gold Slam
Gold Slam was a 3D ‘Realistic’ tennis MMO by Aeria Games. Unlike the anime inspired Fantasy Tennis and Smash Online – Gold Slam aimed to please a different audience – an audience which was unfortunately smaller than Aeria had anticipated. Aeria Games shut down the Gold Slam service due to a lack of interest.
Rubies of Eventide
Rubies of Eventide originally launched on June 2003 as a pay to play MMORPG and only went free to play a year later in 2004. The game took place in the medieval fantasy world of Vormis with 3D graphics that looked a lot like the graphics in the original EverQuest game. Rubies of Eventide did have a fairly long lifespan of nearly 5 years. The game was officially shut down in August 2009.
Xiah Rebirth was a 3D Fantasy MMORPG published by GamesCampus. It was quite old as the graphics in the game were quite an eye sore. For a long period of time, Xiah Rebirth was actually the lowest rated game on MMOHut, which makes me wonder why GamesCampus kept the game up for as long as it did.
Update: Xiah Rebirth is back from the dead! It is now being published by Xiah Global Services, which is the game’s developer.
Chaos Online
Chaos Online was a 2D Sci-fi MMORPG published by EnjoyMMO. Both graphically and gameplay wise it played a lot like Magic World Online. It’s always sad to see a sci-fi MMORPG die, because there are only a handful of them out there.
Kicks Online is a 3D Soccer MMO published by Gametribe. The game kicked the bucket when Gametribe officially closed down their entire MMORPG portal at the end of 2009. Even if GameTribe hadn’t closed its doors, Kicks Online would have been shut down, as the game had an incredibly low playerbase.
BB Tanks was a shameless GunBound clone. It was a 2D turn based shooter published by OG Planet. The game likely failed due to its terrible graphics and buggy gameplay. What on Earth was OG Planet thinking when they licensed BB Tanks? The game was doomed to failure from the start.
Dragon Sky was a 3D Fantasy MMORPG published by Aeriagames. It had a good deal of content and interesting combat mechanics. The game had a much larger playerbase than several of Aeria’s other games, which makes me wonder why the game was shut down.
Corum Online was 3D Fantasy MMORPG published by gPotato for a while before their contract for the game with Ndoors ran out. There are rumors that Ndoors will relaunch the game themselves, but until its official, R.I.P Corum Online.
Elf Online was sort of an unofficial shutdown. The game’s website remained online for a while, but the game’s official forums have been closed along with the actual servers for quite a while. Elf Online was a 2D turn based MMORPG that played like numerous classical console RPGs.
Dungeon Runners was a free to play 3D fantasy themed MMORPG by NCSoft. The game was actually one of the only free to play games from NCSoft. The game managed to differentiate itself from the hordes of other free to play games by mocking itself as well as the entire MMO genre. Dialogue was hilarious and the game aimed to be ‘fun’ rather than realistic.
Slapshot was a 3D Hockey themed MMO published by Gamigo. Unfortunately, the game never attracted even a medium sized audience from the get-go. It’s surprising that the game lasted all the way up until April 30, 2010 before it shut down.
Smash Online was a 3D tennis themed MMO published by Gamigo. It played a lot like Fantasy Tennis, but without the crazy special moves and abilities. It was more of a straight up tennis game with realistic gameplay mechanics. The game never had too many players online, but the gameplay was fun. The game was shut down sometime in early 2010.
Turf Battles was an old 3D fantasy MMORPG that was shut down in the past before. Aeria Games resurrected the game for a short while and was met with much praise from the game’s fanbase after doing so. Unfortunately, Aeria Games didn’t keep the game up too long. On June 2, 2010 Aeria Games announced Turf Battles would be shut down on June 18.
Nida Online was a 3D fantasy MMORPG from GameKiss with very old graphics. Since its original launch, the game was doomed, as it never attracted a very large audience. The game was officially shut down on May 18, 2010.
Manga Fighter was an anime inspired third person MMO shooter from GamesCampus. Since its original launch, the game never managed to reach a large audience, but managed to get by. The game officially shut down on July 30, 2010.
Project Torque
Project Torque was a realistic 3D Racing MMO from AeriaGames. Luckily, the European version called Level-R Is still online. Plus a new North American version of the game, called Heat Online, launched August 20, 2010. Project Torque was shut down on August 2, 2010.
Exteel was a 3D mech themed sci-fi MMO shooter from NCSoft – the same company behind Guild Wars and City of Heroes. It played a lot like the Armored Core games and CosmicBreak. It’s sad to see Exteel go, as it was an incredibly fun game. The game officially shut down on September 1, 2010.
Esteria Mythos
Esteria Mythos was a 2D Fantasy MMORPG with old school Diablo 1 / Mu Online style graphics. The game’s official website went dead sometime around July, 2010 or so.
Endless Online was an old 2D Fantasy MMORPG that shut down due to massive hacking in-game. The game officially shut down in early September, 2010.
Hockey Dash was a 3D hockey themed sports MMO published by OG Planet. The game looked a bit and played a lot like FreeStyle Street Basketball from GameKiss. The game only lasted a month or so and officially shut down on September 29, 2010. The
Bright Shadow was a 3D anime inspired fantasy MMORPG by GamePot USA. The game was developed by Gamemania, the same company who owns the BeanFun portal. The game’s servers officially closed on October 31, 2010.
Warrior Epic is a 3D fantasy MMORPG with low end graphics. The game was published by UTV True games for quite a while as well as through the ijji reactor, but the game shut down abruptly on November 12, 2010.
Mercenary Wars
Mercenary Wars was a 3D tactical MMOFPS game by Uforia. The game had fairly low end graphics and never managed to reach a large audience. The game shut down sometime around September, 2010 when Uforia shut down all of their games.
Red War was a 2D fantasy MMORPG which had an isometric camera angle. The game shut down around September, 2010 when Uforia shut down all of their games.
Emil Chronicle Online was a neat 2.5D fantasy MMORPG published by RunUp in Malaysia. The game was developed by Gravity Interactive, who is better known for Ragnarok Online. The game never launched outside of Asia, but was playable world-wide because they didn’t have any IP restrictions. The English Emil Chronicle Online shut down sometime in early November, 2010.
Cue Online was a billiards MMO by GamesCampus. The game officially shut down on September 15, 2010. The reason the game shut down was a lack of interest by players. Those interested in a free billiards MMO can still play Carom3D.
Soul Master was a 3D action MMORPG that blended Dragon Saga style brawler elements with some interesting real-time strategy components. The game officially shut down on November 16, 2010 but GamesCampus has stated that they plan to relaunch a newer more updated version of the game 6-8 months down the road.
Phoenix Dynasty Online was a 2D fantasy MMORPG from EnjoyMMO – the Chinese Company behind Destiny Online and Magic World Online. The game had fairly low end graphics and never managed to get popular. The game shut down around December 8, 2010.
Valkyrie Sky was a unique horizontal shooter published by GameKiss. Even though the gameplay was original, the game failed to attract a sizable playerbase. The game officially shut its servers down on December 14, 2010.
UpShift StrikeRacer was a battle demoliton derby style racing MMO from gPotato. The game was never too popular but remained in service for several years. The game officially shut down on October 5, 2010.
Martial Heroes was a 3D fantasy MMORPG published by CR-Space. The game was officially shut down on October 1, 2010. The developer launched another MMORPG to replace the game – Martial Empires which is published by Gamigo. The Gamigo version of Martial Empires is EU only though.
NEO Online was a 3D fantasy MMORPG from PlayOMG who’s visuals were inspired by Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. The game officially shut down on January 25, 2011.
Shadow of Legend was a 2D Fantasy MMORPG by a company called SmartCell. The game shut down sometime in 2010.
Fantasy Earth Zero was a 3D action fantasy MMORPG published by GamePotUSA. The game shut down in late March 2011.
FIFA Online was a 3D soccer themed MMO published by Electronic Arts. The game shut down sometime in April 2011.
Genesis A.D. was a 3D sci-fi themed MMOFPS that played a bit like Alliance of Valiant Arms. ijji announced that the game will shut down back in April, 2011.
Kitsu Saga was a 3D fantasy MMORPG with a martial arts theme. Aeria Games announced that it would shut down the game on July 14th, 2011.
Mythos
Mythos was 3D fantasy themed Hybrid MMORPG. Frogster announced that the game was shutting down on October 19th, 2011.
Last Updated July 15, 2011
By, Omer Altay
February 13, 2010
#
Too bad Gold Slam got shut down. It was the only one of its kind -talking about real time tennis games- and it looked good.. I watched some gameplay vids and it looked very good. Never heard it before but i would surely play it if it was availiable right now.
February 23, 2010
#1
WHY????WHY???? DID RUBIES OF EVENTIDE DID GET SHUTDOWN?? I WANNA GO CRY IN A CORNER!!!!!WAH!!!!
April 16, 2010
#2
Where is Earth and Beyond??
July 3, 2010
#3
Dungeon Runners…that made me sad. =(
July 21, 2010
#4
Oh, Survival Project, how I’ll miss you. Please get revived some day. =(
July 29, 2010
#5
A picture of Dungeon Runners with an ad for Tabula Rasa. The irony.
September 24, 2010
#6
SHADOWBANE!!!!! OMG i miss you!!
October 13, 2010
#7
I miss Ferentus in this list, best game ever but it shut down too…
October 19, 2010
#8
I loved bb tanks *cries*
November 2, 2010
#9
ENDLESS ONLINE …. why… :’(
January 19, 2011
#10
wow so many dead mmo on 2010
well UFORIA had such bad games, so the fall was obvious
i can tell that there will be Tales of pirates and some few IGG games soon on this list
February 14, 2011
#11
I never heard of most of these, but it’s sad when an mmo shuts down and the people who played, miss it. I have some friends I play with and we’ve followed each other from one game to the next – but it’s never quite the same. We’ve gone through Last Chaos to Perfect World to World of Warcraft and have settled in WoW, but we still sometimes miss the looks of our toons in PW. WoW is not free to play and still has perhaps the largest player base out there, so we’re hoping it’ll stay. We don’t want to have to ‘move’ again.
March 13, 2011
#12
”WoW is not free to play and still has perhaps the largest player base out there, so we’re hoping it’ll stay. We don’t want to have to ‘move’ again.” the numbers they tell are bullshit since it was proven by multiple factors that they include deleted/inactive accounts to that number aswell so yeah.. and i personally played WoW years ago on its golden days – there was significantly more players back then.. the playerbase isnt that huge these days in WoW + its outdated in everything.. theres some great MMOs getting out in 2011 and few are F2P – even those look better than WoW nowadays.. keep hoping on.. WoW dies just like these games on the list eventually
June 20, 2011
#13
I searched and it looks like Project Of Planets is dead too.
July 13, 2011
#14
Genesis AD shut down nooooooooooooo!