Meridian 59 Hits 30 Years as the Classic MMO Keeps Running

Meridian 59 turned 30 on September 27, marking three decades since the first-person MMORPG officially launched online in 1996 after nine months of public alpha and beta testing.

Co-creators Zaphod and Zandramas noted the milestone with a short anniversary message, looking back on a game built by a young team making its first commercial project for players on Windows 95 PCs, dial-up modems, and, in many cases, no 3D graphics card at all.

The game’s history has been unusually long and strange, even by MMO standards. Its original servers shut down in 2000, but Near Death Studios later acquired Meridian 59, relaunched it, and expanded it. The game returned to its original creators in 2010, then went open source in 2012, which helped player-run versions of the MMO take shape.

Meridian 59 also came to Steam in 2018, bringing in another wave of players long after most games from its era had disappeared. Today, it’s maintained by a small volunteer team rather than a traditional studio.

The anniversary also comes alongside mention of a fan developer showing a Unity remake of the classic MMO, though no release details, platforms, or availability information were included in the provided announcement.

For a game that predates most of the genre’s biggest names, simply still being playable is the story. Meridian 59 remains one of the earliest examples of the online 3D MMORPG, and its community is still keeping the lights on 30 years later.

Further reading: Official Meridian 59 30-year anniversary post