The Biggest Failures In MMO History!

Now MMORPGs are some of the largest, best looking, and most ambitious games made.
MMORPGs have created some of the largest, most beautiful worlds filled with amazing vistas, areas to explore, and more importantly.. like minded players to meet and adventure with.
Not all MMORPGs are created equal however, as a lot of MMORPGs don’t actually end up filling us with that sense of awe and wonder that we hope for.
Some of them never even fully made it off of the ground. Some were so bad that they were dead before they even launched.

And that’s what this list is. Finding the worst failures in MMORPG history and talking about them.

Now, we’re not hating on the games themselves. That isn’t the point of this video. This video is just to bring into light the largest failed MMORPGs over the years, nothing more.

Also, this list won’t be in any specific order, as the majority of these are preeeeeety bad and it’s hard deciding which should go where.

If you guys want more videos like this – want gameplay of MMORPGs as they come out – or want gameplay of other MMORPGs already out currently – don’t forget to subscribe!

So, with that outta the way, let’s get into this.

So Hellgate: London isn’t traditionally an MMORPG, instead being comparable to something more along the lines of Destiny.
However, that didn’t stop people from being hyped beyond measure at the idea of playing it. People thought it was going to be a modern day Diablo when it was released in 2008.
Companies all around the world were lining up with merchandise and were literally ready to market the shit outta the game.
Upon launch though, people found that the game ended up being fairly.. generic. All the hype people had surrounding the game – all the hopes and dreams people had riding on the game just kinda.. died.
To add onto the terribly generic game Hellgate: London ended up being, the devs had a subscription based model in place that offered content and updates to paying customers, while stiffing the free players.
Another large problem Hellgate: London ran into involved customers ending up being billed multiple times per month for their subscription – definitely something you don’t want to see on your credit card bill.
Finally, Hellgate: London only ended up being alive for a mere year before being seized by a bank that poured millions of dollars investment into it previously.
That.. is a serious bummer.

In its current iteration, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is an absolutely amazing game.
It’s huge. It’s beautiful. It’s fun. The game is one of the best and only options worth your time if you’re looking for a long-term MMORPG. But that wasn’t always the case, right?
When Final Fantasy XIV was announced, people all around the world rejoiced. “Finally, a sequel to Final Fantasy XI”! people cried.
Unfortunately for them, they were very, very disappointed.
Final Fantasy XIV originally launched in 2010, and was met with critical, and I mean very critical criticism.
The release was so bad that Square Enix themselves took a personal hit to their brand, and it almost destroyed them as a company.
Everyone thought that was the end for the game. It was so bad. Like, really, ridiculously bad for them. It got to the point where they announced the complete shut down of the entire game.
What Square did next surprised everyone, however. They announced that they would rebuild the entire game from the ground up and make it into a game people could be proud to play.
And they did. Look at Final Fantasy XIV now. It’s by far one of the most popular, most successful MMORPGs out there.
Final Fantasy XIV may be one of the largest, most ridiculous MMORPG failures of all time but it’s also possibly the greatest MMORPG comeback story of all time.
All I can say to that is well done.

Ah, Star Wars Galaxies. Why did they have to go and fuck you up?
While Star Wars Galaxies had been around for a good 8 years before finally breathing its last breath in 2011, you can Google around pretty much anywhere online and find out people lamenting its slow death.
It had so much potential, too!
Star Wars Galaxies was often talked about and referred to as one of the most unique, truly different MMORPGs to have been made.
However stupid business decisions like the universally hated New Gaming Experience stripped Star Wars Galaxies from what made it unique: Its professions, and its classes.
This drove people away from the game in droves, leading the president of Sony, John Smedley, to apologize for the changes, citing “we should’ve listened to our fans sooner.”
I mean Star Wars Galaxies was an amazing game, but when the people in charge are idiots they’re essentially digging their own graves.
Shame about the game, but it serves them right.

Here we have one of the MMORPGs that attempted to nip at the scraps Star Wars Galaxies left; RF Online.
RF Online was the very first Scifi MMORPG to come along after the release of Star Wars Galaxies’ New Gaming Experience, and as such, many people flocked over to the “new shiny.”
While RF Online’s presence was felt for but a mere moment, the game was hyped ridiculously online, and everyone disappointed with Star Wars Galaxies naturally followed the beacon.
Ultimately, RF Online was a poor attempt at an MMORPG, inevitably being nothing more than another generic MMORPG that couldn’t hold peoples interest, shutting down in 2008, a mere 2 years after launching.

Alright guys, next up we have Tabula Rasa.
Although Tabula Rasa was never a “headline grabbing” MMORPG, it was nevertheless seen as a very viable alternative to the recently murdered Star Wars Galaxies.
Especially for those of us that were starved of fun, engaging Scifi MMORPGs.
So when Tabula Rasa was announced, and Richard Garriot, the creator of Ultima Online and City of Heroes was revealed to be behind it, people were ecstatic and immediately interested!
Tabula Rasa had big ideas – fast pace combat, in depth character customization and progression, along with dynamic zones that changed depending on the presence and decisions of players.
So why was it such a disaster?
According to Richard, NCSoft wasted years trying to appeal to the Asian market, while burning millions of dollars in the process.
According to NCSoft, a lack of guidance along with a lack of interest from its creator lead to financial troubles for NCSoft, which ended in the cutting of ties between the two parties.
Shortly after, Tabula Rasa just.. shut down, as they couldn’t recover from the half assed release, all the bugs that plagued the game, and lack of vision for its future.

Welcome to what is generally considered one of the worst launches in PC history.
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is one of the buggiest, worst optimized, underdeveloped MMORPGs ever released.
Which is strange, considering who was behind the game: John Smedley and Brad McQuaid of EverQuest fame.
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes henceforth referred to as Vanguard was an attempt by Brad to relive the good old days of EverQuest, by making a game in the same vein.
Beautiful graphics. Intuitive combat. A vast, open world to explore, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in a huge, well thought out fantasy world.
Unfortunately it didn’t go as well as planned. Or more appropriately, it couldn’t have actually gone any worse. Or maybe it could’ve. I honestly don’t know.
With how fucked up the game ended up being I can in all honesty say that it very well could have still been worse now that I think about it. Which is definitely saying something (haha)
So what actually happened? Good question!
Microsoft originally picked up the title, but shortly after they decided to drop it leaving Brad and his team to pay for everything and pick up the pieces on their own.
After fumbling around and cutting corners wherever they could, Brad and co. launched the game filled with hundreds of gamebreaking bugs, some of which required the full deletion of your character, forcing you to remake the character and start the MMORPG from scratch.
It was optimized so poorly, the quests were so buggy, the gameplay so bad, that of over 240,000 players, only 40,000 were left playing a mere 2 months later.
Brad ended up selling the game to Sony, who attempted to fix some of the bugs that plagued the game, but by then it was already too late. The game was well past its expiration date.
Ah. Isn’t it fun reading about all this drama surrounding game creation?

So I could probably keep going on listing other MMORPGs that had terrible launches, shut down too soon, or didn’t even make it off the ground but these are a few of my personal favorites.

Hopefully these failures were a lesson that most devs have learned.
If not, let this be a lesson to future game devs: Don’t just.. treat your community and playerbase like they’re mindless, opinionless idiots.
If you genuinely care about your game, if you put in time and effort, if you communicate with the people that are supporting you, they will continue to do so.
We as gamers aren’t just a pack of disloyal assholes that jump ship at the first sign of a leak.
We’re perfectly happy sticking around and supporting you if you’re willing to actually improve your fucking game.
Treat us well, and respect us. We will, in turn wait for you, test for you, and play your game.