Online games that are impossible to play anymore

[Null0x00]

I was just thinking about all of the online-only games that have been released in recent memory, and how some of them are now unplayable for any current or future gamers. I don't mean in the case that the online community for the game has essentially died (i.e. Battleborn), but exclusively online games where the servers have been turned off, the game is now completely unplayable, and any purchased game CD is a literal coaster. Here are some off the top of my head, noting that to qualify the games in question must not have any single player component whatsoever, as that means the game is still partially functional.

• Blacklight: Retribution from Perfect World Entertainment (still running until March 11, 2019.)
• War of the Roses from Fatshark
• Ghost in the Shell First Assault from Nexon
• Battlefield Heroes from EA
• Need for Speed World from EA
• The Sims Online from EA
• Fury from Auran
• Tabula Rasa from NCsoft
• City of Heroes from NCsoft
• The Matrix Online from Monolith
• Star Wars Galaxies from Lucasarts
• Asheron's Call from Microsoft

Any other major titles I'm missing? I assume there will be lots of dead MMOs for this list.

[chronotigger65]

EverQuest?

[Null0x00]

Can't believe I forgot that obvious one.

[Null0x00]

Some other games I've just remembered:

• MAG from Sony
• Warhawk (2007) from Sony
• WildStar from NCsoft
• Global Agenda from Hi-Rez Studios

[Bumpyroad]

Feb 12, 2019 6:29:07 GMT -5 chronotigger65 said:

EverQuest?

Sorry to break it down this to you, but i think you're giving us a false info here.

[dsparil]

Everquest never went away. It even had a new expansion come out 2 months ago.

[jorpho]

There's too many to count, surely?

Neocron, Majestic, and the ancient AOL Neverwinter Nights come to mind.

The Wikipedia article would appear to be en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Inactive_massively_multiplayer_online_games .

And I might add that games like Star Wars Galaxies still have enthusiastic community support.

[eatersthemanfool]

Isn't that like Everquest 2 tho? Or something?

Cuz like.. EQ that I remember was a first person RPG.

[Sac (a.k.a Icaras)]

Some browser based MMORPGs that I played in the early 2000s are long gone:

Dragon's Court 1

This was a single player flash game, you were given a screen with 3 or 4 options and would click o those to change screens, with it switching for combat. The MMO aspect was that the site had a ranking list of all players showing their exp, and also had clans/guilds (which did nothing I believe). Problem with this, was unless the top ranked players stopped playing, there was no way to catch up, so it wasn't really a "ranking" per say. Still, you could at least "compete" and pass by people.

There was a sequel, which I believe was pay gated, tho I couldn't find any footage or pictures. The site that used to host the game now just has a text file stating the old webmaster was too busy with real life and had taken everything down, and I did find a facebook page for the sequel, but it has old comments of someone that claims to know the original author and that he'll upload the game, but this appears to have never happened)

Vagabond's Quest

(As the video shows, this was a chat client game, with most of the game being the "arena" shown. There was a text adventure game on its website you could play through that would allow some character progression, but mostly you had to fight and win duels to progress. There were different rooms for different level ranges, and I recall at really high levels you could customize the name of your weapon. The site also had ranking lists for the various classes and overall.

This game also had a sequel, and I recall it was going to be a pay to play game. It dumped the text adventure of the original (IE: didn't have one) but from the little bit I played in the free trial, it was basically just the same game in an updated chat room. I've been able to find no footage or picture of it however)

[foopy64]

I can contribute! Icons: Combat Arena is a wanna be smash brothers game that could only be played online. The servers are now shut down, meaning it is impossible to play the game!
store.steampowered.com/app/684200/

[Catalyst]

Halo Online - Developed by 343 Industries & Saber Interactive, Published by Microsoft Studios & Innova Systems

A Russian free-to-play PC game. Heavily based on Halo 3 and modified to run on low-end PCs. Closed beta was launched in 2015 but the game didn't last long. A fan-made mod ElDewrito allowed the game to be played post-cancellation, but I believe that's been brought down as Microsoft threatened legal action.


Street Fighter Online: Mouse Generation - Developed by Daletto & Capcom, Published by Daletto

A Japanese free-to-play PC game. Made in association with Revoltech and utilizing their action-figure 3D engine. Meaning fighter's body parts could be switched out and customized. Fighting was primarily done with the actual mouse. Uses characters from Street Fighter, Rival Schools, Cyborg OO9, and other franchises. Shut down in 2009.


I was gonna bring up Call of Duty Online, exclusive to China, but I'm rather surprised to find out that that game is still up.

[Null0x00]

It's been awhile, but some new games to add to the list:

• Blacklight: Retribution from Perfect World Entertainment (still running until March 11, 2019)
• War of the Roses from Fatshark
• Ghost in the Shell First Assault from Nexon
• Battlefield Heroes from EA
• Need for Speed World from EA
• The Sims Online from EA
• Fury from Auran
• Tabula Rasa from NCsoft
• City of Heroes from NCsoft
• The Matrix Online from Monolith
• Star Wars Galaxies from Lucasarts
• Asheron's Call from Microsoft
• Lawbreakers from Boss Key Productions
• Radical Heights from Boss Key Productions
• War of the Vikings from Fatshark
• Evolve Stage 2 from Turtle Rock Studios
• Gigantic from Perfect World Entertainment
• Marvel Heroes from Gazillion Entertainment
• Nosgoth from Square Enix
• Paragon from Epic Games
• Hawken from Adhesive Games
• Loadout from Edge of Reality
• Ace of Spades: Battle Builder from Jagex
• Transformers Universe from Jagex
• Dawngate from EA
• Super Monday Night Combat from Uber Entertainment
• Magicka: Wizard Wars from Paradox
• The Showdown Effect from Paradox
• Infinite Crisis from Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment
• Rise of Immortals from Petroglyph
• Dead Island: Epidemic from Deep Silver
• Supernova from Bandai Namco Entertainment
• Rise of Incarnates from Bandai Namco Entertainment
• Icons: Combat Arena from Wavedash Games
• Halo Online from Microsoft
• Street Fighter Online: Mouse Generation from Capcom
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Online from Konami
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Online: Duel Evolution from Konami
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Online 3: Duel Accelerator from Konami
• Age of Empires: Castle Siege from Microsoft (still running until May 13, 2019)

This is starting to get really depressing.

[Owlman]

Small additions: Age of Empires Castle Siege is still playable until May, but yes, it's effectively dead.

Magicka: Wizard Wars and Age of Empires Online both have fan servers.

[Null0x00]

OK, will remove Age of Empires Online. As for Magicka: Wizard Wars, it seems it's been delisted from Steam now, so it probably still deserves to be listed as dead.

[acidonia]

Monday Night Combat had a offline VS AI bots tower defense swarm mode on consoles but it was unbalanced for single player and some classes was totally useless in that mode.

You can also put the official and rather bad Yu-Gi-Oh! ONLINE and it's sequel Yu-Gi-Oh! ONLINE DUEL ACCELERATOR in that list. The unofficial free fan made games was way better than both and still are if you want a game with the official card game rules. Yu-Gi-Oh! BAM on Facebook which used its own rules no other game has. It was ported over to IOS/Android under the name Yu-Gi-Oh! BAM Pocket but was worse and had no new content nor did your facebook progress carry over Both versions are dead since September 2016. Though someone has ported it to steam on table top simulator as a free mod.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xI5zn_tY_o

To be fair 80% of Mobile/Tablet titles this will happen to or they update the OS so much it stops working on purpose like Apple did with every 32bit app