Warhammer 40k

For those curious about the fate of Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online, Ripten recently interviewed THQ executive Danny Bilson regarding the game's future.

You'll recall that late last month, THQ announced that DMO would shed its MMO skin and reinvent itself as a single-player title. Bilson says that much of what makes the game unique will remain intact, and most importantly, WAR40K "is still sitting with the people who invented it five years ago, and honestly, they are incredibly excited about the new direction."

While you wouldn't expect anything less than positive spin from a bigwig whose company has seen better days, the interview still manages to make the new title sound pretty intriguing. "If you liked Space Marine, you're gonna love this thing. It's much deeper. Space Marine was designed as a console experience. This one has tremendous multiplayer gameplay, and there is a lot going on in this game that's spectacular," Bilson says.

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The on-again off-again saga of Warhammer 40K is apparently off again, at least in regard to the title's future as an MMORPG. In early February we reported on some rumored THQ financial trouble, but the company later pooh-poohed the concerns and said that WAR40K was still on track.

Today, though, our sister site reports that Dark Millennium Online will axe the online portion of its lengthy moniker and the company will be producing the title as a single-player game going forward. A substantial number of jobs have also been cut, with 79 Vigil Games employees and 39 Relic Entertainment employees receiving pink slips.

It seems as if the recent brouhaha over THQ's future was a bit overblown, as were concerns about the fate of the firm's Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online MMO. Our sister site reports that DMO is on track for "fiscal 2014 and beyond" based on a THQ earnings report released today.

We consulted our corporate-speak decoder rings and determined that fiscal 2014 translates to April 2013, which puts the launch window slightly behind the original target date, according to Joystiq.

Last month THQ debunked a rumor tweeted by Kevin Dent that had the firm canceling its entire 2014 catalog and prepping for a firesale.

Gamespot, meanwhile, is reporting that THQ is actively seeking publishing partners for the game.

It's been a rough couple of years for Warhammer MMORPG fans, and if the rumors are true, it's about to get a bit bleaker.

Kotaku reports on a tweet by games industry insider Kevin Dent that indicates that THQ has "canceled its entire 2014 slate of releases to position the company for sale." This would include Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online, which Dent referred to as "the Games Workshop MMO" on his Twitter page.

We'll keep you posted as we learn more.

[Update: THQ's Australian PR department has issued a statement asserting that the company has not in fact canceled its 2014 lineup and "has not made any decisions" regarding WAR40K.]

While I'm on board the Star Wars: The Old Republic train (at least until SOE's Star Wars: The New Republic comes out in 2014 and forces SWTOR to shut down), I can certainly sympathize with the frustration that non-fans are feeling right about now. There are few things more annoying than not being into the latest craze -- or hating it outright -- and yet being unable to escape it.

So I'm here to say to you today that, like World of Warcraft, SWTOR isn't the be-all, end-all of the MMO field. It's a part of it, but just one part, and there are many, many others in the works as we speak. Mama always told me never to put all your eggs in one basket anyway, so I'm spreading my eggcitement across many cyber-nests.

This is the bone I'm throwing to all of you this week: a list of 10 Midichlorian-free MMOs that have me -- and should have you -- extremely buzzed about their development. In putting together this list, I realized that there are so many promising prospects that I divided them into two groups. This week I'm presenting the strongest contenders that should make it to launch with a solid product, while next time I'll list promising prospects that may be more of a long shot. I'm 47% confident that I will not forget your most-anticipated title.

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Despite being one of THQ's biggest projects, the upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online won't be hemmed in with a single subscription option. Instead, the company said that it is investigating a wide range of possible payment options to be as flexible as possible for players all over the world.

Speaking at a recent earnings call, CEO Brian Farrell addressed what model WAR40K would adopt. "What we've done is make the business model within Dark Millennium Online flexible so we can use different business models in different territories and exploit the game on a worldwide basis," he said. "We will have not just one business model, like subscriptions. There will be other monetisation mechanisms in the game... The team there is being very thoughtful about how we maximise monetisation in this game."

Seeing as how WAR40K is costing the company over $50 million to create, it seems wise to offer multiple options in order to draw in the largest amount of players possible. The title is being developed by Vigil Games and is slated to release in 2013.

Mass conspiracy? Over-eager fans? Or deliberate misinformation? No matter what the case, it turns out that recent information about Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online was not passed down by THQ itself, and these "facts," such as the launch date and class list, should be treated as speculative rumors and nothing more.

THQ sent a letter to several media outlets clarifying the situation:

It has come to THQ's attention that some media are reporting that we've announced game details and a release date for our upcoming massively multiplayer online project, Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online. At this time THQ has not officially announced a release date and any reported features are pure speculation. THQ will announce confirmed game features and an official release date at a later time.

We will keep an eye on this title and the news coming out of THQ as it develops.

If you've been waiting for the upcoming Warhammer 40k MMO Dark Millennium Online, you may have checked out recent single-player title Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. In an interview on the two games with Shacknews last night, THQ's VP of Core Games Danny Bilson described a potential conflict of interest between the upcoming MMO and any potential Space Marine sequel. When asked whether the single-player title deserved a sequel, Bilson described an interesting creative overlap between the game and its upcoming MMO counterpart.

Revealing that the MMO would contain more action-based gameplay than the MMO norm, Bilson painted a picture of Dark Millennium Online as an online spiritual successor to Space Marine but with the other 40k factions similarly explored. "It may be that the next iteration of Space Marine is a much bigger universe, where if you love Space Marines you can play that way," he told Shacknews, adding that "there was a creative overlap going on with Dark Millennium Online's development" and "there's not room in the world for that overlap."

If you're a fan of Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online, you are likely pretty happy to have a launch date. You're also probably anxious for details about the game itself, which have been in short supply until now.

We've got good news for you though: THQ has released a huge list of data on design, gameplay, classes and races, and much more. The information ranges from all-encompassing, such as talk of art style and who is involved in development, to very specific, such as a party size of five, raid size of 50, and level cap of 60.

There's plenty more for eager fans: dual-wielding pistols and melee weapons (including chain swords), classes with three specialties, a crashed space hulk ripe for exploration, and much more. Strategy Informer has the complete summary, so head over there for your full Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online fix!

[Thanks to Merketh for the tip!]

While last week's E3 is still fresh in our minds and hearts, THQ is giving us a great reason to look forward to next year's expo: the chance to get our hands on Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online.

Eurogamer reports that THQ is committing to this time frame. Danny Bilson says that WAR40K will be the highlight of the company's display: "Next year, I promise you, next E3. I've already got plans for what the booth is like. The centrepiece of the booth will be that MMO."

We caught only a glimpse of a teaser trailer for the game at this year's E3. Vigil Games is hard at work on the $50+ million project, and Bilson says that it's looking good and on track for a launch between April 2012 and March 2013.

"It looks fabulous. I like it. I can't speak to it now, or people will kill me. But, I'll tell you what, it plays differently. A little bit... This thing is gonna be special," he said. "We're going to come out when we come out in a big way. I feel like we're fully competitive with the other guys. It'll be seven years in the making when it comes out. We're competing with the best games in the world. You can't mess around with this thing."

The first E3 tidbit on THQ's Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online is officially loose on the interwebs, and it takes the form of a short teaser video. When we say short, we mean short (as in, less than a minute in length -- 10 seconds of which are given over to company logos). Since the footage is heavily stylized, it's hard to tell exactly what is gameplay and what is cinematic.

In any event, it all looks pretty cool, and fans looking forward to Vigil's take on the dark and dystopian far-future setting will be left wanting a bit more. The video also plays it coy when it comes to WAR40K's release date, opting for a cryptic "coming soon" tag when all the pyrotechnics have died down. Have a look after the cut and let us know what you think.

[Thanks to Alluvian for the tip!]

Massively's on the ground in Los Angeles during the week of June 6-9, bringing you all the best news from E3 2011. Whether you're dying to know more about Star Wars: The Old Republic, RIFT, or any MMO in between, you can bet we'll have it covered!

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If you're wondering how many users it's going to take for THQ's forthcoming Warhammer 40K-based sci-fi MMORPG to be successful, you can keep wondering. THQ executive vice president and chief financial officer Paul Pucino did speak briefly about the budget of Dark Millennium Online, however, while addressing a Wedbush Morgan conference on March 9th. Pucino said the title will cost "somewhere in the area of $50 million or so to get these games to market, certainly in that range for Dark Millennium."

Pucino was asked about desired subscriber numbers for WAR40K, which is being developed by Vigil Games, but declined to offer any details. "We haven't gotten specific yet, we're a couple of years away here from release and certainly as we get closer we'll give some specifics with regards to break-even or target users," he said.