neverwinter-nights-mmo posts

As we get closer to Gamescom, we can expect to hear more and more game announcements. One of them might be the reveal of an MMO based on the Neverwinter Nights franchise for Dungeons and Dragons. During this week's GenCon event, it was revealed that Atari, the current rights holders to make D&D based PC games, have a new announcement coming but could not go into details.

The superannuation web site has revealed that Atari has secured several web URLs related to Neverwinter Nights. A Neverwinter Nights MMO is not a new rumor as Variety reported over a year ago that such a game was in the works. Also Atari owned MMO dev team Cryptic Studios announced that their third MMO project for the publisher (after Champions Online and Star Trek Online) would be announced in late summer.

[Via Blue's News]

When Atari purchased MMO developer Cryptic Studios several months ago, it was mentioned that besides their announced games Champions Online and Star Trek Online the team was working on another MMO game for release in 2011. Now Variety is reporting through unnamed sources that the unnamed project is none other than an MMO based on the Neverwinter Nights franchise.

If true it would not be much of a surprise. The first two Neverwinter Nights RPGs (the first made by BioWare in 2002 and the second by Obsidian in 2006) and their expansion packs have been one of the few sales successes for Atari so a move into a full blown MMO based on the franchise is a natural next step. The big question: Can yet another fantasy-themed MMO, even one with such a well-known past, compete with World of Warcraft and all of the other established games on the market?