rf-online posts

Codemasters' MMO group has operated two free-to-play games, RF Online and Archlord, for some time now and it plans to add another MMO, Netdevil's Jumpgate Evolution, in 2009. However it appears that players of RF Online in the US and Europe are now going to be out of luck as Codemasters has announced the title's shut down in those territories.

It appears that the issue isn't with players defecting but trying to reach an agreement to continue running the title. According to the game's official web site, "Our licence for RF Online is due to expire shortly and unfortunately, despite several weeks of negotiations with CCR, the Korean developers of the title, we have not been able to reach an agreement to renew the contract." Codemasters will officially shut the game down in the morning UK hours of Nov. 10.

UK based Codemasters has been publishing more and more MMO titles since it first started in 2006. It's had some mixed results; it was the European distributor for Turbine's two current titles Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online. However two Korean imported MMO titles, Archlord and RF Online, had to switch to free-to-play models in order to survive. Codemasters will be the distributor for Netdevil's upcoming space-based MMO revamp, Jumpgate Revolution, later this fall

However, Codemasters remains committed to the MMO space. So committed, in fact, that they are considering developing even more MMO titles in-house. In a new interview at Gamesindustry.biz, Codemasters' MMO head David Solari states, "We always had a five year plan and it was always in the middle of that five year plan that we would start developing our own games. We are looking at that and we have to think very carefully about what title is right, what will work in the future." It's interesting that Codemasters seems very confident in the MMO space where other larger publishers have so far failed to make much of a run.