Yet another MMO bites the dust as the Warhammer project in the works at Jackalyptic Games has been canceled following the studio's shutdown. The news comes directly from founder Jack Emmert, an MMO veteran who was behind City of Heroes, Champions Online, and Star Trek Online.
Later, he managed DC Universe Online while at Daybreak. When the DC Universe Online team was spun off as Dimensional Ink Games in early 2020, Emmert began working on an unannounced project that ultimately became a Marvel-based MMORPG. When that project got canceled by Daybreak's parent company, Enad Global 7, he established Jackalope Games (later rebranded as Jackalyptic) with funding help from NetEase. In May 2023, we learned that the Austin-based development team was working on an MMO based on a Warhammer IP.
A few days later, I spoke with Emmert, who broadly mentioned that it would be an accessible game focused on properly representing the IP. The game designer is a lifelong fan of Warhammer, so that was one of his first mandates. Unfortunately, with NetEase shutting down studios left and right, Jackalyptic is only the latest team to be impacted.
Yesterday, Emmert announced the news from the company's LinkedIn page:
I’m here to share a note that after nearly three and a half years working with NetEase Games as a first party studio, our partnership will be coming to an end. We appreciate all the support NetEase Games has provided with their resources and engagement throughout this development process.
As we navigate this transition, our talented team members will be exploring new opportunities. If you’re looking for passionate, creative professionals who bring excellence and collaboration to everything they do, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We want to thank our community and all the individuals who have contributed to the project, and have made it something special.
It's yet another sad day for MMO fans after the closure of Amazon's New World and the in-development The Lord of the Rings project, not to mention Fantastic Pixel Castle's Ghost MMO also vanishing into the air.
As for Warhammer, while the IP is very lively in the gaming space, 2008's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning remains the only MMO made based on the fantasy franchise, and it was shut down in 2013 (though fans have been operating a private server called Return to Reckoning). The sci-fi universe Warhammer 40,000 received an MMO-like third-person shooter game titled Eternal Crusade in 2016, but developer Behavior Interactive eventually closed the servers in September 2021 due to a lack of players.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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