The MMORPG market is a fairly huge part of the gaming industry with millions of gamers all over the world playing hundreds of their favorite titles on a yearly basis. However, it could’ve been even more saturated if only all of the supposed MMORPG titles reached their release state despite all the difficulties that prevented them from being finished products.
Throughout the years, tons of hints regarding probable MMORPGs have emerged. In this article, you’ll find a list of games that were heavily rumored to exist and have been even developed for a reasonable period of time. You’ve likely heard about a couple of them at the very least, even though they never got their release.
10 Mega Man Online
Rockman Online, often referred to as Mega Man Online, was not just a rumored MMORPG. Interestingly, it almost reached the initial beta-testing period, but it never happened due to several issues. The development studio NeoWiz was heavily restructured, which resulted in losing most of its workforce.
The game obviously suffered from that, and it has never seen the light of day. Which is a shame, since the concept of a shared Mega Man world was pretty attractive. All that’s left of the game comes down to a few gameplay demonstrations and a bunch of visual arts.
9 Twilight MMO
Back in 2009, when the whole world was under the effect of the inexplicable popularity of the Twilight saga, a rumor emerged that an eponymous MMO was in the works. It was somewhat troubling since the primary source was most appealing to teenage girls. Luckily, the world was saved as the Twilight MMO proved to be just a fantasy.
All sarcasm aside, an MMO in the world of Twilight could’ve been rather interesting. Think of it as of a less grim version of the World of Darkness universe with glowing vampires and smiling werewolves.
8 Destiny 3
If Bungie remained under Activision’s control, the studio would’ve eventually been forced to develop Destiny 3, and the game was actually rumored to release someday. However, it never happened, as Bungie claimed its independence and decided to convert Destiny 2 into a free-to-play title. Destiny 3 is now rumored to be canceled because of that, while Bungie is reportedly planning to combine Destiny 2 with the original game.
But wouldn’t it be exciting to see a proper Destiny trilogy? And afterward, Bungie could’ve blended all three separate titles into a single seamless Destiny MMO experience.
7 Peria Chronicles
Peria Chronicles is one of the few rumored MMORPGs on this list that has actually reached a closed testing period. In other words, the game almost happened, but still failed to be delivered and was eventually canceled. It was an ambitious and fairly promising project, but it fell the victim of harsh circumstances.
While some of the developers lost their jobs because of restructuring, the game was deemed unsatisfying by the publisher. It is a huge loss for MMORPG lovers across the globe as it was promised to have an unprecedented level of freedom in allowing players to create content.
6 EverQuest 3
After EverQuest Next failed to meet highly raised expectations of the fan community, the dreams of EverQuest 3 became even stronger. Obviously, there’ve been some rumors regarding the game. The most optimistic sources were even insisting that Daybreak was hard at work, but there haven’t been any official statements from the developers.
While another widely loved IP by Daybreak, PlanetSide, has already been confirmed to be treated with a triquel, EverQuest 3 remains a fiction, yet a much-desired one. Luckily, the studio has already promised that it would not abandon the idea of continuing EverQuest’s legacy.
5 Canceled Halo MMO
Halo is a rich and diverse sci-fi universe, but what really matters is that it’s widely recognizable. The franchise has fans and followers all over the world, and it’s not surprising that they want to revisit the beloved setting within a proper MMO. Moreover, such a game was rumored to exist. Bungie teamed up with Ensemble for that project, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be finished.
The game had working titles Orion or Titan (not to be confused with Blizzard’s canceled MMO). A lot of effort has been put into it, but Microsoft decided against the promising concept. Hopefully, Halo Infinite will incorporate some of the bold ideas behind the project.
4 StarCraft MMORPG
This particular game has never been properly rumored, as it was more of a fans’ fantasy rather than a leaked in-development title. The success of World of Warcraft resulted in speculation that Blizzard might turn its second overly popular RTS franchise, StarCraft, into a suiting MMORPG genre. And the only rumor regarding supposed StarCraft Online was eventually officially debunked.
Still, there’s a chance that Blizzard might someday explore the concept of StarCraft MMORPG. WoW’s life cycle is inevitably coming to an end, and the company should already be looking for alternatives.
3 Marvel MMORPG
In recent years, Marvel has heavily popularized its comic book IPs thanks to a series of hugely successful movie adaptations. Speaking of video games, there have been some fortunate releases like Marvel’s Spider-Man, but such a vague and diverse universe deserves an MMO treatment. Interestingly, the aforementioned Daybreak is rumored to have worked on such a game.
Supposed Marvel MMO has reportedly been in development for quite some time but has been canceled due to unresolved internal issues. A few concept arts have leaked, but that’s the only evidence of the game’s short existence.
2 Project Titan
The notorious Blizzard’s Titan MMO is one of the most discussed canceled video games of all time. It was meant to become the next big hit after World of Warcraft and to introduce a completely new sci-fi setting different from StarCraft. The rumors said that players could combine peaceful professions with bloodthirsty combat encounters.
As you all know, the game was canceled by Blizzard. But the results of Titan’s development haven’t completely vanished. Some of the design ideas behind the project were later used for Overwatch – the original IP, which turned into another huge success for Blizzard.
1 Fallout Online
Fallout Online was expected to become a spiritual successor to the original Fallout games by Interplay. The company was not only involved as a creative consultant but also lent its talents for the promising project. Unfortunately, the troubled development and the loss of the Fallout trademark, which was acquired by Bethesda, led to the cancellation of the game.
One might say that a specific version of Fallout Online exists in the form of Fallout 76, but it’s far from being a proper MMORPG. Some of the ideas could’ve been used by Bethesda, but what’s known for sure is that the original Fallout Online is lost forever.