Last Updated (Friday, 01 August 2008 09:53) Written by Stinkerbelle Friday, 01 August 2008 08:50
The Saga of Ryzom wasn't a bad MMO. It was unorthodox and unusual in some ways, but then again, it was made in France. For me, that pretty much explained the game's quirks. It was, nonetheless, an entertaining little game.
The bolobi, the washing machine, and the Aniro reference make things perfectly clear. Yeah.
The real story behind Ryzom was it's real-world history. The game was owned, controlled, or semi-owned by a handful of different companies (it's all pretty clouded in mystery), and went through a number of different shutdowns, threatened shutdowns, service slowdowns (well, sort of), and other problems. Let's review, shall we?
1. In 2000, French development company Nevrax begins working on The Saga of Ryzom.
2. In September, 2004, The Saga of Ryzom launches, to some mixed reviews.
3. In November, 2006, Nevrax announces that it's going into receivership. It's widely acknowledged that the game is doomed.
4. There are a number of companies in various stages of negotiations to purchase the rights to The Saga of Ryzom. These all fail. The game is still doomed.
For a lot more about Ryzom and its crazy ol' history, hit the jump.
5. Also in November, 2006, a group of gamers calling themselves the The Free Ryzom Campaign attempted to purchase the game, planning to release it as freeware. As they'd raised only sixty thousand dollars, this didn't fly. The game is still doomed.
6. Gameforge AG bought the rights to SoR in December 2006, renamed part of their company Gameforge France SARL, and the game appeared to be saved.
7. In September 2007 the game is set to 'free', and nobody has any idea why. Suspicions abound. Some fear the game is again doomed.
8. October, 2007: Gameforge France SARL files for bankruptcy. Since they never actually paid for Saga of Ryzom, the courts attempt to return SoR to Nevrax. There's a small problem as Nevrax is completely out of business. It's doomed.
9. The courts issue a three-week deadline to close the game down. Doom is only 3 short weeks away.
10. The deadline passes; the game survives. Doom is apparently procrastinating.
11. Either the courts, or the liquidator of Nevrax, or somebody else, is in control of SoR servers and IP assets. No one knows. The servers stay up, but no one knows why or how. Doom is obviously distracted elsewhere, at least for now.
12. The servers are shut down in Febuary of 2008. Doom remembers what it was supposed to be doing, closes in, then settles down and makes itself comfortable.
And then...
13. In June of 2008, an unknown company fires up the Ryzom website, (see the picture, above) hinting that the game will relaunch. Strange Ryzom fanbois and fangurls go absolutely nuts with glee.
14. In July of 2008, a the forums go back online. A forum poster with the imaginative name of "admin" announces that "we" are working on the game and the game's website, and that "we" will be getting the world of Ryzom back online soon. No one has any idea who "we" might be. Doom is apparently going on a vacation.
Quite frankly, nothing else is known. Ryzom fans everywhere (all 26 of them) are rabidly awaiting news, hoping this dream comes true. We shall all wait and see.
I, for one, have missed the never-ending drama that was Ryzom. For that reason alone, I'm hoping the game comes back for a few more rounds. Otherwise, Doom will be unemployed and have nothing whatsoever to do, right?
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