Another devastating cancellation has arrived in the gaming world. Chinese tech giant NetEase has decided to shut down its game studio, Jackalyptic Games. Following this decision, it was confirmed that the studio’s new Warhammer MMO project, which it had been developing for some time, had also been canceled. This brought another disappointment to players eagerly awaiting a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. The news was announced by the studio’s founder, industry veteran Jack Emmert.

NetEase closes Jackalyptic Games: Warhammer MMO is history

Jack Emmert is known as a veteran of the MMO genre. He previously produced major titles such as City of Heroes, Champions Online, and Star Trek Online. He also oversaw DC Universe Online while at Daybreak. In early 2020, when the DC Universe Online team was separated into a separate entity called Dimensional Ink Games, Emmert began working on an unannounced project, which was later revealed to be a Marvel MMORPG.

However, Emmert’s Marvel project was canceled by Daybreak’s parent company, Enad Global 7. Following this development, Emmert founded Jackalope Games with financial backing from NetEase. The studio later rebranded as Jackalyptic. In May 2023, it was announced that this Austin-based development team was working on an MMO based on the popular Warhammer universe.

Jack Emmert, a lifelong Warhammer fan himself, stated at the time that they aimed to create a game that was both accessible and true to the spirit of the brand. Unfortunately, NetEase’s recent strategy of closing various studios has also affected Jackalyptic. Yesterday, Emmert announced on the company’s LinkedIn page that their nearly three-and-a-half-year partnership with NetEase Games has ended.

This news is the latest in a string of cancellations in the industry for MMO fans. The cancellations of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings project and Fantastic Pixel Castle’s Ghost MMO had previously shaken gamers’ expectations for the genre.

Take-Two’s CEO announced that Borderlands 4 sales fell short of expectations. The primary reason for this was the game’s weak PC version.
While the Warhammer franchise is very popular in the gaming world, it has a poor history with MMOs. The only MMO set in the fantasy universe, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, released in 2008, was shut down in 2013. The sci-fi Warhammer 40,000 also received an MMO-like shooter called Eternal Crusade in 2016, but that game also shut down its servers in 2021 due to low player numbers.

So, were you expecting this new Warhammer MMO project to be canceled? What are your thoughts on the future of the MMO genre?