Out of all the titles that appear on What Happened, Shadowbane is the longest running. At six years, I would agree that although the game shut down, it was definitely a success in all manner of speaking. One of the top selling PC games at launch back in 2003, Shadowbane is still considered one of the best open pvp MMOs on the market. Offering fully open player vs player combat in a dynamic world where players can morph terrain, hire AI guards and have them patrol, as well as building and destroying buildings.
Shadowbane was not without bad times, however, and unfortunately when the bad times hit, they were very bad. The game transitioned to a free to play in 2006, where ads would be shown at different points in the game (open, close, and upon death). The game still suffered from a number of bugs and glitches, and in 2008 would be completely rebooted.
In 2008, Shadowbane went offline to perform a complete reboot in order to stabilize the servers and increase performance. As a result, all characters were deleted and all houses were destroyed. Only three of the five servers were brought back online.
Shadowbane was, from the start, a cult hit that never truly got off the ground, despite the rabid following of its fans. On one side, Shadowbane may be the only example of an internet petition actually accomplishing something. The original shut down date of May 2009 was extended to July due to player feedback.
Overall, Shadowbane was an interesting period in several ways: For instance, it showed how successful a game with Ultima Online’s mechanics can be, one that is parroted by Darkfall and Mortal Online. It gave ultimate freedom to the players, and did away with instancing, pre-set plots for housing, and other standards of MMOs.
There is the possibility that Shadowbane will be making a comeback, in the form of a non-MMO title. Ubisoft has recently trademarked the title for non-MMO purposes.
MMO Fallout 