Dark Millennium Online

Warhammer 40k MMO Officially Cancelled

If this announcement sounds familiar, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. This time the announcement is official, Warhammer: Dark Millennium Online has been cancelled. Well, somewhat. In a press release today, THQ announced that the Dark Millennium will no longer be an MMO, but will instead become a single player game. So the title is dropping the “Online” and will henceforth be known as Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium, and thus is no longer a topic of conversation here at MMO Fallout.

THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI) today announced that it has refocused Warhammer® 40,000®: Dark Millennium™ from a Massively Multiplayer Online game to an immersive single player and online multiplayer experience with robust digital content, and engaging community features. Further product details, platforms and release timing will be announced at a later date.

In addition, over 100 employees have been laid off from the struggling developer. We already know that Dark Millennium was being developed with help from the Space Marine title, so the new iteration is likely to become a spiritual sequel. Dark Millennium Online was already looking at trouble with THQ acknowledging a lack of funds to publish the game.

As a side note, in a past poll 23% of MMO Fallout viewers believed either Activision or Trion should publish Dark Millennium.

(Source: THQ press release)

Who Should Publish Dark Millennium Online?

Although Dark Millennium Online was not cancelled, as per the false report circulated late last year, at the time we were given some rather uncertain news that the game was on uneven ground and that there was nothing set in stone. When THQ published its earnings report for the third quarter of 2011, they mentioned that Dark Millennium Online would be taking a more cautious approach.

Gamasutra reports that in an investor conference call, Brian Farrell (CEO) has revealed that THQ is seeking a partner for distribution, and that THQ cannot afford to publish the game by itself. Of course, a developer hiring a third party publish an MMO is hardly surprising, even more so for a company like THQ that has seen better financial times.

(Source: Gamasutra)