Mytheon – MMO Fallout

Would You Look At That: Mytheon Shutting Down

If you haven’t heard of Mytheon, it was developed by Petroglyph, the company behind the upcoming End of Nations and Rise of Immortals MMOs. Alright, you haven’t heard of Mytheon. Turns out neither has the rest of the press (including myself) because Mytheon announced it would be shutting down way back in July and none of us noticed until just this week.

For those thinking of getting one last shot in before the game goes down, don’t bother. It’s already offline, since when I can’t say for sure. Mytheon’s twitter account hasn’t been updated since April. Mytheon was such a small launch that I’m not even sure the game ever fully left open beta. How embarrassing for us.

Hopefully the development team at Mytheon was able to find work in Petroglyph’s other upcoming projects. Mytheon may have flown so far under the radar that it was picked off by a wayward swingset, but it’s always a tragedy when people not only lose their jobs but see the project they’ve worked on for years crumble at the push of a button.

True Games Vs Petroglyph: Lawsuit Over

Diablo-style God-of-War reminiscent upcoming MMO Mytheon is among the ongoing list (read: all of them) of MMOs with troubled developments. Citing poor efficiency and unreasonable demands for time and funds, publisher True games launched a lawsuit against the developer, Petrolyph. I commented (not here) at the time that the reasons cited in the lawsuit make it sound like True Games’ lawyers are the same people who troll MMO forums about how they cancelled their preorder because they didn’t anticipate that an MMO from an indie developer is likely to be delayed for months on end, but rather the game itself is an artful scam, by a fraudulent company. Petroglyph stated, in their defense, that True Games was expecting essentially a AAA title.

I’ve never been good at subtle titles, so you’re already aware of how this story ends. Unlike the other lawsuits I cover, this suit does have a happy ending: Although neither side is admitting fault or wrongdoing, they have settled their differences and Mytheon is back on track for a June 13th launch.

Congratulations and, once again, best of luck to Mytheon in becoming…well, a launched game.

True Games Vs Petroglyph: Development Continues

As I mentioned earlier this week, the Fates (mortals) in Mytheon are having quite a hard time. Not only do they have their original task of attempting to bring down the gods, but now they must take down an even greater foe: The publisher. Citing consistent delays and unreasonable requests for funding, True Games Interactive, a company still in its toddler stage (founded January 2008) and has been publishing Warrior Epic. Now, in my normal fashion, I won’t be bashing Warrior Epic, but I will point out that my trek to the WE forums found that only five out of the sixteen forum categories have had a post in the past week, with six having no posts since April. Apart from that, my only company were forum bots from Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Baidu.

Petroglyph Games, noted defendant and developer, is being accused of not patching the title, and holding the source code hostage. True Games announced that they are moving full steam ahead with the title’s current beta process.

“Mytheon will proceed through Open Beta and launch officially in the near future. We cannot provide more details at this time. Players and fans of Mytheon will not be affected in any way. We are committed to delivering a fun and unique game play experience with the release of Mytheon.”

Best of luck to Mytheon in the future. It’s time to slay some gods!

True Games Vs Petroglyph: Reminiscent of Bethesda Vs Interplay?

Mytheon, at its core, may sound a little like God Of War: The MMO. Deciding to take their fate into their own hands, the mortals have taken up arms against their gods, to bring them down and prove once and for all that they are capable of self sustainment. Mytheon is a top-down game, akin to Diablo, and is set to run on a free to play, microtransaction level when it releases this year (subject to change).

It appears the Fates (mortals) of Mytheon may be struck down, not by the Gods, but by the other hand that feeds them: The publisher. True Games, to-be publisher of Mytheon, is suing the developer Petroglyph Games, due to unfulfilled obligations. According to documents provided, Petroglyph was originally supposed to deliver a gold title back in November ’09, a date that was extended to February, and followed by a promise of delivery in March. When March rolled around, and off into the sunset, with no Mytheon.

Among True Game’s claims are that Petroglyph made unreasonable demands for additional funds and time, coupled with a lack of enthusiasm and efficiency, that threatened both companies. According to Petroglyph, True Games is trying to make Mytheon into something it isn’t: A full blown $15/month MMO.

I’m in the Mytheon closed beta, and what you don’t say is often more powerful than what you do say (not to mention I believe I am under Non Disclosure) so I will leave it at that. This does remind me of the current lawsuit between Bethesda and Interplay, as that is over the slow progress of Fallout for different reasons.