Open-world games are among the most popular titles today. With a chance to quest through a world that does not seem to end, players quickly dive into the game. Add to that the chance to interact with players from across the globe and you have a captivating MMO RPG. While these games run for years, Realm Online, a game that ran for over 27 years, will be shutting down at the end of this month.

Realm World’s Jaxson, Michael, and Roger took to Realm Online’s website to announce the game’s end.

Realm Online to shut down after 27 years

While things looked to be running smoothly, Realm Online’s sudden shutdown comes as a shock to fans. The whole issue stems from ownership. While the game’s ownership lies with Norseman Games, the Realm Worlds team works to create and release new content for the game. Given the game is 27 years old, however, first released in 1996, revenue is going downhill.

Norseman Games’ revenue share sees them earn the majority of the profits, leaving less incentive for the Realm Worlds team. What is even more shocking is that members of the LLC team did not receive any form of compensation for their work in over a year.

Realm Worlds repeatedly tried to acquire the IP for Realm Online from Norseman Games. However, they received little response from Norseman, after continually putting in the effort for a deal since March. As a result, the game will shut down on June 30th. With no way of paying members of their team for the hard work they put in, the choice to shut it down seemed like the only option if Realm Worlds could not acquire the IP.

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In the statement they posted on the Realms Online website, they said, “The current agreement we have with Norseman Games gives us no path to acquiring the IP. This impedes our ability to direct more money into developing content for the game. As revenue from the game decreases year over year, the effective percentage of revenue that goes to Norseman increases, making it harder still. None of the LLC members have been compensated for over a year. We had full intention of exploring every possibility to grow the player base, but without a way to acquire the IP this isn’t a workable arrangement.”

The Realm Worlds team spoke about their experience creating content for the game in the last five years. Additionally, they shed information about their future. They promised to keep working with Finvarra’s Fortress

Finvarra’s Fortress is another one of the projects Realm Worlds worked on over the years. “If we are presented the opportunity to resume operations and development, Finvarra’s Fortress will be in the exact state that we left it; nothing will be lost. We will be keeping backups of the work we have done over the last five years.”

It is the end of a massive title, running for nearly 30 years. Fans were devastated to hear the news.

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