Jackalyptic Games Closes Its Doors, Putting An End To Its Warhammer MMO Project
The Warhammer MMO being developed at Jackalyptic Games is now shelved. The closure of the studio has thus given life to the cancellation announcement made by Jack Emmert, the studio's founder who has worked in MMORPGs such as City of Heroes and Star Trek Online.
Background of the Canceled Project
Jack Emmert founded Jackalope Games (later renamed Jackalyptic) with NetEase money after his Marvel-based MMORPG was canceled by Daybreak's parent company, Enad Global 7. The Austin-based studio was announced, in May 2023, to be developing an MMO on the lines of a Warhammer property. The lifelong fan of the franchise had promised that the game would be accessible and would touch on true representation of the IP.
As Jackalyptic shuts its doors, so does parent NetEase close a spate of studios.
Official Statement on the Closure
On the company's LinkedIn page, Jack Emmert posted the following announcement:
I'm here to share a note that after almost three and a half years working with NetEase Games as a first party studio, our partnership will come to an end. We would like to thank NetEase Games for the support they provided with their resources and engagement during this development endeavor.
These are exciting times for our talented team members, and they will be searching for new opportunities at this time. If you are searching for passionate, creative professionals who incorporate excellence and collaboration into everything they do, please do not hesitate to reach out. We want to thank our community and all the individuals who have contributed to the project, and have made it something special.
The State of Warhammer MMOs
For the Warhammer franchise, the last fantasy MMO was Warhammer Online Age of Reckoning which was released in 2008 and closed officially in 2013, though it still continues on a fan-operated private server. The science fiction universe of Warhammer 40,000 briefly boasted a shooter with MMO characteristics called Eternal Crusade, which launched in 2016 but was forced to shut down its servers in September 2021 due to dwindling players.
