The MMO Timeline is a quick reference sheet for the major MMOs of our era — when they launched, when they released expansion packs, and when (if) they closed (launches are in black bold, closings in red bold). If I’m missing a title or expansion you feel should be included on this list, please leave a comment below (with the date of the month/year they were released).
Games Covered: Neverwinter Nights, Ultima Online, EverQuest, EverQuest 2, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, Tabula Rasa, Warhammer Online, The Matrix Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Lord of the Rings Online, City of X games, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Asheron’s Call, Asheron’s Call 2, EVE Online, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Guild Wars, Darkfall, Shadowbane, Free Realms, Champions Online, Aion, Fallen Earth, Lineage, Lineage II, Runes of Magic, Runescape, Anarchy Online, The Sims Online, Planetside, Vanguard, Dungeon Runners, EQOA, FFXI, Wizard 101, The Realm, Meridian 59, Saga of Ryzom
1991
- March – Neverwinter Nights (AOL) launches
1992
- ?? – Neverwinter Nights (AOL): Expansion
1995
- March – The Realm Online launches
1996
- September – Meridian 59 launches
1997
- July – Neverwinter Nights (AOL) closes
- September – Ultima Online launches
1998
- September – Lineage launches
- October – Ultima Online: The Second Age
1999
- March – EverQuest launches
- November – Asheron’s Call launches
2000
- March – EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark
- May – Ultima Online: Renaissance
- December – EverQuest: The Scars of Velious
2001
- January – RuneScape launches
- March – Ultima Online: Third Dawn
- June – World War II Online launches
- June – Anarchy Online launches
- October – Dark Age of Camelot launches
- October – Motor City Online launches
- October – Asheron’s Call: Dark Majesty
- December – EverQuest: The Shadows of Luclin
2002
- February – Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn’s Revenge
- May – Final Fantasy XI launches
- September – Earth & Beyond launches
- October – EverQuest: The Planes of Power
- November – Dark Age of Camelot: Shrouded Isles
- November – Anarchy Online: The Notum Wars
- November – Asheron’s Call 2 launches
- December – The Sims Online launches
2003
- February – Ultima Online: Age of Shadows
- February – EverQuest: The Legacy of Ykesha
- February – EverQuest Online Adventures launches
- March – Shadowbane launches
- April – Final Fantasy XI: Rise of the Zilart
- May – EVE Online launches
- May – Planetside launches
- June – Star Wars Galaxies launches
- June – Dark Age of Camelot: Foundations
- August – Motor City Online closes
- September – EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath
- September – Anarchy Online: Shadowlands
- October – Lineage II launches
- October – Planetside: Core Combat
- October – Dark Age of Camelot: Trials of Atlantis
- November – EverQuest Online Adventures: Frontiers
- December – EVE Online: Castor
2004
- February – EverQuest: Gates of Discord
- April – City of Heroes launches
- June – Dark Age of Camelot: New Frontiers
- September – EverQuest: Omens of War
- September – Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia
- September – Anarchy Online: Alien Invasion
- September – Earth & Beyond closes
- September – Saga of Ryzom launches
- October – Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed
- November – Ultima Online: Samurai Empire
- November – World of Warcraft launches
- November – EverQuest 2 launches
- November – EVE Online: Exodus
- December – Dark Age of Camelot: Catacombs
2005
- February – EverQuest: Dragons of Norrath
- March – The Matrix Online launches
- March – EverQuest 2: The Bloodline Chronicles
- April – Guild Wars launches
- May – Star Wars Galaxies: Rage of the Wookies
- May – Asheron’s Call 2: Legions
- June – EverQuest 2: The Splitpaw Saga
- June – EVE Online: Exodus: Cold War
- July – Asheron’s Call: Throne of Destiny
- August – Ultima Online: Mondain’s Legacy
- September – EverQuest: Depths of Darkhallow
- September – EverQuest 2: Desert of Flames
- October – Dark Age of Camelot: Darkness Rising
- October – City of Villains
- November – Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan
- December – Asheron’s Call 2 closes
- December – EVE Online: Red Moon Rising
2006
- February – EverQuest: Prophecy of Ro
- February – EverQuest 2: Kingdom of Sky
- February – Dungeons & Dragons Online launches
- March – EVE Online: Bloodlines
- April – Auto Assault launches
- April – Guild Wars: Factions
- April – Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan
- June – EverQuest 2: The Fallen Dynasty
- September – EverQuest: The Serpent’s Spine
- October – Guild Wars: Nightfall
- November – Dark Age of Camelot: Labyrinth of the Minotaur
- November – EverQuest 2: Echos of Faydwer
- November – EVE Online: Revelations I
- December – Anarchy Online: Lost Eden
2007
- January – World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
- January – Vanguard launches
- February – EverQuest: The Buried Sea
- April – Lord of the Rings Online launches
- May – Dungeon Runners launches
- June – EVE Online: Revelations II
- August – Auto Assault closes
- August – Guild Wars: Eye of the North
- November – EverQuest: Secrets of Faydwer
- November – EverQuest 2: Rise of Kunark
- November – Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess
- November – Tabula Rasa launches
- December – EVE Online: Trinity
2008
- January – Pirates of the Burning Sea launches
- May – Age of Conan launches
- June – EVE Online: Empyrean Age
- August – The Sims Online closes
- October – EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction
- September – Warhammer Online launches
- September – Wizard 101 launches
- November – World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
- November – EverQuest 2: The Shadow Odyssey
- November – Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria
- November – EVE Online: Quantum Rise
2009
- February – Tabula Rasa closes
- February – Darkfall launches
- February – Anarchy Online: Legacy of the Xan
- March – EVE Online: Apocrypha
- March – Runes of Magic launches
- April – Free Realms launches
- July – Shadowbane closes
- August – The Matrix Online closes
- September – Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss
- September – Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited
- September – Aion launches
- September – Champions Online launches
- September – Fallen Earth launches
2010
oops. more info here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_realm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_59
Whoops didn’t see it the first time through, muh bad.
Awesome list.
Perhaps include in RED when MMOs shut down or close.
Tabula Rasa – February 28, 2009
Matrix Online – July 2009.
Auto Assault – ?
The Sims Online – ?
Earth and Beyond – ?
Asheron’s Call 2 – ?
oops another one you missed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_4th_Coming
It will also be interesting to see when a traditional monthly goes to FREE to Play.
Multi-player Battletech on AOL isn’t on the list. Not a true MMO as of todays standards, but back in the early 90’s it was.
Excellent job Syp. Especially including the dates of expansions as well as initial releases. A useful resource.
One thing though, Asheron’s Call launched November ‘99, not 2000. Their tenth anniversary is coming up very soon.
Nice job, but I found it somewhat lacking in ease of overview.
Just spent a bit of time on this:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AumUqm56EaiXdGM0YlFWVmVrMXFpZFRhV2xSM1VVbEE&hl=en
Maybe someone feels like copying that and improve it to include quarters per year.
[...] at BioBreak is working on an interesting gaming project. He is valiantly attempting to flesh out a timeline for all MMOs in the history… of MMOs. While working on this project, he came to a stunning, if not somewhat [...]
Face of Mankind will add some colour…
Released in March 2006 after a lengthy beta starting in 2004; in November 2007, publisher Ojom withdrew support for the game. Duplex Systems shut down the game’s servers in order to restructure it and relaunch as Face of Mankind: Rebirth.On June 30, 2008 Duplex Systems announced the cancellation of Face of Mankind: Rebirth, citing financial problems. On 8 October 2008, Duplex Systems announced via the face of mankind website that the game would be “coming back soon”.On 1 December 2008, this was confirmed with an official announcement by Duplex Systems and Nexeon Technologies.
Thanks for composing this list. Its quite interesting to look at the data such as launches and closes.
What about old Text Adventure games produced by Simutronics? Gemstone II (turned Gemstone III turned Gemstone IV) comes to mind. Back in the early 90s, that was an MMO for me — upwards of 25000 people simultaneously connected, if I recall correctly.
More info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GemStone_IV
*2500
Here is one you missed, an open-world sandbox, dragon, crafting oriented MMO with very nice community.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istaria:_Chronicles_of_the_Gifted
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_in_the_Desert
The first “telling” began in Feb 2003 and there have been others since then. (Perhaps these could be listed as expansions?) Check out the “Development” section for the dates.
[...] over at Biobreak is working up a nifty little timeline of MMO’s, including release dates, expansions and even shut down dates. Lo and behold one of the things [...]
You should check out http://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/mudtimeline.shtml for some more early MMO history (and some tidbits missing from your own list).
You missed Horizons – Empire of Istaria
http://www.istaria.com/
Horizons launched in December 2003 according to Gamespot :
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/horizons/similar.html?mode=versions
Another one, Risk Your Life (RYL).
Started in June 2005 according to Gamespot.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/riskyourlife/tech_info.html
Toontown Online: June 2003
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toontown_Online
(I’m surprisingly surprised that nobody’d already mentioned it.)
A couple more that had major impact on other MMO’s
I remember hearing about Horizons: Empires of Istaria when I was playing AC1 and it was in beta for a couple years. There was major scandals about developer money but I can’t find the links to it anymore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=879184
http://www.massively.com/2008/04/15/struggling-mmo-horizons-renamed-istaria/
Necron which had naught bits in it and caused all kinds of fun because of dancers you could not interact with… lol
neocron launched in 2002
neocron 2 launched in 2004
http://ng.neocron.com/ 2002 and 2004
and something should be said to the fact that all of the early ones were graphic MUD not MMO’s that term came later with EQ maybe. I’ve still got the beta cd around here somewhere… but more is the point that with out adventure (Zork rip off) things would have been different how much who knows but even as M59 the realms came otu there were still MUDs that had more players at the time.
You also Missed Hellgate london 07/08
Dungeons runners is closing
What Tessa said. Or, to put it another way:
2010
January – Dungeon Runners closes
February – Star Trek Online opens