Sony became the biggest game company to pull out of Boston-based PAX East 2020, citing concerns about the coronavirus not-quite-an-epidemic. “Sony Interactive Entertainment made the decision to cancel its participation at PAX East in Boston this year due to increasing concerns related to COVID-19 (also known as novel coronavirus),” the company wrote on its blog. “We felt this was the safest option as the situation is changing daily. We are disappointed to cancel our participation in this event, but the health and safety of our global workforce is our highest concern.”
That move was followed by a similar move from Square Enix, which canceled most of its Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XI activities at the con.
And this is just the beginning of the rest of the news! Read on for a roundup of other smaller MMO news stories and videos from this past week in this edition of The MOP Up (and if you don’t see a news story that we should have covered, drop us a tip)!
Warface stealth-launched on the Nintendo Switch, hoping to fill the void for shooters on the platform.
City of Heroes’ Homecoming servers got a wee update, chiefly to fix bugs.
Wakfu’s next update, 1.67, is open for testing on the beta server, with the buffed up Foggernaut class, new dungeon boss Aguabrial, and new Haven Bag design. Akama has also said it aims to make adjustments for characters that don’t make use of boosters.
State of Decay 2 is due for a major “Juggernaut Edition” update and Steam rollout in March.
Former Diablo creator David Brevik says the StarCraft leak earlier this week looked real to him.
Revelation Online is celebrating its third birthday with Colosseum VII.
Nexon’s mobile MMO Spiritwish patched in the Guild Clash mode for PvPers.
A kraken has invaded Valnir Rok!
The Jedi Themepark prologue is live in NGE Star Wars Galaxies emu known as SWG Legends.
The Jedi Themepark Prologue is now live on Omega! Please update your client via the launcher. For those who updated their clients prior to this message, run the launcher again to receive the latest files. Read more here: https://t.co/tj8qQWoiHL#SWGLegends #StarWarsGalaxies pic.twitter.com/yMQaTvJSX2
— SWG:Legends (@SWGLegendsStaff) February 21, 2020
Dark Age of Camelot is still trucking along; it’s just dropped its Ghost Keep event, running through March 10th.
Elder Scrolls Online popped up with some fresh lore ahead of the launch of Harrowstorm next week.
Old-school inspired MMORPG Astonia: The Return of Yendor hit Steam as a F2P this week. “Astonia takes you back to the roots of 2D-isometric C-RPG classics, featuring old-school RPG mechanics such as customizable characters, a high variety of complex spells, skills, professions, complicated storylines/quests and an intricate PvP system, set in a rich high-fantasy world with steampunk elements.”
MU Online’s Season 14: Part 2 is live. This tells you nothing because that name says nothing. The important bit to the patch is the new Atlantis of the Abyss field, the new mastery accessory, the new Monster Soul Changer system, and a level cap bump up to – wait for it – 1150.
Starbase continued its rollout of patch notes as it marches along in development.
Star Sonata revamped the heck out of engineers. “Our proposed changes aim to make Engineers more engaging to play,” the team writes. “We are especially focusing on making each new skill immediately impactful and gameplay-changing.”
EverQuest rolled out a patch with a bit scary list of patch notes, but don’t panic – most of it’s to fix miscellaneous issues. The highlights? It addressed the Restless Ice spell, added new spell augmentation merchants, fixed some raid stability problems, and tweaked the UI for debuffs.
Gamigo is running a fun video contest for ArcheAge dubbed the Lucius Motion Picture Awards.
And finally, Mortal Online’s devs teased some of Mortal Online 2’s new models.
Hi there #IndieDevHour!
Today we bring you a comparison of the Thursar model from MO1 (#UE3) compared to the new MO2 (#UE4) model. Adorable right?#gamedev #MMORPG #game #indiedev #indiegame #indiegamedev #UnrealEngine #MMO #rpg #sandbox #firstperson #pvp pic.twitter.com/ICx411L7Ut— Mortal Online (@MortalOnline) February 19, 2020
The MMO industry pumps out more and more news every year – no site could possibly cover everything. That’s why we gather together all the extras every week in The MOP Up, our a weekly compilation of MMO info we don’t want lost in the cracks of time. Send us your news bits through our tips line!
