Just two years ago, we all learned that the Matrix movie franchise was getting another entry, complete with one of the original directors and several of the original cast, including Keanu Reeves himself. MMO players had but one thought: Somebody bring back The Matrix Online! Oh maybe even make a sequel! (Actually, don’t make a sequel, but if you do, these ideas sound pretty awesome.) Now, of course, all those conversations are popping back up with this week’s release of The Matrix Resurrections trailer.
I never personally played MxO; in 2005 when it launched, I was deep in World of Warcraft and Guild Wars, and whatever charm there was in the IP by then had largely bounced off of me. As MOP’s own Game Archaeologist has covered, missing the hype window for the IP was a problem for the game in general, as were all the bugs, the small playerbase size, and the design that demanded a lot of gamemaster interaction.
SOE ultimately sunsetted the game in 2009, but as we’ve noted, the fandom for the title lives on, and not just in cheeky tweets. In fact, there are a couple groups working on emulation still in 2021. MXOemu just saw its latest update this past July, though apparently it still doesn’t have combat enabled and is mostly meant for exploration right now, while the Hardline Dreams server is still up but a bit more quiet. I poked my head into the MxO community Discord this morning and they’re busy cracking jokes over Morpheus having died in the game and the inevitable mobile tie-in games.
And of course, there’s a petition for bringing back the game.
In case you somehow missed the movie trailer…
