This year, we’re taking a time-machine back through our MMO coverage, month by month, to hit the highlights and frame our journey before we head into 2017.
Ah, December: The month of endless annual awards… and end-year studio catastrophes. This round, all eyes were on venerable MMO studio Turbine as it announced it had spun out a new indie studio to take over Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online, as published by none other than Daybreak. Lost in the shuffle? The Asheron’s Call franchise, which will sunset in January 2017.
Meanwhile, gamers paid tribute to Carrie Fisher, Hero’s Song went belly up, Star Citizen launched Star Marine, Elder Scrolls Online teased housing, and Nostalrius relaunched.
And we rolled out our annual MMORPG awards, plus our blooper awards, weirdest stories, and other meta roundups.
Read on for the whole list!
TOP NEWS STORIES OF DECEMBER 2016
Chronicles of Elyria has raised $2 million to date
Black Desert’s Nouver boss has awakened, has his sights set on you
Hero’s Song wants you to take your money back
NetEase announces Justice, an MMO four years in the making
ARK attempts to curry voting favor with a sheep
Asheron’s Call players reach out to WB to save their MMO
Star Wars: The Old Republic players pay tribute to Carrie Fisher
Smed has canceled Hero’s Song, offers everyone refunds
Fans start a Save Asheron’s Call campaign
Star Citizen launches 2.6 Star Marine, announces Amazon Lumberyard partnership
Aussie courts have fined Valve $2.16M US over its refund policies
Allods Online’s Immortality expansion is live today
Standing Stone says LOTRO license renewal is a ‘non-issue’
Four-year-old War Thunder launches out of open beta
Black Desert’s Witch and Wizard awaken today
Overwatch introduces its first canon queer character with a holiday comic
Interview: BioWare devs reflect on five years of creating Star Wars: The Old Republic
LOTRO is considering revamping its character models in 2017
Asheron’s Call and its sequel will sunset as part of the Turbine/Standing Stone split
RUST dev after three years of early access: ‘If you’re bored of the game then just stop playing it’
The new Nostalrius emulator suffered six DDOS attacks on launch day
Turbine spins LOTRO and DDO teams out to new studio, using Daybreak as publisher
Cold Iron’s Craig Zinkievich on funding, the genre, and the MMO nature of the game
Aeria rebuts Bless North America cancellation rumors
Massively OP’s guide to the 2016 MMORPG winter holidays
Partly crowdfunded Guardians of Ember is now in early access
China bans streaming games not approved by the Ministry of Culture
Evolve developer Turtle Rock Studios is working on a new multiplayer FPS with Perfect World Entertainment
Trove soft-launches with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One console open betas today
Wintersday and PvP season 5 arrive in Guild Wars 2 today
25000 people have signed up for the new Nostalrius server so far
Player drops $1M of stolen money on a free-to-play game
Here’s everything you missed from Pantheon’s 210-minute stream
Here’s where ArcheAge: Revelation and the fresh start servers – yes, plural – stand right now
ArcheAge’s North American Revelation launch has not gone to plan
Camelot Unchained to integrate Discord, including voice chat
Ever, Jane’s third big update of open beta begins today with house ownership
Rumor: EVE Online’s CCP Games is considering selling itself off
Heroes of the Storm’s game director passes the torch, moves to new Blizzard project
Dean Hall says that there’s ‘no money’ in making games for VR
Elite: Dangerous charts a course for the PlayStation 4 in 2017
Interview: ArcheAge 3.0 Revelation, fresh start servers, and the cash shop
Exclusive interview with Ashes of Creation’s Jeffrey Bard, formerly of Daybreak
Ashes of Creation promises a sandbox MMO full of organic events
Interview: Everything we know about Elder Scrolls Online’s player housing
Daybreak confirms its president has stepped down, Columbus Nova exec continues in his stead
South Korea outlaws creation and distribution of game hacking programs
EVE Online’s massive Battle at the M-O Keepstar has cost gamers over $7000 so far
Nostalrius is resurrecting next week. Your move, Blizzard.
Ship of Heroes becomes the fourth City of Heroes spiritual successor
Guild Wars 2 PvP lead Josh Davis leaves ArenaNet
SWTOR Knights of the Eternal Throne launches today; we chat with BioWare
FAVORITE EDITORIALS OF DECEMBER 2016
LOTRO Legendarium: A cautious hope for the future
Leaderboard: What’s the best classic MMORPG still running?
The best Massively OP MMO polls of 2016
The Daily Grind: Will you Kickstart any video games in 2017?
Massively Overthinking: Our MMORPG gaming resolutions for 2017
EverQuesting: Welcome to the Daybreak family, LOTRO and DDO
Perfect Ten: Biggest MMORPG surprises of 2016
Tamriel Infinium: Elder Scrolls Online’s 2016 report card
Choose My Adventure: The Elder Scrolls Online in review
EVE Evolved: 2016 EVE Online year in review
Flameseeker Chronicles: 2017 predictions for Guild Wars 2
Leaderboard: What was the best MMO /popcorn drama of the year?
The Game Archaeologist: Wing Commander Online and Privateer Online
The most popular Massively OP MMO articles of 2016
Massively Overthinking: Our 2017 MMORPG predictions
Perfect Ten: The MMOs with the best value at the start of 2017
The Soapbox: Asheron’s Call is dead, and Turbine killed it
Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR’s 2016 Report Card
Leaderboard: What’s the most overrated MMORPG in 2016?
WoW Factor: 2016 in review for World of Warcraft
Massively Overthinking: Our favorite MMORPG stories of the year
Perfect Ten: All the MMORPGs coming in 2017
Hyperspace Beacon: Where can SWTOR go from here?
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 PvP league changes explained
Choose My Adventure: On the wrong side of the law in The Elder Scrolls Online
EVE Evolved: The Siege of M-0EE8, the new largest battle in gaming history
How 2016 took Lord of the Rings Online to the gates of Mordor
Massively Overthinking: The best MMORPG developer quotes of 2016
Perfect Ten: The healthiest live MMORPGs at the end of 2016
Tamriel Infinium: Elder Scrolls Online juggles making money and making content with Crown Crates
MMO Mechanics: 2016’s MMORPG mechanics in review
A Parent’s Guide to Video Games: Condensing ‘The Video Game Debate’
Perfect Ten: The biggest MMORPG stories of 2016
OUR COMPLETE 2016 MONTH-IN-REVIEW SERIES
MMO Year in Review: Blade & Soul reaches western shores (January 2016)
MMO Year in Review: A wild Black Desert approaches (February 2016)
MMO Year in Review: EverQuest Never (March 2016)
MMO Year in Review: WoW’s legacy server snarl (April 2016)
MMO Year in Review: Carebear tears of Elyria (May 2016)
MMO Year in Review: The Landmark and WildStar Steam parade (June 2016)
MMO Year in Review: Pokemon madness (July 2016)
MMO Year in Review: We are Legion (August 2016)
MMO Year in Review: A whole New World (September 2016)
MMO Year in Review: One foot in One Tamriel (October 2016)
MMO Year in Review: New Eden free-for-all (November 2016)
MMO Year in Review: Turbine gave the ring to the eagles (December 2016)
