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Climax Explain Warhammer Decision News
Chris Leyton
22/06/2004
Karl Jeffery explains the hard decision behind the cancellation of Warhammer Online…
Having confirmed the cancellation of Warhammer Online yesterday, Karl Jeffery Climax CEO, today outlined the reasons behind the decision.
Development began on the title just over two years ago, when Climax and Games Workshop came together to form a joint venture company whose aim was to develop a Massively-Multiplayer-Role-Playing-Game (MMORPG) based on the hugely popular table-top game.
Despite impressing all that saw it with its technology and gritty visual style, both Climax and Games Workshop have been undertaking a comprehensive review of the costs to complete and launch the game during the last couple of months. Recognising the initial costs involved when launching such a title in terms of servers, bandwidth, and customer support teams, both partners decided that the costs were far higher then expected and decided that it was simply not justifiable.
Karl Jeffery, Climax CEO, commented: "It was a deeply sad thing for us to have to do after so much hard work and commitment from the entire team but the costs involved in bringing the Warhammer massively multiplayer online game (MMO) to market meant that we were left with little choice. With new MMO's, such as Star Wars Galaxies costing up to $ 30M to launch, this is now a very high stakes business"
The decision will not affect Climaxâs Nottingham Studio, with a second title already in development and the continued development of the Leviathan tools and technology that powered Warhammer Online.
One slight glimmer of hope was offered by the possibility of another partner joining the project, one that has existing experience in the MMORPG genre and infrastructure in place.
