The MMO landscape will be transformed in 2012, at least in name, as Hasbro has unveiled a Transformers MMO is currently in development and slated for release in North America, Latin America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia next year. No specific platforms were announced, but the game’s development team, Jagex Limited, implies that the Transformers MMO will be a Windows-based title.
It may even be free to play.
Jagex is one of the largest independent game developers and publishers in the world with 40-plus online games under its belt. The company’s flagship game, RuneScape, is the world’s most popular free-to-play MMO.
Under the agreement, the two companies are slated to launch their Transformers MMO in 2012. No gameplay details, let alone a specific title or release date, were announced alongside the game unveiling, but just having a Transformers MMO at their disposal is sure to excite plenty of Optimus Prime fans. After all, custom-building a Transformer and taking it online to do battle is just about any Transformers fanboy’s dream come true.
The timing of the game’s release is interesting, considering there’s no Michael Bay movie slated next year, as there has been for most of Activision’s Transformers games for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. Frankly, it’s also interesting to see Activision not involved with the Transformers MMO, considering they have a little-known MMO developer called Blizzard in the fold. Maybe World of Transformerscraft was a bit too much for Hasbro to buy into.
We’ll have more information on the Transformers MMO as it becomes available.