5 Recent MMOs That Caused The Most Controversy

Gaming is supposed to be fun, right? Sure it is! That doesn't mean that the world of gaming isn't full of its own controvercies, though. MMORPGs and multiplayer games are by no means immune to causing their own ruckus now and then.

In today's fun list, I'm going to bring you the top 5 MMOs or multiplayer games that fired up gamers in one way or another. Some of these games are gone now, some are still with us and in a better place, and some have yet to reach a "full" release, but, in one way or another, each of them is certain to cause some heated discussions between their supporters and detractors.

In the spirit of keeping things more current, I won't be covering age-old MMO stories like the fun history of Tabula Rasa, Marvel Heroes, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, or the mess that was Bless Online. That said, if you love reading about the history of big messes in gaming, then all three of those links are worth a read. I will be including one title that's a bit older, but it interfaces with a current day topic, so forgive me on that one...that and I still feel burned buying the $100 founder's pack for it.

In no particular order:

Star Citizen

Look, any time you bring up Star Citizen in a large enough group of gamers you're likely to see a pretty even split between groups calling it an ambitious cluster of games and the groups calling it the largest scam in gaming. Having raised over $720 million as of this writing from crowdfunding, and still pulling in hundreds of thousands of dollars each day, Roberts Space Industries keeps raking in more and more.

While the vision is something many of us would love to see, it's sometimes hard to be excited for a massive space exploration MMO when things release very, very slowly. This game literally passed every stretch goal they put on their site back in 2012. Yeah, it's been a while.

You can get into Star Citizen today though. The team also runs free fly events periodically for those that haven't donated to see what's going on. Gameplay is limited right now, but you can fly through space, do some mining, grind cash or rep, roll through space with friends, or check out other gameplay loops that you can experiment with while messing around with the multitude of ships available.

Squadron 42, the single-player game in the same universe, is in development alongside Star Citizen.

To this day, the game is still considered "alpha" and many claim it will never actually release as a full and finished singular project.

The Day Before

Man, watching The Day Before unfold was just painful. It was readily apparent that the once most-wishlisted game on Steam was going to have serious issues if it ever came out at all. FNTASTIC, the company behind the zombie survival title, was promising the world based on a history that had no such ambitious projects in it, but people still bought into the idea.

After multiple "reveal" streams that really just turned into the team using their massive following to market other games or products, things started to get REALLY weird. We had a lawsuit focused on the game's name, a delisting from Steam while that was worked out, then some weird hot tub and sports car reveals. People really started to question things when a "gameplay" reveal more than disappointed audiences, the team revealed that they weren't planning an open beta test, and launches were delayed. Luckily for us, the team said they wouldn't hold grudges against those of us that were "haters" because we had serious doubts. Whew. I was very relived.

How did it all end? You can guess, but you'd probably be surprised at how fast it all happened. The game launched and literally the NEXT WEEK, FNTASTIC closed their doors. Refunds were forced upon customers, and stories started rolling out from alleged members of the team that painted leadership in a VERY not great way...leadership that then moved on to reportedly work on a new mobile project.

That was, of course, AFTER the team blamed the colossal failure on a "hate campaign" instead of, you know, them basically lying or hiding what was actually going to release...it wasn't an MMO at all, it ended up being an extraction shooter no one knew was coming!

Wayfinder

Wayfinder's place on this list isn't because of some massive crowdfunding or because it was a huge failure or bait and switch...well, at least not in the way The Day Before was switched. Wayfinder DID end up becoming a bit of a different game after early access launched and the controversy comes mainly on behalf of those that bought founder's packs for the dungeon-diving game that wanted to be an MMO from the start.

Sadly, just as things were getting started, Digital Extremes (Warframe) decided to cancel all work with external projects and that meant Airship Syndicate lost their publisher and had to scramble to save Wayfinder at all.

With massive server issues plaguing early access launch and the loss of their publisher, Airship Syndicate had to scramble. Reception wasn't great, so the team decided on one last gamble: convert what was going to be a F2P MMO into a premium product more in line with a co-op RPG or shut it down.

The team obviously opted for the former and the "Echoes" update is now live on both PC and PS5, and an Xbox launch is still planned for later this year. Reception has generally been positive so far, but that still doesn't erase the controversy over the original game's founder's packs. These packs ranged from $20 to $150. While buying larger packs came with more cosmetic bonuses and access to more Wayfinders, this was a pricey proposition to begin with from a company with little experience in the genre. Once the team made the decision to convert the game to a premium product with no cash shop, many of the items in the founder's packs became less valuable in the eyes of many that purchased them. You weren't going to be in an MMO-like world to show off your drip anymore, so what's the point?

It didn't help that some people were apparently able to get refunds, while others were not.

That's all in the past now, so we'll see where Wayfinder finds itself a year or so from now.

EverQuest Landmark

The whole EverQuest Next/EverQuest Landmark thing is the one on this list that I warned you about in the intro above. Yes, I know this all went down back in 2016, but it still has interesting implications to today. Originally dubbed "EverQuest Next Landmark", Landmark was originally designed as a creation grounds that would help developers in the creation of EverQuest Next, Sony Online Entertainment's upcoming MMORPG in the iconic IP.

Players could experiment and create in the game's voxel world, which was all the rage at the time, and maybe see their creations make it into EverQuest Next someday. Then, in 2015, SOE was sold to Columbus Nova (according to initial announcements and statements from John Smedley) and became Daybreak Games. Headed into 2016, EverQuest Next was cancelled because it "couldn't find the fun"...but Landmark would still release.

So we weren't getting the MMO that the Landmark tool was made to help create...but we were still getting development for the creation tool itself? Weird. It also sucked if you bought founder's packs since you weren't getting that money back either. I hope you liked having JUST the creation tool.

Landmark did release later in 2016, but joined Next in the "shut down" list in February of 2017.

The next few years saw other weird things come out of Daybreak Games, like a weird recanting of their purchase history when everyone had to scramble to avoid sanctions on certain investors overseas.

Now, in 2024, we're hearing rumors of a possible EverQuest 3, but it wouldn't even remotely be a thing until around 2028, if it ever comes out at all. Will it take any lessons or features from Landmark or Next? I don't personally think so, but antyhing's possible when it comes to Daybreak.

Diablo Immortal

This is one I don't even enjoy talking about because its claim to controversy fame comes directly from abusing cash shops and currencies to the extreme. Most F2P titles do some shady things when it comes to monetization. I just wrote a piece looking at a new F2P game and how the practices in the industry continue to be predatory.

Diablo Immortal took it mad extremes, though.

Purchasing currency in bundles that were just off center when compared to things you would buy so you always had some left over? Check. Constant "rewards" for completing things and earning the "right" to buy a particular bundle once for a low, low cost? Check. The inclusion of two versions of a needed item that you COULD farm in game but it also had a version that was in the cash shop and although they LOOKED the same, they weren't? Check

Josh Strife Hayes broke it all down in two videos on the game that are 100% worth watching.

Have things improved? Slightly, but yeah, it's still a game I would never even LOOK at let alone play these days...sadly it makes a ton of money anyway, just not as much as it once did.

That's going to do it for the list today! Now, sure, there's many other gaming controversies and there's even more companies that cause their own disturbances in the force all the time. So what's your favorite MMO gaming mess? Let me know in the comments below about your favorite dumpster fire!

(P.S. It was WAY too old to make this list and not really relevant to any current news like EverQuest Landmark was, but my personal favorite MMO gaming mess to research is the whole 38 Studios and Kingdoms of Amalur MMO disaster. If you don't know about it, check it out.)