Cryptic CEO Assures Players That Neverwinter, Star Trek Online, And Champions Online Are Not Going Away

Players of Cryptic's MMORPGs Neverwinter, Star Trek Online, and Champions Online have been worried about their favorite games lately. The Cryptic MMOs have recently been shifted by the Embracer group from under the Gearbox umbrella to that of the small Berlin-based developer DECA, leaving many fans wondering about the future of the games.

Fear not, says Cryptic CEO Phil Frazier, as the games are not at risk of sunsetting. Frazier delivered this message during a live stream last night. He reassured fans of Neverwinter, Star Trek Online, and Champions Online that the games were in good hands with DECA, and that hiring has been underway to support the games going into the future.

DECA will indeed be working on the Trio of MMOs, with Cryptic taking on a support role. Plans include "several releases per year" for each of the three games, even Champions Online (which is maybe the most surprising out of the three). If I had to guess which Cryptic MMO was in the most danger of going away, Champions would be the easy guess, but it sounds like all three are locked in for several more years at least, with licenses for Star Trek and D&D already secured.

The devs then delivered roadmaps for each game. Star Trek Online will be getting a new season and Iconian event in May, then the new season will come to console in June. The update will include the continuation of the Kings and Queens storyline with a new episode, TFO, a secret feature, and a returning Trek voice actor.

Module 28 for Neverwinter, Adventures in Wildspace, will be headed to players in the spring, with an Anniversary and other events to follow. You can expect a new dungeon to come along with this update.

Probably the most surprising was a roadmap for Champions Online, albeit a small one. They promised new missions planned for 2024 and ongoing events.

Frazier did say that Cryptic did have two new games under development last year, but the Embracer layoffs canceled both projects. They are waiting to learn the new pitch process before deciding whether or not to move forward with another new game.

The Cryptic team also priced out what it would cost to move their three existing MMOs to a new game engine, but it sounds like the cost was simply too much. (Boy could those games use a new engine though.)

It sounds like Cryptic will slowly be phased out of the development of these MMOs over time as DECA ramps up their ability to handle and produce content for them. What the future holds for Cryptic once DECA completely takes over is unclear.