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Petroglyph carving out MMORTS

Star Wars: Empire at War developer teams with Trion World on yet-to-be-detailed massively multiplayer online strategy title.

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Aside from being formed by Westwood Studios veterans, Petroglyph is perhaps best known for its work on real-time strategy title Star Wars: Empire at War, released to rave reviews in 2006. Therefore, it was with some surprise when Petroglyph announced in December that it would be dipping its toes into the massively multiplayer online gaming genre with Mytheon, a free-to-play role-playing/strategy hybrid that would be published by newcomer True Games.

Cave paintings may or may not be involved.
Cave paintings may or may not be involved.

Now, it appears as if the independent studio intends to wade a bit deeper into the MMOG pool. Trion World Network has announced that it has partnered with Petroglyph on an as-yet-to-be-named massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game.

Aside from talking up the Petroglyph team's previous work on such titles as Command & Conquer and Dune II, Trion revealed no relevant gameplay details about the upcoming project. However, Petroglyph appears to be taking an ambitious approach to the project, with Trion CEO Lars Buttler saying of the game that it will be "the world's first truly high-end MMORTS."

According to Trion, its deal with Petroglyph is the first it has made with a third-party developer for use with its server architecture known as the Trion Platform. The publisher-developer formed in 2006 under Might and Magic series creator and former NCsoft developer Jon Van Caneghem and former EA vice president of global online Lars Buttler. In September, the company revealed that it had secured $70 million in additional venture capital funding, building on a $30 million investment it had previously received.

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