Warhammer offline until fall

EA confirms that long-awaited MMOG based on Games Workshop's brutal fantasy universe will retreat to later this year; collectors edition detailed.

In November, EA CEO John Riccitiello revealed in a quarterly conference call that Warhammer Online's barbaric Hordes of Chaos had been furloughed until sometime in the publisher's second fiscal quarter, which runs from April to September. Clarifying why the massively multiplayer online role-playing game wouldn't hit its expected March 2008 release, EA Mythic general manager Mark Jacobs told GameSpot, "Our game is going to live and die by two things. One is realm-versus-realm gameplay. The second is overall quality."

Today, EA further demonstrated its commitment to hitting those two benchmarks. As noted in EA Mythic's monthly newsletter, Warhammer Online has been pushed back from EA's second fiscal quarter to a broad "fall" release. Echoing Jacobs' comments from several months ago, the game's latest moratorium is to allow time for further polish and fine-tuning as it gears up for primetime.

"During the most recent phase of beta testing, two things have become clear," Jacobs said today in the game's monthly newsletter. "One was that our key innovations--Public Quests, Tome of Knowledge, and Realm vs. Realm combat--were all coming along extremely well, as was the first stage of our innovative crafting system. The second, that the game would benefit from additional iteration time as well as adding a layer of polish or two. Fortunately, as part of Electronic Arts, we are able to do just that."

Grumlok and Gazbag, ready to shrink/split heads.

It wasn't all completely bad news for fans of Games Workshop's epically brutal Warhammer universe. EA and Mythic also laid out today the MMOG's collectors edition. In tribute to the game's tabletop inspiration, collectors-edition purchasers will receive an exclusive, unpainted pewter miniature--Greenskin warboss Grumlok, mounted by his shaman, Gazbag--as well as an original graphic novel and art book. As for in-game content, the collectors edition will bequeath an experience-point bonus, extra quests, and exclusive character-customization options.

Those who preorder the Warhammer Online Collector's Edition will also gain access to the game's open beta, two in-game items, and early access to the final game. The collectors edition will be limited to 60,000 units, and it retails for $79.99. More information on the product can be found on EA Mythic's official Web site.

EA seems to be taking the advice of Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, who said several weeks ago that a World of Warcraft competitor would require a $500 million investment, minimum. EA Mythic hasn't publicized how much it's poured into the project so far, but in the more than seven years since the game was first announced, the game has run the gamut from canceled to self-published to picked up by a major publisher to overshadowed by said publisher's latest acquisition, all the while receiving any number of intermittent delays.

110 Comments

  • BikerPunk

    Posted Apr 30, 2008 9:04 am PT

    this game has AMAZING potential. I was a lover of WoW, but the end game grind to get epics, just to get them burnt out by Greens in the expansion made me weep slightly. After months of PvP Battle Grounds, the world PvP lacked so much that is just didnt hold my interest anymore.

    i looks as tho Warhammer has taken the PvP aspect of the game, and gave it a world PvP style thats everchanging. This interests me the most. I love the endgame, dont get me wrong, huge raids, but i dont want to do 100 Raids to get some boots anymore. This is a welcome change, and i look forward to what they have done.

  • matte989

    Posted Apr 13, 2008 6:07 pm PT

    You pretty much only get one shot in this genre so I understand where they are coming from. They have invested so much money and time if they don't hit the deck running it would be a huge disappointment for fans, investors, and EA Mythic.

  • tehfireballer

    Posted Apr 12, 2008 12:20 am PT

    Well, I'm very happy they are making it as perfect as possible... If it beats wow im even happier.

  • tehfireballer

    Posted Apr 12, 2008 12:20 am PT

    Well, I'm very happy they are making it as perfect as possible... If it beats wow im happy.

  • seankun

    Posted Apr 7, 2008 11:16 am PT

    What is going to be the monthly charge for this game? Any idea?

  • crazymoose99

    Posted Mar 30, 2008 7:02 pm PT

    i already know it's gonna be a good game, and if they say polishing time is a must, let them have polishing time. This is also the first game i think i may ever (and probably the last) that i will buy the collectors edition.

  • Treifla

    Posted Mar 30, 2008 6:39 pm PT

    curse the heavans.

    sigh, there is nothing to do but wait and hope they use the extra time well, i was jsut hoping i could get in some quality time during the summer, as my commerce degree gets tough during year two

  • austinlh

    Posted Mar 30, 2008 3:30 pm PT

    This delay is definitely beneficial to the development of the game. The continued effort of EA Mythic will make the game the best it could be, allowing it to stand a chance against other popular MMO's.

  • matte989

    Posted Mar 28, 2008 2:44 pm PT

    If they can figure out a system to keep the sides 'somewhat' balanced I'm pretty confident this will be a smash hit. I'm not sure I will be able to pull myself away from Wow but I sure would love one or two more MMO's that are on the same level. GO MYTHIC DUDES GO!

  • teirdome

    Posted Mar 28, 2008 8:51 am PT

    I've been hearing for the longest time that the combat is really slow and needs some polish to compete with WoW. Hopefully they can improve it in the extra months because if "War is Everywhere" then the combat will be everywhere too.

  • brianpoetzel

    Posted Mar 28, 2008 6:22 am PT

    I'm looking forward to this game. I hope it's solo friendly. I like to learn the ropes on my own instead of being thrown into a group right off the bat. And sometimes I just want to play solo. That's what was nice about WoW. I could have solo'd to 60 if I wanted to.

  • Sins-of-Mosin

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 6:53 pm PT

    It is a shame but I rather wait and make sure the game is really worthy of my money.

  • gunstarherouk

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 3:22 pm PT

    just wait guys it will be worth it ;P

  • Locosis

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 3:20 pm PT

    Ya and when does the open beta start? I would love to start playing before this date. I will just keep playing others while I wait for this one but I hope this is the last delay.

  • zunit88

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 1:45 pm PT

    i dunno what 2 say!!! ill wait a little bit...
    but EA better hurry up coz blizzard is about for a new MMO, as well as Activision (warhammer40k mmo)

  • rat5112

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 1:20 pm PT

    I understand the that delays = more polished, less buggy games but please oh please make this the last delay.

  • shorty__

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:16 pm PT

    I'm not bothered by this. More time means better game. Better to delay than have tons of bugs and unpolished features. Also, MMOs usually take around 4 years to make and WAR has only been in development for 3 years.

  • Erebus

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:13 pm PT

    Hello all. As a WAR beta tester I must choose my words very carefully as to properly observe my NDA gag. All information I cite is freely available.

    I've been playing MMOs for more than 10 years. There have been many released since WoW. None of them stood a chance -- I saw this coming as they basically all tried to either BE WoW, or strayed too far from the classic MMO formula. WoW lacks meaningful PvP of any sort. WAR gives that to you. WoW's PvE is top of the line. WAR'S PvE is .... well I can't say, but what I can say is that, and I quote from a Mythic developer "public quests are awesome!"

    When I got the newsletter, I literally cheered upon reading about the delay. I knew right then and there that WAR was going to be epic. If you don't think this game has a chance against WoW, you are either in denial, a rabid WoW fanboy, or simply lack enough information to make a decision.

    NOTE: Development of WAR began in 2005, which means the game has been in development for ~3 years. Previous developers and cancellations have absolutely NOTHING to do with EAMythic's game.

  • HasKy_87

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:07 pm PT

    i was sure of that... but i'm happy ... 'cos it's better a delay that an half game full of bugs...

  • Nepherate

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:57 am PT

    God. Gamespot messes this up with every WAR announcement. The game has NOT been in development for 7 years. That was a COMPLETELY different game created by Climax. This is a separate game made by Mythic, and it's only been in development for 3 years.

  • Nepherate

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:51 am PT

    God. Gamespot messes this up with every WAR announcement. The game has NOT been in development for 7 years. That was a COMPLETELY different game created by Climax. This is a separate game made by Mythic, and it's only been in development for 3 years.

  • chng_bat

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:21 am PT

    Well, better it get delayed then have silly flaws and bugs that get patched.

  • Nomad0404

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 9:55 am PT

    uberjannie - If you have proof you cancelled or they hav admitted that you did so and have not actioned that request then you have every right demand the money back EULA or not. The error is there's not yours.

    Take it further.

  • Mutarotation

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 9:52 am PT

    Saw this game at the Copenhagen D3 and it looked pretty good. Plus more competition in the online gaming market can never be a bad thing

  • oli54321

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 9:12 am PT

    This game is always getting delayed

  • gertish

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 8:58 am PT

    Delay, suprise! :'(

  • KingSigy

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 6:15 am PT

    At least there are some decent extras

  • Zennious

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 5:53 am PT

    Your going to be waiting a long time icy06. Plus it wouldn't be called World of Starcraft, It would be something like Worlds of Starcraft, or Starcraft Universe or something like that.

  • markharris31

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 5:50 am PT

    @kennyplusone Major points for the Aion reference. Not a lot of hype for it yet, but it looks really good at this point.

  • icy06

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 5:38 am PT

    Personally waiting for World of Starcraft

  • uberjannie

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 4:58 am PT

    hopefully their support doesnt suck as much as the dark age of camelot support do. But im afraid it will , because it will be the same people.
    in DaoC I closed my account, nevertheless to notice this month one year later that they still withdrew subscription money.
    They said that even though I closed it , my accound didnt show up as closed in their database.
    So I have paid monthly fees for a game I havent played for a year, and all they did was to give me back my last payment.
    Read their official statement that I recieved :
    "Per the EUALA all charges are prepaid and nonrefundable, but as a one time courtesy we were able to refund the last charge".

    Well thanks alot. Im not going to buy warhammer. Hate that company.

  • Skarwolf

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 4:35 am PT

    I've heard some input from a beta tester and the impression was this game is nowhere near release potential. Not to be a WOW fanboy but he said this game won't dent WOW at all. He said it seems very simliar to WOW and just made him want to go back to WOW.

  • DiscGuru101

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 4:00 am PT

    MMORPG - Delayed... And in other news, diamonds are shinny.

  • Damnation_6

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 3:22 am PT

    I am curious about this game, specially about playing with a Choas character......altho the ingame footage I saw didn't blow me away at all.
    Looked kinda dull etc.

    I'm hoping for trail accounts cause if I can't test this game I'm not gonna buy it. And last....I have a problem with EA.....I try not to buy games from them.
    But I like the Warhammer universe....and if the studio did a good job....there is no denying good games.

  • Assgear

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 2:14 am PT

    I really like GW stuff in general but this game just looks like a steaming pile of monkey crap.

  • Flaming_Spoon

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 1:12 am PT

    Well its not gonna be a wow killer but it very well might take hold in a nice comfortable second .... WoW just has too much of a head start right now and is only gonna be trumped when it gets so old people HAVE to move on ... and by that time we all know wow2 will be out and taking lives again.

  • Tripwolf

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:56 am PT

    WHO versus AoC... battle to the death! Well, whoever wins will still lose to the monster that is WoW.

  • DiabolicalX

    Posted Mar 27, 2008 12:11 am PT

    well the idea of a warhammer mmorpg was announced 7 years ago, that much is right.

    Even though I'm prolly the one man who wants to play this game more then anyone else does, I'm glad that they are taking there time with it, the more time means more polish, and it's also closer to the end of year holidays so I can get to playing like a maniac sooner rather then later

  • Ibacai

    Posted Mar 26, 2008 10:23 pm PT

    Jeez, GS get your facts straight. This game was not announced 7 years ago. That was a completely different MMO that was canned.

    Development didn't start until the later half of 05. Not a bad cycle. Let's hope it turns out well. Because if it doesn't I'll have to destroy humanity as we know it.

  • magor1988

    Posted Mar 26, 2008 9:09 pm PT

    I think people expect this monolithic showdown between WoW and WHO and I'm not sure if they're going to get it...

    Look at the market right now and you'll see that already with WotLK, WHO, and AoCHA the genre is getting crowded....

    Of the games already online you have the 800 pound gorilla WoW, the new pirate fantasy PotBS, Tolkien's work in game LotRO, and several sci-fi games in CoH/CoV, Eve, and Tabula Rasa (Am I missing any)...

    Within the year you will see WHO and Conan come up... both appealing to the mature fantasy gaming player...

    All these new games having to compete against several extremely well established MMO's and publishing companies... Somebodies going to have to lose out and lose big... While I don't see that as being WHO... in the short term I don't see it flying up the charts to dethrone WoW... There are just to many good to great MMO's either out on the market or soon to be coming... and that is going to drain any competition from dethroning WoW... That being said I'll probably switch from playing WoW to another MMOG in the next year or so after I get tired of running around at 80...

    PS- I love how ppl like to talk about ppl "borrowing" or "stealing" from others ideas... with Blizzard "borrowing" from Gamesworkshop... Cromeus- "Not to mention also that Blizzard has all too often "borrowed" some of the best concepts from Games Workshop who have been around for over 25 years."

    If you want to look at it that way (and this has been said b4) they all borrow from Tolkien... who borrows from Beowulf and a host of other fantasy lore... so everyone is borrowing from everyone... Props to Blizzard for beating out Gamesworkshop and bringing the Orc vs Human idea to the gaming platform first... And props to Gamesworkshop for keeping up an idea for 25 yrs....

    Obviously WoW isn't monkeyproof yet (Play it and spend 5 min in the capital cities... yeah some people...)

  • metalisticpain

    Posted Mar 26, 2008 8:53 pm PT

    Man im so hyped for this.

  • MrGunny

    Posted Mar 26, 2008 7:54 pm PT

    I find this pretty funny. People commenting on the "seriousness" of the delay. I think we are forgetting how closely this mirrors the WoW release. WoW was delayed at least as many times as WHO, and it accomplished the objective of creating hype. Delays aren't such bad things anymore. Neverwinter Nights, World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, and now WHO were/are all being hyped as "Released When Its Done". I think the delay is just going to end up inspiring more people to buy it on Day 1 by providing the sense of purchasing a more polished game.

  • -Master_St3ve-

    Posted Mar 26, 2008 6:41 pm PT

    This game looks like more of the same. If I pick it up I will have a hard time choosing which side to start fist. Orc or Dwar...hmm.

  • starbead

    Posted Mar 26, 2008 6:03 pm PT

    It sounds like EA expects a summer launch for WotLK and wants to release after people hit 80 and get bored again (1-2 months).

  • kennyplusone

    Posted Mar 26, 2008 5:37 pm PT

    Aion baby, waiting for it, but since i preordered this just for BETA key, its whatever, i dont plan on playing it unless Aion gets pushed back til 09

  • VenomRitual

    Posted Mar 26, 2008 5:28 pm PT

    7 years? they better be perfecting it

  • jestepher

    Posted Mar 26, 2008 5:16 pm PT

    Warhammer Online, coming to you soon in 2014!!!

  • lamprey263

    Posted Mar 26, 2008 5:00 pm PT

    meh, I'm still waiting for the day of a WH40K MMO, I'd rather be a Space Marine 'cause every other race in the WH universe is just the same thing you can play in any other MMORPG; in the meantime, I'm thinking of finally getting a WoW account, 'cause if I'm going to be in an orcs and elves fantasy land, I might as well be on the orcs and elves fantasy land that everyone else is playing on

  • TheJGene

    Posted Mar 26, 2008 4:52 pm PT

    Well it's a smart idea to delay if they want a good product. As for whether it beats WoW, it doesn't bother me either way. The problem is as has been stated already; WoW caters to the masses, if this wants to compete and be viable for a long time, they have to as well. Staying true to Warhammer ethos will get lost along the way if the game gets "dumbed down" as a game for everyone. It needs to be to compete with WoW on a long term basis. The tabletop game was never a game for everyone, it was an enthusiasts type of product. So competing and staying true to its roots will prove difficult I think.

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