The 3DS Greatness That Could Have Been: Goodbye Multiverse

Joss Whedon fans, get ready to sob uncontrollably.

You might have heard a few years back that 3DS game developer Multiverse was in the process of developing MMOs (Massive Multiplayer Online games) based on both Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, arguably Whedon’s biggest creations. You might also remember that the Firefly MMO game was cancelled altogether back in ’08 so Multiverse could focus on making the Buffy one.

Seems all that planning and waiting has been worth it.  As MTV is reporting, Multiverse Network is being shut down and going freeware. Reports IndustryGamers, the company released the following statement:

Although thousands of developers showed interest in the Multiverse Platform, Multiverse wasn’t able to achieve a profitable business model. As a result, Multiverse ceased operations in December 2011 due to lack of funding.

It probably won’t help much to know that this is actually nothing truly new in the world of MMOs. In the past, several hit movies have been picked up for adaptation with similar results; even James Cameron was apparently in the process of developing a Titanic MMO years back, which, not coincidentally, also ended up tanking. Here’s a little release statement summing up Multiverse’s history, which actually does contain a moderate success story regarding another Cameron movie:

In 2008, Multiverse extended its platform to support the creation of web-based games and virtual worlds. As a proof of concept, the company released Battle, Team Battle, and Battle: Realms at War on Facebook and other Flash game portals. Multiverse also created promotional games for McDonalds and CocaCola to support the release of the Avatar motion picture in December 2009.

So Avatar made it out, but the others didn’t? Does this mean we’ll never see a Firefly or Buffy MMO — especially after all those years of waiting, and all the hard work put in by Multiverse? Don’t lose hope yet — according to joystiq, there’s supposedly a new ragtag crew coming in to pick up the old source code and venture on. But as the Multiverse Foundation insists, so far it’s all just talk. Guess only time will tell (BOOOOOOO).

Until then, we’ll do our best to hope for the best.

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