It always felt like Star Wars: Galaxies had a controlled demolition so that people would move over to The Old Republic

Anyone remember Fractured Space? Was a cool game that never really took off. Went dead and is now retired from the Steam Store

I played Earth & Beyond as a Jenquai Explorer. It was my first MMO. Played from about release until the servers shut down. One of the memories from it is when the Christmas event didn't work as intended so one of the devs had to manually control the ship for a time.

Limit Theory really deserves an honourable mention.

Fractured Space :( Miss that game

I had a soft spot for Limit Theory, especially since the sole developer Josh was such a talented guy who genuinely wanted to make his dream game. Ultimately he became mentally burned out after 8 years of ever increasing engine complexity, but he did release the source code so others could pick up the torch. Hope he at least found a place for his talents as he dropped out out of university to make the game.

The problem with the talentless, empty suits that destroyed KSP is that they will learn nothing, blame others and continue to wreak havok in future

ohhh... black prophecy, that brings up some memories. I actually played it for a time.

The Holocron Grind changes and the WoWification of Star Wars Galaxy was such a kick in the Jawas.

I am surprised that when people talk about KSP2, they very rarely mention the lies, the misinformation, the deflecting and the bullsh1tt1ng. Yes, there were circumstances that made development a lot harder and that weren't fault of the devs themselves at all, but the lies - that's on the devs, and ONLY on the devs. KSP2 was announced in late autumn of 2019, seemingly out of nowhere. It was clearly said, that the work on KSP2 just started. The only thing finished at that time was animation made in Unreal engine, the cute little teaser that sadly had nothing to do with the game development itself. It was just a promo. KSP2 itself was in pre-alpha state, barely a tech demo, and from the few peeks at developers' monitors, you can clearly see that the framerate was in single digits, maybe more, but definitely deep below 20fps. That didn't bother me too much. Optimization is usually done late in the dev cycle. But claiming release in just 4-5 months knowing full well that that's all you got? Yet, despite all of that, Nate announced release in Q2 2020. He knew EXACTLY what was and what wasn't ready at that time. Then, the corporate takeover happened, yet Nate lied again, that the game is being delayed BECAUSE OF COVID. I think it's important to mention that this announcement of "corona delay" came around the end of February/start of March 2020. I.E.The time when coronavirus only started to spread in the West, and the social distancing, the quarantines - none of that was a thing yet. So, yeah. Lie. Granted, this happened before the leak, and Nate and all the devs were under NDAs, but still, it's better to not say anything than to come up with a completely made up reason for something. Yeah corona delayed quite a few things, but that Q2 of 2020 release of KSP2 wasn't really one of them. To anyone who pays attention to gaming/game development, it was painfully obvious that a game built from scratch, game that's this complex, cannot be announced in late autumn of first year and released in early spring of the second year. Small dev teams usually don't pull that off. There are exceptions, but they are very rare, and usually it's much simpler games so it's barely even relevant. And just for the sake of argument - even if it was corona that "delayed" the originally announced release, why the hell it took three more years to an Early Access release? And for 50bucks at THAT state? That was just adding insult to injury. KSP2 Is a typical case of horrible mishandling of a beloved IP. Seriously, whoever ruins IP this badly, shouldn't be able to keep it. Screw you Take Two for your bad choices. And shame on you Nate for the serial bullshitting. Thanks to the ridiculous start of it all, i had zero trust in the developer. But no matter my distrust, i obviously still WANTED them to succeed. Because i love KSP. I wished with all of my heart that they're somehow gonna pull it off. We all wanted KSP2 to be great, after all. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to happen. And i think more and more that it was actually impossible with this combination of people involved. Luckily, modded KSP1 is still a lot of fun to play, and for people who want something newer, something different, i highly recommend Juno: New Origins.

I miss Hellion and what it could have been.

Not on the list but Fractured Space was a very sad loss, could have been a great game if handeled by a competent company and its IP is not held by a company that wants to have nothing to do with it

Thankfully KSP still exists.

Not on the list but I don't like what happened with Mass Effect. A very decent game was ruined by the need of satisfying the shareholders by releasing sequels almost annually. I had some xp with Motion Capture and love how seriously fluid and accurate animations were in this series. Ps. You almost saw me as Leon in these new Resident Evil games :)

Surprised Limit Theory was not on this list, I remember the controversy surrounding that games development

I was a beta tester for Earth and Beyond. I remember thinking the warp effect was pretty cool but not a lot else :)

Black Prophecy.... I was very hardcore into that one. The reason it failed had little to do with what you stated. It was due to the awful pay2win model which the publisher Gamigo kept trying to push (and I admit the dev studio Reakktor is also at fault for cooperating with them on that). Really good gameplay, had a lot of potential, but ruined by a terrible publisher.

Earth & Beyond was awesome. It was a bit on the silly side compared to later games, but that just made it fun. Like, how many games could you go harvest space beetle dung and turn it into missiles?

My first MMO was the original Jumpgate TRI back in 2001. It only had about 1000 concurrent players at once and it was fiercely competitive no nonsense space combat with realistic physics. I was so bummed when they cancelled Jumpgate Evolution. Would have loved to get my hands on that!

Star Wars Galaxies Restoration is a thing. I see many people in the comments saying "I wish I could play it again" You can.

Then there are series like Freespace and Independence War that didn't fail, they just never got anymore games after the second game, and I really wish they did cause I loved those series.

Wheres Hellion? T_T Best e.v.a. experience I've ever felt in a game

Earth and Beyond introduced me to online gaming, which I found to be an unbelievable technical achievement at the time. Compare the 2-3 secs latency in older transatlantic phone calls to the

Missing fractured space and dreadnought

I can't believe you remembered Black Prophecy, that game, the graphics still are insane... I miss that game so much. Too bad...

Wow, Jumpgate and Star Wars Galaxies... haven't thought of those in years. Both were fantastic! :/ I miss those kinda community space games.

Still have my copy of Earth & Beyond and yes I'm 69 years old and play Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen plus others.

X-Rebirth comes to mind. Egosoft's massive misstep in between X3 and X4. X4: Foundations is everything that X-Rebirth should have been, and was not.

I remember being so stoked for Jumpgate Evolution back in the day...

Will add before it fades from memory again, The Mandate. A space opera game that was on Kickstarter. It never left early development.

KSP 2 could have been such a blockbuster. They could have printed their own money, but...humans.

I'm glad you pointed out Rings of Saturn. Can't stop playing it!

Omg I remember Jumpgate a decade ago and being so excited for it for YEARS but it never came out.

Limit Theory was a game that had huge potential, and it even replaced Half Life 3 as my most wished for title. The game was looking stunning, but it was just one guy doing everything. In the end it was just too much. I'm sure any studio would have picked it up, I'm glad they didn't though. His vlogs sounded so passionate about the development that I would've waited twice as long as Start Citizen.

Thanks Ant for the call out to Earth and Beyond!. I think the biggest failure was EA closing Westwood leading to none of the promised updates early on. The first 3-4 months could have been handled totally differently than they were. It was also a little too easy to steal loot lol. And yes, sadly this game dates us.

I was invited to the Beta of Earth and Beyond. When it went live I proudly displayed my Founders Federation decal on my ship I got for participating in the Beta. I loved the game. Very disappointed when it was shut down. The travel times could be tedious, but no more so than Elite Dangerous, Eve or Star Citizen. Especially on the most lucrative trade route that went from one end of the Galaxy map to the other.

You can still play Earth & Beyond on a private server :)

if you ever make a part 2 of this series, Dual Universe would be a good one to profile. Bascially a tech demo with a single persistent universe for all players but no real missions/quests and poorly regulated player economy.

I remembered being BORED OUT OF MY MIND when Black Prophecy came out.

How did Elite Dangerous not make the list after they pushed out Odyssey ahead of schedule to satisfy shareholders?

Ant, i just want to say, I love your video's, your narration is brilliant, and very nice to listen to, i hope you see this. I really enjoy watching your vids and i love space games! Thank you for all your hard work making these video's, we all GREATLY appreciate it!

I remember Earth & Beyond! Loved it greatly

I was a beta tester for Earth & Beyond! Genuinely enjoyed it, back in the day

if you do this sort of video again have a look at Hellion from Zero Gravity, Space Survival Game Newtonian physics

I enjoy these longer videos, especially on space games. Not really interested in KSP or KSP 2 myself, but the story driven Freelancer styled Sci Fi games are a must for me.

I am surprised you didn't talk about Hellion. Everyone I knew was so excited for that game.

I'm still really sad I never got to play E&B. I was so hyped for that game back in the day but never got around to playing it because a) I couldn't get my hands on a copy and b) I didn't have access to a credit card. And by the time I did, the game was long gone.

Show my age? Alright. When Earth&Beyond and a couple other space games I was looking forward to failed, I became a Beta player for Eve Online and was one of the first batch of people ever online in Eve at launch. My player portrait so far predated the first graphical update that it looked like it was from another game entirely. I played for ten years and was on for alot of milestones that players would think unimpressive today but I remember it fondly. Can you imagine what that game looked like when there were just 1000 people online at any time because I can. When my first corp moved to null sec, we didn't see anyone else for a week. :)

I remember in the very late 1990's getting into the beta test of a space MMO game. Those of us in the beta even received a decal for our ships that denoted us as a "Founder" or something like that. I remember it involving travelling in your ship, but I don't recall what exactly I ever did. I also have vague memories of docking at a space station and walking around to visit merchants and engage in crafting. I thought it had potential but I can't remember if it ever actually went live or not. I don't even remember what it was called. Also, I was playing Everquest at the time and was in a guild with some really fun people, so it was holding my attention quite well.

I had completely forgotten that I even played E&B for over a year until I watched this video. What I do remember now though is E&B being transitioned to EA and then subsequently shut down is why I have never played another EA game since.

Allegiance was a damn masterpiece of a game that never quite caught on. You can still play it today and it still has a very small but VERY dedicated player base.

I loved both Star Wars: Galaxies AND Earth & Beyond - Played both from the moment they came out. I really enjoyed Earth & Beyond and was REALLY sad when they killed it :(

I loved Earth and Beyond. My first MMO. I think I have a screenshot somewhere of my old guild.

Earth & Beyond is the only one on this list that I actually played and fondly remember!

Is there a word for painful nostalgia? Because I'm feeling that with mention of Star Wars Galaxies and Earth & Beyond.

I was really looking forward to Limit Theory. A shame the developer burned out.

Earth and Beyond. I was smitten with this from the moment I saw the sizzle trailer featured in the video here on a PC Gamer cover DVD. I really wanted to play it but didn't get internet access until after it was already dead. EVE Online became my first MMO instead for a few years and then over to Star Trek Online as soon as that became free to play.

RIP Fractured Space and Dreadnought.

played Earth and Beyond, thanks for covering it

Man I loved Earth and Beyond! One of my favorites MMOs. Wish someone would make a remake.

I was there for the server shutdown in earth and beyond....and started playing it in beta. Loved it.

Oooo, Earth & Beyond! I loved that game, was even in the beta and helped test. Wish it had survived!

I'll always remember Earth and Beyond as the one space game I've ever played that had genuinely FUN mining content.

My uncle, and therefore myself to an extent, were alpha/beta testers for Earth & Beyond. That game was so damn cool for it's time! Last I heard, there are fan-run servers still up and a group updating bits of the game so people can still play.

I wouldn't say these "failed" as much as I would say that they lived out their retail time-spans. But you should add BSGO...one I was truly sad to see end.

I played E&B for 6 months with many friends. The atmosphere and feel was awesome. It was my first MMO game and we loved it.. at first ;) For us EveOnline and FFXI replaced that game without questions.

I remember trying out Earth and Beyond. I was able to play it for all of 2 days. I was limited to dial up, so the experience wasn't great, and I didn't have a second phone line at the time. I remember wanting to play more, but was frustrated with the always online nature, and my connection speed, and it taking up my phone. Sure, I had a 56k modem, but most of the time I was limited to connecting at 33.6k.

such a shame that Black Prophecy died. i had fun with the game but, at least back then, i didn't see any way to progress besides doing the mentioned repetitive missions. the game needed a story, some way to guide the player around, at least that's how i felt back then. i was also quite hyped for Jumpgate Evolution. we definitely need more spacegames around, hell i'm even thinking about taking a look again at elite dangerous...

Master of Orion 3 should have been on the list, it was an train wreck.

My first MMO was Space and Beyond. I left it when it ended to play Eve Online for the next 10 years. The Space and Beyond emulator is still active from the looks of it. Their team reverse engineered the server software and created a patch for the client. I don't know if they ever got everything working. Their website is still up and active.

Hellion was one of these. Great promise. But you should make a video on old games that are still alive!

I miss Earth & Beyond, I remember it feeling more fun than EVE.

Never played jumpgate, earth & beyond or black prophecy but I remember all the trailers for these games, SWG though I played for years, was my first mmo and I loved it.

Hello, former Earth and Beyond player 😂. Loved it at the time that it came out.

Can I ask, What about the Eve online spinoffs like Dust514 and Valkyrie? I used to love playing Dust but it just seemed to get shutdown? Cheers, OA 👍🏻

Star Wars Galaxies comes with some SEVERE rose coloured glasses.

I can personally add Fractured Space, Galactic Junk League, Interstellar Rift, Kinetic Void, Hellion, Osiris New Dawn, Star Wars Squadrons, StarMade, StarsEnd And maybe soon I'll add ED to the list, since technically its still alive, but in reality it's been dead for almost 5 years

Nexus the Jupiter Incident... Failed by lack of marketing more than anything

Earth & Beyond was the first game that came to mind when I saw this video's title, hah. Dumped many hours into that one, and was sorely disappointed when it shut down.

What about Battlecruiser 3000? That was a clusterf$&k!

I recall playing a stand-alone risked Privateer years ago. Published by same group that published Win Commander. Don't know if it was a failure, but,liked it better than the version of Elite published about same time. Close to 30yrs ago, maybe?

Earth and beyond, my first MMO, even have a t shirt and baeball cap from some community guild event we won in it, RIP westwood :( they did make an unofficial server eventualy for it but was never quite the same.

A few other examples that are still in my Steam library are Hellion, Cosmonautica, and most recently Jumplight Odyssey. All were released as early access that were a lot of fun from studios that went under before finishing them. While it's not officially dead, Celestial Command development is so slow that it seems like the game is circling the drain. And of course who can forget 1313?

Oh I remember Earth and Beyond, I was in the last beta phase before the game launched. One factor that I remember in the game's failure was the sheer number of people pinning their hopes on EVE Online. EVE Online just looked far more promising to most people I saw discussing the two games online and people seemed more interested in waiting for it rather than buying an MMO that they ultimately didn't think was going to pan out.

You should talk about a space sim game called hellion, it had so much potential!

SWG's pre-NGE Jedi made sense. It was hard to become a Jedi. You needed another player to train you. If you died during your leveling you lost the EXP toward that level. After you became a Jedi, if you died 3 times you lost your lightsaber. You were no longer a Jedi. Jedi were POWERFUL. If you had a Jedi on your team in a PVP match you were probably going to win. If you were a Jedi and got caught as one by an Imperial it was open season on your head.

Starpoint gemini 3 might be worth taking a closer look at, they encountered considerable challenges (covid, earthquake) resulting in a poorly received 1.0. I think some of the issues were fundamental though and the result may have been the same without the extra challenges.

Man I forgot all about Black Prophecy.

Surprised you didn't mention Babylon 5: Into the Fire. That was cancelled mere weeks before release by Sierra. But everyone was looking forward to it, and it had voice performances by all the cast - many of whom are no longer with us.

It's really more of a Kickstarter failure story since we never even got a beta iirc, but The Mandate was SO promising I think it still deserves a mention, if you can dig up any details.

You forgot to mention Microsoft's Allegiance from 2000, a brilliant PVP space-combat-sim-meets-RTS that was far ahead of its time but failed spectacularly, earning the Gamespot Award "Best Game No One Played". I played it a lot back then and it was an amazing multiplayer PVP game, but oh boy, did it have a steep learning curve. Playing as the Commander and overseeing the RTS part, you could literally screw over your whole team on a dime and was extremely stressful.

I missed so much of this. Black prophecy looked like it had potential what a shame. How about a list of currently successful ones because I really can't seem to find much there...

Annoyed as hell that EnB got canned... loved that game. I can still remember picking off Bogerils looking for a swamp cooler for some reason. It lost it's way at some point. =(

Might want to look into the Star Wolves series. Quite lovely game(s). Fans still develop to this day a whole experience.

I loved Earth and Beyond so much...i beta tested it but couldnt afford the monthly at first. didnt take long for it to fail sadly.

Everyone of them have failed at meeting our expectations. And those expectations have gotten very high! Only one is still trying, and has never forced its players to pay more for expanded content. Even if it wasn't promised content. But is somehow the scam of the bunch. Oh yeah, it doesn't have the word "released" attached to its title. Like that makes everything complete and perfect.

This reminds me of the Babylon 5 Star Fury combat game. It was a bunch of the way through then development stopped during refinement and voice acting because Sierra Online fell through.

I LOVED Earth and Beyond back in the day!

I do not know if you know this game but Tachyon from Novalogic was The best multi-player game in the history of the internet. Single-player was not something but MP was amazing, It's shame they didn't continue to develop this game

I remember fondly playing SWG after I left Everquest. I met friends in SWG I still know online. Earth & Beyond was fun, but I didn't play that for long. There's always been a lack of really good space or science fiction MMOs compared to fantasy ones like Everquest, WoW and now Final Fantasy XIV. I feel like Elite Dangerous is getting *dangerously* close to being added to this list. Unless Frontier start listening to their players more.