No Force Can Prevent There Being A Warhammer 40K MMO

One of the biggest victims of the collapse of THQ was the Warhammer 40K MMO. Dark Millennium Online was declared offline around a year ago, with THQ attempting to save money by downsizing the game - and the development team - to make it a single player game. Developers Vigil Games, owned by THQ, no longer exists, and the project - while never officially cancelled - seems to have disappeared into the ether.

But now Games Workshop have announced a new 40K MMO - Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade - this time developed by, huh, Behaviour.

Eternal Crusade has been announced for PC and next-gen consoles, and is a loooooooooong way off - currently set for late 2015. Of it they say,

"In the game, players choose a Warhammer 40,000 race and fight directly as one of their warriors in massive conflicts for territory. It will be up to each faction's community to determine their own destiny as they vie for control of an entire planet."

It's to be a third-person shooter, obviously featuring lots of 40K favourites like Space Marine Rhinos and Ork Battlewagons, and claims it will feature "procedural content".

The developer is the immediately odd aspect. Behaviour aren't exactly renowned for their quality games, and have absolutely no history with MMOs. Formerly known as Artifical Mind & Movement, they were responsible for Bethesda's 2009 console flop, WET, and 2010's dismal Naughty Bear. Otherwise the 21 year old studio is mostly responsible for ports and cheapo movie tie-ins. So what it was about them that attracted Games Workshop has yet to be revealed.

However, according to the studio's online boss, Miguel Caron, the game's team are "all MMO development veterans". It'll be interesting to learn who they all are, and whether any might have been on THQ's doomed project - we're going to ask.