MMORPG died in 2021 – Selling now and could return
Astellia was one of the few MMORPGs that we released in 2019. It promised an old-school gaming experience and featured classic content like dungeons, world bosses, and crafting. But the game didn’t keep some promises and didn’t bring enough innovation. It was then discontinued in 2021. However, in 2022 it was sold to a new company.
What’s happening at Astellia right now? Astellia is actually one of the MMOs that unfortunately died in our West in 2021. On January 4th, however, the developer Round 8 Studios acquired all rights to the MMORPG Astellia to Itoxi Corp. sold (via game.mk.kr). It is a Korean company.
In future, Itoxi has the rights to sell Astellia internationally and, in theory, to bring it back to us. There is currently only a Korean version of Astellia Royale, a Free2Play version that is affected by the takeover. There will be a character transfer there on January 13th.
The original servers of Astellia’s Buy2Play version in Korea were closed back in 2019. Since then, the Koreans have played mainly in the western version. However, the western Buy2Play version of Astellia and also Astellia Royale were discontinued in 2021.
Is Astellia really returning? Itoxi has not yet confirmed this. However, the company is very active in terms of online games and already has the MMORPG Pristontale (PC, Release 2001), the dancing game Audition Online (PC, 2007) and some mobile games, including Riders of Icarus M, with us brought to the west.
A return as a mobile game would be possible, because Astellia is to get an autoplay system for the future
You can see exactly what Astellia looked like in the video from YouTuber TheLazyPeon:
Astellia was a solid MMORPG, but it got little attention
How did Astellia fail? Astellia received little attention at the release. That was also because it was announced shortly after Bless Online was discontinued. The trust in Asia MMORPGs was gone for now.
In addition, Astellia wanted to rely on tried and tested virtues, but did not bring any real innovations or innovations. Only the Astels, small, magical companions who could slip into the role of tanks, healers or DDs, made the MMORPG something special. However, many of them were trimmed so cute that they too did not go down well with every player.
Other points of criticism were the very linear story and the rather boring gameplay. Astellia just couldn’t keep up with the modern MMORPGs at the time of the release.
In addition, some players were disappointed that promises made by the developer were not kept, including the complete release of the gender lock. This was only done in 2 out of 5 classes.
Is it worth returning from Astellia? Astellia peaked at 250 concurrent players on Steam in 2021. There was also an external client that could be downloaded without Steam. So the MMORPG had a few fans in the West, albeit not in large numbers. Here on MeinMMO, too, some readers have mourned the death of Astellia.
With an adaptation to the Unreal Engine 4, the keeping of some old promises and a little smoother gameplay, a return from Astellia could theoretically win over a small number of players again. However, the lack of innovations alone makes great success unlikely.
How do you see Astellia returning? Would you like them or should the MMORPG stay dead?
A new and very interesting MMORPG has been announced for 2023, which should take you into the world of the 18th century:
New MMORPG makes you a pirate in the 18th century – Comes with 156 factions and 760 cities
Reference-mein-mmo.de