One of the Xbox 360’s most ambitious MMOs is mounting a comeback, and I genuinely don’t know why.
Defiance, not to be confused with Defiance 2050 (although we’ll get to that in a bit), was a third-person MMORPG developed and produced by Trion Worlds back in 2013.
The game saw release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, but the servers for the game officially went offline in 2020 (for the Xbox 360) and 2021 (for all other platforms), rendering the game unplayable.
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I never played this one, because by all accounts it was absolutely rubbish. Being a bit terrible clearly didn’t stop it from being popular enough to keep the servers online for close to a decade however, although there was a pretty good reason for that.
You see, Defiance was actually based on a TV show of the same name. The developers used this link to craft events in-game that mirrored the events of the TV show, so new stuff would pop up after an episode aired.
It was clearly enough to attract the TV show’s loyal fanbase to the MMO and help the game stay popular… until of course the TV show was cancelled.
But, now, Defiance is coming back. The game that is. Apologies if I just gave all five fans of the TV show any false hope.
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That’s because a developer by the name of Fawkes Games has acquired the rights to relaunch Defiance and its sequel Defiance 2050. So, uh, why?
“After many heartfelt discussions on forums like r/Defiance and watching enthusiastic video reviews as this one on YouTube together with the comments, we realized that the spirit of Defiance still burns bright,” Fakwes Games announced on their site.
“Our first step is a relaunch of the original 2013 version on PC, set for release in April 2025. This is your chance to dive back into a world where every battle, every Arkfall, and every moment shared with fellow players is a testament to the game’s enduring legacy.”
I guess there is a loyal enough fanbase for this game out there somewhere, but I can’t imagine this will attract a large enough crowd to keep the servers online for long. Good luck to them though.