No longer keeping within the safe zone of tried and tested IPs, 10 veteran developers of MMO titans like World of Warcraft, EVE Online, City of Heroes, Dark Age of Camelot, Lord of the Rings Online, EverQuest and Ultima Online have now come together to form a new MMO developer studio called Colony Studios.

 

Banking on the huge array of experience and knowledge from their pool of talents, Colony Studios is now setting out to create a next-generation MMO, "outside the normal MMO design," based on their own intellectual property. They haven't announced the title of their project in the works, but they have revealed that it will be a dynamic, living world and not a "safe" MMO.

So gamers can expect that this new title will not be another World of Warcraft. In fact, many will probably speculate that it could be the next World of Warcraft-killer - or, more appropriately, an EVE Online-killer. According to Colony Studios, their first project entails a space-based sci-fi MMO "utilizing proven middleware technology." We have yet to learn if the middleware was licensed or is being developed on their own.

The game is already being planned to have more than a linear storyline, with epic stories to establish the game's history and backstory. Not surprisingly, that's where all the linearity ends. Players, upon entering the game, influences the game's direction and in turn create the game's history in real-time. Colony Studios' CEO and veteran MMO developer Michael Wallis explains:

Our collective contributions to a significant number of hit MMOs give us a strong advantage. Most dev teams – including Colony’s – have gone through the process of learning what doesn’t work in game development, but our team members have also been intimately involved with creating what does work in several successful MMOs and that combination will serve us well. 

Our challenge is, of course, to use our experience and talent correctly to create an MMO that players will enjoy. The bottom line is we’ve launched MMOs before, and our experience lets us anticipate bumps in the road and steer clear of them.  The fact that we’ve been through it before means things are much less likely to fall through the cracks.

The game is slated for a late 2009 release, and we'll be keeping tabs on further announcements of the title. Keep your eyes peeled and seat comfy. It's going to be a lengthy wait.