[Christian IV]

Cyan annouced thru a news article written by Tom Sowa of the Spokane Spokesman today that Myst ONline URU Live rights have been passed from GameTap back to Cyan.This will allow Cyan to host the game and make it live again on their own servers. This is wonderful news for this is a remarkable and in many ways unique Multiplayer game that combines elements of classic adventure gaming with social and interactive dynamic game play and there will also be a chance that modding of player made content will be facilitated.

Great news:

Article here:

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs...stID=6114#more

GameTap gives Myst Online back to Cyan. Cyan says it's opening the game to fan development

After several months of negotiation, Spokane-based Cyan Worlds regained the rights to its complex immersive game, Myst Online.

Company President Rand Miller said Monday the deal was arranged with GameTap, the Turner Entertainment subsidiary which published Myst Online for about a year. The company shut down Myst Online in April 2008, saying the closure was due to business reasons.

Ardent fans of Myst and Myst Online have been vocal about having a hand in resurrecting the game and adding more content to the project. Up to now, Cyan Worlds has resisted approving that option, pending the regaining of the publishing rights from GameTap.

Miller said the new plan is for the game's fans to have that freedom to create new environments and new content.

He added it's uncertain if the revival will lead to a longterm commitment by Cyan to continue developing the game. The regaining of the rights is a step in that direction, but Miller said it's unclear where the experiment in shared, user-created content will lead.

Cyan Worlds itself has downsized its game-development staff to less than 10.

The delay in regaining the rights to Myst Online was due to both Cyan and GameTap working through a gradual understanding of how the game's development might proceed.

Miller said Cyan did not pay anything to regain the publishing rights. But at some point, if a commercially successful revival comes about, the two companies have an agreement on how each will be compensated, he added.

"They realize that unless something happened (to revive Myst Online), it wasn’t going to live. And if it didn't live, no one would ever get anything out of it."

Cyan Worlds made its first breakthrough game, Myst, in 1994. Later versions elaborated upon the notion of a lost D'ni civilization and its "ages" or areas where participants are allowed to explore.

The online version of Myst was an ambitious 3-D world with rich and constantly changing circumstances and interaction with other game-players.

Miller said the new, revived version will charge participants a minimal fee of perhaps $25 per six months.

"That's not being done to make money," he said. Rather the charge will be to cover the costs of adding servers at Cyan Worlds to handle the game play, said Miller.

[tabacco]

That's pretty cool... I've always been curious about the behind-the-scenes of that game, so I'm glad they may be opening it up to other devs.

[kadji-kun]

Is this a joke? If not then HALLELUJAH! I swear, how many times did URU come back then die, and so on. I've always wanted to play the game, but its not worth it when the game fails at existing.

Questions:

Is there a monthly fee? How much?

How diverse is the game? Is it like an MMO were you are surely going to meet new living people?

[Terramax]

There usually is a monthly fee. It's usually been lower than a standard MMO. At least in the UK it has. I was paying about £6 a month ($12 USD).

There were certainly a lot of people on the game when I last logged on. Because of the lack of levelling and, because the game has many, many puzzles that you need to solve with multiple people, socialising isn't an option.

I never once came across someone with a bad attitude problem like you usually get in an MMO.

I'd advise to download the demo. It gives you a good idea of what to expect.

[Ksandra]

Um... third time lucky, I guess?

[tsa]

Check out the Myst Online website for more info!

[AprilLives]

I read they're thinking of $25 US for 6 months ... sounds fair. Wonder if it's the same for Cdn$. With a few tweeks here and there they could find success again and the steady income they need to continue.

This series is too good to give up on. They're the group that got me into adventure gaming in the first place.

[Lee in Limbo]

This news made me happy when I heard it a handful of days ago. No idea if I'll take part, simply because I was less than enchanted with the final results of MOUL, but I'd really like to see if it grows into something not unlike what I'd vaguely hoped it would become. Still, with virtually no development staff and no plans to add new content, it does sound like Cyan Worlds is on its last legs. Not as positive as I'd hoped.

[Dara100]

Those of us who appreciated the community aspect of MOUL are overjoyed that the servers will be up and running again. Groups of us who have found refuge on Second Life, There, Guild Wars, etc. will be glad to go home. In the meantime we've set up homes-away-from-home that include readings, classes on in-world object building, parties and lots of fun stuff with people we've come to know and like from Uru and who have the same unique frame of reference. Some of the objects and settings from the game they've recreated are amazing.