StarPeace

History

Oceanus Communications developed StarPeace, and Monte Cristo Multimedia originally published and released it in 2000. Despite good reviews and a dedicated fan community, the game was a commercial disaster. Monte Cristo sold 50,000 copies to distributors, but fewer than a thousand games reached final customers in Europe. The complex economic nature required higher server power per user than typical MMORPGs. Monte Cristo's investors believed in MMO potential and prepared infrastructure for tens of thousands of users, but the game needed 20,000 users to cover hosting costs. One month after launch, it had just over 500 subscribers. Monte Cristo tried to disengage from Oceanus, which had never agreed to the expensive hosting and e-commerce strategy. In March 2001, the two agreed that Oceanus would keep the rights and host the game for one year. Oceanus showed the game at E3 2002 hoping for a new publisher, catching the interest of Sega. By late 2002, Sega became the new official publisher and took over development, renaming the game "Legacy Online" and releasing it as a free-to-download subscription-based game requiring $10 per month. Users frequently complained about login issues, server issues, and other incidents with the new client and updates. Sega struggled to manage the game on its own servers and make necessary client changes. In 2003, the game, its website, and server access shut down. In April 2004, three fans approached Oceanus Communications for permission to rerelease StarPeace. The revival was short-lived.