Massively^™

These days, if you don't keep your head down, a rumor about Cryptic Studios is bound to hit you in the face. In fact, quite a few of them probably already have at this point. It all started with a letter to the community. After that plural hit, it wasn't just Marvel Universe Online that people were chattering about, but upcoming "projects" from Cryptic Studios as well. Ever since they managed to take one of my favorite things in the world -- superheroes -- and turn that world into a fun and successful massively game, I've loved the people at Cryptic.

So it was with plenty of excitement that I discovered Cryptic would be handling the Marvel Comics license for their next massively game. Unfortunately for all of us excited fans -- of Cryptic, Marvel or both -- the entire operation went into super-secret-silent mode. Aside from CoX news, (which came from a different team at Cryptic, now NCsoft NorCal) we haven't heard even a faint murmur of information. After a while, this leads to lots of speculation about whether or not Marvel Universe Online is canceled. So far, there still hasn't been any additional official information on the game and all we are left to is pure speculation.

What could be in the future for Cryptic Studios? Nobody knows except them, but that shouldn't stop anyone from guessing.

Beyond this point, I'm going to be speculation to the best of my ability. After reading through my hope is that you'll be full of comments because there is plenty of room for conjecture on this subject.

To be or not to be canceled? That is the question!

The kinds of possibilities that Cryptic could bring to a new superhero game are creative, innovative game mechanics brought on by better graphics and new server technology; all of which would shine with the Marvel license. If you've ever been a fan of any Marvel characters, worlds or even just movies then this is something to hope for and wish to come true. Of course I use the words hope and wish because with all the negative space that exists where information on the game should, we really can't be certain it's even happening anymore.

It's possible that someone other than Cryptic is making -- or will be making -- this title, but if that's true then I doubt it would be as good in the end. I'm not saying that Cryptic is the only developer who could make a good superhero massively game. Only that they're the one developer with the experience and track record (City of Heroes, City of Villains), which equates to a better chance at a greater superhero massively game.

My guess is that Cryptic is still making the game, partly because that's what I hope is true. Although there are a couple more logical reasons as well, such as the lawsuit between Marvel and Cryptic which was eventually settled. Most likely, part -- or maybe all -- of the settlement led to Cryptic developing Marvel Universe Online. The very last line in the official announcement was the most important bit:

"While the terms of the settlement were not disclosed, all parties agree that this case was never about monetary issues and that the fans of their respective products and characters are the winners in this settlement."

Some might say that I'm reading too much into the statement, but it sounds an awful lot to me like this was the birth of Cryptic's Marvel Universe Online. Which -- if that's the case -- means the game was put into development nearly three years ago. Looking back into the development time of City of Heroes, I remember how frustrated I was with the fact that Cryptic barely ever released any information on the game's progress. Aside from letting us know it existed, nobody got much out of them until they were well towards the end of their development cycle. In fact, it was the same way with City of Villains; until more people began entering the closed beta just before the game launched, we knew very little about CoV.

These are the voyages of the starship Cryptic

We're all aware of the circulating rumor that Star Trek Online could be in Cryptic's hands after Perpetual Entertainment lost the license and folded. STO isn't an impossible license as some would have you believe, but it certainly isn't an easy license to make into a game. Right now there isn't much to go on, so as far as I'm concerned, while the thought is quite cool I'm much rather interested in the possibility of other projects that the Cryptic team could be working on.

Although if anyone can take a license by the horns and wrangle it to the ground and into a fun, innovative title; it's Cryptic Studios. There is the rumor that people who worked on STO at Perpetual were being scouted by Cryptic, but not for the reasons you might think.

Cryptic gets its new Intellectual Property on

If you go here and look at some of the quite inspiring conceptual artwork (which happens to be a bit sci-fi, possibly explaining the Perpetual hires) from Cryptic you'll see what I mean. Most likely we're seeing early glimpses of something that Cryptic was so passionate about, that they sold CoX to NCsoft. Whether they sold the the property to better develop Marvel Universe Online first or to drop that game and create their next original IP is of course unknown. The best case scenario is that MUO is coming along very nicely and that this new IP is what Cryptic is planning on next. That also happens to be my personal wish, because I really don't want to be left with whatever SOE manages to create with the DC Comics license as our only option for a new superhero MMO.

At the end of the day all this is just speculation, but I can definitely say that whatever Cryptic is making it's gonna be something great. I only hope they haven't made any financial mistakes, seeing as that's what ended up killing Perpetual Entertainment. Until they finally come out and tell everyone what's going on, the only thing we can do is wait and wonder.