6 MMO Games That Shut Down in 2025

The MMO genre certainly had its fair share of ups and downs across the year 2025. Now that things have kicked into the new year with the arrival of 2026, we head into another period of new updates, releases, and potentially even the closure of some beloved titles. 2025 was no exception to such circumstances, with a handful of notable titles meeting their end along the way. From upcoming projects that never managed to reach a full launch to beloved worlds that players have made their home for years, here are six notable MMO games that came to an end in 2025.

Skyforge

Skyforge was a free-to-play MMO title first released back in 2017. During its almost nine-year run, many players sank countless hours into the fantasy and sci-fi-inspired world, which made the closure a moment of heartbreak for gamers around the world. In Skyforge, players took on the role of an immortal, traversing the world with the goal of reaching godhood. However, they were also forced to go up against alien invasions from other worlds to protect the lands. Most notably, instead of a leveling system that so many MMO games are known for, it utilized a unique prestige system for character progression. Even if they did manage to become a god, the game still had further progression for players to undertake, strengthening their powers. Sadly, Skyforge came to an end for PC players on September 3, 2025, while console players were given a little more time, until October 29.

ZeniMax’s Project Blackbird

During 2025, Microsoft faced significant employee layoffs, meaning several upcoming game dev teams and ultimately the projects they were working on were affected. One of the many titles that faced cancellation as a result of this is an untitled MMO project from ZeniMax, the developer of The Elder Scrolls Online, known only as ‘Project Blackbird’. The Elder Scrolls Online is one of the biggest names in the MMO world, so a new project under these devs was a massive hype point for eager gamers. Very few of the finer details were revealed to the public during the production of Project Blackbird. However, fans do know that there was a team of nearly two hundred people working on what was described as ‘a very large-scale’ concept. To know Blackbird will never come to fruition was a huge letdown for many, making it one of the most notable MMO cancellations of 2025.

If Blackbird had made it to release, players would have taken on the role of a ‘Revenant’ operative working under alien forces on a planet labelled Soteria. In classic fire and ice themes, one half of this planet is covered in frosty terrain, whilst the other half is a burning wasteland. Between the two sections lies an inhabitable area called the Twilight Band. This would have offered players a massive open world to explore, where the alien syndicates would form faction systems. The game looked to include unique alien races, missions that provided player rewards, PvP mechanics, crafting, character customization, and more. Keeping the sheer scope of such a game in mind, it’s a real shame to know that Project Blackbird was among the titles that ultimately fell to doom throughout 2025. Had it continued, the game could have gone on to be a hit.

MapleStory 2

MapleStory 2 is an MMO that launched back in 2015, having built upon many of the gameplay mechanics of the previous MapleStory and implementing them into a 3D world. This also saw many of the past characters and locations make a return for the ten-year run of the game, which was a nice touch for fans of the original.

MaleStory 2 most notably utilized a blocky cube-like style, similar to Minecraft and other voxel titles, and provided players with a leveling system, customizable characters, weapons, and armors. There were also PvP elements through the arena and Battle Royale modes. Sadly, MapleStory 2 has died over time, with the Japanese servers and Global servers being shut down in 2020, the Chinese servers being shut down in 2022, and now, finally, the Korean servers coming to a close in May 2025, marking the official end of MapleStory 2’s lifespan.

Ember Sword

Ember Sword was an upcoming free-to-play MMO Sandbox game that was unfortunately cancelled in 2025. Offering both strong PvP and PvE options, Ember Sword involved players battling one another or NPC characters, trading with one another, upgrading their weapons, armors, and equipment, and harvesting loot from slain foes. Weapons directly influenced the types of abilities players had access to, with the ability to grind towards better items through combat. In addition to this, though, the devs also planned to add other activities such as farming.

Interestingly enough, Ember Sword also had ties to the NFT space, as it had integration with the Ethereum Blockchain, enabling gamers to make in-game purchases for items with the digital currency. In December of 2024, Ember Sword entered Early Access. Unfortunately, the game didn’t last very long or get any further chances to improve or make developments, as servers shut down in May 2025.

Jackalyptic Games Warhammer MMO

A brand-new entry in the Warhammer universe was in development since as far back as 2023, this time as an MMO under the NeatEase-owned studio, Jackalyptic Games. Sadly, development on the untitled Warhammer MMO was ceased in November 2025. This was confirmed by an official statement made by Jackalyptic Games CEO, Jack Emmert, who explained that the studio's funding had been pulled by NetEase. Fans of the Warhammer franchise were gutted, with many of them sharing remarks about the IP being ‘cursed’ in terms of game development. This was mainly in reference to the upcoming Warhammer Age of Sigmar RPG, which also faced cancellation earlier in the year. Details on the cancelled Warhammer MMO are scarce, but following the cancellation, several screenshots of crafted environments were released to the public, as seen above.

New World: Aeternum

New World: Aeternum is one of the bigger names on this list, and an unfortunate MMO game cancellation that occurred in 2025. Despite initially being planned as a free-to-play title, New World was released as a buy-to-play game just a few years prior, back in 2021. In New World, players were able to form groups with up to five friends, join the Covenant, Syndicate, or Marauders factions, collect resources, craft new items, and fight to gain control over settlements. Of course, there was plenty of general exploration and quests, too, often leading to brawls against monsters or even other players. Players were able to level up their characters’ skills, trade or sell items to other gamers, build houses to customize with furniture, and more. Considering New World was nominated for Best Multiplayer Game at the 2021 Game Awards, it was definitely sad to see it close its doors only four short years later.