Earlier this week it was announced that UK-based developer Jagex Games Studio has partnered with Hasbro to create a massive multiplayer online game using the Transformers license, and, try as I might to keep him caged, my inner fanboy went wild. Admittedly, little is known about the project in this stage of its development, but I can’t help but be cautiously optimistic.
Jagex has been working in the MMO arena since the 2001 release of RuneScape, and the Transformers franchise itself has been a fan favorite for more than 25 years. While there’s obviously ample room for this to prove an unmitigated disaster, neither Jagex nor Hasbro seem to be taking the task lightly.
TRANSFORMERS is one of the most iconic brands in the world and we are delighted to team up with Hasbro in order to bring our shared vision to reality,” said Mark Gerhard, CEO at Jagex Games Studio. “There is a huge appetite for an online TRANSFORMERS game and we will utilize every bit of our development and publishing expertise to deliver a dynamic and action-packed game that TRANSFORMERS fans will find irresistible.
Good will and proper press release-speak aside, there are still a number of unanswered questions regarding this new game, the chief among them concerning which iteration of the Transformers will be represented therein. Like a lot of fans my deepest yearning is for a fully realized online world steeped in the original Generation 1 continuity, but I’d settle for any other number of unique flavors of Transformerdom – say something from the surreal space opera of the Beast Wars II/Beats Wars Neo universe. (Although I realize that such would be a tall order as it would likely require licensing through Takara.)
So I ask you, faithful GeekDad reader, what do you want from a Transformers MMO? Michael Bay’s interstellar instruments of destruction? Something from the classic line, perhaps? Or maybe a skillful hybrid of these competing aesthetics as evidenced in last year’s Transformers: War for Cybertron?
