Indie studio revives long-dead MMO ‘Defiance’

There weren't a lot of MMOs trying to compete with WoW throughout the 2010s and the ones that did try ultimately ended up shutting down. One MMO that falls into this category is Defiance, an ambitious project that was supposed to share cross-promotional elements with a TV series by the same name. Ultimately, the show was cancelled and the MMO servers went offline, but a comeback appears to be just around the corner. 

Defiance first launched back in 2013 and featured some of the same characters that appeared in the show. However, outside of a few familiar faces, there was very little tying the two projects together. As a result, when the Defiance TV series was cancelled in 2015, the game was not put in jeopardy. Instead, it rebranded as Defiance 2050 and continued operating through to 2021, when the servers were finally taken offline.

Now, the independent studio and publisher, Fawkes, has acquired the rights to both Defiance (2013) and Defiance 2050, with plans to bring the MMO back online, starting in April this year.

Fawkes identified a passionate community around Defiance as its core reasoning for bringing the game back. Many fans still discuss this game in forum threads and YouTube videos about the game are still popular now, even years after the game going offline.

As Fawkes looks to revive Defiance, it has set up a Discord channel for gathering feedback on future game updates. If you are a Defiance fan, be sure to join the Discord to find groups to play with once the game returns, and to share ideas on what changes could be made to bring the game up to 2025 standards.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Did you play Defiance at all back when it first came out? Would you be interested in seeing the MMO return for good? 

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