Medieval MMO returns 2 years after his death – but demands outrageous subscription prices even during the tests

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In early 2021, the medieval MMO Life is Feudal died. Now, however, it’s returning under a new developer. This relies on testers taking out a subscription for $20 a month.

What kind of game is this? The MMO Life is Feudal was considered a realistic medieval simulation. Your character started naked and without any special skills. Like in a survival game, you had to collect resources to craft tools and weapons or build your own home.

The game relied on a high level of difficulty and a lot of grind:

  • It took an awfully long time to build anything in the game.
  • Other players, but also strong NPC races, could attack you.
  • When you die you lose everything.
  • You had to be very resistant to frustration because everything you had built up over months could be lost in a battle or a raid.

    • Why did the game die? Due to the strong grind, the MMO could not attract a large number of players. In addition, a few large guilds dominated the game. Nevertheless, around 800 players were still online at the same time every day until the shutdown.

    The shutdown itself resulted from a legal battle with a publisher. This is said to have done a bad job, which is why the developers of Bitbox marketed themselves. However, there still seems to have been a contract with the publisher.

    After the developers turned down another deal with the publisher, the publisher reportedly refused to share Life is Feudal’s earnings.

    The financial pressure is said to have led to the servers being shut down – with the exception of China, where the MMO is still running today.

    Life is Feudal: MMO – Announcement Trailer

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    New company brings back Life is Feudal, but at a cost

    What happens to the game now? Almost 2.5 years after the shutdown, the MMO is back. It will be distributed and further developed by the company Long Tail Games, which was only founded in October 2022.

    Not much is known about the company, but there are some hints about cryptocurrencies on the website. Whether this will be part of the game is not known.

    The payment model is also new. The MMO used to be Buy2Play but is now subscription based. That costs $20 a month, well above the $13 for WoW, FFXIV or ESO+.

    Only EVE Online has a similar price tag of $19.99. But there has already been a lot of criticism for this. In EVE, however, the costs can be reduced if you pay for several months at once. This is not (yet) possible with Life is Feudal.

    But it is strange that you have to pay for the playtest. Your subscription will be paused between playtests, but reactivated when the next test takes place. At release there will be a wipe that will delete all progress. All players start over together.

    Otherwise, Long Tail Games shared that the version of Life is Feudal is intended to be the same as the version that was active in 2021 when the servers were shut down. In the future there will be new updates based on player feedback and our own analysis.

    Life is Feudal is scheduled to be released worldwide, excluding China. The original developer is still active there.

    What are your thoughts on the return of Life is Feudal? Did you miss the MMO? And are you willing to pay the expensive subscription costs?

    This game has a more positive outlook than Life is Feudal: A new MMORPG makes my dreams come true – Shows the best combat system ever in the trailer.

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