Shadowbane Lives On, As Wolfpack Veterans Establish New Studio

Another bit of news involving Ubisoft is the formation of a new (independent) development studio, Stray Bullet Games, by veterans of the recently-closed Wolfpack (Ubisoft Annecy) studio - creators of Shadowbane. The fate of their MMORPG had been uncertain ever since then, but fans can now sigh in relief, as Ubisoft promises to continue supporting the game. There's no update on the game's subscription system, so we can safely assume that Shadowbane will remain playable without any monthly fees (at least for a while), as it was decided prior to Wolfpack's closure in early March.

The ongoing support for Shadowbane will be handled by Stray Bullet Games, under contract for Ubisoft, though for the time being it's going to be just that: support only, with no word on any additional features or content. Of course, in the meantime Stray Bullet will also start working on a project of their own - which, according to Sean 'Ashen Temper' Dahlberg (Stray Bullet Games employee and former community manager at Wolfpack), is going to be a next-generation MMO game:

"What will it be? Well, it is much too early to say and it is something we are discussing internally as to what exactly we want to do. I will be blunt and say we will not be doing Shadowbane 2. The publishing and intellectual rights are not owned by Stray Bullet Games and we will, more than likely, make an original title. With that said, we plan on doing what we do best so it wouldn't be unthought-of to expect player-vs.-player and strategic combat. And while the implementation and specifics may differ, the aspects I talk about in my (crazy) sandbox idea Dominion, such as an in-depth political system, territorial and economic control systems, and character building with meaning are echoed by everyone at Stray Bullet Games."

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)