''Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online'' was a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

to be based on

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer (game), Warhammer'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake ...

's ''

Warhammer 40,000 ''Warhammer 40,000'' is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987 ...

'' setting. It was under development by

Vigil Games Vigil Games was an American game development company owned by THQ. It was formed by comic artist Joe Madureira and David Adams (video game designer), David Adams in 2005. History Vigil Games was founded in 2005 by Joe Madureira, David Adams, Mar ...

until

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

's closure.

Gameplay

The game was to feature relatively in-depth fire-fights with player-formed squads as well as cover and flanking mechanics."Actual WH40K MMO details here"
"

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') is a British-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot web ...

", 2008-04-08. Retrieved on 2008-06-29 However, being true to the setting, war and battles would have been a big feature of ''Warhammer 40,000 Online'' and the developer

were promising to deliver battlegrounds of epic proportions." Warhammer 40,000 Online"
"

GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and ''Computer ...

", 2008-05-07. Retrieved on 2008-06-29 Controllable vehicles would have been a key aspect to the game; the developers have said that they would have been multifunctional and that some were able to sport multiple pilots. The game would have been set in the 41st millennium, well after the Horus Heresy, and all races important to that period in the setting would have been represented, although only one playable race had been announced so far: the Imperium of Man."New WAR40K trailer introduces first playable race"
" Massively", 2010-08-20. Retrieved on 2008-08-22 Details about characters were largely unknown, but it was said that there would be no non-combat classes in the game as this would not fit properly with the background. Players would be able to customize their characters visual appearance with ranged and melee weapons, armor, books, scrolls and chains. Although war and battlefields would have been a large part of ''Dark Millennium'' the scope of the game would have included more of the setting than that; Vigil Games’ General Manager

David Adams David Adams may refer to: Government officials * David S. Adams (State Department) (born 1961), Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs * David Adams (Labour politician) (1871–1943), British Labour Party Member of Parliament, 1922� ...

mentions being able to visit "cities (of all scales, types and sizes), exotic alien temples, Chaos shrines, deserted battlefields, mysterious ruins, ancient structures, drifting hulks in space, etc..." and that they would have been populated with all manners of

non-player characters A non-player character (NPC) is a Character (arts), character in a game that is not controlled by a Player (game), player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaste ...

Development

Originally announced in March 2007, further information was released as well as a teaser trailer at

E3 2010 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 (E3 2010) was the 16th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 14, 2010, and ended on June 17, 2010, with 45,600 total attendees. The ...

. Originally planned to be a

massively multiplayer online role-playing game A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

, Vigil Games announced that they would be dropping the MMO components of the game in order to focus on a single-player game with a more traditional multiplayer experience. On December 19, 2012, the publisher

, the owner of Vigil Games, filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

, bringing ''Dark Millenniums fate into question. THQ's

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

representatives announced that the MMO aspect of the game was ended in March 2012, but not definitively answering if the project as a whole was cancelled. It was later stated in an interview that ''Dark Millennium'' had been retooled into a

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

game with the working title ''Inquisitor'', but that project too was eventually abandoned.

References

{{Games Workshop Cancelled Windows games THQ games Dark Millenium Windows games Video games developed in the United States