Editing Shadowbane

{{Short description|2003 online fantasy role-playing video game}}
{{Infobox video game
|title = Shadowbane
|image = Shadowbane Coverart.png
|developer = [[Wolfpack Studios]] <small>(2003–2006)</small><br />Stray Bullet Games <small>(2006–2009)</small>
|publisher = [[Ubi Soft]]
|designer =
|engine = 
|released = {{vgrelease|NA|March 25, 2003|EU|January 16, 2004}}{{vgrelease|NA|December 9, 2003 <small>(''The Rise of Chaos'')</small>}}{{vgrelease|NA|December 7, 2004 <small>(''Throne of Oblivion'')</small>}}
|genre = [[MMORPG]]
|modes = [[Multiplayer]]
|platforms = [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Apple Macintosh|Mac]]
}}
'''''Shadowbane''''' was a free-to-play [[fantasy]] [[role-playing video game]] ([[MMORPG]]) created by [[Wolfpack Studios]] and published on March 25, 2003 by [[Ubisoft]] for [[Microsoft Windows]] and [[Mac OS X]] platforms. Originally commercial and subscription-driven, ''Shadowbane'' was launched in March 2003, and was the creation of text-[[Multi-user dungeon|MUD]] veterans [[J. Todd Coleman]], James Nance, Josef Hall, Patrick Blanton and Robert Marsa and a team of 45 programmers, designers and artists. It closed on July 1, 2009.

''Shadowbane'' was a top-10 best selling PC game at launch, and had two noteworthy aspects. First, the majority of the game world allowed for open [[player versus player]] combat, making it an early pioneer title in the PvP MMO genre.  Second, it was the first major MMO to offer dynamic world content as a primary feature of the game. Most MMOs were static, meaning the world itself did not change based on player actions. Dynamic worlds allowed player to change the game world itself; morphing terrain, building and destroying buildings and fortifications, and setting up patrol paths for player-hired AI combatants. The game was considered a "cult hit" and sustained a small base of followers, but technical issues plagued the game at launch and failed to retain much of the early fanbase shortly afterward.

After the sale of Wolfpack Studios to Ubisoft in March 2004, the live service was transitioned to a new management and (largely new) development team, led by Frank Lucero and Ala Diaz. This team later splintered off to become Stray Bullet Games in June 2006, and Mark Nuasha was brought in to run the organization. In March 2006 the game was made free-to-play. A system of short ads was introduced on March 6, 2007 to fund operating costs, which were displayed when the game was opened or closed and when a character died (with at least 10 minutes between death ads).<ref name="chronicle.ubi.com">[http://chronicle.ubi.com/newspost.php?id=17756] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070323002110/http://chronicle.ubi.com/newspost.php?id=17756 |date=March 23, 2007}}</ref> All servers were closed on March 19, 2008 to prepare for the "Shadowbane Reboot", a relaunch of the game to capitalize on stability and performance gains hindered by previously existing data. All player characters and cities were deleted in this reboot. On March 25, the fifth anniversary of the game's launch, two servers were brought online followed by a third due to overpopulation. The game was closed in July 2009.

The regular game took place in a dark [[fantasy world]] called Aerynth (the world sometimes depended on the servers, many of which had unique world maps). [[Gameplay]] featured many aspects typical of role-playing video games, such as [[experience point]]s, [[character class]]es, and [[Race (fantasy)|fantasy races]]. Character creation was fairly extensive, allowing for detailed, differentiable characters to be created.

==Gameplay==
''Shadowbane'' was notable for emphasizing player-versus-player combat, implementing non-conventional races and specializing in siege warfare (players building cities and trying to raze enemy players' cities) whereas a significant number of MMORPGs released since ''[[Ultima Online]]'' usually restrict [[Player versus player|player killing]] to certain areas of the game or special dedicated [[Player versus player|PvP]] servers. The game also featured a seamless world map, and made no use of instancing.

Players were also allowed to own cities and capitals and most of the property and cities in ''Shadowbane'' were player owned. In effect, ''Shadowbane''{{'}}s war status was decided by the players rather than the game company. Whether a guild city went to war with another guild city was entirely up to the leaders. A government system was also implemented in the game. It ensured players were in total control of the ''Shadowbane'' world.

Though there were no quests in the game, ''Shadowbane'' featured PvP, Nation, and Siege Warfare systems, which offered players a wide range of in-game opportunities. There were twelve races available in the game. There were four basic classes; Fighter, Healer, Mage and Rogue. Not all races could use every class. At 10th level, each character had to choose to promote to a specific profession, such as a Ranger or Assassin. Two classes, Fury and Huntress, were for female characters only whilst the Warlock was for male characters only. Which professions were available was dependent on the race, gender and base class of the character. In addition, each character could take up to four disciplines, from a list of over thirty, though as with Professions, access was limited by race, class and current profession. The level hard cap was level 75, and until level 70 the fourth discipline slot was locked.

After shifting to free to play system, [[Ubisoft]] used an ad-based revenue generation system consisting of short ad videos at game start, game close and character death. Ads played on character death were limited to no more than one instance in ten minutes.<ref name="chronicle.ubi.com"/>

==Closure==
''Shadowbane'' was shut down on July 1, 2009.<ref>[http://chronicle.ubi.com/newspost.php?id=18535] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419161327/http://chronicle.ubi.com/newspost.php?id=18535 |date=April 19, 2009}}</ref>

In April 2012, Chinese gaming company [[changyou.com|Changyou]] acquired the intellectual property rights and [[source code]] to ''Shadowbane'' with the intent of developing a new version of the game, which was titled ''World of Shadowbane''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jeuxonline.info/actualite/35170/changyou-ressuscite-shadowbane%20 |title=Changyou resurrects Shadowbane? |publisher=JeuxOnline |date=13 April 2012 |accessdate=12 August 2012}}</ref>

==Revival and second closure==
Around April 2020 Changyou announced that ''Shadowbane'' was going to re-launch. first two-week test server opening on April 29 and second month-long test server opening on May 20. Then in 2024 Changyou announced that the services will close and ''Shadowbane'' would cease operations on May 28 2024. <ref>{{cite press release |url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1475570/view/4145071432097443504 |title=[Announcement] Shadowbane will be ceasing operation |date=February 28, 2024}}</ref>

==Reception==
{{Video game reviews
| title = Shadowbane
| MC = 75/100<ref name=MC1>{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/shadowbane/critic-reviews/?platform=pc |title=Shadowbane for PC Reviews |website=[[Metacritic]] |accessdate=20 December 2014}}</ref>
| CGW = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Asher |first=Mark |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_228.pdf |title=Shadowbane |magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]] |issue=228 |date=July 2003 |pages=70–71 |accessdate=24 April 2016}}</ref>
| GI = 6.75/10<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Shadowbane |magazine=[[Game Informer]] |issue=122 |date=June 2003 |page=117}}</ref>
| GSpot = 7.9/10<ref>{{cite web |last=Dulin |first=Ron |url=http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/shadowbane-review/1900-6025001/ |title=Shadowbane Review |website=[[GameSpot]] |date=11 April 2003 |accessdate=20 December 2014}}</ref>
| GSpy = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Harker |first=Carla |url=http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/shadowbane/5880p1.html |title=GameSpy: Shadowbane |publisher=[[GameSpy]] |date=1 June 2003 |accessdate=20 December 2014}}</ref>
| IGN = 7.3/10<ref>{{cite web |last=Bohmann |first=Ryan |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/05/05/shadowbane-review |title=Shadowbane Review |website=[[IGN]] |date=5 May 2003 |accessdate=20 December 2014}}</ref>
| PCF = 57%<ref>{{cite journal |title=Shadowbane |journal=[[PC Format]] |issue=159 |date=March 2004}}</ref>
| PCGUK = 70%<ref>{{cite journal |title=Shadowbane |journal=[[PC Gamer|PC Gamer UK]] |date=March 2004}}</ref>
| PCGUS = 75%<ref>{{cite journal |last=Boily |first=Christopher |url=http://www.pcgamer.com/reviews/archives/review_2004-07-02ah.html |title=Shadowbane |journal=[[PC Gamer]] |date=June 2003 |page=78 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050112012201/http://www.pcgamer.com/reviews/archives/review_2004-07-02ah.html |archivedate=12 January 2005 |url-status=dead |accessdate=20 December 2014}}</ref>
| XPlay = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Bemis |first=Greg |url=http://www.techtv.com/xplay/reviews/story/0,24330,3426514,00.html |title='Shadowbane' (PC) Review |publisher=[[X-Play]] |date=8 May 2003 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20030508110928/http://www.techtv.com/xplay/reviews/story/0,24330,3426514,00.html |archivedate=8 May 2003 |url-status=dead |accessdate=20 December 2014}}</ref>
}}

The original ''Shadowbane'' received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game [[review aggregator]] [[Metacritic]].<ref name=MC1/>
The game sold over 120,000 units by the end of March 2003.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.multiplayer.it/b2b/articoli.php3?id=8245 |title=Multiplayer.it Business to Business |website=www.multiplayer.it |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030801024205/http://www.multiplayer.it/b2b/articoli.php3?id=8245 |archive-date=1 August 2003 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===The Rise of Chaos===
{{Video game reviews
| title = Shadowbane: The Rise of Chaos
| MC = 54/100<ref name=MC2>{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/shadowbane-the-rise-of-chaos/critic-reviews/?platform=pc |title=Shadowbane: The Rise of Chaos for PC Reviews |website=Metacritic |accessdate=20 December 2014}}</ref>
| CGW = {{Rating|2.5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Asher |first=Mark |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_237.pdf |title=Shadowbane: [The] Rise of Chaos |magazine=Computer Gaming World |issue=237 |date=April 2004 |page=90 |accessdate=24 April 2016}}</ref>
| GSpot = 4.7/10<ref>{{cite web |last=Park |first=Andrew |url=http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/shadowbane-the-rise-of-chaos-review/1900-6086271/ |title=Shadowbane: The Rise of Chaos Review |website=GameSpot |date=9 January 2004 |accessdate=20 December 2014}}</ref>
| GameZone = 6.8/10<ref>{{cite web |last=Lafferty |first=Michael |url=http://www.gamezone.com/reviews/shadowbane_the_rise_of_chaos_pc_review |title=Shadowbane: The Rise of Chaos - PC - Review |publisher=GameZone |date=21 January 2004 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125222057/http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r22897.htm |archivedate=25 January 2009 |url-status=live |accessdate=20 December 2014}}</ref>
| IGN = 6.3/10<ref>{{cite web |last=Quesnel |first=Marc |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/02/07/shadowbane-the-rise-of-chaos-review |title=Shadowbane: The Rise of Chaos Review |website=IGN |date=6 February 2004 |accessdate=20 December 2014}}</ref>
}}

''The Rise of Chaos'' received "mixed" reviews, according to video game [[review aggregator]] [[Metacritic]].<ref name=MC2/>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{moby game|id=/shadowbane}}
* {{moby game|id=/shadowbane-the-rise-of-chaos|name=''Shadowbane: The Rise of Chaos''}}

[[Category:Inactive massively multiplayer online games]]
[[Category:2003 video games]]
[[Category:Massively multiplayer online role-playing games]]
[[Category:MacOS games]]
[[Category:Ubisoft games]]
[[Category:Video games scored by George Sanger]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]
[[Category:Windows games]]