Swedish Studio MindArk Building Online RPG for Thousands of Players

Sweden has a new contender in online games, at least by checkbook. MindArk AB says its 3D online RPG represents the biggest investment ever made in such a project in Sweden. Two years of planning came first; the still-growing studio moved into full production this past March.

The pitch is a next-generation Internet RPG set in a real 3D environment, with thousands of players sharing a single huge world at once, with a long-term vision of no player limit at all. To handle a world that size, MindArk is building its own engine rather than licensing one. A public beta is planned for spring 2000.

Thousands of players in one world is a serious claim, and no limit at all is a wild one. I will believe it when the beta holds up next spring.