It’s codenamed ‘Shards’ and the studio is ready with sneak peeks. They take inspiration from Ultima Online, and want to offer a ”platform for players to express their creativity.”
Their collective history includes The Elder Scrolls series, Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online, as well as properties like NASCAR and Madden.
“We left our soul-crushing, corporate jobs to make the games we’d actually play,” said Derek Brinkmann, founder and CEO of Citadel Studios. “As we started our first project and experimented with concepts, we discovered ways we could share our passion for creating living worlds with gamers themselves. Ultimately the community will dictate what Shards becomes, because we’re not just providing a game but also a platform for players to express their creativity.”
They promise that Shards won’t be constantly trying to pry open our wallets, whilst also providing ”a richly-imagined universe with deep lore and environments ranging from the familiar to the surprising,” as they work to steer the multiplayer genre ”out of the “sandbox” and into the playground.” Citadel has launched a Shards Online Facebook page.
