Anyone else wonder what the h*ll happened to Mechwarrior?

Those games were so great and one of the games I played nonstop online.

I remember several years back the reveal of another one but then they ran into legal trouble with a Japanese company.

But what the ****?

Nothing since then.

Harmony Gold isn't a Japanese company, pretty sure that's who they got in trouble with.

And yeah, wish Mechwarrior would make a comeback. And with mech games in general, also Mech Assault.

Went online...MMO style

Link

MechWarrior Online is a free-to-play vehicular combat video game, officially launched during September 2013 by Piranha Games for Microsoft Windows.

but of course they have to make money too:

Russ Bullock ‏@russ_bullock

Make sure to let everyone know they can get 7 days of free premium time in #MWO - great time to check out the game

ARRIVING JANUARY 19TH WARHAMMER

I cry myself to sleep every night wondering why we still don't have a Mechwarrior game after all these years. Mech games need to make comeback like space sims are doing.

I do hope Phil Spencer will resurrect this franchise on both Xbox and PC.

Link to game

Mechwarrior is a F2P online game, Would there be a chance of seeing a game outside of that?

I know about Mechwarrior Online but have no interest in F2P online games.

It's a complex issue.

Everything came to a screeching halt years back after lawsuits over Battletech licensed stuff (which Mechwarrior is based on) infringing intellectual property rights of Japanese mechs franchises saying the designs were stolen. I think issues have been resolved but I think any momentum those games had in scheduled development and publishing plans is gone. That and they sold the license and the owners haven't done anything with it.

There were the Mechwarrior games for PC, I only played Mechwarrior 3 but I don't remember much except it was cool for its time and sim heavy. That was licensed by FASA but they sold the license in 2007. One of my friends was a huge fan of MechAssault and MechAssault 2 on the original Xbox, he was really into the online MP in XBL's infancy. Day 1 Studios worked with FASA on MechAssault games, they haven't done anything like that since FASA closed, and they're currently into their World of Tanks license.

I'm a bit confused since I also hear Microsoft owns the MechAssault franchise, however Wizkids owns the BattleTech license that MechWarrior is based on, Wizkidz is actually a company created by the Jordan Weisman who created FASA too... weird, okay, sold himself his own shit to screw the parent company. I guess there's still MechWarrior Online which I know nothing about except for what's on Wikipedia... funny, they too go sued in the leadup to the release by the company holding the rights to the Robotech franchise saying designs were stolen from Robotech and Macross, which they claimed they licensed from Battletech who resolved these issues those same companies prior to them being licensed to the current developers and publishers... as you can see, a very cursed franchise legally, very confusing issue to understand nonetheless. I'm sure I got a lot of that wrong.

Some legal trouble IIRC.

Thanks, I'm downloading right now. I can't believe this slipped past me.

Microsoft has really nothing to do with MechWarrior, you're thinking of MechAssault.

It came out in 2013 I think. Looks like certain areas/expansions you have to buy. They are offer pre-order for them.

The MechCommander 2 source code is free for download from MS. The game itself is in one of the folders. Works great on my netbook.

@mr_huggles_dog: Nope its Harmony Gold US company causing the ruckus..if Wikipedia is right. Link scroll down to bottom about legal issues etc. :P

Typical US company buy rights..then thinks it bloody own the whole thing. :P

There's a BattleTech game being kickstarted now. It has became a Turn Based game instead of Real Time. It's also being made by the ones who made Shadowrun Returns.

There will be 5 Factions, the ones I remember where House Steiner and House Liao. Not sure if there'll be a Clan Faction.

Remember the "Arena" in MechWarrior Mercenaries? It's basically an online version of that.

If you're familiar with World of Tanks and the likes, it's a Mech version of that.

Mechwarrior2 on pc was such an amazing game back in the day. Would love a new one somehow.

Legal issues with MechWarrior 5, i think. Because of that, Mechwarrior 5 was scrapped. After the issue was settled, what was left of MW5 became MWO.

Mechwarrior Online is pretty damn good...a little bare-bones on game modes and features but best shooting robot game compared to the rest. Devs seem pretty active and working hard and playerbase are very healthy (last i played, a few months back, i can easily get a game anytime).

Battletech is an upcoming turn-based games by the Shadowrun Returns devs, hearkens back to the days of the The Crescent Hawk's Inception, where you play a mercenary company contracted to fight for one of the 5 Great Houses of the Inner Sphere.

I think I remember trying MWO and not liking it.

I forget why but I think it was a pain in the ass to navigate stuff.

Yup it does need a comeback, I'd prefer a new Steel Battalion and fancy controller maybe with less buttons tho. Chrome hounds would be great to get a sequel. Mech games are my favs

Xbox happened and MS like an idiot sabotaged their whole pcgaming division.

Now it's starting to recover, but unfortunatelly Mechwarrior Online might have the exclusive rights to multiplayer battletech simulators.

But at least there's Battletech tactical RPG incoming.

Good memories of Mechwarrior 2, I have. Our only hope lies in Battletech. There is no other.

@jun_aka_pekto said:

The MechCommander 2 source code is free for download from MS. The game itself is in one of the folders. Works great on my netbook.

Thanks for the info. This was one of my favourite PC games back then.

Do you have a link to the download ?

At the Microsoft web site:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11457

It's flaky in Windows 10. But, I'm also running it on my old netbook which I downgraded to XP. Runs great.

Hairbrained Schemes (Shadowrun) have successfully kickstarted a new Battletech game but it's much more along the lines of the board game with an isometric pov and turn based combat.

Kickstarter link