NetDevil - in its 11th year of operation and at work on their fourth and fifth games - is completely unlike any other MMO company. While scores of companies have risen and fallen, NetDevil continues to take measured steps forward. Later this year, the company plans to revisit its roots with Jumpgate Evolution, a completely revisited version of their 2001 debut space combat MMO.
At a glance, most fans would probably say Jumpgate Evolution looks a bit like EVE Online, and visually the two are obviously comparable. NetDevil's game is more stylized, but there is only so much visual differentiation one can draw between two games where the player controls a space ship. That, though, is where the similarities end...
Jumpgate Evolution is about dogfights and real-time, player-skill-driven combat, while EVE is a higher level, tactical experience. Or to use the ultimate space-geek example, Jumpgate is to Star Wars as EVE is to Star Trek. The guns are aim and shoot, the world completely three dimensional (people can fly "upside down") and advancement unlocks new toys, but it is still up to the player to use them.
LEGO Universe developer NetDevil has apparently laid off a large number of staff, with stories already circulating that the company has been closed.
GamePron is still searching for an official statement from NetDevil or parent company Gazillion, but studio founder and former president Scott Brown has called out to his former colleagues via social media.
Hit-Reset's Davejm takes a look at what has happened to the highly anticipated follow up to Jumpgate.
Remember Jumpgate Evolution? The space based MMO that promised some amazing space combat. So where is Jumpgate Evolution? This is the question Codemasters have been asking and so far they're still without a game. Legal action us now underway.
