Asheron's Call
Asheron's Call (AC) is a fantasy MMORPG released in late 1999. The game features a vast, near-seamless 3D world occupied by thousands of players and strange creatures. Gameplay involves raising skill points in such areas as 'Unarmed Combat' and 'War Magic'. AC is notable for its unusual twists on common features of fantasy MMORPGs and role-playing games.It was developed by Turbine Entertainment Software and published by Microsoft. Players must buy the game software and pay a monthly fee to play. AC is considered one of the most successful MMORPGs, but due to lack of exposure never reached the heights of EverQuest or Ultima Online even despite not increasing its monthly fee over the years (it has always cost $9.95 USD per month). One expansion, Dark Majesty, was released in 2001. A second expansion is currently in the early stages of development, and will include a graphics upgrade. was released on November 22, 2002. Both the original and the sequel feature free monthly updates or "patches" that introduce new features and gameplay improvments.
In December of 2003, Turbine purchased the rights to the Asheron's Call franchise from Microsoft and will assume full responsibility for content development, customer service, billing and marketing in 2004.