Citizen Zero Cancelled, New Spy MMO in the Works

Australia-based developer Micro Forte has disclosed that development on its long awaited sci-fi MMO shooter Citizen Zero, at one point planned for PC and Xbox, has ceased. This is the first official word on the game since 2004, when the game was confirmed for the two platforms and showcased at E3; prior to that, no news had been released since 2002. In its place, Micro Forte has been working on a new spy-themed MMO since midway through last year. Coincidentally, Sony Online Entertainment also recently revealed that it has a spy-themed MMO in the works at its Seattle studio. "Although we were sad to stop working on CZ, we are extremely excited about the progress of our spy project," said Micro Forte studio head Steve Wang. "We are at an exciting crossroads where many new game-play styles and experiences have become possible in virtual world environments. This is a great opportunity for us to leverage our 7 years of development in the MMO space to bring the social MMO experience together with game-play that has been traditionally the domain of single player games." Today's announcement comes just one day after news that John Romero's Slipgate Ironworks will be licensing the BigWorld MMO technology suite, developed by Micro Forte and originally planned for use in Citizen Zero. There are currently at least half a dozen games known to be making use of BigWorld. According to today's press release, Micro Forte has other MMO properties being developed as well.