Chronicles of Spellborn launches - sort of

By Oli Welsh Published 27 November, 2008

UK won't get the Euro MMO until January.

The intriguing independent MMO Chronicles of Spellborn is released today - if you happen to live in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.

Other European countries will need to wait until next week to get a copy, with the exception of the UK, which will be twiddling its thumbs until January.

In a bizarre move, developer Spellborn International has bundled publishing rights for the UK in with North America, Australia, New Zealand and South America, and licensed the lot to US operator Acclaim.

Acclaim announced last week that it would begin closed beta testing simultaneous with the European launch today, with a release date planned for January next year. It did mention in passing that it had picked up the British rights too, but we missed that at the time - sorry.

While most of Acclaim's territories do share the English language, they occupy three very different time zones, which could make these Spellborn servers rather strange places to be. The decision is all the stranger when you consider that the lingua franca for the 'International' (i.e. not German or French) European servers will almost certainly be English.

Additionally, the Spellborn website carries the news that the countries of Scandinavia, the Benelux regions and France won't be able to get their hands on copies of the game until next week - Friday 5th December, to be exact.

That's also the date when the free-to-play version of the game, which gives unlimited access to the early levels as a sampler, goes live. At this point all Europeans should be able to get involved - except those in the UK, because our IP addresses have been blocked by Acclaim.

We recently previewed Spellborn from the beta test, and thought it might be a "cult hit in the making" for its involving, physical combat and relatively advanced AI.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DFawkes #1 3 years ago

    I'm used to Euro-shafting, but UK-specific shafting is new to me. Bastards.

  • Sycopat #2 3 years ago

    Interesting... And weird...

    I wonder what the story is with the irish, normally we're lumped in with the UK but a lot of our ISP's are owned by germen companies and use german IP's...

  • Darkjinxter #3 3 years ago

    Sheesh.

  • ZuluHero #4 3 years ago

    "We recently previewed Spellborn from the beta test, and thought it might be a "cult hit in the making" for its involving, physical combat and relatively advanced AI."

    Well you can't go back on it now - its in the video and everything!

  • Rubakai #5 3 years ago

    So does this mean those in the UK will have to play on american servers and not european ones?

    Because if so you have more than likely lost my sub (and alot of uk players as well i imagine).

    If not, im not too bothered about having to wait longer.

  • Jigglybean #6 3 years ago

    epic fail

  • ZuluHero #7 3 years ago

    ^^^ wow player? ;)

  • sneetch #8 3 years ago

    @Oli
    Should we assume that Acclaim also has the rights to distribute in Ireland? Or will we be able to (theoretically) go at the same time as our Scandinavian cousins?

  • iokthemonkey #9 3 years ago

    This could be an interesting game. The idea of the "realtime" combat could be a differentiating point. And the free trial thing (without time limits) sounds like a good way to get interest. I'll be checking it out when it's available.

  • sneetch #10 3 years ago

    On the plus side there is a Free2Play client releasing on the 5th of December that will allow you to try the game at least. It'll let you trial the starting areas and check out the archetypes and races.

    Hopefully, that client won't be region locked. I'm starting to get interested in this game, it's probably partially the whole "forbidden/delayed fruit" thing, tell me I can't have it and I want it more. :)

    Oh well, Fallout 3, Kings Bounty, Left 4 Dead and WAR will tide me over the Christmas period. :)

  • actionfitz #11 3 years ago

    Seriously What the Fuck?
    There is like 1-2 hours time difference between UK and most of the rest of europe.
    Are they really fucking expecting me to play on a server with Americans and Australians with bloody 8 or 9 hour time differences? (no harm to the yanks and aussies /hug )

    As if launching 2 weeks after Wrath of The Lich King and month or so after WAR wasn't making things difficult for them already...
    They perversely go and Screw with one of the biggest European gaming territory's and potential revenue sources?

    Someone has seriously screwed the pooch on this one.
    Would love EG to get some comment from the Devs / Acclaim about - do they seriously expect (or even care about) subscriptions from the UK / Ireland or other non German/French/Dutch speakers?
    I play wow on an 'English' speaking server... most of the population are of mixed nationallity though, Dutch, swedes, Russians, Italians, Brits, Irish... even have a mate from Dubai...

    Apologies but im not playing an MMO on an international server with such obvious Time Zone issues.
    Pissed off now, I was really looking forward to trying this out, especially after hearing about the free to play zone.


    @sneetch
    The Free to Play client IS region locked, here is the link to download it
    [link url=https://eu-players.tcos. com/
    ]https://eu-players.tcos. com/
    [/link]
    if you get redirected to:
    [link url=http://spellborn.acclai m.com/
    ]http://spellborn.acclai m.com/
    [/link]
    then yes you are fucked.
    Im based in Belfast and got redirected to the US holding page saying its launching in Jan 09 :/
    not sure if anyone with a Southern ISP's will be shafted too :/
    (wonders if it would be silly to move to his parents cottage in Donegal just to play an MMO...)

  • belltiara #12 3 years ago

    The Deadspell Forums

    A lot of controversy is going on between Acclaim and SiL with the Eu players being split and Acclaim's lack of response to no beta codes from SiL. Join our fansite to get informed as to what is going on with the game and share your opinion. We need the players to continue to band together, so this game gets a bit of the spotlight that it deserves!

    Hope to see you!

  • AshleySmash #13 3 years ago

    I JUST DOWNLOADED THIS FUCKING GAME IT TOOK ME ABOUT 9 HOURS! AND I CANT LOG IN! says username or password is incorrect is it fuck! same password for everything! is this bullshit because im in the uk? please reply because right now i feel like getting a large petrol can pouring it over everyone in acclaim and then laughing as i watch them burn and squeel like a piggy on a spit roast.

    Thanks

    Ash :D