Asheron's Call is 10 years old

Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine spent yesterday celebrating the 10th anniversary of its first MMO, Asheron's Call.

The game launched on November 2nd, 1999, and has been in operation ever since. It joins EverQuest, which celebrated its 10th birthday this year, and 12-year veteran Ultima Online in the roll-call of decade survivors.

It has outlasted its own sequel, Asheron's Call 2, which launched in 2003 and shut down two years later. Asheron's Call was originally published by Microsoft, but Turbine bought the rights back and now runs the game itself, alongside LOTRO and Dungeons & Dragons Online.

Turbine marked the occasion by running a day of live events that brought back characters from the game's history.

"Asheron's Call has served as the foundation on which Turbine was built," said Turbine product development boss Craig Alexander. "For a decade, AC has represented one of the industry's most consistent and well-loved franchises, further demonstrating the longevity and quality of Turbine's persistent worlds."