Nevrax Heads Into Receivership, Continues Ryzom Support

French-headquartered developer Nevrax, developer of the PC MMO The Saga of Ryzom, has announced that the company will go into receivership in December, though officials insist that its flagship MMOG will continue to be supported, commenting “...this is not the beginning of the end - just the end of the beginning.” The company had most recently been embarking upon the implementation of player controlled content within The Saga of Ryzom, a concept spearheaded by executive producer Jessica Mulligan, who joined the company in May 2005 from Turbine Entertainment. According to Mulligan, once implemented, players would be able to leverage off of the same or similar tools as those used by Ryzom's developers in order to help shape the actual game world. However, following today's news, the future of Nevrax and, by association, The Saga of Ryzom's direction remains unclear. In a statement issued by the company, Nevrax officials noted that the company is in discussions with an unnamed company to “take on Ryzom,” though in what capacity remains unclear. The statement adds: “We can't tell you more at the moment since it is being discussed but we will keep you informed when we get hard facts. We can assure you that much is happening behind the scenes.” The company also emphasized that both player and development support for the MMOG will continue through the transition period, and that a patch for the game is currently planned as well. Finally, Nevrax has also issued a number of changes to the way in which Ryzom handles its new and existing user base. According to the company, all subscriber accounts as of 3pm GMT on November 20 were turned into free accounts with a month of free access. In addition, the company has opted to disable the ability to upgrade new free accounts into full paying accounts. However, Nevrax added that because of this, it has removed the level cap in order to give newcomers more to explore in the game until the MMOG is stabilized, adding “as things develop you can expect a return to the usual more conventional account options soon.”