New MMO faces Xbox Live struggle

The developer behind PC and console MMO Kingdom Under Fire II has confirmed that the game is unlikely to be released anytime in the near future.

The reason? The very same issue that has dogged both potential Xbox 360 MMO releases Champions Online and Final Fantasy XIV – Microsoft’s closed-wall environment for Xbox Live.

Our initial plan was we wanted to develop the console version first – the Xbox 360 version,” the game’s director Sang Youn-Lee told Eurogamer.

The problem is very strict [policy], and it’s not easy to change it. That’s why we are still discussing our billing policy and we’re asking for some changes from Microsoft. We actually have completed the system, but because of the policy, we felt that if we kept developing [it] the PC version would have come out too late.”

The developer wouldn’t be drawn on the possibility of a PS3 version, though the CEO of co-developer Blueside Sejung Kim did add that it remains hopeful the Xbox 360 SKU will one day see the light of day:

We have developed the Kingdom Under Fire series on Xbox 360 and we have a fanbase there. It’s very difficult not to develop a version of Kingdom Under Fire II on Xbox 360. That’s why Microsoft wants to have KUFII.”