Micro Forte Cancels Citizen Zero, Announces Spy MMO

Australian MMO focused developer Micro Forté has announced that it has canceled development on long troubled MMORPG Citizen Zero, instead shifting its internal development efforts towards a "top secret spy-themed MMO." According to Micro Forté officials, the spy MMO project has been in development since mid-2006, with a core development team working out of Micro Forté’s Australian studio. While little is known about the game at this time, company representatives add that Micro Forté has begun discussions with unspecified publishers, and that more is expected to be revealed in the months ahead. Citizen Zero was originally announced in 2000 as a showpiece for BigWorld Technology, a suite of tools specifically aimed at MMOG development. However, little information was released save for a status update in 2004, at which time the game's original emphasis on storytelling seemed to have been shifted to more traditional MMORPG elements. A later update changed the game's apparent focus yet again, at that time describing the game as a "persistent online shooter." "Although we were sad to stop working on CZ, we are extremely excited about the progress of our spy project,” commented 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." He added: "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."