Longest Running Free MMORPGs

There are well over 150 free to play MMORPGs and MMO games out today, but only a handful of them have truly survived the test of time. The 10 games below are some of the oldest free to play MMORPGs still in service today. The list only includes games that are free to play in North America.

Tibia (1997)

This one is the oldest on the list. Tibia was originally released in January 1997, making it the oldest free to play MMORPGs still in service. The game does have a pay to play component to it, but much of the game is available to non paying users.

DarkEden (1997)

This one was a bit iffy. The game originally released in South Korea in 1997, but came to North America 11 years later in 2008. Darkeden revolves around perpetual war between humans and vampires. The game is being published by JoyMax – the folks behind Silkroad Online and Deco Online.

Mir 2 (2000)

Mir 2 is an enormously popular isometric MMORPG developed by WeMade entertainment. The game was originally released sometime in 2000 and peaked out at around 250,000 simultaneous users in 2003. The game is available to North American and European users through GamePot USA – the same folks behind Bright Shadow and Fantasy Earth Zero.

Priston Tale (2001)

Priston Tale is a 3D Fantasy MMORPG originally developed and released in South Korea in 2001. The game had a subscription fee for quite a while but eventually dropped it and went all out free to play. The game is currently being published by SubaGames.

RuneScape (2001)

RuneScape classic was originally released January 4, 2001. The game boasts 10 million active accounts and is recognized by the Guinness book of World Records as the most popular free MMORPG. At peak times, the game has 150,000+ players online at once. Users have the option to pay for a premium subscription, but it isn’t necessary to enjoy the game.

Ragnarok Online (2002)

Ragnarok Online was originally released as a pay to play game and only recently went free to play. It made its way on this list because the game had so many private servers that more people played on private servers than the official ones. The game was originally released in South Korea in 2002 and found its way to North America a year later in 2003.

MapleStory (2003)

This one is one of my personal favorite free to play MMORPGs. The game was originally released in South Korea in April 2003 and made its way to North America in 2005. Since release, the game was enormously popular and is easily one of the most popular free to play MMORPGs of all time. The game boasts 100 million registered users worldwide.

Mu Online (2003)

Mu Online is a medieval fantasy MMORPG developed and published by Webzen. The game was originally released in 2003 and features interface and gameplay elements that are a bit like Diablo 2.

Sudden Attack (2004)

Sudden Attack was the first popular free to play MMOFPS game. It was developed by a South Korean company called GameHi. Think of it as the Counter-Strike of South Korea. The game’s success led to development of countless other ‘tactical’ MMOFPS games like Combat Arms,  Cross Fire and many many more.

Metin 2 (2004)

Metin2 is a popular free to play fantasy themed MMORPG developed by Ymir Entertainment and published by GameForge. The game is actually much more popular in Europe than it is in North America, but it still maintains a sizeable U.S. playerbase.

By, Omer Altay