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Freelancer is a space trading and combat simulation video game developed by Digital Anvil and published by Microsoft Game Studios.
It is a spiritual successor to Privateer.[1]
It is a chronological sequel to Digital Anvil's Starlancer, a combat flight simulator released in 2000. The game was initially announced by Chris Roberts in 1999 and has been shown at E3, winning awards for the best game of the show, and following many production schedule mishaps and a buyout of Digital Anvil by Microsoft, it was eventually released in March 2003.
Freelancer was to bring a persistent world with a full economy and dynamic weather system on each world, as well as thousands of players. This proved costly and time consuming, causing delays, and when Microsoft bought Digital Anvil they stripped much of the game while Chris Roberts became a creative consultant. He left four years into Freelancer, and two years before it game out.[2][3] Microsoft was setting up infrastructure for the Xbox and had no use for a PC game at the timer.[4]
Martin Galway was audio director.[5]
Freelancer was finished against all odds thanks to Jörg Neumann who has quietly been part of the bedrock of Microsoft's game ever since.[6]
Reception
Freelancer was not a huge commercial success, but it was memorable.[3]
Despite its age it still has active private servers.[7] It also has among others a Wing Commander mod.[8]
Quote
"Can't tell the Star Citizen story without Freelancer :)" -Ben Lesnick[9]
External Links
- Crossfire mod with updated graphics
References
- ↑ Happy Hour Museum: Wing Commander Privateer, Star Citizen, YouTube, 31 march 2017
- ↑ Digital Anvil Interview, ign.com, Jun 18, 2012
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts returns to gaming with Star Citizen online game universe, VentureBeat, October 10, 2012
- ↑ "Microsoft funded Digital Anvil from the start. But they didn’t go on to buy the rest to finish a PC game… they were setting up infrastructure for the Xbox!", @banditloaf, Twitter, Apr 20, 2023
- ↑ Martin Galway biography, MobyGames
- ↑ "The real legacy of Freelancer is that the guy that finished it against all odds, Jörg Neumann, has quietly been part of the bedrock of Microsoft's game stuff ever since! A rare totally reliable producer who you never hear about with the big names.", @banditloaf, Twitter, Apr 20, 2023
- ↑ Welcome to the Freelancer Server Statistics Page
- ↑ Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn
- ↑ "Absolutely! Can't tell the Star Citizen story without Freelancer :)", @banditloaf, Twitter, Mar 31, 2017
