As big as Hasbro's "Transformers" franchise was in the 1980s, the popularity of the toy line and its related spin-off properties has reached new heights in recent years thanks to the financial success of the two Michael Bay films and, more recently, the Activision game "Transformers: War for Cybertron." Now there's another game coming in addition to the one pegged to Bay's summer threequel, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." The untitled 2012 release, which is in the hands of "RuneScape" developer Jagex Limited, is unsurprisingly (and quite awesomely) an online game.
Don't confuse this release with a NetDragon-developed "Transformers" MMO that is coming to China later this year. The plan for the Jagex release is to bring it to multiple territories, including North America, Latin America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Information beyond that is minimal, including any details concerning the game itself or which version of Hasbro's "Transformers" we might expect to see.
Jagex has plenty of experience crafting online-focused games, with its free-to-play "RuneScape" being one of the most popular massively multiplayer online games out there today. It seems reasonable to at least speculate that a similar free-to-play model will be implemented for "Transformers" given Jagex's specialized experience with that sort of setup.
"'Transformers' is one of the most iconic brands in the world and we are delighted to team up with Hasbro in order to bring our shared vision to reality," Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard said in the press release. "There is a huge appetite for an online 'Transformers' game and we will utilize every bit of our development and publishing expertise to deliver a dynamic and action-packed game that 'Transformers' fans will find irresistible."