Lycos has published an interesting article entitled, "Online Gaming: The Future is When?" This news item discusses the status of online gaming, the successes, the failures, the problems, and the potential. LucasArts' first online adventure, Star Wars Galaxies is mentioned. Here's a quote from the article:
Online gaming is far more difficult than just slapping together a cool world. In the mid-'90s, 150 games were put into production, according to DFC analysts. Of those, only a tiny fraction ever made it to retail, and only one, Ultima Online, made a dent in the commercial marketplace.While Galaxies is only mentioned in passing, it's a very interesting read and reminds us why game publishers are so apprehensive about making something original and risky. There's a lot of money to be lost. Take a look.
About $300 million was essentially thrown out the window in the grand pursuit of the mighty online game at the end of the '90s.