And you thought we had heard the last of the Stargate Worlds drama. The failed Stargate MMOG project has once again surfaced in the news, this time its a final goodbye for the game as MGM thrashes any hopes of a resurrection for the ill-fated Stargate MMOG license according to a report from The Arizona Republic. And given the history of this unfortunate debacle, it's better off dead.

It's hard to look back on Stargate Worlds and see anything other than a pure disaster.

Stargate Worlds had more than a few controversies over its multi-year development. The severity of the problems started to show when developers at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment reportedly went without pay for over a month during the Christmas holiday, something that some of the Ten Ton Hammer faithful made an effort to help out the devs with over the holiday season given their lack of payment. The following years were plagued with allegations of theft, betrayal, lies, shady tactics, corporate shenanigans, a power struggle and lawsuits, oh god the lawsuits.

And then, in February 2010, a Stargate game was finally released, but not the one everyone had hoped for. Rather than the MMOG Stargate Worlds, fans were given the multiplayer third-person shooter, Stargate: Resistance, which actually led to another lawsuit (you see a pattern forming here right?). Stargate: Resistance managed to stay in operation less than a year before it was taken off of life support.

Around that same time, Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment filed

for Chapter 11 and shortly thereafter entered into court-appointed receivership. MGM finally decided to pull the Stargate license in November 2010. And judging by this latest story, MGM has no desire to renew it, leaving the Cheyenne Mountain Entertainments court-appointed receiver, Keith Bierman of Phoenix-based MCA Financial Group, with no other option but to sell off what remains of the companys assets, which he notes isnt even close to the value of the now more than $50 million in claims.

Any hopes for a happy ending to this saga walked through the Stargate a long time ago.

At the heart of the latest report is the compounding list of lawsuits and complaints aimed at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment chairman and CEO Gary Whiting, who is the target of a multi-investor lawsuit alleging negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, common-law fraud and securities fraud. The lawsuit further alleges more wrongdoings ranging from misleading stock information, misleading investors and allegations that Whiting issued loans to himself using Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment funds totaling an estimated $2.6 million.

All in all, its about what we've come to expect from the albatross that is Stargate Worlds. It died like it lived, on its back and in a pile of lawsuits laced with controversy.

Thanks to Shayalyn for the catch.

Source: The Arizona Republic