Champions Online Has More than 1 Million Characters

Cryptic Studios has announced that its recently launched MMO Champions Online now has more than 1 million characters created and running around saving the in-game world. The videogame was published by Atari, which was acquired Cryptic earlier in the year, and offers players a chance to choose their appearance, their superpowers and even their nemesis as they live a life that seems lifted out right from a comic book script, albeit not a very good one.

It's interesting to see that Atari and Cryptic have elected to mention the number of in-game characters that have been created in the game rather than actually say how many copies of the MMO have been purchased or how many players are now paying for a subscription.

This might indicate that the install base is not very big at the moment but that those who own the game are tempted to try out a variety of character designs, which leads to a higher number of superheroes created in Champions Online. One of the most praised features of the game has been its character creation tool that allows players to define virtually every aspect of their hero and even micro manage their powers in great detail.

Champions Online is currently offering a free weekend of play to anyone interested in it and is implementing a new add-on content, called Blood Moon, which is timed to coincide with Halloween and introduced some zombies to the MMO, in a move clearly intended to draw in new players.

The company needs to quickly establish itself on the superhero MMO market as it faces stiff competition from City of Heroes/City of Villains, which is operated by NCsoft and was initially made by Cryptic, and from upcoming titles like DC Universe Online from Sony and Marvel Universe Online from Gazillion Entertainment.