ArchLord not dead, says Codies

Codemasters Online Gaming has responded to claims that MMO ArchLord is dying out by saying its population has grown since launch and "still increases week on week".

But when pushed to reveal numbers for the amount of people currently playing, it coyly replied that that wasn't the trend in the genre.

"Unfortunately we are not in a position to release current subscriber numbers," a spokesperson for Codemasters Online Gaming told Eurogamer. "As with any MMO, publishers never release that information. Unless, of course, you are Blizzard and have over 8 million subscribers." Or Ankama Games with Dofus.

Questions arose over ArchLord's future after the publisher announced that it would be offering 6000 free in-game credits with every copy sold. These can buy you levelling aids in the Chantra Shop, where you would otherwise use real money to purchase goods.

Previous efforts to drive attention to the game have seen a subscription system come and go, and the price of the game slashed to around a tenner depending on which part of the world you're in.

But far from pull support, Codemasters is insistent that future content is on the schedule - the first thing being upcoming free expansion Episode II. This will add castle sieges to the game as well as the chance to finally become the ArchLord - with a USD 10,000 custom set of real-life armour awaiting the first one officially crowned.

"We have no plans to close the service at present," the spokesperson continued. "ArchLord is still very much in Codemasters Online Gaming's future plans with new content (in the form of Episode II) currently in testing and further content beyond that in development."

Codemasters Online Gaming also handles one of this year's big success stories, Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. Unlike ArchLord this reviewed well and has seen a surge in active subscribers, although no figures have been released.