Free Realms

Free Realms
Developer(s)Sony Online Entertainment
Publisher(s)Sony Online Entertainment
EngineForgeLight
Platform(s)Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 3
ReleaseWindows
April 28, 2009
Mac OS X
November 2, 2010
PlayStation 3
March 29, 2011
Genre(s)Massively multiplayer online, adventure
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Free Realms was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) set in a fantasy-themed world called Sacred Grove. The game was first released on April 28, 2009 for Microsoft Windows. Versions for Mac OS X and PlayStation 3 followed in subsequent years. The game was free-to-play with leveling restrictions, with access to additional content available through a membership fee. The game allowed the player to fight, interact with other players, take up jobs, and more.

The game's servers were shut down on March 31, 2014 in a closure of three other SOE MMOs that year; with the company stating a necessity to devote resources to other games, as well as to move away from games oriented to children, through SOE President John Smedley stating in a Reddit ask-me-anything that "Kids don't spend well and it's very difficult to run a kids game. Turns out kids do mean stuff to each other a lot."