Ripten's Dylan Duarte writes:

"For those who don't know, Star Trek Online was a Star Trek MMORPG being developed in 2004 by Perpetual Entertainment. On January 14th, 2008, Perpetual announced that it was no longer working on the game and that the license and assets had been transferred to an unnamed San Francisco Bay Area based game developer. For a while now, it's been rumored that that developer is Cryptic Studios, the developers of City of Heroes and City of Villians. Now it looks even more likely!"
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TrekMovie.com claims that they have independently confirmed with sources that Cryptic Studios is the new license holder for the "Star Trek Online" MMORPG.
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FiringSquad has learned that publisher Bethesda Softworks, the current owner of the video-PC game rights to the Star Trek franchise, will not be publishing a game based on the upcoming J.J. Abrams directed Star Trek movie. Company spokesperson Pete Hines confirmed this news with FiringSquad today.

Hines also stated that Bethesda Softworks's sister company, the new MMO based developer ZeniMax Online Studios, will not be taking over the development of Star Trek Online.

When asked if Bethesda Softworks was going to continue publishing Trek games or if it would let its current license expire, Hines only told FiringSquad cryptically, "TBD."
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P2 Entertainment will officially lay off members of the Star Trek Online development team this afternoon, according to multiple sources at the company. The news comes as no surprise after reports earlier this week that they had suspended development.

In cooperation with P2, Cryptic Studios interviewed members of the Star Trek Online development team at Cryptic's Los Gatos office Tuesday for positions on unannounced projects. They had no comment on reports that they would take on the game and license.
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Jan 16, 2008 City of Heroes developer Cryptic Studios is being linked with Star Trek Online following reports that Perpetual Entertainment is no longer working on the MMO. In November last year it was speculated that a new mystery company at the STO helm may be re-targeting the game at a casual audience. Now TrekMovie.com reports via a "source" the negotiations are currently underway to get Star Trek Online assets and license into the hands of a new developer. Crytpic Studios, currently ... » Read More

Cryptic Studios, developers of the successful MMORPG series City of Heroes (PC), confirmed that the company has been interviewing employees of P2 Entertainment, reports TrekMovie.com.

Though the studio would not confirm if it is currently handling the development of Star Trek Online (PC), Cryptic's tapping of P2 employees seats the studio as the most likely candidate to continue the project. P2 Entertainment was revealed yesterday to have ceased development on the title, transferring the license to an unknown developer.
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P2 Entertainment - formerly Perpetual Entertainment - has ceased development on Star Trek Online, according to multiple sources at the San Francisco based developer. The news does not, however, mean that the game is canceled. The license, as well as the game's content - but not the code - have been transferred to another Bay Area development studio where work will continue. It is not entirely clear at this time what this means for the individual developers who worked on the project at P2.

As a company, P2 Entertainment will continue on with their profitable Perpetual Platform, which has been licensed to industry leaders like BioWare, and refocus their core business on the casual games market.
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Public relations firm Kohnke Communications has filed charges against Star Trek Online developer Perpetual Entertainment, alleging the company of breach of contract, fraud, intentional interference with contract, and other similar charges. The charges stem from Perpetual's recent shift in ownership, in which most of its assets were transferred to another company and its Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising project was placed on indefinite hold.

Kohnke alleges that Perpetual owes it $10,675 in outstanding invoices, in addition to fees for its work promoting Gods & Heroes. Depending on the game's success after launch, Kohnke would be entitled to a minimum of $70,000 and a maximum of $280,000. The complaint alleges that Kohnke's work on promoting the game should entitle it to the maximum amount.

"Kohnke's public relations campaign was successful in creating pre-release 'buzz' around Gods & Heroes, and in convincing reviewers to write positive reviews about the game," the text reads. "Kohnke is also entitled to punitivie and/or exemplary damages due to P2, Keen and McKibbin's conduct, which was fraudulent, oppressive, and with malice."
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Dec 5, 2007 The very first in-game screenshot from MMO Star Trek Online has beamed down, and you can clap eyes on it right here on this very page. Accompanying the in-game shot has is an update on the game which focuses on the Interaction System. "What's the Interaction System you ask? In a nutshell, the Interaction System controls every non-combat, player-to-NPC interaction in the ... » Read More

Shacknews has received a considerable amount of new information regarding today's Perpetual news from a source close to the company, who requested to remain anonymous. Some information was gleaned from a letter detailing various changes to the company and Star Trek Online, which was recently distributed to all Perpetual employees.

Perpetual has been acquired by new ownership, reportedly a media company looking to use Star Trek Online to make its first major inroads into the video game market. Along with the acquisition comes a partial retargeting of Star Trek Online to what Shacknews' source describes as a "more casual" experience, one which may potentially eschew subscription fees in favor of the practice of charging real money for optional in-game items, a practice popularized by various Korean MMOs.
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In an SEC filing, Korean-based developer Gravity (g) disclosed that in October, it received a notice that U.S.-based online game developer Perpetual, in which Gravity invests, would be liquidating all of its assets.

The date on which Gravity stated the notice was sent, October 10th, is the same day that Perpetual announced that its PC MMORPG Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising would be put on hold indefinitely.

It is unclear whether this announcement also affects Star Trek Online, Perpetual's other MMO, which was still believed to be in development.
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