Meridian 59

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Meridian 59 is a 1996 video game developed by Archetype Interactive and published by The 3DO Company. It was the first 3D graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) and one of the longest running original online role-playing games. The development team included John Hanke, who later founded Niantic, Inc. and codeveloped Google Earth and Pokémon Go. The game was launched online in an early form on December 15, 1995, and released commercially on October 7, 1996, with a flat-rate monthly subscription. Meridian 59 was later released as open source software, run by original developers Andrew Kirmse and Chris Kirmse. The game's development began under a different corporate identity and name. Co-founders Mike Sellers and Steve Sellers originally established the studio as Terra Nova Interactive in 1993, with the intent to name their online project Terranova. However, the team received a cease and desist letter from Looking Glass Technologies, which was concurrently developing the tactical 3D sci-fi game Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri. To avoid legal costs, the studio rebranded as Archetype Interactive and renamed the game Meridian, a name chosen from one of Mike Sellers' previous role-playing characters. Upon discovering that Meridian was also trademarked, the developers appended the number "59" to create a legally distinct name.