INTERVIEW: Persist Online Devs On Making a Post-Apocalyptic Indie MMO
CipSoft, the studio behind the legendary 26-year-old fantasy MMORPG Tibia, is developing Persist Online, a cel-shaded post-apocalyptic MMO set to launch as the company enters Tibia’s 30th anniversary year. In an interview, CipSoft’s Benjamin Zuckerer revealed that while Persist Online represents a dramatic thematic departure from Tibia’s fantasy setting—instead placing players in a brutal zombie apocalypse within an open-world environment—the new title maintains the studio’s core design philosophy of complex, granular MMO mechanics.
Persist Online marks a significant expansion of CipSoft’s portfolio as the studio diversifies beyond its flagship title, which continues to thrive after nearly three decades of live service. Despite the stark contrast in setting and aesthetic, Zuckerer emphasized that the new MMO embodies the same foundational DNA that has sustained Tibia through decades of player engagement. The game’s development represents CipSoft’s ambition to apply its extensive MMO expertise to a new intellectual property while maintaining the depth of gameplay systems the studio is known for.