Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings was a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows which was released on November 22, 2002 and shut down on December 30, 2005 before it was relaunched as a beta for active Asheron's Call subscribers between 2012 and 2017. It is a sequel to 1999's Asheron's Call, although content, graphics and gameplay dynamics differed greatly from its predecessor.
Both games were developed by Turbine Entertainment Software and originally published by Microsoft Game Studios, until Turbine purchased the Asheron's Call intellectual property in December 2003. The Microsoft-to-Turbine transition was completed in 2005. In 2004 and 2005, Turbine entered business arrangements with Jolt Online Gaming to operate Asheron's Call 2 in Europe and with Sony Online Entertainment to distribute the game's first expansion, Asheron's Call 2: Legions, under the Station Publishing label.
The original Asheron's Call continued to be operated, even after Asheron's Call 2 was shuttered. In December 2012, Asheron's Call 2 was restarted, on a new server. The game closed on January 31, 2017.
| MC = 82/100 <small>(22 reviews)</small>
Asheron's Call 2 received generally positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator GameRankings, the game received an average score of 83% based on 29 reviews. On Metacritic, the game received an average score of 82 out of 100, based on 22 reviews.
The game was nominated for GameSpots annual "Best Graphics (Technical)" and "Best Role-Playing Game" awards among computer games, which went to Unreal Tournament 2003 and Neverwinter Nights, respectively. During the AIAS' 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, Fallen Kings received nominations for "Massive Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering".
Shut down, relaunch and second shut down
Asheron's Call 2 failed to achieve enough subscribers to be viable and was shut down in December 2005. There were no plans to release the source code. In December 2012, Turbine relaunched the game starting with a beta for all subscribers of Asheron's Call.
By December 2016, Turbine was no longer developing MMORPGs, and the servers and account system were transitioned over to a newly formed studio Standing Stone Games, but the Asheron's Call IP remained with Turbine and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game closed on January 31, 2017 (along with closing the original game as well).