Back in the early massively multiplayer salad days, several developers gambled that space sims would be the next big online genre. Those bets largely didn't pay off, as online space sims have struggled commercially, even when they were critically well received. Microsoft, 3DO, and EA launched and then abandoned Allegiance, Jumpgate, and Earth & Beyond, respectively. But with less green expectations, smaller developers still hope to prove the genre's potential. Vendetta Online was largely created by four individuals, and its modest production budget is sometimes unkindly evident. Yet the game offers a reasonably effective mix of space-based trading and multiplayer combat.