[6] Russ Bullock from Piranha Games was a long-time fan of the series and wanted to start a joint collaboration with Weisman.

However, when House Kurita launches a massive invasion to conquer Deshler, resulting in the death of his entire family, Khol discovers a purpose to fight for.

The IP contractual obligations with Microsoft stated that the game could only be released on Xbox and PC, so that automatically excluded the PlayStation userbase and therefore limited the potential return of investment for third-party publishers.

[8] These conditions were worsened by the Great Recession and caused a lack of publishers willing to fund Smith & Tinker's and PGI's singleplayer Mechwarrior: 3015 concept.

As Weisman, Ekman, and Bullock wrote in the first dev blog post for Mechwarrior: Online: "The hard work began in earnest after the video release.

The scope and budget required to develop a console reboot needed the support of a PS3 SKU and we just couldn't convince publishers to take a risk.

[8] They also chose to change engine into CryEngine 3 and hired Battletech artist Alex Iglesias to redesign the mechs,[9] thereby making the previous Mechwarrior: 3015 trailer's in-game footage no longer applicable.

At the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) in March 2012, PGI unveiled the first trailer for Mechwarrior: Online in its early closed beta state.

[11] Later in 2012, PGI announced the Founder's Program that allowed players to purchase early access to the closed beta and get 1 to 4 mechs depending on which tier they chose to buy.

The game was scheduled to enter open Beta on October 16, 2012, but the date was pushed back due to stability and playability issues.

[14] As a pre-purchase promotion, MechWarrior Online offered three tiers of Founders packages—Legendary, Elite, and Veteran[15]—all of which provided advanced beta access.

[21] Player backlash over the gold plated mechs noted the high price of the packages for a small free-to-play game, as well as the addition of such items while other player-requested features have not been addressed.

Specifically, the trailer for MechWarrior featured the Warhammer, which is similar in design to the Destroid Tomahawk from the Macross and Robotech Series.

[29] Around 2013 and 2015, all the Battletech and Mechwarrior properties had started re-introducing redesigned versions of the Unseen mechs, including the Warhammer, Marauder, and Rifleman.

Catalyst Game Labs had started using the Warhammer, Marauder, and Rifleman as part of cover artwork for various products;[30] PGI had introduced the Marauder, Warhammer, Archer, and Rifleman re-designed by Alex Iglesias in the fall of 2015;[31] and Harebrained Schemes had reused those same mechs and their models from Mechwarrior: Online for their upcoming Battletech videogame as part of their Kickstarter and in the first alpha gameplay video.

[32] On March 1, 2017, Harmony Gold filed lawsuit against Catalyst Game Labs, PGI and Harebrained Schemes over the use of not only the four redesigned Unseen mechs, but also the Locust.

[33] Catalyst Game Labs defaulted on the lawsuit, while the case against Harebrained Schemes over the Atlas, Shadowhawk, and Locust was dismissed with prejudice on April 9, 2018.

PGI did not back down and Harmony Gold eventually agreed to an undisclosed out-of-court settlement,[34][35] dismissing the case with prejudice as a result.

[39][40] IGN gave the game a score of 7.3, stating that gameplay is solid and characterized it as an alternative to twitch-reflex based shooters in that MechWarrior Online rewards cautious play, thoughtful weapon use, and using advanced tactics.

[43] GameTrailers awarded a score of 6.0 out of 10 praising the ability for players to customize their BattleMechs, but criticizing the cumbersome user interface and that the game did a poor job at explaining its systems.

[41] Delays of major features, design decisions, and lack of communication from the developers led to growing community backlash over the course of 2013.