The game is being developed and marketed as a solo and/or coop-with-friends game.

This is not an open world MMO (and probably never will be)... It has nothing to do with "missing out on an opportunity" or "wasted potential"... They are building the game they envisioned, and that vision is not about being another MMORPG.

It's not meant to be some sort of 'Viking' version of RUST or something.