game-closure
Latest
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite City of Heroes memory?
I picked up City of Heroes shortly after the game launched, and I've been playing the game on and off ever since. Finding out that it's going to be gone before the end of the year stirs a lot of memories, like the first time I ever encountered one of the Rikti, the first fights against the Fifth Column, or marching around with a cape for the first time. Memories that I'll have no matter what, made more than a little bittersweet by the news of the game's impending closure. Not everyone has played the game, but after its long lifespan and the free-to-play conversion, odds are good that most MMO veterans have some recollection of playing. So as we look forward to the end, what's your favorite memory of City of Heroes? What anecdotes do you have about the first superhero MMORPG from its long and storied run? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Black Prophecy closing down on September 26th
Apparently Black Prophecy was in the red, as Reakktor Media has posted a closure notice on the free-to-play sci-fi title's official website. Today marks the last day that players will able to purchase in-game currency, and Black Prophecy will close its doors for good on September 26th. If you've purchased KK$ any time in the past six months, gamigo will be sending you an email credit voucher that may be applied to other titles in its portfolio. The closure post also mentions upcoming send-off events, and we'll keep you informed on those as we learn more. [Thanks to Wesley for the tip.]
gPotato closing Prius Online, compensating players through April 10th
We regret to inform you of the impending death of Prius Online, a free-to-play fantasy title that featured a unique pet system comprised of anima and giga companions. We first got wind of the title at last year's Game Developer Conference, and we covered its launch in the summer of 2011. In the interim, gPotato has decided to terminate the project and has posted a terse announcement on the game's official website with all the details. March 27th will be the final day of service, and all cash shop items have been reduced to 1% of their original price for the last two weeks. gPotato is also compensating players via credit in its other games; you'll want to head to the compensation page to take full advantage of that offer by April 10th. [Thanks to Dweeblok for the tip!]
Lime Odyssey shutting down in Korea [Updated]
We've brought you a lot of intriguing Lime Odyssey news over the past year, but today we've received word about the impending closure of the game in its native Korea. MMO Culture has the details, and while the blurb makes no mention of what will happen to the North American version of the game that is currently in beta, the Korean client is going dark as of March 30th. MMO Culture says that Sirius Entertainment, the game's original developer, "deemed that various ongoing critical bugs and server instability could not be solved." The site also reports that all players who purchased cash shop items will receive refunds. We've reached out to Aeria Games (Lime Odyssey's North American publisher) for a comment on the status of the North American version. [Update: The official word from Aeria Games is this: "Aeria Games confirms that the Korean beta version of Lime Odyssey: The Chronicles of Orta is shutting down. The company also confirms that this will not affect the development or rollout of Aeria's English language version. Lime Odyssey is currently in an expanded Alpha play test and will be published in North America by Aeria Games in 2012. Sirius, the developer behind Lime Odyssey, continues to develop and support the North America version."]
NCsoft KOs Punch Monster in Korea
If you've never heard of NCsoft's Punch Monster, you're not alone. Apparently the few people who have heard of it didn't want to play it, as the Korean gaming giant is closing down the casual MMO as of February 15th. ThisIsGame says that it's been some time since NCsoft pushed a major update onto the game's live servers, and a company spokesperson confirmed as much. "We decided to close it because we have barely sustained the Korean service. We will continue to develop and publish casual games with [the] experience we have gained so far." Punch Monster will remain playable in China and Japan for the moment, albeit under the name Blue Tears.
The Guild Counsel: What if the game leaves you?
In previous Guild Counsel columns, we've tackled the issue of players leaving their guilds or even their games, but what about when the game leaves you? Recently, this has become an issue that, sadly, we're seeing more and more often, with announced closings of MMOs and even studios. This week, Star Wars Galaxies' eight-year-plus run will come to an end, and the servers will shut down at midnight EST tonight. I saw a terrific tribute video made by Kyranna Mythina from the Starsider server, and I wanted to get some thoughts about the game and its closing. Read on for Kyranna's best memories of the game as well as thoughts about the end... and where to go from there.
Last chance to join Star Wars Galaxies sunset
In June, we broke the sad news that Star Wars Galaxies would be shutting down this December. But if you were hoping to check out one of the best sandbox MMOs in existence before the final curtain falls, you're running out of time. According to Sony Online Entertainment, only accounts that are active and in good standing on September 15th will be eligible for the sunset period and events, so if you want to play, you'll have to plan ahead and reactivate your account one last time to make sure your account is active on Thursday. After that, your account will remain active for free until December 15th, when the galaxies are closed down for the last time. Confused? Mepps on the official forums has an even more detailed explanation for all the caveats and what-ifs you can dream up. Players meeting the criterion will also find that their accounts are flagged for free access to other SOE games (including EverQuest II and DC Universe Online) from October 15th to the end of the year, further sweetening the deal. Finally, although the SWG TCG will remain in operation as long as the game does, loot cards cease being redeemable after September 15th, so grab your free loot cards while you still can!
The Daily Grind: What will you miss about APB?
It's never enjoyable when a game or game company goes belly-up, and MMO fans have had no shortage of depressing news over the years. Whether it was Earth and Beyond, The Matrix Online, Tabula Rasa, or (now) All Points Bulletin, many of our favorite games burned twice as bright but lasted half as long. The case of All Points Bulletin is even more aggravating due to its peerless character creation system, a unique take on music, and a payment model that attempted to blend the best of subscription-based and F2P titles. While we're the first to admit the game had its problems, it also had its charms and will be missed. That leads us to our question of the day, Massively readers. What will you miss about APB?
Spellborn shutting down in September
It seems the bell has finally tolled for The Chronicles of Spellborn, the troubled free-to-play MMORPG from Playdom. The fantasy title, which boasted a unique combat system and attempted to alleviate the grind common to the massive genre through its mission system, will be shutting its doors for good in September. Spellborn has had a checkered history since its 2009 inception as a pay-to-play title. Shortly after release, its development team went bankrupt before it was slated for free-to-play distribution by Acclaim and Frogster. According to a report published on Games.com, last week's server outage (which sparked a brush-fire of cancellation rumors) was temporary, but the game will nonetheless be closing next month. "Yes we do plan to close the game at the end of the month," said a Playdom rep via email. "The servers were down on Monday, but that was due to an unrelated technical issue; the game should be back up now until the end of this month."
Wake Up: The final day of The Matrix Online
Like we said in our article before, "...until everyone's RSI is smashed into a tiny, tiny ball." Now you see that we really weren't joking about that.But we were in The Matrix Online for the final hours as well, and we managed to get some great screenshots from the end of the game. There were explosions, lightning bolts, oddly colored skies until finally.... in the last few hours... it became beautiful again. The green skies were rolled back in favor of a blue sky tinged with hints of red. Then, of course, we all got our plugs pulled and ended up smashed into... well... you know.If you're interested in how it all looked before everything crashed, check out what we got to see during our final moments! The Last Day of Matrix Online>> %Gallery-69217%
Reminder: Check out The Matrix Online before it decompiles
Ashes to ashes, decompiling sky to deletion. The Matrix Online is reminding us all that it's slowing coming undone as the system becomes more and more unstable with each passing day. Ashes raining from the sky, eyes being seen in the clouds, zombies, agents, angels, and demons all appearing out of the system's corruption to wreak havoc across the Mega City.This week is the last week for The Matrix Online and all former subscribers are welcomed to come back to play one final time before the machines pull the plug for good. The Matrix crashes on July 31st, so be sure to be logged in on that day to be assaulted by pretty much everyone and everything until everyone's RSI is smashed into a tiny, tiny ball.
As the moon wanes, Shadowbane is no more
The developers of Shadowbane will shut down its servers for the last time on May 1st, 2009. The closure comes only weeks after its 6th year anniversary and a year after the historic "Shadowbane Reboot," which relaunched the game to take advantage of better stability and performance architecture.Shadowbane launched in March 2003 and was a pioneer for open-PvP, political intrigue, and dynamic world content, where the player could actually have an affect on the game's environment. Unfortunately, the title was plagued by stability issues at release, which prevented it from ever becoming much more than a cult classic. The game saw two expansions in its lifetime: Rise of Chaos (Dec 2003) and Throne of Oblivion (Dec 2004).Ownership of the MMO changed hands several times over its lifespan and while it originated as a subscription-based game, it eventually went free-to-play in March 2006 and finally ad-driven in March 2007. We're always sad to report the demise of an MMORPG, so let us leave you with the fond memories of one of Shadowbane's developers.Thanks for being a sometimes inspiration and sometimes whipping-boy for the MMORPG genre, Shadowbane. May your soul be eternally bound to the Tree of Life.
Red 5 Studios interview: How to fail-proof your MMO
During a recent interview with Ten Ton Hammer, Red 5 Studios' Mark Kern described his views on why games like Tabula Rasa and Hellgate: London had recently failed, and how his colleagues at Red 5 are making sure an early game closure isn't in their future."I think the key is that you need to marry whatever your theme is to the nature of the gameplay," Kern advised. "I think that the issue comes in when you take a theme or a genre that doesn't fit with the style of gameplay that you're making. I think that's some of what you've seen with these failed games. If you just go out and try to make a WoW-type of game with a few tweaks, then try to place the sci-fi genre on top of it, I think you've got some big issues there." Ouch! We can only speculate as to which game he's referring, but we tend to agree with his point here. Shoot us your opinions on a topic that's probably not going to go away any time soon.
The father of Myst weighs in on the closure of URU
Rand Miller is probably one of the most influential game designers you've probably never heard of. He, along with his brother, co-founded the company Cyan Worlds. Cyan is the developer of the title Myst and subsequent titles in that series. With 12 million copies sold to date, the simple (but beautiful) point-and-click adventure game has impacted the public perception of videogames to an unprecedented degree. As you might imagine, Mr. Miller had a few things to say about the closure of the online version of Myst, URU Live.The game ended its run earlier this week, with a touching farewell given by the Restoration Engineers. Julian Murdoch, of the Gamers with Jobs website, had a chance to chat with Mr. Miller to get his reaction on URU's closure. What resulted is a twenty minute conversation that touched on GameTap's decision to close the service, Miller's hopes for the MMO genre, and what the talented designer plans to do next with his life. If you're still looking for some closure about the closure, this is some of the best you're likely to get.
