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Lunia goes offline on January 1st
It's been a rough year for MMOs, with several high profile titles going dark over the last 12 months. Unfortunately, it looks as though 2013 has a last-minute casualty to add to the pile in the form of Lunia, the free-to-play action-arcade RPG from All-M. According to an update on the game's official Facebook page, Lunia will be taken down permanently on January 1st, 2014. The game's website is also set to be disabled on the same date. Fans of Lunia can still share memories via the Lunia Facebook page, which will remain open even after the game's servers power down. [Thanks to Mehighlow for the tip!]
Japanese Walking Dead, Witcher publisher Cyber Front dissolves
Cyber Front, the Japanese publisher of Telltale's The Walking Dead, Valve's Portal series and CD Projekt's The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings has been dissolved by parent company Kaga Electronics. According to a Gamasutra translation of a statement posted by the company on its website, Cyber Front was subject to a change in management in March of this year. Since that time, the company struggled to rebuild, and on December 19, the decision was made to close shop. Cyber Front recently also published Lab Zero's Skullgirls, which has had a string of bad luck lately, though it will be re-emerging on XBLA and the PSN in January as Skullgirls Encore.
Warhammer Online offers partial refunds
With Warhammer Online's closure tomorrow, some of the players will be entitled to a partial refund for money spent during the past few months. Those who qualify for a refund will include those who had paid game time on their accounts on November 1st, including credit card payments and game time cards. Mythic will also be refunding unused purchased game item codes. These refunds will begin tomorrow but could take up to 90 days to process. In the case of credit card purchases, Mythic will automatically refund the money back onto the account. For cards and codes, Mythic is asking those who qualify to contact customer support to arrange a refund method (we suggest a shady back alley hand-off between a Mythic employee and you).
Bloodrayne dev Terminal Reality quietly closes its doors
Developer Terminal Reality, a studio best known for creating the Bloodrayne franchise, has apparently been shuttered - though official confirmation of the closure is difficult to pin down. Veteran artist Jesse Sosa, who departed Terminal Reality in 2011 after ten years with the company, confirmed the closure in a Facebook status update this morning, which reads in part, "TRI seems to have finally shut down." As Gamasutra points out, Sosa's blunt statement is the highlight of the scant evidence for the studio's shutdown, though our attempts to confirm the report were met with further evidence that Terminal Reality is now defunct. A visit to the company's website currently asks users to visit Terminal Reality's Facebook page, while claiming that the site is undergoing renovations. The Facebook page was last updated on October 10 - not an alarmingly long time ago - though the update prior to that is from late August. Likewise, the company's official Twitter account hasn't been updated since March 22. In a last-ditch attempt to reach somebody - anybody - at Terminal Reality, we phoned the studio only to find that its phones no longer work. While we still lack an official confirmation of the closure, it seems apparent that the company is not open for business. It's currently unknown how this will affect Terminal Reality's current employees, though we wish them the best of luck.
Blockbuster to shutter all of its remaining UK stores
Blockbuster's fate may already be sealed in the US, but there was hope that its UK brand might lead itself out of the darkness. Today, administrators in control of the movie rental chain dealt it a killer blow, announcing the closure of its remaining 91 UK stores by December 16th, resulting in the loss of 808 jobs. Having already shuttered its online business following increased competition from streaming services like Netflix and Amazon's Lovefilm, Blockbuster's UK administrators hoped to find a buyer before reaching the decision to close the remaining stores. Remaining stock will be reduced by up to 90 percent in an attempt to sell it all before December 15th, so do head to your nearest (open) store, indulge in a bit of nostalgia and grab yourself a bargain before Blockbuster closes its doors for the final time.
Dynasty Warriors Online shutting down in North America
Aeria Games is not having a good month, apparently. Shortly after the company announced the closure of Lime Odyssey in Korea, it broke the news to the Dynasty Warriors community that the North American servers will be shut down on January 10th, 2014. The company posted its reasons and condolences on the Dynasty Warrior forums: "We know and understand this is both sad and frustrating. The closure of a game is always hardest for us at Aeria as we recognize the community's dedication towards the game but regrettably games can't last forever." Aeria will be giving out 100% rebates to any AP purchased by players from now until the game's sunset. The company also promised that it's working on special events for the title's final days. [Thanks to Mehighlow for the tip!]
Archlord sunsetting on January 1st
Archlord will be no more, as Webzen has decided to sunset the title. The company announced the closure of the fantasy title on the official site: "Unfortunately, we have come to a difficult decision to end this long journey we have enjoyed and cherished together. We understand that this will disappoint many of our players. We will be disabling client downloads and cash shop for the game on the 11th of December. The game will be closed on January 1st." There is a silver lining to this, however. Webzen will be throwing a 400% XP and drop event from December 11th until Archlord's closure. In addition, the company urged the community to transfer interest to Archlord 2. [Thanks to Skurvel for the tip!]
Prius Online closes down in South Korea
Whether you think of it as Prius Online or Arcane Saga, the game known to its Korean playerbase as Prius Online has had a hard time keeping the lights on in the West. It's been running for five years over in its native South Korea, though... but no longer. As of December 17th the game will shut down for good, with character creation and the cash shop already disabled for its remaining time. Developer Netmarble has apparently been focusing more upon the mobile market rather than the PC game market, and the game presumably hit the spot of no longer being profitable to keep running. There had been rumors of a sequel, but this could kill any hopes for that as well as any lingering aspirations toward another American revival. It may have died many times before its final death, but it seems like this is finally the end of the road for the game.
Rise of Dragonian Era sunsets
If an MMO that few people played shut down, how long would it take the community to notice? Apparently "a couple of weeks" is the answer, as we're only now getting word that Rise of Dragonian Era (RODE) sunset this past November 13th. In a shutdown notice on the game's now-defunct Facebook page, the studio posted, "RODE services will close permanently. We apologize for this unfortunate event. But we look forward to seeing our RODE players a part of our Netgame community again in the future." RODE launched in early 2012 and featured a permanent dragon companion and aerial combat as its main selling points. [Thanks to Holden for the tip!]
The Game Archaeologist: The bizarre death of Wish [Updated]
First of all, "wish" is one of those words that ends up looking dang strange the more you focus on it. Wish, wish, wish, wish. It's just a bunch of meaningless lines and squiggles to me now. Anyway, what's up for today's topic? We're going to look at another MMO that didn't make it to the starting gate even with some genuine enthusiasm and hype surrounding it, and that game is wrrrshhsish. Wish. That game is Wish. While memories of this never-launched title have faded with time, Wish is still remembered for two things: a truly audacious feature set that promised the world and an abrupt, bizarre end that seemed to come out of nowhere. What made this MMO so special and why did it die so young? Our very own Game Archaeologist is on the scene with a special report.
Ragnarok Online 2 closing in Korea next month
Ragnarok Online 2's days are numbered -- if you're living in South Korea, that is. If you're in North Korea, you're probably more concerned about central heating and plumbing than the availability of an MMO. Citing few players, Gravity announced that it will be taking Ragnarok Online 2 offline in Korea on December 23rd. The developer did include a hint of hope in the shutdown notice that the game could return in the future. While this may be cause for concern to those playing Ragnarok Online 2 in other regions, the company said that the service will continue for North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Blockbuster to close stores, end US retail and mail DVD operations
Blockbuster LLC will conclude its US retail and mail DVD efforts "by early-January 2014," a press release from parent company Dish Network Corporation announced this week. Folding Blockbuster's retail operations will involve closing "approximately 300 remaining US-based retail stores, as well as its distribution centers." "Consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment," Dish President and CEO Joseph Clayton said in the press release. "We continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings." Those digital offerings include the Blockbuster @Home service for Dish customers and the general access, individual transaction-based Blockbuster On Demand. Dish will also retain Blockbuster's "key assets, including the company's significant video library." This week's announcement follows the closure of 300 other US retail locations earlier this year, as well as its UK doppelganger's declaration of bankruptcy in October.
Blockbuster to shutter remaining US retail stores, accept the inevitable
It wasn't hard to see the writing on the wall for Blockbuster's rapidly declining disc-based movie services, and it's now clear that the end is at hand. The Dish-owned company says it will close its remaining 300 directly controlled American stores (down from 9,000 in its heyday) by early January, along with their matching distribution centers. Blockbuster By Mail rentals will also disappear by mid-December. While franchised stores will survive, Blockbuster is effectively becoming an internet-only brand in the US; you'll likely have to use Blockbuster @Home or Blockbuster On Demand to see that blue-and-yellow logo. We're not lamenting the death of the retail business when online services are much more convenient, but we won't blame you if you feel slightly nostalgic -- it's the end of an era. [Image credit: Josh Smith, Flickr]
EverQuest Mac shutting down (again)
After a stay of execution last year, EverQuest Mac will be shut down on November 18th. SOE cited the need to devote its resources to upcoming games as a reason for the sunset. "After much review and consideration, we have made the decision to sunset EverQuest Mac," the studio posted. "EQMac was originally scheduled to sunset in early 2012, but we kept the game up and running following the passionate feedback received from the community. As we align development resources towards our upcoming slate of games, we cannot justify the resources required to continue to support EQMac. The remaining EverQuest titles (EverQuest, EverQuest II, EverQuest Next, and EverQuest Next Landmark) will not be affected by this closure. We appreciate all of your contributions over the years and hope to see you in other EQ games." SOE President John Smedley added his condolences: "Please know that this was not a decision that was taken lightly. It was a hard call to make, but we know it's the right thing to do." EQMac is a Mac-only version of the game that's been effectively frozen in time since the Planes of Power expansion. You can read our history as well as veterans' stories of the title. The last EverQuest game to be shut down was EverQuest Online Adventures in March 2012.
The Mummy Online shuts down today
Do you remember The Mummy Online? It was a browser game by Bigpoint, it was in beta testing, it... you don't, do you? Apparently a lot of people didn't, seeing as how the company is shutting the game down as of today without much fanfare. According to the official announcement, Bigpoint has determined that due to the dropping playerbase it simply made more sense to sink more resources into games with an active group of players rather than trying to revive something slowly drying out. There's a metaphor in there. No word has been given on any kind of compensation for players who had spent money on the game. Readers may also note that the game never technically left beta testing, making it one of many titles to fold before an official launch. Our condolences to any gamers or developers affected deeply by this loss. [Thanks to Scott for the tip!]
The Game Archaeologist: WAR's biggest battle was with itself
Who would have thought that on WAR's fifth anniversary and just days after I dropped a few favorite things about the game, Mythic would be announcing a closure instead of an exciting celebration? While we can all say it that Warhammer Online's upcoming sunset was expected, nobody predicted that the news would go down on its fifth birthday. Maybe someone over there likes order more than chaos and sees a nice symmetry in this. Personally, I think it felt a little bit mean to do that to the remaining community that was patiently sitting there hoping that the studio would toss them even a small bit of recognition. But facts are facts, and after December 18th, the game of public quests, the Tome of Knowledge, "bears, bears, bears," Slayers and Marauders, RvR and scenarios, exploding squigs, and drunken Dwarves will be no more. There are a few months left to experience the game if one so desires, but the end is finally here. It's caused many of us who were invested in the game back in 2008 to take stock of our memories and deal with the last chapter of this strange, wild rollercoaster that started with a strong IP, a studio steeped in PvP MMO development, and a pair of white sunglasses. In the end, WAR's biggest battle was with itself -- and it lost. Today, let's look at the whys, the what ifs, and the community reaction.
Shadow Cities closing down October 7
First announced in 2010, Shadow Cities was set to be a completely new experience in MMO gaming. The location-based mobile game secured millions in investment capital and had a promising showing at GDC 2011. But all of that wasn't enough to keep the game afloat almost three years later. Finnish developer Grey Area has announced that they will be closing down Shadow Cities on October 7 of this year. The game has already been removed from the iTunes App Store as of today and it will not accept new Mana Potion purchases. [Source: Grey Area release]
Warhammer Online to close December 18th
Today is Warhammer Online's fifth anniversary, but instead of getting a celebration, the players are getting a pink slip from Mythic. The studio announced that it will be shutting WAR down as of December 18th because its licensing deal with Games Workshop has come to an end. The official statement gives the important details: "We here at Mythic have built an amazing relationship working with Games Workshop creating and running Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning over the last 8 years. Unfortunately, as with all licensing deals they do eventually come to end and on December 18th, 2013 we will no longer be operating Warhammer Online. As such we will no longer be selling three-month game time codes or have the ability to auto renew your accounts for three months as of September 18th, 2013. From all of us here at Mythic we thank you again for your dedication and support over the last five years." Producer Carrie Gouskos also posted her own memories of the game on this somber occasion, including the revelation of a now-cancelled Asian F2P edition of the game and a vampire-themed expansion. "It has been a tremendous honor to work with Games Workshop and even though we may be parting ways, our relationship with them remains strong," she wrote. "And now, hopefully, because this may be the last thing I ever write about Warhammer, I'll be allowed to acknowledge the existence of Chaos Dwarves. Or maybe not."
RIFT China closing in November
According to a translation at MMO Culture, Shanda Games will be shutting down RIFT China on November 15, 2013. After an unsuccessful push to keep the pay-to-play model alive in China, Shanda cryptically cites "several reasons" as the purpose behind the closure. RIFT's Korean version has fared no better, closing on April 25th of this year, and recent studio closures in San Diego and Europe worry fans of the fantasy MMO.
Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online sunsetting in September
It looks as though Disney is going on a good old-fashioned reaping today and culling some of its less-profitable MMO properties. In addition to shuttering Toontown Online, the Mouse House is sunsetting Pirates of the Caribbean Online on September 19th. The official announcement informed players today of the sad news and explained the decision to cancel this title: "The Walt Disney Company is committed to offering high-quality, entertaining play experiences in both online virtual worlds and mobile apps. At this time, we are shifting our development focus towards other online and mobile play experiences, such as Club Penguin and a growing selection of Disney mobile apps." The upshot of this is that the final month will be playable for free to anyone interested, and any players who paid up past August 20th will receive an email with details regarding refunds.
