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Petroglyph to shut down Battle for Graxia just two months after launch
Due in part to the colossal success of League of Legends, the past few years have seen dozens of new MOBAs enter development. The genre that was once a niche inhabited by just a few indie developers has rapidly become one of the most competitive online gaming markets in the world, and small studios are finding it difficult to compete. Independent studio Petroglyph Games found this out the hard way when it launched free-to-play MOBA Rise of Immortals in 2011 to a less-than-stellar reception. The studio attempted to revive the game recently with its Battle For Graxia update, which overhauled the entire game to be more like other competitive PvP-focused MOBAs and added interesting new features like the White Knight system that replaces players who leave in the middle of a game. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have revived the game, as developers announced today that they will be pulling the plug on June 27th. Petroglyph's future now looks uncertain, as the studio has recently lost the development contract for End of Nations and failed to secure funding on Kickstarter for its own RTS game, Victory. [Thanks for the tip, Venova.]
The Perfect Ten: Final moments of MMOs, part 1
Maybe many of us would just rather remember MMOs as they were in life rather than at the moment of their demise. But I believe that how a game went out is incredibly fascinating for many reasons and worthy of examination. It's in these final moments when an entire community has to say goodbye. It's in these moments that the developers mourn as well before pulling the plug. It's in these moments that history is being made one last time. And it goes without saying that it's in these moments that everyone curses the unfairness of it all. Today we're going to watch the first half of 10 videos featuring MMOs in their final moments. It's here we'll see how weird, crazy, sad, and interesting things can get. Maybe you were part of one (or more) of these moments or are simply curious what it was like. Either way, it's the end of the world as we know it. And we feel fine.
Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes goes down swinging today
Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes' final month is up and the game is scheduled to be closed at 5:00 p.m. EDT today. That doesn't mean the title will be going down without one heckuva fight! According to Wrath of Heroes' Facebook page, the developers are spending the last few hours in battle with the players. The team has also added a chance for killers to transform into vampire chickens or bloodthirsters. If you're just now finding out about the sunset and want more information, check out EA's FAQ on the closure. [Thanks to Adam for the tip!]
Gpotato's Sevencore meets an early demise
Despite recently seeing the first of what players hoped would be a string of new content, gPotato's new title Sevencore announced today that it will be closing its doors. A forum post says that the game "has proved to be less attractive to players than anticipated and thus [it's] become unprofitable for the developer to be continued as a game." The developers hope to transition active players by undertaking the following: Reimbursing all gPotatoes spent between the 1st of February and today as well as between 30% and 75% of purchases prior to this date, Closing the in-game shop with immediate effect while considering making all shop items available for free, Keeping the game open until the end of April, Boosting experience gain and running events during the final period of the game, and Encouraging players to migrate to other gPotato games with special enticement packages. This bad news comes on the heels of the news that Webzen recently purchased gPotato and Gala-Net. Perhaps the purchase will breath new life into the developer after it showed a dip in quarterly sales when compared to the last year.
Priston Tale 2 shutting down on March 25th
It's never easy to say goodbye to a game you enjoy. Priston Tale 2 has enjoyed a decent lifespan for a small free-to-play title, but after three years of operation, the game is shutting down on March 25th. According to the official shutdown announcement, the game simply hasn't attracted enough of an audience, due in no small part to a lack of support from the game's original developer. Players looking for a new home are being directed toward the upcoming title The Aurora World, which is currently in closed beta testing. All unspent cash shop currency from Priston Tale 2 will be transferred over to the new game, and players will be able to receive special benefits for having a high-level character if the same account is used for both games. It's not going to stymie the sense of loss, but hopefully it'll take some of the edge off. [Thanks to Joshua for the tip!]
Google Reader to shut down with other services in another 'spring cleaning'
Last spring, Page and Co. retired iGoogle, Google Mini and other services as part of a 'spring cleaning' initiative to help it better focus its efforts, and another clean-up round has just begun. This time around, Google Reader and seven other services are getting the axe, bringing the firm's total of features closed since 2011 to 70. Mountain View says it's sunsetting the feed reader because it has "declined," and that turning it off will allow it to pour its energy into fewer products. Reader will keep the lights on until July 1st, and diehard users will be able to keep their data and subscriptions by using the outfit's Takeout tool. Other products being put out to pasture include the company's Building Maker, Cloud Connect, Apps Script's GUI builder and five UiApp widgets, Search API for shopping and the CalDAV API (for developers who aren't whitelisted, that is). The internet giant also announced -- and confirmed our fears -- that it'll no longer sell or provide updates for Snapseed Desktop for Mac and Windows. Blackberry's Google Voice app is being shelved as well, but the company suggests its HTML 5 experience is a nice alternative. By the sounds of it, CEO Larry Page is still making good on his promise to keep Google focused on fewer things. Hit the bordering source links for more details. Update: Apps Script is sticking around, but its GUI Builder and a quintet of UiApp widgets are being deprecated.
Report: BioWare San Francisco closes, up to 30 staffers laid off
According to a report on GamesRadar, BioWare San Francisco – the studio formerly known as EA2D and responsible for titles like Dragon Age Legends and Mirror's Edge 2D – has been closed by EA, leaving between 25 to 30 employees jobless. Citing a source inside the studio, the report suggests EA felt it was "too expensive" to make mobile games in Redwood Shores, CA.Joystiq has followed up with EA to check the veracity of this claim. Dragon Age Legends' servers were shut off last year, but the developers at BioWare San Francisco were kind enough to make an offline version available for fans to continue to play.
Mythic developers discuss the swan song of Wrath of Heroes
Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes is shutting down near the end of the month, but it turns out that the developers have a few last hurrahs for the game. A recent fansite interview sheds some light on the new heroes that are coming out during the game's final month of operation, with 17-18 heroes being fast-tracked for release. The game's main currency, Gold, will be able to purchase everything in the cash shop including Gold Boost items, intentionally creating plenty of money for players to enjoy the last bits of the game. What's not coming? Most anything else that was in development, including some heroes that the developers just didn't have enough time to finish. There were also Scenarios in development that aren't close enough to completed to be functional; while pushing out heroes quickly is a priority, a half-finished Scenario is fun for no one. Fans looking for fine details on exactly which traditional Warhammer factions will be represented in the last month can look at the full interview.
Trickster Online shuts down today
No, despite the name, this isn't an elaborate deception. Trickster Online is being shut down as of today at 8:30 p.m. EST. The official announcement declines to provide a reason for the shutdown, stating only that the game's time has come to an end. Players who made purchases in the game's cash shop will be eligible for a refund automatically credited to their accounts, although the refund will be in the form of points usable on other games published by SG Interactive. The refunds will extend to purchases made as far back as February of last year; purchases made further back than November will receive less than a full refund. Our condolences to any and all fans of the game left without their favorite haunt in the wake of the closure. [Thanks to Paul for the tip!]
Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes is shutting down next month
Mythic's experiment in turning Warhammer Online into a microtransaction-flush MOBA has failed. The studio announced that Wrath of Heroes will be closing on March 29th. Wrath of Heroes went into open beta in late 2011 and never officially released. Producer James Casey wraps things up with a few bittersweet memories: "I think we created something special and I would not trade the time creating it or playing it (on all those Friday Fight Fests and anonymously almost every day) for anything." While players' gems will not be refunded, Mythic is planning to release "work in progress" heroes at a quick pace and discounted rate up to the game's shutdown. Additionally, players who purchased and had gems between the first of the year and today will be treated to a free month subscription and a chest of goodies in WAR. [Thanks to Etaew for the tip!]
Large Hadron Collider stops for two years of tune-ups, goes out on a high note (video)
We've long known that the Large Hadron Collider would need to take a break, but that doesn't take the edge off of the moment itself: as of Valentine's Day, the particle accelerator has conducted its last test for the next two years. The giant research ring will undergo sweeping repairs and upgrades that should should give it the superconducting connectors needed to hit the originally planned 14TeV of combined collision energy, versus the 8TeV it's been limited to almost since the beginning. CERN's machine arguably earned the downtime. After a rough start, it went on to produce rafts of collision data and healthy evidence of the elusive Higgs boson. If you're still down, think of the hiatus as doing us a favor -- it postpones any world-ending disasters until around 2015.
Posterous closing on April 30th to focus on Twitter
It's almost inevitable as breathing: a tech powerhouse acquires a clever yet small startup solely for its talent or technology, and lets any leftover services wither away. Posterous' decision to shut down following its 2012 acquisition by Twitter is very nearly a textbook example. The 4-year-old firm will close its Posterous Spaces service on April 30th to shift all of its attention to Twitter, giving customers just over two months to back up their content. There is an unusual twist to this seemingly predictable story, however. Those still using Spaces will have a place to go -- along with Squarespace and Wordpress import tools, Posterous founders Brett Gibson and Garry Tan are planning to launch Posthaven as a (not entirely intentional) refuge. Diehards will still have reason to mourn the end of an era, but the closure at least won't be the end to their creations.
Bullet Run shutting down on March 8th
Sony Online Entertainment has announced the imminent closing of its short-lived multiplayer FPS, Bullet Run. In a post on the game's official forums, the studio announced that "after much review and consideration, Acony Games and Sony Online Entertainment have mutually made the decision to discontinue development on the free-to-play FPS game, Bullet Run." SOE will be officially sunsetting the game on March 8th, 2013. Until that time, however, the servers will remain up-and-running for any players who want to have one last hoorah before the game takes its final bow. Membership billing, however, ended yesterday, February 1st. Any players who still had time on their Platinum Memberships as of that time will receive a "pro rata refund for any time remaining on [their] Bullet Run subscription[s]" from SOE. The full details can be found on the game's official forums, and we wish the best of luck to the game's dev team in its members' future endeavors. [Thanks to Jack Pipsam for the tip!]
Ngmoco shutting down some titles March 31
Ngmoco announced on its website earlier this week that some of the game maker's biggest iOS titles, including We Rule, Godfinger and Touch Pets Dogs 2, are going to be shut down for good on March 31. The games will be off of Apple's App Store later this week on February 1, so no new users will be able to download them, and the servers for the games will go offline at the end of next month, effectively ending the games completely. Ngmoco didn't give a clear reason for the shutdowns, but it's not hard to guess: The company, once one of the biggest app developers on the App Store, has been fairly steadily transitioning over to Android titles in the past few years, and has seen a sharp decline in popularity on iOS. Not to mention that many of the figures who made the company so large, including former EA exec Neil Young, have left the company in recent days. In other words, it's finally game over for Ngmoco on iOS. Ngmoco was purchased by Japanese network DeNA a little while ago, and that company is still steadily trying to grow its own iOS sales and popularity. But Ngmoco as a brand is effectively done on the App Store, especially since these once-thriving games are shut down. One of the biggest names of the App Store's first generation is finally on its way out the door.
The Nexus Telegraph: Giving trust for WildStar
Some of you are probably well aware that I used to write this site's column about City of Heroes. And you may also be aware that I'm talking about that column in the past tense because it's objectively impossible to write anything about City of Heroes in the present tense. NCsoft closed the doors to the game and left me more than a mite unhappy with that decision. Some of you are also well aware that NCsoft is the company behind WildStar. That might seem like a bit of a cognitive disconnect -- why in the world would I trust a company that just made me very unhappy? Lots of reasons. I can understand the vitriol and the anger, but I also think they're just a wee bit misplaced. There are plenty of good reasons to cheer for this game even though I harbor no small amount of bitterness about those we lost before.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter Extra: Interviews with Champions Online and The Phoenix Project
I promised you that we would be doing interviews next time, but astute readers would note that I did not say "next week." So welcome to our special extra installment of the column looking at two different sides following the City of Heroes shutdown. We've already seen two projects coming from the ashes of CoH; The Phoenix Project and Heroes and Villains are both currently being assembled by passionate fans of the now-departed game. But we'd be remiss if we failed to note the impact that the game's closure has had on existing games like Champions Online and DC Universe Online. Rather than just speculating on any of this, we decided to just ask. So today you've got two interviews. One is with Brad Stokan, Executive Producer at Cryptic Studios, about how the City of Heroes shutdown has affected Champions Online and the studio that helped bring the game to life in the first place. The other is with the lead staff at Missing Worlds Media, the team behind The Phoenix Project. So let's take a look behind the scenes, yes?
Anonymous source sounds off on City of Heroes profitability, NCsoft responds
The chance to prevent City of Heroes from being shut down may have passed, but the debates about the game's profitability and the merit of that shutdown aren't going anywhere. An anonymous source has come forward reaffirming several previous data points but also elaborating on some of the details surrounding the closure, including Paragon Studios' plan to pull away from NCsoft entirely and why NCsoft wouldn't greenlight a sequel to the game. Surprisingly, NCsoft's Chief of Corporate Communications, Lincoln Davis, responded to the information, denying all claims but still shedding some light on the issue. Davis mentions repeatedly that Paragon Studios was not profitable, but at no point does he state that City of Heroes itself was not profitable. He also avoids saying that the company was unable to find a buyer for the game but simply that the company was unable to find a buyer that NCsoft thought would support the game "in a manner [players] were accustomed to for years to come." While it won't bring the game back, it certainly sheds some interesting light on the whole situation, albeit light that will likely be of cold comfort to the game's fans. [Update: We've reached out to NCsoft for a more detailed statement; we'll keep you posted when we hear more.]
Family Guy Online to shut down next month
Get your Quahog gaming fix soon because Family Guy Online is not long for this world. The game announced that it will be shutting down next month on January 18th. Family Guy Online is currently in open beta, which means that it will have never officially launched before spinning down. The game will refund any cash purchases made during the last two months (from October 22nd through December 21st). If you're curious how this interactive version of the TV animated series performed, you can check out Beau's Rise and Shiny expedition. [Thanks to Matthew for the tip!]
GameSpy: Multiplayer server shutdown result of failure to pay by devs
GameSpy has responded to the issue earlier this week of its owners Glu Mobile shutting down various multiplayer servers for older PC games like Neverwinter Nights and Sniper Elite. First up, GameSpy itself has put together a large blog post on its own site, making clear that GameSpy, the editorial outlet owned by IGN, is different from GameSpy Technologies, the multiplayer middleware provider owned by Glu Mobile. It's GameSpy Technologies that closed the servers down, not the GameSpy outlet.GameSpy Technologies has also responded to the issue on its Facebook page, and says that the server shutdowns are a result of the game developers choosing not to pay their service fees, and that "in some cases this lapsing ranges back as much as four years." GameSpy Technologies tells players that it "cannot be expected to provide a service free of charge," and that's why these servers went down. The company also says it was the developers' responsibility to inform players of the impending shutdowns, and "it is regrettable that these publishers chose not to inform their users of the impending discontinuation of support."Now, developer Rebellion said that GameSpy had changed its rates to be "far in excess of how much we were paying previously," but GameSpy Technologies reportedly told GameSpy (the editorial outlet) that server fees haven't changed in eight years and there were no increases made or even plans to do so. Someone, in other words, is mistaken. Joystiq has followed up with both parties, and we'll update this post if we hear more.
Join Massively tonight as we stream City of Heroes' final hour [Updated]
November 30th is a dark day for City of Heroes fans. Three months ago, NCsoft announced that it would be pulling the plug on the popular superhero MMO and shuttering Paragon Studios, the team behind the magic. The game's date of execution has now arrived; the MMO will draw its final breath tonight -- or tomorrow, depending on your time zone. The servers will shut down at 3:00 a.m. EST Saturday morning (midnight tonight on the West Coast). Never the type to go quietly, the Titan Network crew has organized a final Unity Rally; it will begin at 2:00 a.m. EST tomorrow morning (11:00 p.m. PST tonight) and take place at Atlas Park's City Hall on every server. Join Massively tonight as we livestream a final farewell to the game and record the event for posterity (or just people who fell asleep). And while you wait, you can go join the latest #SaveCoH campaign, this one a Hail Mary pitch to Disney. Farewell, Paragon City. Your innovation and creativity will be missed. [Update: It's gone, heroes. We've uploaded the stream after the cut for those who couldn't be there in person.]
