Games developed in the west that are then brought over to the east have a tendency to not break into the market enough to sustain profitibility. Rift’s death in Korea has arguably been written on the walls ever since Trion announced that the game would still be operating with a subscription despite the market’s heavy focus on free to play games with cash shops. Even World of Warcraft operates on a pay by the hour model in Asia.
So it comes as not so much of a surprise that Rift didn’t catch on in Korea. MMO Culture is reporting that Rift is being shut down under CJ E&M on April 25th, and players will be refunded for any subscriptions charged past April 17th and that the web shop will be closed March 28th. Rift has just recently gone into open beta in preparation for release in China.
(Source: MMO Culture)
MMO Fallout 