Defunct – Page 11 – MMO Fallout

RaiderZ Getting Shut Down In August

When I interviewed Perfect World Entertainment back in 2013, we were assured that despite servers shutting down in Europe and Korea, that business would continue as usual. That business, I assume was solely predicated on the continuing survival of MAIET Entertainment, the game’s developer. Well MAIET Entertainment as a company is dead and buried, and unfortunately that has lead to issues cropping up in the game that cannot be fixed.

As a result, Perfect World Entertainment has announced that the servers will go dark next month.

We have significant news to share regarding RaiderZ. Over the past weeks, RaiderZ has seen a few different instances where the game has had issues with the server. In the past, we have been working with MAIET, the developer of RaiderZ, in order to troubleshoot and solve issues to keep the game available for the players. Unfortunately, MAIET is no longer operating anymore.

Back in 2013, PWE expressed interest to me in a license similar to that of Neowiz in Japan, who were creating their own content. Whether that would have permitted the publisher to keep going should MAIET go out of business is unknown, especially since the Japanese server shut down earlier this year in March.

From my interview:

That’s a great question, but it’s not something that we’ve considered at this point. We’ve heard great things out of Japan, and are always open to new opportunities in order to ensure the continued success of the game, and making a positive experience for the players.

(Source: Perfect World Entertainment)

Lord of the Rings Online Says Dasvidaniya To Russia

Russian gamers will be sad to learn that the local Lord of the Rings Online servers will be shutting down on June 1st. Mail.ru, the publisher of Lord of the Rings in Russia, was either unable or unwilling to renew their license with Warner Bros. and as a result the service is coming to an end. To end the game on a high note, players will be able to visit a tavern where they can level up and obtain equipment, talents, and more.

In addition, everything in the cash shop has had its price reduced to one mark, although new player registration and adding money to accounts has already been disabled. Mail.ru is planning on offering bonuses for several of their other games: Allods Online, Perfect World, and Dragon Nest.

(Source: www.lotro-russia.com)

Storybricks Closing Down

Storybricks, the developer behind the AI platform created for Everquest Next, is no more. Last month we learned that Storybricks and Sony Online Entertainment were parting ways, a severance that CEO Rodolfo Rosini now states is of no fault of SOE’s.

It was our own decision and Sony Online Entertainment (now Daybreak Games) bears no fault for it. Sony Online Entertainment had been up for sale for a long time so our exit had no connection with the Columbus Nova acquisition.

Plans to sell the Storybricks tech went sour after a buyer was unable to be found and everyone involved is now working at other companies. Rosini still wants the AI platform to be widely available, and is planning on releasing a few side projects unrelated to Everquest Next in the hopes that those dreams can be realized.

At one point, Storybricks even attempted to buy Sony Online Entertainment, but the deal fell through with Sony Japan due to questionable terms.

Make no mistake the company needed cuts badly, and we would have cut and cut deeply. Possibly as deep as Columbus Nova did but maybe we would have cut more senior management and less game developers instead. It was our intention to try to acquire the 38 Studios assets and made them available to players in EQN. Moreover we would have probably changed the server infrastructure allowing people to run their own servers. It would not have been a very canonical EverQuest but we would have done the best to service our customers with the limited budget of an independent studio who wanted to punch above its weight.

(Source: Storybricks Email)

It’s Official: Massively Is Shutting Down

I owe a lot to Massively and the Joystiq network, seeing as they are one of the bigger news websites to regularly share my content with a wider audience, so it’s sad to see that they will be shutting down on February 3rd. With the small number of mainstream MMO news websites, Massively was the top source for news for myself and likely many of you. It was nice to see a big company like AOL funding the Joystiq network.

The decision, it appears, came from the top echelon of AOL.

We all suspected this was coming eventually a year ago when a VP whose name I don’t even know and who never read our site chose to reward our staggering, hard-won 40% year-over-year page view growth by… hacking our budget in half.

The post hints at the possibility of the Massively team striking out and self-funding their next endeavor. We wish them the best of luck, and by we I mean me.

(Source: Massively)

Transformers Universe Shutting Down January 2015

Jagex has announced that the servers for MOBA Transformers Universe will shut down on January 31st, 2015. The decision was made mutually between the UK developer and Hasbro, and comes on the hilt of both companies realigning their focus for the year ahead.

The shutdown period will begin from today. As part of the winding down we will be refunding all those that have purchased a Founders Pack, as well as anyone that has purchased relic bundles and starter packs. These refunds should be all processed in the next 30 days. In addition we will be closing the ability for new players to make accounts, those of you that already have accounts will continue to be able to use them until the closure date.

Players who do not receive refunds after January 16th should email customer support.

(Source: Transformers Universe)

Update: Microsoft To Blame For Warface Shuttering

Following up on the announcement that Warface would be shutting down its Xbox 360 services, Crytek has come forward to finger Microsoft as the culprit. A representative of Crytek told Game Informer in a statement that the decision to shut the servers down was made by Microsoft, acting publisher of Warface on the Xbox.

“With Microsoft acting as publisher for Warface on Xbox 360, we are bound by their decision to phase out the game on their console.”

The Warface server officially shuts down in February. The PC service remains unaffected.

(Source: Game Informer)

Rusty Hearts Shutting Down

Perfect World Entertainment has announced that Rusty Hearts will be closing down on September 15th. Starting today, August 4th, it will no longer be possible to download Rusty Hearts and players will be unable to transfer Zen to their characters. Players who have been active during the past thirty days will find any Zen they purchased in the last six months credited to their wallet, which can then be transferred to other Perfect World Entertainment titles.

Rusty Hearts launched three years ago.

(Source: Arc Games)

Pirates of the Caribbean Online Revived by Fans

It’s hard to speak negatively about private server operators sometimes. After all, for every guy who runs a World of Warcraft server because he think it’ll be a good way to make some money, there’s another guy who simply wants to play his favorite MMO again. It’s rather depressing when a company chooses not only to shut down their servers, but actively shuts down operators willing to pick up the slack. No one wins in those cases, not the players who want to continue playing a game that the publisher deemed no longer viable, nor the company that puts its ex-customers in an adversarial position.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, advertising private servers is not allowed here at MMO Fallout, unless the servers come with the express permission of the publisher. In this case, Pirates of the Caribbean Online fans have apparently been given the blessing of Disney to recreate the MMO. The game is strictly non-profit, 100% free to play, otherwise Disney will sue.

(Source: Alpha Beta Gamer)

CalcMMO Shutting Down Today

It is truly a sad day here at MMO Fallout, as we must pass along the news that CalcMMO will be shutting down later today. What? You never heard of CalcMMO? CalcMMO is the world’s first and last TI-83 themed MMO, which launched on Steam’s early access earlier today. CalcMMO is free to play and scales down enough to run on a toaster. Those of you without sound cards are advised to make bleep sounds with your mouth.

CalcMMO was voted MMO Fallout’s Most Anticipated Game of 2014, making this news exceptionally disappointing. Thank you to Archive Entertainment for throwing this brick-strapped press release through my open window.

(Source: CalcMMO Press Release)

SOE Shutting Down Four MMOs

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that four of their MMOs will be shut down later this year: Wizardry Online, Free Realms, Vanguard, and Clone Wars Adventures. Free Realms and Clone Wars are set to shut down March 31st with Wizardry and Vanguard following on July 31st. Sony attributes the sunsetting of Free Realms and Clone Wars as being due to its user base growing up and finding new games, while Wizardry Online was due to a mutual agreement with the publisher. In the case of Vanguard, SOE was unable to get past technical issues with the game’s outdated engine.

player population numbers have decreased making it difficult to justify the resources needed to support and update this game. This is an older game and we’re experiencing more and more technical challenges to continue running and updating it in a way you deserve. Simply put, these are issues that cannot be fixed in the long term and as a player, we would be doing you a disservice and going against our company commitment to provide the best gameplay experiences. So given this information, sunsetting the game later this year is the inevitable conclusion.

Vanguard is the oldest title to shut down, having launched in 2007, with Free Realms and Clone Wars going live in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Wizardry Online launched last January. Vanguard being shut down is especially saddening when you consider that (prior to being stopped by technical issues) the company seemed rather excited to start working on it. Still, the good news is that workers affected by the shutdowns were apparently absorbed into the SOE hive mind to work on other projects.

(Source: Vanguard Announcement, Clone Wars Announcement, Wizardry Announcement, Free Realms Announcement)

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