Because Gamigo told us it isn’t getting shut down.
Rift is definitely on its way to getting shut down, and you may be wondering how I know this. Well it’s because Gamigo stated emphatically that Rift is definitely not on its way to shut down and if you’ve decrypted Gamigo’s statements over the past year you know that in order to find the truth you just take whatever bad news the company claims isn’t happening, and assume the denial as a confirmation of truth. It’s like being in a medieval prison and being told you’re not going to be executed while also having your measurements taken for the casket.
Gamigo kicked off 2021 by announcing a library cull. Specifically Defiance, Defiance 2050, Eden Eternal, and Twin Saga would be shutting down at the end of April. We did note at the time that Gamigo offered coupon codes for other games to get people to try out. I don’t have the best eyesight, so I definitely wasn’t the only person who noticed Gamigo wasn’t even acknowledging Rift. In the industry this lack of acknowledgement is usually a red flag that the company plans on ditching support so close in the foreseeable future that it might as well be an item on your grocery list.
Fast forward to today and Gamigo confirmed layoffs for the Rift team. How many? Gamigo won’t say, so we’re going to go down the logical route and assume it’s basically everyone above the level of skeleton crew. There will be a team working on Rift, in the same way that there is a “team” working on MMO Fallout. By which I mean one guy sitting in a Denny’s with a laptop sucking down Grand Slams. I think I’ll have scrambled eggs this time. The cat acts as head of human resources. Adorable.
Hey everybody,
let me briefly address your biggest concern(s): Rift is not going to be shut down!
Most of you already noticed and pointed out a change in internal structures. While we’re not able to publicly address or communicate about those changes in detail, we can assure you that there will be a team responsible for and working on Rift (future development being part of this).
If there are still any concerns or worries left about that topic, please feel free to PM one of the CMs at any time.
We’ll close this thread by answering the thread’s title (Is Rift Next ?) with a clear NO!
As an expert translator of businessese, let me break this down for you. Gamigo is unable to publicly address the layoffs because there’s no positive way to spin it. It’s a safe bet the layoffs are substantial otherwise Gamigo would be telling us that players won’t see an impact on content. When they say “a team” they mean the royal sense of at least two people. When they ask that concerns be addressed through private message, it’s a copout to claim that they are open to concerns while giving permission to wipe said concern from the public space they control. Because a customer who sees that the game is on death’s door doesn’t buy microtransactions.
By refusing to get ahead of the layoffs and be open and clear with the public and their community, Gamigo has told us everything we need to know. We are not going to like the plan, there is no future for Rift, and in all likelihood the date of sunset is probably already marked down to a couple of options. It’s over, and at this point it really doesn’t matter that virtually nobody believes Gamigo’s half-hearted attempt to explain how everything is going to be alright. Gamigo is just measuring Rift for the coffin and gathering whatever revenue stream it can still bring in before the funeral.
As always I won’t tell my readers how to spend their money, just be aware that your investments are going toward a service that is definitely living on borrowed time.
Remember when we thought Rift had the capacity to take on World of Warcraft? Those were the good days. What is Scott Hartsman up to these days?
MMO Fallout 
