Tag: Defunct

NCSoft Shuts Down Master x Master


NCSoft has announced that its MOBA title Master x Master will shut down in January. Master x Master launched in June of this year and never made much of a blip on NCSoft’s financial radar, certainly not enough to even warrant a mention on their quarterly reports. In fact, an investor might have gone the entire cycle without realizing that the game had ever existed.

With the service set to shut down on January 31, NCSoft has put the following changes into effect:

  • All players will receive 500,000 X-Coin to unlock all content
  • The community-developed Lua skin will be made available to all players for 1 X-Coin
  • Real money purchases on the MXM Store will be permanently disabled
  • All game modes will be turned on, and available at all times
  • Refunds in full on purchases made between Aug. 30 and Nov. 16. This will happen automatically within the next 7-14 days, and will be refunded via the same method the purchase was made, if possible. For additional refund specifics please refer to our FAQ.

(Source; NCSoft)

Marvel Dooms Its Heroes: Marvel Heroes to Shut Down


A representative from Marvel has confirmed that the company has ended its licencing relationship with Gazillion Entertainment, and that Marvel Heroes will officially shut down in the near future. Marvel Heroes initially launched in 2013 on PC, and most recently on the PS4 and Xbox.

Rumors of turbulence within the company have been swirling around for months, including allegations of sexual misconduct by the current CEO. Some saw the writing on the wall when Gazillion went silent for weeks regarding future development plans.

The statement by Marvel is as follows:

“We regret to inform our Marvel Heroes fans that we have ended our relationship with Gazillion Entertainment, and that the Marvel Heroes games will be shut down. We would like to sincerely thank the players who joined the Marvel Heroes community, and will provide any further updates as they become available.”

No time table for the shutdown has been given at this time.

Asta La Vista: Asta Online Servers To Shut Down


Following its re-launch in April this year, Asta Online developer Polygon Games has announced that the title will shut down next month. Players are asked to contact Steam in regards to any refund requests over in-game items. The termination notice has been pasted below for brevity.

[Service termination notice]
? Termination date : 8th Dec(Fri), 2017
? Detail : Service termination of ASTA Online
? Reference
– In-game purchase has been closed at 01:00 AM(ASTA server time), 9th Nov(Thur)
and players are no longer able to purchase cash items.

(Source: Steam)

US To Consider DMCA Exemptions For Offline MMOs


Here’s a head scratcher: Should shuttered online games be exempted from Digital Millennium Copyright Act claims if the product is abandoned by its owners? The answer is yes, at least sort of. Under current US law, there are exemptions made for circumventing a game’s copyright protection if said servers have been abandoned by the owner and the game has a single player component. It does not protect against changes made to bring multiplayer games back online. It also does not protect people who alter their consoles to circumvent shuttered server authentication.

Well all of that may change, as the US Copyright Office is taking comments in regards to potentially adding exemptions for online services. This could pave the way for explicitly legal MMO servers for shuttered games, so if you have an opinion on the matter then now is the time to give it. The Copyright Office is taking comments until mid-December.

(Source: Gamasutra)

Minions of Mirth Goes Offline, But Single Player Still Functions


Cult indie MMORPG Minions of Mirth: Undead Wars is dead, long live the single player Minions of Mirth! Minions of Mirth is a rather quaint fantasy MMO that many of you may not have heard of until right this very moment. Following a hard drive failure on September 18, the official MoM Twitter account announced late last week that the servers will be down indefinitely. Minions of Mirth launched in 2005 and can take the credit of being free to play before the genre was cool.

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Thankfully those of you looking to give this undiscovered gem a go, the single player still functions. Check it out at the official website.

[NM] Gravity Rush 2 Servers Shutting Down Just One Year After Launch


Sony Japan has just announced that the servers for Gravity Rush 2 will shut down on January 18, 2018, just one year after its launch on the Playstation 4. While the game itself will still be playable, the following services will be shut off:

  • Receive, send a challenge
  • Ranking browsing
  • Receive, Post Treasure Hint
  • Receive, post, review photo ghost
  • Obtaining a dusty token and obtaining its remuneration

Gravity Rush 2 was developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio in conjunction with Team Siren (aka Team Gravity) and released in January 2017 on the Playstation 4. For the remainder of the service, players will see an increase in dusty token drops to obtain desired items before the servers go down for good.

Battleborn Ceasing Development Support After Fall Update


As they say, all good things must come to an end, and they also say that development costs money and money doesn’t grow on trees. Gearbox Software has announced that this fall’s update to Battleborn will be the last. The fall update was announced at PAX and includes new skins, map and balance tweaks, as well as new boosts and taunts.

But never fear, those of you who actually bought this game and intend on continuing to play it. The servers for Battleborn will not be going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

Never fear! Battleborn is here to stay. Nothing is changing with Battleborn, and the servers will be up and active for the foreseeable future. We announced the Fall Update for the game at PAX including some new skins, themed around some of your favorite Borderlands characters! That update will also include some updated title art (more full bar titles!) for the more significant challenges in the game, as well as some additional Finisher Boosts and Taunts. Also, there are minor balance changes in that patch.

Creative director Randy Varnell has moved on to new projects, likely including Borderlands 3, which 90% of the Gearbox staff is currently working on. Battleborn launched in May 2016 and got lost in the midst of Overwatch’s massive overtaking of first person shooters. On Saturday night, the game peaked at 106 players on PC.

(Source: Battleborn)

Crimecraft Shutting Down August 31


Mayn Games has announced that Crimecraft: Gang Wars will shut down on August 31. Crimecraft launched in August 2009 with a box price, subscription fee, and in-game sponsored ads (in the form of billboards for Best Buy, Napster, etc) to boot. Barely two months out, and following financial woes at Vogster Entertainment, Crimecraft dropped the mandatory subscription and box price, choosing instead to go for a unlimited trial with optional bonus subscriptions.

Despite a poor launch, Crimecraft was able to launch two expansions, Bleedout and Gang Wars, before Vogster handed the game over to Mayn Games in 2012. Since then the game has faded into relative obscurity, its charts showing a population plummeting to an average of about 10 players at any given time on Steam. Crimecraft’s population issues similarly weren’t helped by the game not being compatible with Windows 10.

For the past years, we did our best to support the game and make players to enjoy it. It was a very hard choice to make, but despite the overwhelming support of our loyal players, this was the way it had to go. We are grateful to all players for continued support of the game.

(Source: Mayn Games)

Red5 Studios Gives 24 Hours Notice: Firefall To Shut Down


Red 5 Studios today unveiled the announcement that should surprise few: Firefall is finally closing down its servers. Firefall has been in limbo for a long time between the staff being laid off, server outages, and a total lack of development, at some point the game completely stopped functioning past a certain point with graphics card firmware which remained unpatched. There were plans at one point to port Firefall to the Playstation 4 which quietly fizzled out, there was more than one instance of Red5 being unable to fulfill payroll, and the Chinese cashmire company that owns Red5 became effectively worthless.

With heavy hearts, we regret to inform you that after much review and analysis, Red 5 Studios have decided to suspend the Firefall efforts on 7th, July 2017. Thank you for being an important part of the Firefall experience and for your loyalty and dedication to the online community.

Your efforts and loyalty will not go without recognition, however. Firefall is currently developing a mobile version of the game and all of Firefall’s founders and players will be rewarded greatly in the new game. We will be sure to provide everyone with more updates as we have them.

Thank you for your support and enthusiasm throughout the years; we will see you at the next battle.

MMO Fallout listed Firefall shutting down as one of our 2017 predictions.

Firefall will first announce that the console version is cancelled before revealing that the PC version is shutting down either simultaneously or a week or two later. Nobody will be surprised, however the last few hours will draw in a lot of people to watch the world burn.

(Source: Red5)

PSA: Alan Wake Is Disappearing, Get It Now 90% Off


Alan Wake is being put to bed permanently, so if you want to get your hands on the 2012 title, now may be your last chance. Originally released in 2012, Alan Wake’s developer/publisher Remedy Entertainment has hit a snag; their license on some of the music in the game is expiring. As a result, the game is being removed from sale on May 15. To send the game off in style, Remedy Entertainment has announced a 90% sale that will begin March 13 and run for 48 hours.

You’ll be able to pick up Alan Wake as well as its DLC and American Nightmare for 90% off, but if you’re going to grab yourself a copy then do so fast. The title becomes unavailable on the 15th.

(Source: Steam)