Tag: Shut down

Phantasy Start Online 2 Is Sunsetting In Southeast Asia


We have to assume that there is someone still left that is waiting for Phantasy Star Online 2 to come westward, that hasn’t already set up an account and started playing with an English patch on the Japanese servers, but that person may find their hopes dashed. Phantasy Star Online 2, now a five year old title, has seen its first sunset announcement. Revealed on the official website, the Southeast Asia servers will be coming down on May 26.

The announcement is below:

The Phantasy Star Online 2 team would like to express our thanks for the steadfast support of the whole ARKS Fleet. In the past two years, together, we formed a PSO2 community built on friendships that can withstand the test of time. That is why it saddens us greatly our contract in servicing SEA countries for Phantasy Star Online 2 will not be continued. As our friends and partners, we would like you to have only the finest experience with us.

Keeping your best interest in mind, the Phantasy Star Online 2 team and SEGA would like to announce that Phantasy Star Online 2 will end its service on 26 May 2017 11:00 PM (GMT+8).

As compensation, all accounts will be given 60 days of premium time and free AC/gold scratch every week until the servers shut down. Also worth noting is that players will no longer be able to submit customer support tickets after the server shutdown, so get your bug reports in now.

(Source: PSO2)

Daybreak Continues Shrinking: Landmark To Shut Down


Daybreak Game Company’s library continues to shrink just a little more, with the news that the rest of Everquest’s Next’s failed dream, Landmark, will shut down February 21st. As of right now, the game will be unavailable for purchase while all items in the marketplace will have their cost turned down to 1. In addition, Player Studio items will not be available for listing and purchase in the Landmark Marketplace. The servers will come down on February 21, 2017.

Landmark, originally known as Everquest: Landmark, was a supplementary game sold to players on the foundation that it existed to test Daybreak’s engine for use in the full Everquest Next. When Everquest was cancelled last year, Landmark dropped the Everquest name and was spun off into its own building game. Fans hoping to see compensation are out of luck, Daybreak will neither be making it possible to host your own server nor will they be reimbursing anyone who invested in the title.

Our thoughts: Landmark is probably the most fraudulently marketed game in recent memory, from the fact that it was sold as a supplement to an MMO that the studio knew wasn’t fun and was potentially on the chopping block, to the fact that the announcement of EQN’s cancellation came conveniently after the no-questions refund period expired, to the fact that people who put in for the $100 founder’s pack only got to have the game launch and not even last a year. Considering this is the second game shuttered within the last year, and it looks like Daybreak won’t even take the easy route and compensate people with digital goodies for their other games (at no cost to themselves), Landmark and EQN should be a shining example to avoid putting any money into this company until the game goes gold.

(Source: Daybreak)

Firefall Shut Down For 2 Weeks In December, Nobody Noticed


In my predictions for 2017, I said that Firefall would shut down and nobody would be surprised or really notice. What I didn’t realize was that Firefall had already shut down, for two weeks, back in December. And nobody outside of the community noticed. According to posts on the community forums, the servers first went down as early as December 7th and didn’t come back online until December 22nd.

Hello, we have found that our datacenter is having critical issues and all services including the website and game are impacted. We hope to have everything back online ASAP.

But don’t let that fool you, according to posts on official Facebook notice, the game is still essentially broken in many areas as features like Battle Lab do not work. The official website has not had a news update since May, it may still be impossible to level past 20 due to unfixed bugs in the main mission, and nobody seems to be present to answer emails.

So Firefall is still a bit broken, has less active Steam players than a full Battlefield 1 server, and seems to be riding the breeze on a prolonged descent while nobody is around to save the sinking ship. In the future, it will likely be known as one of the most incompetently run MMOs of all time, between the constant shift in direction and staff to the allegedly high sum spent to develop it.

(Source: MMO Bomb)

Webzen Will Be Shuttering ELOA, ASTA This Year


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Webzen has announced that two of its titles will be shutting down by the end of this year. First on the plate is ASTA Online, which will be taken offline October 4th. Beginning this week, the cash shop has officially closed and players will be able to utilize 100% boosts to experience, fame, and drops if they wish to continue playing until the service shuts down. All purchases from the past month will be reimbursed.

Many of you followed us all the way from IBT, to OBT, to multiple expansions, and your support made us believe we could succeed. Sadly, we were wrong. The players we have are awesome, and any company would be happy to have such a dedicated community, but sadly the recent player numbers are not sufficient for us to be able to continue the service. So, after discussions with Polygon Games, we have agreed that the game servers will close on the 4th of October.

Second on the chopping block is Elite Lord of Alliance, which will sunset further along. Similar to ASTA, the cash shop will close and all purchases from the last 30 days will be compensated.

Since official launch, we have been working hard to build a strong community and various events. Unfortunately, we have come to a difficult decision to end this long journey we have enjoyed and cherished together. We understand that this will disappoint many of our players.

More details can be found at each game’s respective website.

Ubisoft Shutting Down Mighty Quest and Ghost Recon Phantoms


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Ubisoft has announced that it will sunset two of its free to play titles in the coming months. The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot will shut down on October 25th while free to play shooter Ghost Recon Phantoms will go offline on December 1st.

GR Phantoms has been a tremendous undertaking and we really relished the opportunity to bring to you a different take on the GR franchise. We are proud of what we have achieved but of course, a game like this would be nothing without its community. We’d like to sincerely thank you for your support, enthusiasm, patience and above all, your loyalty. For the hours played, the fun in your company, the never ending deaths at Balaklava Sub-Pen, the fights to control Tomsk-9, the sounds of shotguns and the fear of the P90 SD WAR, we are grateful.

If you look at Ghost Recon Phantoms on Steam Charts, you see a game that is still pretty well populated despite its age, albeit one that is progressively slipping in traffic with each month. As I write this, close to three thousand people are playing on a Sunday afternoon. As it stands, the current base is not spending enough to keep the game viable as low revenue was cited as one of the primary reasons for shutting the service down. As it stands, however, GRP’s run of four years is rather standard for a shooter’s life expectancy.

The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, meanwhile, has seen a severe drop in Steam traffic, down to just a few hundred over the past six months. As a mostly single player game with a cash shop, Mighty Quest’s appeal was always bound to have some issues with consumers despite the overall game being rather fun.

Ghost Recon fans can look forward to the release of Ghost Recon Wildlands on PC, PS4, and Xbox One in 2017.

(Source: Steam)

Planetside Shutting Down July 1st


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April and May were really exciting months for us with the release of the new Construction System, base revamp of Indar, and new population caps to improve battle flow. It’s been exciting to watch all of you experiment with base design and shift battles in new directions. A big thanks to all of you who have jumped in to try it out and given us feedback.

While we hope you are as excited as we are about the recent changes, we do have to make a more solemn announcement. On July 1st, at 4:00 PM PT, we will be closing the PlanetSide 1 server. PlanetSide 1 has a very important history with Daybreak Games and a special place in the hearts of those who work on its successor. While we have run the game for free since 2014, due to evolving business needs and technical requirements it has become necessary to conclude this service.

We hope you will take this opportunity to enjoy the remaining time available with each other and please help us give PlanetSide 1 the sendoff it deserves.

Planetside was supported likely only by the grace of John Smedley and nostalgia, and since Smedley is no longer present and Daybreak has been axing projects left and right in an effort to reduce spending, it was only a matter of time before this ancient shooter got the axe.

(Source: Planetside 2)

Funcom Shutting Down Lego Minifigures Online


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You know that there is trouble when a developer actively points out the best time to get out of their contract. We learned earlier this year that Funcom’s license with Lego Minifigures Online ends in October 2016, so there shouldn’t be a surplus of surprise that the title is being sunset at the end of September.

It is with a heavy heart that we announce that LEGO Minifigures Online will be closing on September 30th, 2016. We know that many of you are still enjoying your adventures in the game, and this has been a difficult decision for us to make but unfortunately, the time has come to retire LEGO Minifigures Online.

Lego Minifigures originally launched as a free to play game in 2014. When the title failed to meet expectations, Funcom transformed the game into a buy to play model, effectively locking out anyone who had previously played but not purchased anything. The poor performance of the model was attributed to overestimation of buying power, according to Funcom’s quarterly report from May 2015.

(Source: Funcom)

Darkfall Goes Offline


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Darkfall has gone offline, and Aventurine doesn’t know when, or if, it will be returning. Unholy Wars, the official version, went offline with a post on the official forums explaining to players that economic conditions in Greece have made the game unsustainable. While they hope that the disruption is only temporary, for now it should be considered indefinite.

We have been involved with Darkfall for over 13 years now and it is our hope that we will be able to continue well into the future with your support. Unfortunately, and against our best efforts, the conditions in Greece have caught up with us and do not allow us to continue operating the game as we have been so far. We hope that the disruption of Darkfall Unholy Wars service is temporary and that we will be back soon in a more sustainable format. We apologize for the inconvenience to all that are affected.

Rumors of Aventurine being in a bad situation have been rampant ever since the developer decided to license the original Darkfall out to two separate developers at the same time.

(Source: Darkfall)

Nosgoth Shutting Down Next Month


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Nosgoth will shut down its servers at the end of May, according to a post on the official website. Anyone who made a purchase after March 1st will be automatically refunded as soon as possible, likely within the next two weeks.

It is with a heavy heart and an immense sense of sadness that we must announce the end of Nosgoth’s development. Servers will continue to run until 31st May 2016, during which time you will be able to play the game as normal. After that date, Nosgoth will be taken offline for the last time.

Nosgoth is a team-based shooter based on the Legacy of Kain series, launched on Steam in 2015. Steam Charts shows an average of one thousand concurrent players over the past few months. The announcement doesn’t mention much about the future of the Legacy of Kain series, other than to say that it independent of Nosgoth’s performance.

(Source: Nosgoth)

Indie MMO Revival Ends Development


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Indie sandbox MMO Revival has announced that development has ceased due to lack of funds.

Starting in the very new future, you will find that homes are no longer for sale through the Dunwich and Innsmouth section of our website and future patches to the client are, at least as of now, highly unlikely. I will never give up on Revival, and I know I’m not alone, but we just don’t have the resources at our disposal that we need, and the sacrifices necessary to acquire them don’t make much sense given our goal, here.

When we first set out to build Revival, we had access to expertise and resources that aren’t available today. Making up for their loss, be it as simple as lacking sufficient animators or as complicated as losing access to certain networking expertise, has been a costly affair, far more costly than we can honestly afford to bear. So, what does that mean? Is Revival completely dead?

Not particularly, no, just delayed indefinitely. Founders will still have access to their renovation kits, their properties, etc, with no intention of shutting those down for the foreseeable future. In addition, it looks like development will still continue on Revival in some fashion, even if it is unpaid and slow. Founders will also receive Steam keys for two other games, Nexuiz and Moving Hazards.

(Source: Revival)