What do you do when your favorite game closes? We know that it is not something that many of you consider today and many others may be sure that their favorite game is the one without any internet connection. However, it is a reality that must be accepted with pain. For this reason, we wanted to use nostalgia and remember Big 7 MMOs that closed with important events either moments to remember; the enormous projects that have brought together so many people, that their memory remains pristine in the eyes of their community.
Final Fantasy XIV – 2011
Maybe some of you don’t know it, but the Square Enix MMO that we have in hand today, or just one click away, is nothing but the “sequel” to the original Final Fantasy XIV. The massive multiplayer of the Japanese released a beta in 2010 with many problems, from bugs, poor translation into other languages and critical errors in the construction of the game. Without going into detail about what happened, these problems hampered its premiere to the point of “kill him“to make him revive with a new focus.
TO Naoki Yoshida It occurred to him, after watching a program about the end of the world and the prophecies of 2012 as the “appointed date”, to end the game world of FF14 in an epic way thanks to a cataclysm that would give rise to its new version. The development team used the story of the “Seventh Threshold Age” to narratively argue the relaunch with the destruction of the world by Dalamud, the crimson moon that hid within Bahamuta Primal of the saga.
It wasn’t a one minute event, we talked about weeks where enemies changed their spawn patterns; the sky was filled with weather effects; Dalamud looked closer and closer; as well as a distorted version of the looping Answers theme. When he arrived, it was all over for the game. A black screen came up and a cinematic played indicating that everything had come to an end. All scenes related to this event were cut from the game. That’s how it started, with a 5 year time jumpto the new Final Fantasy XIV.
The Matrix Online
Another one of those events well carried out both for logic, narrative and for offering something more than the “simple” fact of pressing a button and closing the game. The story of the Matrix from Monolith Productions is very different from FFXIV, and that is that it survived 4 years. Not only that, but within the lore, the events of The Matrix Online They are canon for the narration of the Matrix story and the fact that Morpheus does not appear, as such, in the last installment is due to the fact that he dies in this game.
The game lived a short life, but its ending was somewhere between funny, sad, and canon. Do you remember the “not like that” that Switch says before being unplugged in the first movie? This is the colloquial name of this particular event that lasted just a few seconds. When the time came, all the characters they writhed in pain because, both in the Matrix and out, they were dying. There were people who gathered in the squares and streets of the game to see each other for the last time, and the spectacle is gruesome. This glitch He killed everyone and their corpses were scattered on the ground.
Asheron’s Call
Another with years, many years behind him, the one with more than what we have on the list. Asheron’s Call, an MMO that competed with powerhouses like Ultima Online and EverQuest, although the former has outlived it. Be that as it may, the importance of this Turbine Entertainment Software game was such that its closure hurt the hearts of many back in 2017. In fact, the community tried to buy the license to prevent it from disappearing completely. An attempt in vain.
However, and although it is true that there was not something as well worked as FF14, the American study did work with its head. For starters, the bye was staggered, removing certain parts of the game while fixing bugs with a view to the closure being enjoyed by everyone without problems. Warner Bros., publisher of the game at the time, did not want to disconnect for disconnection without giving the community the best service until the end. The day came February 1st At 7:00 p.m. (Peninsular time), all the MMO characters disappeared in a ball of pink smoke that only left their weapons. So said goodbye to Asheron’s Call.
Tabula Rasa
Old as few. This MMORPG from Destination Games with Richard Garriot and Warren Spector at the head remained active barely 2 years, from 2007 to 2009, and focused its gameplay on that of a shooter. In its last moments, the development team wanted to “play” with its community. To do this, enemy attacks on player bases increased exponentially. The game became a desperate defense for see how long they could last. And some passed.
The first bases fell relatively easily, but many players withstood the scourge of the AI by allying desperately. Such was this last contingency that the MMO began to lagear due to the huge number of enemies to the point that it was impossible to play it. The team made the decision to lighten the load so as not to overload and sent all players to Earth as alien invaders to finish off the last ones alive.
even with everything, the community resisted like nobody else and conquered the terrain. Destination Games did everything they could to kill their own community, and failed. The game closed between party and cheers.
City of Heroes
Here, like many other games, NCSoft did not prepare something at the level of an MMO piece like City of Heroes. Although the game worked for a few more years thanks to a hidden and private server, its servers remained in operation until 2012, no less than 7 years of life. The ending is very typical, with a Paragon Studios going out of business and leading their publisher to cancel the game, but here the community got its act together.
The MMO offered us the opportunity to be heroes or villains, and their rivalries are clear. Whether you’ve read a comic or seen any hero movie, you know that an MMO with this theme will be a role-playing fest. Even so, they all shook hands and in the Paragon City hall, all the players, both heroes and villains, gathered on its stairs. no discussions, fights or any problem. They all shook hands and held a heroic pose the last few seconds of the game’s life.
wild star
Who says the ending of an MMO can’t be fun? WildStar is one that closed after less than five years of life, and is one of the closest in time. His goodbye came in 2018 after 4 years comings and goings and, again, NCSoft distributing the game. Its end does not have much mystery: Carbine Studios closed and NCSoft was forced to refund purchases in game and close the game. The Koreans did nothing to give the MMO a decent ending, but the community was there for it.
Among the thousand and one displays of affection between players when they saw their favorite game close, there were others who took it with a smile. Some servers were filled with congas. The community wanted to dance one last conga that would go through part of the game map. Dozens of players for minutes, the last ones in the game, going around in a row while they celebrated, with regret, the end of the MMO. Then came the message announcing the closure and it was over.
The Sims Online / EA-Land
EA-Land is not known at all for what was colloquially known as The Sims Online. And it is that although it followed the bases of the work of Maxis, Electronic Arts wanted to launch it under another name almost as a compendium of the American brand. The game did not succeed and barely lasted 6 yearsbut the fact of not killing, not seeing explosions or the crazy things typical of the medium, this MMO only wanted us to socialize.
Why did we rescue this game? There was no groundbreaking event. There were also no possibilities for the community to do something of its own. We do it because the game, in its last moments back in 2008, was filled with very nice messages from the community. As the 99 Percent Invisible podcast rescued, many were grateful for the friends they made along the way. Others commented that this, due to personal problems, was the only way they had to talk to someone. A pity.
