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After setting up shop at the bottom of the bargain bin and losing its guiding light, Tabula Rasa's grasp on life noticeably slackened. Regardless, though, it's still a shame to see it go. In a letter on the official Tabula Rasa website, the over-and-out MMO's team explained:
"Last November we launched what we hoped would be a ground breaking sci-fi MMO. In many ways, we think we've achieved that goal. Tabula Rasa has some unique features that make it fun and very different from every other MMO out there. Unfortunately, the fact is that the game hasn't performed as expected. The development team has worked hard to improve the game since launch, but the game never achieved the player population we hoped for."
"So it is with regret that we must announce that Tabula Rasa will end live service on February 28, 2009."
On the bright side, Tabula Rasa's subscription fee is bowing out before the game's final act, making the MMO free to play beginning January 10. But wait, the goodie bag runs deeper. Active players as of 10 A.M. PST Friday morning will also leave the funeral with:
Best of luck to employees affected by Tabula Rasa's untimely end. Job market be damned, you all have the talent to land firmly on your feet.
Comments are closed on this article
rico_51
December 21, 2008 at 9:25am
its to bad it didn't make it. i just out shopping for xmas and stores are still selling the game. it would suck to get it for xmas and have it shut down a month after starting .
BoxyBrown
November 24, 2008 at 8:01pm
Maybe NCsoft will release the server files for private hosting after the shutdown. That would be awesome. I would definitely play again.
vbiggar
November 24, 2008 at 2:16am
How can Sony run multiple MMOs with a much smaller player base at a profit. Why invest time into NCSoft MMOs when they aren't willing to make a commitment to keep them running. Remember Auto Assult? They seem to be able to run Guild Wars without a subscription. Tabula Rasa could run on a minimum subscription model with limited support. ($5) The game could even be modified to run as a desktop standalone game. The initial investment with the story, art, and coding is already done, what a waste of a truely fantastic game. Give me the source code and I will make a standalone product and a free subscription model. A standalone version can be coded easily as a server side virtual machine. Tabula Rasa is a beautiful, fun, and well written game. The real problems were with the user chat, teaming, and lack of depth. The lack of depth isn't related to content. They had a very simple crafting system that worked well. The auction system timed out in 3 days and wasn't deep enough to give you a sense of ownership. Look at Star Wars where you have your own vendors and can apply a description to each product. In reality adding more depth can be as simple as a few database fields. The user interface needed another row of weapon slots.
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nekollx
November 24, 2008 at 10:34am
Die? Really?
Lininage 2 and City of Spandex don't seem to be dead...
Oh and isnt Auto Assult still live but free?
Rictus
November 22, 2008 at 2:37am
Codemasters just shut down RF Online also. I know it didn't have a huge fan base but it was one of the better free MMO's.
Keith E. Whisman
November 22, 2008 at 1:33am
I don't think they will be getting rid of anyone over this. The way it sounds they have more games coming so they still have work to do. I'm sure they don't dedicate employees to just one product since it's online I'm sure those employees multitask and handle a few products at the same time to make it more cost efficient.
Vahn16
November 22, 2008 at 1:45am
Sorry I didn't clarify further; lay-offs have been confirmed. However, NCsoft is unable to confirm the number of people who will lose their jobs. Hopefully the number won't be too large, but with NCsoft in the shape it is, I'm not optimistic.
Keith E. Whisman
November 22, 2008 at 1:49am
Man that sucks... Perhaps they are starting to get people to multitask then.... LOL.. That really sucks though. Thanks for the Article. It really is a terrible time to be unemployed. I'll pray for them.
I've never been much of an mmorpg player. I do like Multiplayer FPS's though. I hope they keep their chins up and stay positive.
