When NCsoft announced it was closing Carbine and sunsetting WildStar, it didn’t include one key detail: when that sunset will occur. In fact, it so panicked us that MJ raced into the game for a stream, not knowing whether it might be her last.
But then Carbine – or what’s left of it – kept turning on and promoting events in the game, making people think maybe we’ve got a bit more time left than we originally assumed. That turns out to indeed be the case.
In response to a player who inquired about Shade’s Eve and Winterfest – the Halloween and Christmas events specifically – Community Manager Sunshine suggests that both will occur this year. “I assure you that both events will be available and we’ll let you know those dates soon,” Sunshine writes.
Players are taking this to mean the game will stay up at least through the end of the year, although it’s also possible NCsoft means to run them back to back next week. The former seems a bit more likely, however, unless you think NCsoft is being intentionally cruel, and we don’t. Still, can anyone else think of another MMORPG that announced a hard sunset but didn’t announce dates? Might be a good idea to get what you need to get done sooner rather than later regardless.
Hey #WildStar folks, I know not everyone haunts the forums like I do, so a head's up: we will have at least until the end of the year to enjoy the game still. So be sure to do so! I know I certainly have a lot of things left I want to accomplish and enjoy, and I'm sure you do too pic.twitter.com/h7TEO3zs27
— Meyoline (@Meyoline) September 21, 2018
Nah. I’m sorry. The reasons i’m sad with WS departure isn’t that i won’t be able to have fun with it, is that it always gave me the feeling of being so much more, and never achieving it.
One thing I do remember is Marvel Heroes announcing dates, and then their creditors saying “uhm, no, how about right this minute”, and then “right this minute” turning into “maybe Monday or Tuesday if we get around to it”.
With the game hanging around for a few months, perhaps I’ll download it. One last hurrah before the doors close.
I wish they’d keep it running in maintenance mode. Not that I have any personal interest (left the game for good, a few weeks after launch) but it is just so sad to see a quality MMO simply vanish.
The game has essentially been in maintenance mode for over a year already as it’sbeen since the middle of last year since any content of note was added to the game. Maintenance mode isn’t “the run servers for free forever”, it’s “let’s do nothing but leave the servers on for as long as people will pay us to do so at no cost to ourselves” which usually doesn’t last much longer than a year or so (which is not so coincidentally about the same amount of time since the last real content update). Shouldn’t take a lot of imagination to see what’s been happening.
Well I’d be surprised if they did, once all is said and done the entirety of Wildstar’s troubled life has been like that
I recall Eliot himself remarking, just as they attempted the (second?) relaunch, how not communicating what their plans for the future and how to not say aloud for how long they were committed to keep the thing afloat regardless of the financial situation was hurting the game’s growth and discouraging potential players
NCsoft was partially “responsible” there but overall the game has always been treated like the child nobody in the family want to talk about amidst polite conversation, it’s not surprising they maintain the habit until he sets out :P
Carbine / NCSoft to Community Manager: “Here is some lipstick. Go to town!”
So strange
*doesn’t play game*
*game announces closing*
“Ahh man, I can’t believe the game is closing!”
*game stays open for a few months*
“Well, guess I’m going back to WoW.”
Considering how abruptly some games get shut down, I think NCSoft deserves credit for winding down the game like this.
Good point.
Yup. Man… you don’t think there is still a chance it could… Nevermind. I just remembered I have to pay some bills today.
Yes, NCSoft is definitely not one to blame here. That’s Carbine fault that NCSoft is shutting down them with WildStar.
Carbine received more money for the new project from NCSoft, even if WildStar was not successful, and was working on this new project for quite a some time already. They needed to fail hard with this new project development if NCSoft is shutting down them: you don’t just scrap the project that relative large team was working on for over a year if it’s at recoverable state, so it needed to be a mess.
Sigh, poor game. The devs never listened.