Tree of Life players, there’s bad news and news for you today. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: It sounds like the current version of the game is going into maintenance mode.
In a Facebook post this morning, Young-chae Kim from developer Oddone Games explained to players that the studio has worked hard on the game over the course of the last few years, but Kim says he “could not make the Tree of Life a better game due to inexperience.”
“The Tree of Life has been a project I have dreamed of my entire life,” he writes. “I carry an overwhelming sense of regret in this project.” He then says the team has decided “it would be better to build a new service based on the experience [the devs] gained over the past four years than to keep the Tree of Life going.”
This means development on the original game “will be suspended in order to focus our internal capabilities on new projects,” though the game’s original servers will remain open. Starting today, experience and drop rates on those servers have been boosted and some cash-shop items have been converted to gold purchases. It also sounds as if some cash sales will continue “at a minimal cost to maintain” the server. Refunds for players who bought the game in the last month are available too.
Finally, the developers have released a farewell video celebrating the game’s achievements, players, and builders. Our condolences to all of the players and developers affected by this decision.
