Kickstarted Jane Austen MMORPG Ever, Jane closed its doors over the holidays

Well crap – just when we thought we’d escaped 2020 without too many MMO sunsets, another one sneaks in at the last minute to join the pile – and we didn’t even know until yesterday. Yes, unfortunately it looks as if Jane Austen-themed MMORPG Ever, Jane sunsetted over the holidays, and yes, it was simply a matter of money.

Back in August of last year, studio 3 Turn Productions and lead dev Judy Tyrer announced that 2020’s hardships had ensured the team couldn’t launch the game as planned. It ran a survey of players asking whether they’d be willing to subscribe to keep the game up. The survey was apparently quite positive, and by the end of November, both sub and free players were able to access the latest beta patch.

But by early December, the developers were already admitting subs weren’t where they needed to be: $500-$600 monthly to cover servers and licensing. “We are at 10% of our monthly subscription goal,” the studio wrote. “We have until Dec. 31 to reach 100% or we will have to shut the servers down.” The game didn’t even make it that long. On December 11th, the team admitted defeat. The closure was set and executed on December 20th, with the game never even having left beta.

“To avoid additional server costs, Ever,Jane servers will be going down on Dec. 20, 2020. It’s been a great run and we have enjoyed serving you with our fun little game. We hope you have enjoyed it as well.”

We’d been covering the game since 2013, when it was still planning a 2016 launch. It was Kickstarted for over $100,000 that same year, with its unique pitch as a purely roleplay-centric setting where players were debutantes and shopkeeps rather than murderhobos. It never had a massive following, but it was one of the more original MMOs our genre’s ever seen, so we’re surely sad to see it fall.

There’s a small silver lining here, though, so if you happen to be sitting on a nice chunk of money, you might be able to save the game: “As of now, the game is for sale. Please contact customer support if you would like to make a query.”