This is always one of the most depressing roundups I do around the turn of every year, and this year… well, we lost some good ones.
Gamigo’s gamepocalypse took out four games, including Defiance; that Cryptic’s sunset of Magic Legends before it’d even left beta, was the highest-profile sunset of the year. The year also witnessed the death of Pathfinder Online, Astellia Online, and Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade.
Then, we saw maintenance mode for Artifact and Anthem, along with the end of SuperData. Population Zero also vanished without a word, and of course Amazon canceled its Lord of the Rings MMO. On the upside, though? Shadowbane is back again, following its 2009 sunset.
Farewell, old friends.
Minecraft Earth is sunsetting in June due to the inability for people to play in-person together
Guild Wars 2 ends Mac support February 18 thanks to Apple OpenGL issues
Kickstarted Jane Austen MMORPG Ever, Jane closed its doors over the holidays
The Xbox 360 servers for Halo multiplayer will be shutting down at the end of 2021
Hi-Rez’s Paladins ends its esports program: ‘It’s time to close this chapter’
Players of Life is Feudal MMO share their thoughts and final moments before the game’s sunset
The Daily Grind: Do shutdown fears influence your MMO play habits?
The Daily Grind: How do you handle MMO sunsets?
Battleborn has officially shut down completely
A new version of the long-sunsetted MMORPG Shadowbane has landed on Steam
Gameforge is sunsetting the western version of SoulWorker as the original dev promises a new global version
Gamigo is sunsetting Twin Saga in April, saying it could ‘no longer sustain itself’
BioWare is halting development on Anthem Next, but Anthem itself will stay up
Defiance and Defiance 2050 are dismissed from duty
Eden Eternal becomes the third MMORPG Gamigo killed off today
Leaderboard: So, is RIFT next?
Not So Massively: A eulogy for Anthem and Defiance
After just four months in open beta, pixel MMO Naïca is already in maintenance mode
Gamigo grants Defiance players’ wishes, posts sunset schedule, and runs a weird survey
Blade & Soul’s Unreal Engine 4 upgrade is coming this year in spite of Frontier World’s cancelation
Valve ends Artifact’s reboot dreams and shoves it into maintenance mode
Netease’s SpatialOS-built multiplayer VR RPG Nostos is being shuttered after less than two years
Nexon and Square canceled the Final Fantasy XI R mobile MMO, citing an insufficient ‘level of creative differentiation’
Rumor: Sony is getting rid of the PlayStation 3, PSP, and Vita stores this year
Agony of a Dying MMO is an atmospheric narrative game about players’ final hours in a sunsetting MMO
Nielsen is closing down SuperData and its monthly gaming revenue peeks
Population Zero has apparently sunsetted, is now just plain zero
Ubisoft announces shutdown dates for several of its older online titles
Amazon and Leyou have canceled that unfinished Lord of the Rings MMO
Gameforge officially sunsets the western version of SoulWorker tomorrow
The Stream Team: So long, SoulWorker
LOTRO shutting down Ithil progression server, offers free transfers
Diablo-like MMO Cronous is closing down this summer
The sun is setting on Need for Speed’s online offerings, Call of Duty Online in China, and multiple SUBA MMOs
GTAO is sunsetting on the PS3 and Xbox 360 at the end of the year
The MOP Up: Rogalia says goodbye, farewell, and amen
Magic Legends taps out: PWE and Cryptic are shutting it down before it even fully launched
Not So Massively: Magic Legends had all the right ideas and all the wrong choices
Pathfinder Online, Kickstarted for $1M in 2012, will sunset in November
Astellia Online has now officially announced an October 29 sunset
Astellia Royal has announced its sunset now too after less than a year online
Aika Online announces a September 15 sunset date
Steam mysteriously bans two Chinese MMOARPGs
T3Fun is shutting down its version of Granado Espada this month
Eternal Crusade is now officially shut down for good
LittleBigPlanet’s PS3 and Vita servers will remain offline permanently thanks to a toxic hacker
Kingdom Under Fire 2 is shutting down in October
Niantic is shutting down Catan: World Explorers after a lackluster early access run
Riders of Icarus has apparently sunsetted its only Russian server
LEGO Universe emulator Darkflame Universe is going dark – but not before distributing its source code
Post-apoc survival sandbox Edengrad has officially (and quietly) been cancelled
Astellia Online went ahead and sunsetted early this week – RIP
One month away from its sunset, Pathfinder Online is still adding new content
Steam silently removes Population Zero from its store but keeps the soundtrack up for purchase
Fallen Earth’s servers are finally back online after two years – Fallen Earth Classic is live
Texas-based PAX South won’t be back thanks to COVID and declining participation
Cryptic gives Magic Legends a one-day stay of execution
The Stream Team: Bidding a final farewell to Magic Legends
Fortnite is closing down in China on November 15
Niantic is shutting down Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, its second sunset announcement of the year
Pathfinder Online disables all purchasing prior to its closure
Level 5’s Fantasy Life Online shutting down in Japan, but a global version may be coming soon
Whatever happened to Spellbook’s MMO roguelike The Yellow King?
Gamigo just abruptly sunsetted its brand-new MOBA Skydome
Titanfall enters maintenance mode as it’s removed from digital storefronts
LEGO Universe emu Darkflame Universe has released its server source code
The Daily Grind: What was the most painful MMO sunset of 2021?
