Shutting down servers for sequels?

Yukmarc

Is Darkfall the first game to actually shut down their original game servers for a sequel? I've always wondered what would happen if a company did something like this, and now that we are seeing it get very positive results, will we see other companies do this as well?

Wouldn't it be nice to see Mythic shut down UO or DAOC upon release of updated versions of these games? What would happen if SOE shut down the original EQ and EQ2 servers to push people towards Everquest Next? I think you would have some incredibly angry customers in that case.

superniceguy

SWG got shut down for SWTOR. Lineage 1 shut down after Lineage 2. PSO DC shut down when GC and Xbox versions released, and they then shut down when PSU released, and PSU shut down when PSO 2 released.

Other than SWG they did shut down after the new game gained momentum and the old one lost players. FF XI may have shut down if FF XIV did well but did not, and if SWG did not shut down then it probably still would be active now, after SWTOR bombed.

 

Omali

It depends on how you define a sequel. In the case of Darkfall, Unholy Wars isn't really a sequel as much as it is a massive do-over to fix a game that, in its current state, couldn't progress any further. Jagex did this with RuneScape when they updated with RuneScape 2, although RuneScape classic wasn't fully shut down (just closed off except for a select few players). Jagex also plans on releasing RuneScape 3 either in 2013 or 2014, after which they've said accounts will be transitioned over and RuneScape 2 will shut down completely.

Turbine actually tried this with Asheron's Call 2, they hoped that the player base would make the transition over and they'd be able to safely shut down the original. They didn't, the sequel flopped, and Asheron's Call still lives. 

You would see a lot of angry customers, yes. 

gorro187

They said the characters from the first darkfall arent being destroyed. Just people put on the back burner for something in the future. thats a tad different than gone forever.

ForumPvP

After few months we can see the results,if veterans are not happy with Unholy Wars,it will be crazy ,like ,they deleted my characters because of this?

 

madazz

Originally posted by superniceguy

SWG got shut down for SWTOR. Lineage 1 shut down after Lineage 2. PSO DC shut down when GC and Xbox versions released, and they then shut down when PSU released, and PSU shut down when PSO 2 released.

Other than SWG they did shut down after the new game gained momentum and the old one lost players. FF XI may have shut down if FF XIV did well but did not, and if SWG did not shut down then it probably still would be active now, after SWTOR bombed.

 

Thing is, Darkfall didn't have to shut down the server for the original. In your SWG/SWTOR example, it was about the license changing hands. For Lineage, it was about the crazy population decline. For PSO, it was about crazy population decline for the new modern versions.

As far as I can remember, Darkfall was the first to actually just shut down for the sake of it. But I believe it is a good move as they are basically releasing the same game with some tweaks. Plus, they are being pre-emptive and know that the original will be even more dead compared to the new.