NCsoft's European MMO canned?

By Oli Welsh Published 10 September, 2008

And Tabula Rasa given "months" by source.

Sources have told GamesIndustry.biz that NCsoft is preparing to trim staff at its European office in Brighton, and cancel the game in development there.

According to a number of sources close to the company, around 50 staff will be let go following the decision to stop work on the untitled MMO, a game that was announced this time last year when the office underwent significant expansion.

The same sources said that the company's troubled MMO Tabula Rasa will be discontinued at some point in the coming months due to continuing poor subscriber numbers.

However, although NCsoft shed some staff last month at the Austin office where Tabula Rasa was developed, rumours that the office would be closed and Tabula Rasa discontinued proved unfounded.

An official statement is expected from NCsoft soon.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • hulahoops #1 3 years ago

    (Thanks fuck he didn't get that job there after all).

  • mingster #2 3 years ago

    me too

  • hulahoops #3 3 years ago

    Heh!

    o/\o

  • Eraysor #4 3 years ago

    Bit of a shame Tabula Rasa went down the plughole. Garriott should have spent more money making the game rather than going into space. WAR is the new WoW now anyway :)

  • MrChuckles #5 3 years ago

    And me.. sheesh....

  • IronCladChicken #6 3 years ago

    lol@Eraysor
    Shouldnt you at least wait until it's released first?

  • berelain #7 3 years ago

    Pity about TR, but then, its really not that good, so...

  • Skinme #8 3 years ago

    Why would anyone want to make an MMO with so many going the way of the Dodo?? Apart from the big names like Star Wars Galaxies, WoW, LotR online & WAR it still feels like a niche market. I'm sure many console gamers would consider the PC as a niche gaming market full stop! (I'm a PC gamer btw)
    Star Wars has it's cult following due to the films.
    Wow you can play on practically any hardware, even laptops which is saying something! There's also those crazy Koreans who would rather play WoW than eat or sleep.
    LotR again has the films and the books.
    And WAR is new and exciting, and like TR will probably have big subs at the start which tail off after a year or so.

    I may be wrong and in many ways I hope I am as MMOs give the PC gaming market that extra appeal. But at the same time the online PC world has, historically, been based around a free to use model. With companies expecting us to pay for what has traditionally been free, how can they expect MMOs to survive?

    There is also the time factor, I still love playing games like Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle, how many MMOs will still have servers running in 15+ years?

    Apologies if this sounds like a rant, just with another MMO, possibly, on it's way out I can't help but wonder if I'm the only one who see's this as a trend....

  • hulahoops #9 3 years ago

    Other MMOs will prosper.

    They just need to find a business model which works.

  • nea #10 3 years ago

    The "talk" about Tabula Rasa is a shame. Of course, it is no Ultima Online (which cost me much money ^^) but it is still an enjoyable game, at least for me as a "part-time" player. To just cancel it cannot be the right way to deal with problems. I also thought AutoAssault would have been good with some more content and a little bug fixing (as the Beta ran well on my computer) but they just cancelled it.

    Should such MMOs be converted to F2P with MicroPayment? Or should they think about this overall payment structure that let me pay 13€ no matter what game, content or playtime I have.
    Should some games maybe provide a Server SDK for FreeShards (I borrow the UO term here)? Could be a way for games like AutoAssault. Should be better before you just cancel it and put it in the "Failed" vault.

    Ahh... yeah, I spoke my brain....

  • smelly #11 3 years ago

    Tabula Rasa was doomed to failure with its shit name. It was crying out "geek minority gaming" which is EXACTLY what you DONT want with a MMO (you need every man and his dog playing).

    I love Lord Brit.. Me hopes he goes back to single player RPGs after this one...