Asheron's Call 2 to shut down

By Games Industry.biz Published 30 August, 2005

To be gone by year's end.

Massively Multiplayer Online RPG, Asheron's Call 2, is set to be shut-down by the end of the year due to the game no longer being profitable, according to its developer, Turbine Entertainment.

Set for a December 30th termination, Turbine CEO Jeffrey Anderson broke the news via the official Asheron's Call 2 website, stating: "In spite of our hard work and the launch of [Asheron's Call 2 expansion pack] Legions, AC2 has reached the point where it no longer makes sense to continue the service. We will be officially closing the Asheron's Call 2 service on 12/30/05. Until then, we plan to run live events, but we will not be adding any content or features."

Staff members working on Asheron's Call 2 have been reassigned, but Turbine currently has no plans to cancel the original Asheron's Call.

Turbine is also working on high-profile MMORPGs, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach and Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. Both are due for an early 2006 launch.

Picture of Games.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 7 years ago

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

  • deaner #1 7 years ago

    Next against the wall - The Matrix Online.

  • tengu #2 7 years ago

    Shut them all down, it's the only way China will survive!

  • PearOfAnguish #3 7 years ago

    Planetside is next...

  • jumpdeveraux #4 7 years ago

    So many companies ploughing into the mmorpg market only to find it only has room to support a few key titles with any large subscriber base needed to bring in the profits.

    /goes back to WoW - which is probably the reason why the others are suffering

  • Teeth #5 7 years ago

    "So many companies ploughing into the mmorpg market only to find it only has room to support a few key titles with any large subscriber base needed to bring in the profits. "

    So true.

  • kangarootoo #6 7 years ago

    These things probably cycle. A load of MMO games go down, freeing up a bit of a room for one or two new ones in a couple of years. Glad to hear the team have something else to roll on to.

  • AOFanboi #7 7 years ago

    What load? So far only Earth & Beyond and AC2 (soon) are really gone; not even duds like Horizons or Rubies of Eventide manage to actually die.

  • Inigo #8 7 years ago

    Hears a appropriate cartoon:

    gucomics

  • Psi #9 7 years ago

    kill off starwars galaxies and re-do the sucka

  • linksdad #10 7 years ago

    The reason AC2 died is the lack of content early on. The game was tremendous fun at first but as you levelled up it became harder and harder to find new things to actually do, and the dev team never managed to catch up and get in front again. As the exodus began the servers emptied and the game became less fun for those left and so became a vicious circle. Star wars suffered a very similar fate, but I believe the strong brand managed to carry them through, which is no excuse.

  • Xerx3s #11 7 years ago

    Wait, so they are shutting down the sequel, but the original is still running?


    Talking about an upsidedown world! 0_o