Richard Garriot’s Tabula Rasa is shutting down its live service on February 28. Players who still want to get a taste of bargain bin sci-fi MMO action will be able to play the game for free starting January 10. An open letter (in full after the break) was addressed to the community this afternoon stating the reason for the shutdown was performance-based.
For the seemingly few people still eager to pay for the privilege of playing a dying game, NCSoft (the game’s developer) has a few tricks up its sleeves. They will be offering three free months of City of Heroes and Lineage II. In addition to this, players will also be able to get access to the beta for Aion, another MMO gracing the world in 2009.
I never got the chance to check out Tabula Rasa, and I’m sad that I didn’t. I’ve always found the idea of a science fiction MMO alluring, but time has always been a factor. Are there any TR players here? How do you feel about this?
[via bluexy's Cblog]
To the Tabula Rasa Community,
Last November we launched what we hoped would be a ground breaking sci-fi MMO. In many ways, we think we've achieved that goal. Tabula Rasa has some unique features that make it fun and very different from every other MMO out there. Unfortunately, the fact is that the game hasn't performed as expected. The development team has worked hard to improve the game since launch, but the game never achieved the player population we hoped for.
So it is with regret that we must announce that Tabula Rasa will end live service on February 28, 2009.
Before we end the service, we'll make Tabula Rasa servers free to play starting on January 10, 2009.
We can assure you that through the next couple of months we'll be doing some really fun things in Tabula Rasa, and we plan to make staying on a little longer worth your while. For more details about what we are doing for Tabula Rasa players, please click here.
Stay tuned for more information. We thank you for your loyal support of the game and encourage you to take us up on the benefits we're offering Tabula Rasa players.
The Tabula Rasa Team
Contest:
6:08 PM on 11.21.2008
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Oh well. I thought it would be so cool to have my voice live on in this world for years and years, but I guess not.
So, there you have it.
Well, Anarchy Online is still around as a sci-fi MMO. City of heroes isn't sword and sorcery fantasy, it's still very much alive. And Chanmpions as well as Star Trek Online are coming up next year.
In fact from what I gather from beta and the general community he screwed around most of the time while basically college grads tweaked with the MMO.
Out of all the dozens of MMOs I've played, none of them made me feel more like a bad ass (and less like a gerbil on a wheel) than Tabula Rasa.
In the end, I just couldn't commit to this - or any - MMO, though. Still, it makes me genuinely sad to see a good game go down.
I couldn't even get into the story because the people I was playing with plowed through the quests and I had to keep up so I didn't develop even the slightest attatchment.
I assume people get really into them because they are susceptable to falling into routines. Once you're in a routine it's hard to get out, especially when that routine involves pretty colours and flashes.
"It's a shame that a non-fantasy MMO doesn't seem to work (apart from EVE online)."
Well i think its just the game’s poor design not really the theme , look at Huxley and coming game , there are enough sci-fi mmo that are coming
I agree with Wack , the Garriot hype is all marketing , would have been better to hire some unknown guy that make a solid game than spend your money on a name, who’s making a bad mmo at the end.
I really, *really* wanted to like this game, but I couldn't even finish the tutorial missions back in the beta.
On reflection, a grand idea with poor development. It's a shame as it could have been so much more.