And another one bites the dust: this time around, it is Richard Garriott's MMORPG Tabula Rasa. The science fiction themed, action-intensive MMORPG is closing its spaceports on Febuary 28th, 2009 (Earth time.)
"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," stated a letter on the game's website.
Not a big surprise, I suppose. It's the same old story: millions of dollars spent on producing a MMORPG. Gamers have impossibly high expectations for levels of content that will be available at launch, thanks to WoW. Developers make promises to pique gamers' interest. Developers do not follow through on promises. Game is launched with tons of bugs. Tons of people play the game in the first month, because they think it'll be different than other games. People find out it the MMORPG is just like any other MMORPG besides a few small changes. MMORPG dies in about a year's time. Another five MMORPGs take its place. Its the MMORPG developing blues.
Richard Garriott was in space and could not be reached for comment.
