SOE shuttering four online games

Four of Sony Online Entertainment's MMO's won't live past March, the publisher has revealed.

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[Update: 3/2/12 17:50 PDT] A public relations representative for Sony Online Entertainment contacted Shacknews to clarify that the games being closed are online multiplayer games and not massively multiplayer online games. We have updated the headline to reflect this differentiation.

[Original Story] Sony Online Entertainment has announced that it will be permanently shutting down a quartet of its massively-mulitplayer online titles this month.

According to SOE's official letter to players of the affected games, Cosmic Rift, Infantry, Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga, and EverQuest Online Adventures will all be shut down on March 29, 2012.

"This is not an easy decision," states the post by the 'SOE Team,' "but there comes a time when it's best for our developers to move on to the next adventure, and that day has come."

Videogamer.com notes that current players of any of the affected titles will receive refunds for any pre-paid time that goes beyond the shut-down date.

Soon-to-be-former players EverQuest Online Adventures on the PlayStation 2 will also receive three months of Gold Membership in both EverQuest and EverQuest II.

"We would like to thank our players for their loyalty and for sharing the good times on these games," the post concludes. "It's been a blast. And we hope to keep gaming with all of you in our other great games here at SOE. Let's keep pushing the boundaries of MMO gaming together!"

From The Chatty
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    March 1, 2012 11:00 AM

    Jeff Mattas posted a new article, SOE killing four MMOs this month.

    Four of Sony Online Entertainment's MMO's won't live past March, the publisher has revealed.

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      March 1, 2012 11:02 AM

      I shocked people still play the ps2 Everquest

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      March 1, 2012 11:04 AM

      EverQuest Online Adventures was still running?

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        March 1, 2012 12:13 PM

        Yeah, I had no idea. I got into that beta.. I actually still have the disk around here somewhere. It feels like a lifetime ago.

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          March 1, 2012 4:12 PM

          I was in the beta too. Do you remember that time when there were easily-reached high level sharks in the ocean, and people would kite them near land than then kill them from safety for insane exp?

          ...and then in the next beta, they resolved that by making the sharks SWIM ONTO LAND AND CHASE YOU?

          Best bugfix ever.

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      March 1, 2012 11:06 AM

      Infantry? I remember playing that way back

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        March 1, 2012 11:24 AM

        I used to play Infantry Zone (way too much) back when it was run by Harmless Games. I will never forgive SOE for buying out the game, and ultimately destroying it.

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          March 1, 2012 11:34 AM

          I used to play Infantry Zone too...I wonder how many people still play its predecessor Subspace (or Continuum, the remake after VIE left subspace to die)?

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            March 1, 2012 12:21 PM

            oOoh Subspace! I loved playing that, for some reason I couldn't make the connection how I ended up playing Infantry

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            March 1, 2012 12:33 PM

            Oh shit, now I know why Infantry sounds familiar. I remember when a bunch of people bolted from SS to go play that. I used to play the living shit out of Warzone and last I checked a few months ago, they were still having weekly WZ matches at 5 pm on Sundays which is amazing. I first played that game in fucking 1997 and it's still running today which is pretty awesome.

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            March 1, 2012 3:12 PM

            I used to play a lot of SS back in the day, the competitive league was really fun. Anyway, I pop in every now and then and there are quite a few "old schoolers" (people who played league during the VIE days) still playing. I wouldn't call them active because most only show up on game day.

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          March 2, 2012 9:48 AM

          I used to play Infantry wayyyy back when it had like 500 people per server and even a waiting queue, and then SOE killed it (literally) by making it Pay-2-play. And I've never forgiven SOE for that and haven't played a single SOE game since then.

          Im going to miss that game.

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        March 1, 2012 11:28 AM

        I put so many hours in to that damn game.

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        March 1, 2012 11:38 AM

        Infantry was probably the first online game I really played.

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        March 1, 2012 12:37 PM

        Damn, I was thinking about this game recently and how much I miss the feeling of playing it. I wish there was a different version handled by someone that isn't SOE :/

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        March 1, 2012 3:05 PM

        Goddamnit I would play this again so hard.

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        March 1, 2012 3:09 PM

        My tactic was to camp with the tank for 1-2 minutes because everyone rushes with them at start and loses them all. Then I roll in and kick ass.

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        March 1, 2012 8:29 PM

        Infantry was so fucking awesome! I especially loved the aliens vs marines mod, used to LAN with my cousin and my brother all the time for hilarious battles

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      March 1, 2012 11:30 AM

      I've never even heard of any of those.

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      March 1, 2012 12:19 PM

      [deleted]

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      March 1, 2012 12:43 PM

      I'm pretty shocked Vanguard hasn't died yet. I absolutely loved that game but population is very low. I wish I could play that with a big group again.

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        March 1, 2012 3:04 PM

        My guess is with the "success" of f2p eq2, and eq1 going f2p, they needed a full dev team to devote to making Vanguard f2p, since some interest has been shown in that. And since Vanguard hasn't had a team devoted to it for a very, very long time, they probably decided to kill off all of their extremely low performing games to put them on a game they know nothing about.

        It ought to work out swimmingly.

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        March 1, 2012 7:18 PM

        Population is actually increasing and it's going f2p soon. And it's still fun as hell.

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      March 1, 2012 7:17 PM

      Cosmic rift was awesome long ago.

      Also, Vanguard is going FTP, announcement soon.

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      March 1, 2012 8:20 PM

      Cosmic Rift: Rogue Trader was freaking awesome. Then when SOE bought it they killed that server off. >:|

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        March 1, 2012 9:17 PM

        How shit! Another RT player! LOVED that version, I was the first player to buy the hyper space beacon when RT went live. For about 15 minutes I could drop a beacon, let someone following me pass it up and then hyperspace behind them for a nice kill. Then everyone had it :(

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        March 2, 2012 1:22 AM

        I used to play RT with the Messenger's squad, I was one of the Yellow Wing Royal Guards.

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      March 2, 2012 1:21 AM

      I will miss Cosmic Rift and Infantry the most. Jeff P is an awesome game designer, I played Subspace since Beta in 95 and 96, still even own the game disc and instruction booklet. I was in the Infantry alpha test when it was being developed by Harmless Games, and fell in love with Cosmic Rift, the spiritual successor to Subspace, the moment i laid eyes on it. Continuum is great and I'm happy it lives on to this day as a copy of Subspace, but it leaves so much to be desired. Jeff P has been one of my major inspirations for game design. I'm sad your creations are getting shut down. I will miss them. I hope you can create something new and exciting as Infantry and Cosmic Rift were again someday.

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      March 2, 2012 9:48 AM

      Sony Online Entertainment - Where games go to die.

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