Warhammer Online is shutting down

http://www.gamespot.com/news/warhammer-online-shutting-down-6414616

Massively multiplayer online game Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is shutting down after five years of operation, Mythic producer Carrie Gouskos announced today on the game's website.

"Games Workshop has cultivated a world class IP. We were lucky enough to play in their universe for nearly a decade, with five great long years live. However, like all things--our contract has come to an end," Gouskos said.

"Both Games Workshop and Mythic agreed to part ways, despite how hard it is emotionally on us to let the game go," she added. "It has been a tremendous honor to work with Games Workshop and even though we may be parting ways, our relationship with them remains strong."

The game will be officially closed on December 18. Mythic will no longer be selling three-month game codes and players won't have the ability to auto-renew their accounts going forward.

Having received solid reviews following its September 2008 launch, Warhammer Online initially appeared to be on a World of Warcraft-challenging trajectory. Three weeks after launch, the game peaked at 750,000 registered users, but that figure had dwindled to just 300,000 by February 2009.

In March 2009, Mythic announced that it would be taking 63 of the game's servers offline in an effort to consolidate the evaporating player base. Mythic was also reportedly heavily affected by Electronic Arts' substantial headcount reduction enacted at the end of 2009. According to unconfirmed reports, more than one-third of the studio was laid off as part of EA's 1,500-job culling.

Warhammer Online may be closing down, but multiple new Warhammer titles are in development.

Warhammer shut down after the craptastic rat patch which destroyed the game. Once again Mythic ruins a perfectly good game with their stupid ideas while ignoring their player base. Good riddance.

Good, put it to rest and take it off life support.

I'm sure all 53 of its current players will be disappointed.

Sort of dissapointing.

I was really hyped for this game prior to launch, even bought the collectors audition.  I enjoyed playing it for a bit but things got stale pretty quickly and I only ended up sticking in out for 3-4 months.

The game had potential and was fun to play but there was nothing that made me have to play it.

Yeah... tons of potential wasted... the underrated Fantasy Warhammer that isn't 40k. Mythic ruined it. That is all.Elann2008

I wonder why they never went F2P? I mean SWTOR is a newer game and went F2P. Mythic is part of EA like Bioware, so they would have an example and experienced colleagues to guide them. Hope all those who still liked it will find a good, new MMO home for themselves. They probably still had 100,000 subscribers or so.

[QUOTE="Elann2008"]Yeah... tons of potential wasted... the underrated Fantasy Warhammer that isn't 40k. Mythic ruined it. That is all.vfibsux

[QUOTE="vfibsux"][QUOTE="Elann2008"]Yeah... tons of potential wasted... the underrated Fantasy Warhammer that isn't 40k. Mythic ruined it. That is all.Elann2008

Notice how EA is more distant from DICE's work than other studios...they know it's their main life support

[QUOTE="Elann2008"][QUOTE="vfibsux"] Ruined it is an understatement. And I will only correct you in adding EA Mythic. It has been well documented EA forced the release of an unfinished product....Mythic just had the killing blow.wis3boi

they know it's their main life support

i donno about that, while it is my personal favorite that they have... Fifa and Madden are HUGE around the world and sell alot each year.