Carbine Studios and WildStar Shut Down

Carbine Studios, the makers behind the Free-to-play Sci-Fi MMORPG and butt jiggle simulator WildStar has just shut their doors. That means their 50-employee team has been laid off, and the game will start the slow, inevitable process of closing down for good.

“Today, we are closing Carbine Studios and will begin the process of winding WildStar down to ultimately shutter the game. WildStar players who have spent money within the game will be refunded purchases from July 1, 2018 until the payment system is shut off. We are also in the process of identifying the teams that will be doing the work to bring WildStar to a close. These decisions are very difficult to make and we are in the midst of shifting as many of our teammates as possible into other roles within the organization.”

Carbine was started in 2005 by ex-World of Warcraft devs, and purchased by Korean publisher NCSoft in 2007. Wildstar was announced in 2011 and eventually released in 2014 as a monthly subscription MMORPG, which went about as well for it as you could expect. One year later, it became a free-to-play game, and in the years following, it went considerably quiet, as staff members were laid off and development slowed to a crawl. Which makes the news of the closing a bit unsurprising.

This wouldn’t be the first time NCSoft got in the news for shutting down an MMORPG: in 2012 they made wave for liquidating and closing Paragon Studios and City of Heroes. They also shut down Richard Garriott’s attempt at an MMORPG, Tabula Rasa, after only two years of running.

I’m not going to go so far as to say that NCSoft is the EA of MMORPG’s, but they certainly seem to be looking that way. As of right now, their three biggest MMORPG’s, Aion, Lineage ll, and Guild Wars 2, are still going strong.

Even if one of them has been courting controversy.