Another MMO goes to the great MMO graveyard in the sky.
Do you remember The Matrix Online? Back when people were still excited by the films a Matrix MMO seemed a perfect fit - what better way to emulate a world where you pretend to be a super-powered hero fighting inside a machine-simulated world than by making a game that let's you pretend to be a guy pretending to be a super-powered hero fighting inside a machine-simulated world?!
Uh...
Anyway, thanks to the artful work the Wachowski's did on the second and third films (ie, fuck you very much for screwing up your own golden goose!), and to a lot of publisher swaps and launch issues, the game really didn't get off to a good start. But a dedicated - albeit smaller than hoped for - community did form, and it's been active up to this very day - when the announcement came down that the game will close in two month's time.
As of now Sony Online Entertainment is no longer supporting the game, and on July 31 the servers will shut down forever. Here's part of the announcement amde by the game's producer on the official forums:
Now we've seen how far the rabbit hole goes and it's time to wake up from that dream (or go back to sleep, depending how you look at it). On July 31, 2009, we will be jacking out for the last time. It's a bittersweet moment for everyone involved with the game; as a player or as a developer. It has been a good run. Where many games have fizzled out before or shortly after launch, by August we will have lived on in our home at SOE for more than 4 years. To this day, I have never worked with a community as dedicated as The Matrix Online community.
Now we've seen how far the rabbit hole goes and it's time to wake up from that dream (or go back to sleep, depending how you look at it). On July 31, 2009, we will be jacking out for the last time. It's a bittersweet moment for everyone involved with the game; as a player or as a developer.
It has been a good run. Where many games have fizzled out before or shortly after launch, by August we will have lived on in our home at SOE for more than 4 years. To this day, I have never worked with a community as dedicated as The Matrix Online community.
The devs are planning one last end-of-world event for the game, so at least those still playing will go out on a high note.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012