WildStar Shuts Down

Today is the day that WildStar faces the inevitable end and goes dark.

The news came back in September that WildStar would be shutting down.  The surprise wasn’t so much that it would shut down but that it lasted as long as it did, given how keen NCsoft has been in the past to terminate titles.  Many a City of Heroes fan still laments that the game was making money when it was closed.

Back when the announcement came I wrote a post that summed up the lift of the game, from the idealistic foundation to the harsh realities of the MMO market through to the seemingly inevitable demise. That post includes links out to many others doing the same.

The announcement of a game closing seems to be the point of reflection, the time for shock and acceptance, gloating and regret, nostalgia and dismissal.  By the time the actual closing date comes much of the emotion has run its course.

And so we say good-bye to WildStar today.  It has run its course.  Launched in June of 2014, it ran for nearly four and a half years.  Carbine Studios itself, founded back in 2005 by former Blizzard employees who had worked on World of Warcraft, was shut down back in September.

Others saying farewell to WildStar:

7 thoughts on “WildStar Shuts Down”

  1. Michael Kolesar

    I preordered it, I played it for a month, I barely remember it. An old WoW guild of mine chose if for their new game and they only stuck with it for less than a year. Maybe if it came out now, people could play it instead of WoW Classic.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Jeromai

    It lasted a lot longer than many predicted or expected. So from that standpoint, it had a pretty decent run.

    In comparison:
    Warhammer Online: 5yrs 3months
    Wildstar: 4yrs 5 months
    Marvel Heroes: 4yrs 5months
    Master x Master: 7 months 11 days

    Given how fast NCsoft axes underperforming games, managing to match Marvel Heroes’ sudden death shutdown in total run time isn’t too shabby.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Asmiroth

    I am really looking forward to the post-mortem on WildStar from the developer perspective, rather than management. Amazing how long it lasted after the F2P conversion, and STEAM launch.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Alunaria

    Despite not having played it, I can understand why it can be sad for those who did, to see it go. I can´t imagine a world without World of Warcraft (Despite not playing that much either these days..)

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  6. Redbeard

    I really got the feeling that Wildstar was what happened when people listened to the hardcore complaints about WoW, and they believed that those requests represented a sizable portion of the MMO playerbase. The thing is, once Carbine corrected those issues the story was actually really good.

    Having read the storyline on Carbine’s website providing an overview of what the original Wildstar story was going to finish –as well as the next direction they were going with the story– I’m just sad at not being able to experience that in game.

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