Bossa Studios have introduced plans to cancel Worlds Adrift, the sandbox MMO the place gamers can construct their very own airship and personal aerial island, and shut it down in July. It hasn’t even left early entry. The servers will shut and the game will develop into unplayable. Their reasoning is pretty easy: the game is kinda eh so it’s not promoting sufficient for the corporate to proceed improvement. Folks who purchased the game throughout the previous month will likely be provided a refund, whereas older gamers is not going to. The finish of the sky is nigh.
“The challenges that came with our ambitious project meant that all our work went into making the game work rather than making it the experience we wanted it to be,” Bossa mentioned in a press release on the game’s site. “As a result we failed at making a game that could capture the imaginations of millions. Creating an MMO like Worlds Adrift is a huge financial commitment and unfortunately the game is just no longer commercially viable.”
They’re pulling the plug on a yet-unconfirmed date in July, taking the game down ceaselessly. Its wee free standalone Island Creator will nonetheless work for individuals who need to tinker with constructing their dream skylands (it’s nonetheless out there on Steam), although after all they received’t have the ability to deliver them into the game.
People who purchased Worlds Adrift on Steam between April 29th and right this moment’s announcement will likely be provided a refund. Anyone who purchased beauty stuff from the in-game retailer because it was added in December will likely be refunded these explicit purchases. And individuals who purchased in early as Founders will likely be provided free copies of Bossa’s I Am Bread and Surgeon Simulator.
Bossa are nonetheless engaged on a number of different games. This isn’t the top for them, although it’s not a constructive signal.
And… that’s it for Worlds Adrift. Early entry games die on a regular basis, and anybody shopping for an unfinished game needs to be ready for it to finish up fairly totally different or not find yourself something, but it surely’s shocking for a corporation as (comparatively) massive as Bossa. I might not count on that from them, particularly once they have a observe report of scrapping games early on if not sufficient folks care. I suppose many individuals have been initially swept up within the potential of Worlds Adrift, our former Adam (RPS in peace) included. And it was additionally a shock when Double Fine ditched Spacebase DF-9 regardless of their measurement. The lesson to remove is: dangerous issues will occur to all the pieces you’ve ever liked.
Our most up-to-date lengthy take a look at Worlds Adrift was, eerily, precisely one 12 months in the past right this moment. Fraser Brown Premature Evaluation appreciated bits however didn’t see how it could all come collectively:
“I’m not really convinced by Worlds Adrift the MMO. The freewheeling aviation adventure? That I absolutely dig. I can lose days to it. It’s become my happy place, where I can look at pretty islands and not worry about the weird rattling noise that’s coming from my bathroom. I don’t even mind losing my life to the occasional workplace accident. I’m not bemoaning that it’s multiplayer, either. It’s perfectly suited for it, particularly co-op. It’s at the big picture stuff, or lack thereof, where it loses me. On the entirely made-up and possibly confusing scale of Eve Online to Sea Of Thieves, it’s definitely much closer to Rare’s oddly limited piratical romp.”
While Sea Of Thieves has perked up rather a lot since its barebones launch, together with adding story adventures, Worlds Adrift has evidently not drawn and stored the gamers it wanted.
Ahead of the shutdown, Bossa are making all microtransaction beauty doodads free for all gamers to put on.
