Sony Online Entertainment has announced that it will be ending support for four ongoing MMORPGs: Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures , Free Realms , Vanguard: Saga of Heroes , and Wizardry Online . Free Realms and Clone Wars Adventures servers will shut down on March 31, while Vanguard and Wizardry servers will stop on July 31.
In a statement sent to PC Gamer, Michele Cagle wrote, “At Sony Online Entertainment, we are always evaluating our portfolio to ensure we're providing players with the best gameplay experiences. At times, as part of this commitment, we have to make the difficult decision to sunset a game so we can refocus our resources on other areas in the best interest of our company and player community.”
The statement references decreasing player counts as a key reason for the shutdowns. Still-active and once-active players have a few months to get back into the game one last time, if they'd like to. It can be a hard, sad thing to say goodbye to a world where you've spent a lot of time, even if you've since moved on.
SOE President John Smedley will be holding an AMA interview on Reddit at 6 p.m. Eastern today. If you have any questions about the shut downs or SOE's plans for the future, that would be the time and place.
