i AM Interactive Closes Lineage 2 SEA and Exteel

It's a really bad Christmas and New Year for Lineage 2 South East Asia (SEA) players as i AM Interactive will be shutting down its games services for both Lineage 2 and Exteel in thirty (30) days because their contract with NCSoft has been terminated. Since there was no date on the announcement, I'm guessing that it'll be done sometime early January 2010.

I used to be a Lineage 2 SEA player, even putting up a fansite for the game, it was where I first experienced being in a warring and successful guild, defending a castle, and everything else in between. Unfortunately I got disillusioned when someone from the inside told me that they were not ordered from the top to catch botters. I then left with some guild leaders and staunch, legit players/supporters of the game. From then on it was a bot infested game where in-game events became a farce, and foul-mouthed racist forumers exist.

I'm really not sure what to feel about all of this, as I used to love the game and was still secretly expecting them to change their ways and hopefully come back...but alas it is gone.

The next question is: will there be any game publishers willing to take up the game in the SEA region or will NCSoft close the doors on L2 SEA and focus more on Aion?