One game ends, another begins

Taken from Allods Online International CBT

It wasn't too long ago that Philippine game publishers were adding new games at a rapid clip. It seems that these days they've developed a plan of closing one game and adding a new one a few weeks after. A good example would be eGames closing Supreme Destiny and opening the (ALSO currently closed) ZXOnline. With the addition of Allods Online into the Levelup Philippines list of MMORPGs, it looks like the cycle has been broken (IF Hello Kitty Online opens on Oct 2010).

ZXOnline Closes on August 13

eGames closes ZXOnline (Zhu Xian Online) on August 13 (Previously it was set to close July 31--giving notice of closing for only 5 days).

Reason for closing ZXOnline

Their reason? Their contract with Perfect World was terminated. It wasn't stated who wanted it terminated, whether it was Perfect World or eGames, but it doesn't matter now.

The announcement is stated below:

Due to this event, eGames has once again gone under the microscope. Based on the forums, a lot of players have been disheartened in playing in other eGames-published MMOs fearing that it may close as well. Although closing unsuccessful games are the norm in any business, the way they are closed means a lot to the players. It wasn't as bad as what happened to Lineage 2 SEA, but considering that ZXOnline hardly went over two years before it closed gives the gaming public suspect to the publisher's way of managing their games.

Massive exodus to Jade Dynasty

After reading the forums, the large consensus seems to be that instead of transferring to another eGames-powered MMO, they've decided to go to the international version: Jade Dynasty and play in the Billows server. No doubt this will be a boon to both the community and management over there as they will be receiving a lot of experienced players.

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?