Alongside its latest content update, Perfect World and Motiga staff have announced that their “5v5 hero shooter” Gigantic will be shutting down on July 31st, 2018. Cash purchases for in-game Rubies have already been disabled and until July all Heroes will be free and Shop items will see reduced prices. The full statement reads:
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the January Update is the final content update for Gigantic, and the game servers will be discontinued on July 31, 2018. The journey over these last few years was met with outstanding support from our players and we are all very proud of the incredible experience Gigantic is today. The team wants to give a big shout out to our awesome community – both those who have been with us since the beginning as well as those who just picked up the game recently. We want to extend our sincere gratitude to everyone who gave Gigantic a chance.
For all the amazing folks who continue to play and show passion for Gigantic, all Heroes will be FREE as the purchasing of Rubies and Hero Packs have been disabled. This includes our newest hero, T-Mat! Currency will still be rewarded in-game, and any Crowns or Rubies gained by an account will remain available to purchase Shop items at discounted prices. You can read more in our January Update Notes.
Discontinuing Gigantic was not an easy decision. The game is a unique and exciting experience that captured many hearts and minds. Unfortunately, it did not resonate with as many players as we’d hoped. Over the last several months, the teams at Motiga and Perfect World looked into viable options to sustain Gigantic. However, the current state of the game has restricted options for further progress and relevant content updates, and delivering basic features while also fixing long-standing issues was more complicated than expected. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to find an impactful solution that would help Gigantic break through in a crowded market.
Gigantic remains a labor of love to the Motiga and Perfect World teams who worked on the game. It pains us to let it go, and we cannot thank everyone enough who saw something special in Gigantic and its vision. We hope you continue to enjoy Gigantic until July 31st while the official servers remain online.
One last GIGANTIC thank you to our amazing community, and while the sails are up, we’ll see you on the airship!”
Rumblings about the game’s demise stretch back to November 2017 when Perfect World announced that it had laid off most of the team behind the game. In a statement the company revealed that “a core team of developers remains […] who will work with us to support the game and its players”.
Looking at the SteamDB charts, Gigantic made a decent start with thousands of daily players on Steam but by August 2017 the numbers had fallen sharply. Player counts plateaued briefly last Autumn but have been falling ever since, dropping below 200 daily players since last November.
Gigantic launched as a free-to-play game on Xbox One and Steam on July 20th, 2017. That puts it at just barely over a year old by the time it is to be retired. I’ve added the date to the Watch List calendar and will have a page up for Gigantic soon.
The Suicide Forest, a free game released through the Xbox Live Creators Collection on Xbox One, will be removed after its content was brought to light on January 30th. Polygon reported on one of the earlier tweets about the game from TT Games’ global community manager, Bear Parker, embedded below.
The game is based on Logan Paul’s recent YouTube video (and ensuing controversy) in which he filmed a man who had hanged himself in Japan’s Aokigahara forest. The area is known as “The Suicide Forest” for the increased number of suicides and attempted suicides reported within its boundaries. In the game players are instructed to enter the forest and find a corpse to film at which point a counter displays a skyrocketing number of subscribers on Logan Paul’s YouTube channel.
Is this a joke? Just decided to check out the Creators Collection on the Xbox Marketplace and found a free, PEGI 3 rated game based on Logan Paul’s trip to Aokighara Forest… pic.twitter.com/i5XIW7OLvn
Polygon received word from a Microsoft representative that stated “this content violates our Store policies and we’re in the process of removing it,” and went on to dig up the exact wording in those policy documents: “app and associated metadata must not contain potentially sensitive or offensive content.”
Few Creators Collection titles have a web page to link to and The Suicide Forest appears to be one of them; it may still be searchable from an Xbox One console. Creator Felipe Orion is also offering the game on PC through Gamejolt and (according to the trailer) on Android, though it was not listed on the Play Store search results at the time of this writing.
Epic Games announced on January 25th, 2018 that they would be shutting down Paragon, their free-to-play MOBA title for PC and PlayStation 4, on April 26th. In consolation, Epic will also be offering full refunds for any purchase in the game, made by any player, on any platform. The game’s website has been replaced with the official statement which follows:
Hey Everyone, It’s with heavy hearts we’ve decided to close down Paragon. We truly appreciate everything you’ve put into Paragon. We received many passionate ideas for where to take the game; the outpouring of thoughtful suggestions is another testament to this incredible community. After careful consideration, and many difficult internal debates, we feel there isn’t a clear path for us to grow Paragon into a MOBA that retains enough players to be sustainable. We didn’t execute well enough to deliver on the promise of Paragon. We have failed you — despite the team’s incredibly hard work — and we’re sorry. To try to make this right, Epic is offering a full refund to every Paragon player for every purchase on any platform. This refund will come directly from Epic rather than your platform provider. To request your refund, follow these steps: If you’re not playing on PC, link your Epic account (create one if necessary). If you play on PC, or have already linked your Epic account, you can request your refund here. We’ll continue operating Paragon servers until April 26, 2018. As the player population continues to decrease, matchmaking times and quality will further degrade. Thank you for joining us on this journey and for your dedication to Paragon.
The game’s PlayStation Store page has not yet been updated to reflect the decision but all add-on purchases have been removed. All that remains alongside the game are a handful of free downloadable videos, avatar icons, and themes. As of this post it is currently available to download for free by anyone interested in the waning months of the game’s existence.
Paragon originally launched in Early Access/Beta form in 2016 with the goal of developing the game based on input from an active playerbase. It’s one reason why the messaging about the game’s demise rings of disappointment and why Epic is offering such all-encompassing refunds on purchases. They also have a much bigger thing going with Fortnite and its surprisingly popular Battle Royale expansion.
The date has been added to the Watch List calendar and I’ll have a page up soon with the full details.
Nintendo announced early on January 25th that Miitomo, their first foray into original mobile games for Android and iOS will be shutting down on May 9th, 2018. The notice is brief, confirming the date and that the sale of Miitomo coins for real money ended on January 24th.
To show their appreciation to fans of the app a “Final Thank You Festival” was announced on the game’s homepage. Every day until May 9th, players will receive 2,000 Miitomo coins and 5 Game Tickets used to buy items and play the Miitomo Drop game. Users were also able to create Sidekick Mii characters which can be exported to a 3DS or Wii U console via QR Code until May 9th. Likewise, any Miifotos created in the app will need to be exported to your smartphone before the deadline.
Miitomo launched on both iOS and Android on March 31st, 2016 putting its lifespan at just over two years by the time it is to be shut down. The date has been added to the Watch List calendar.
Catching up on another announcement I missed over the Christmas holidays, Polyphony Digital announced on December 28th that online services for Gran Turismo 6 would end on March 28th, 2018. The full announcement follows:
On 28 March 2018 at 12:00 UTC, the online services of the PlayStation®3-exclusive software “Gran Turismo 6” will come to an end. Prior to this on 31 January 2018, we will also end the distribution of downloadable content that can be used in-game.
After the end period, it will no longer be possible to utilize online services such as the Community, Open Lobby, Quick Match, and Seasonal Events. The offline portions of the game can still be played.
We would like to thank the many users of the Gran Turismo 6 online service since its first launch in 2013. From here on, we will continue to further improve the online services for the currently available title “Gran Turismo Sport”.
Released alongside Gran Turismo 6 was the Android and iOS app “GT6 Track Path Editor” which will also be removed from its respective mobile storefronts on March 28th. Even if you keep the app on your phone you will no longer be able to transfer data between it and the PlayStation 3 title after the 28th.
Gran Turismo 6 was originally released worldwide in December of 2013 and is currently the last numbered entry in the franchise. It was succeeded by Gran Turismo Sport on PlayStation 4 which was released in 2017. Gran Turismo 6 will remain available to download from the PlayStation Store and on disc from retailers. I’ve added the dates to the Watch List calendar.
Despite being one of the reasons I started this site in the first place I still managed to miss this one! On December 8th, 2017 Bandai NAMCO announced they would be shutting down the free-to-play, multiplayer iteration of their long-running arcade flight combat series, Ace Combat Infinity on PlayStation 3. We’re already past the first milestone of January 9th, when all real-money in-game purchases were disabled, but there’s still time to check out the game leading up to its March 31st shutdown date. The full announcement follows:
To all pilots,
Thank you for playing ACE COMBAT INFINITY.
We regret to announce the closure of ACE COMBAT INFNITY. Thank you all for your support and we hope you enjoyed playing. We will be keeping the servers open until March 31st, 2018, so please continue to enjoy ACE COMBAT INFINITY until the very end. Details concerning the closure schedule can be found below.
ACE COMBAT INFINITY Closure Schedule January 9th, 2018 – This is the last day for purchasing items. Items will no longer be available for purchase after this date. *All purchased items can be used until the last day of service. *No refunds are available for purchased items regardless of whether or not they have been used. *The exact time when items will no longer be available for purchase may vary depending on your region.
March 1st, 2018 – After this date, free items will no longer be available and you will not be able to redeem any codes. Also, the game will no longer be available for download. *All purchased items can be used until the last day of service. *The exact time when items will no longer be available for purchase may vary depending on your region.
March 31st, 2018 – After this date, game updates will no longer be available and the servers will close. *You will not be able to play the game once the servers have been closed. *The date indicated above may change without prior notice. *The exact time when the servers will close may vary depending on your region.
Additional information will be provided via in-game notifications and the official website.
– ACE COMBAT INFINITY Management Team
The announcement was accompanied by an unexpected trailer/tribute video to the game which has been up and running since May of 2014. By the March 31st deadline the game will be just two months shy of its fourth anniversary, quite a long run for such a niche franchise.
I’ve added the dates to the Watch List calendar and will have a page up soon. This one is near and dear to my heart so I hope to make a few videos as I dive back into it after nearly a year away from the game.
Originally planned to be shut down on January 19th, Sony has surprisingly extended the life of Gravity Rush 2’s online features by six months. According to the post made late last week on the game’s Japanese portal, the online leaderboards and challenges, “Photo Ghost” functionality, and the ability to leave treasure hints for other players will now be shut down on July 19th, 2018 at 1am EDT. You can see a screenshot of the in-game message delivered to players above, courtesy of USgamer.
When the original announcement was made the team increased the drop rate of “Dusty Tokens”, an in-game currency that is needed to unlock new costumes and can only be obtained through the online features. The updated post goes on to confirm that the drop rate will stay cranked up through the new July 19th deadline to help more players unlock the exclusive content.
If you’ve been meaning to get back to the game for a while or still haven’t picked it up you’ve got a short but much-appreciated reprieve to catch up! I’ve removed the original calendar entry and added a new one to the Watch List calendar for the updated cutoff.
The graph above should be all I need to explain how Delisted Games fared in 2017! Thank you all for nearly quintupling the number of visits and page views to the site in our first full year online. I know it’s a bummer to end up coming to the site but I’m very happy to have been able to provide advance notice of upcoming delistings or confirm your sneaking suspicions that a game is gone.
Once again, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game was the undisputed most viewed title on the site with another 4,435 views in 2017. Ubisoft, if you’re out there, I’m pretty sure you can break even on the investment to bring this one back to life! Bryan Lee O’Malley is at least wholeheartedly on board so that’s one licensing hurdle out of the way.
The next most viewed game on the site also shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Bookworm, including its many sequels and variations, has been a popular word game since it first showed up in 2003. It’s one of those games that breaks out of the typical gamer crowd and pulls in everyone from grandparents to CEOs. Unfortunately, many versions of the game have since been delisted and Electronic Arts isn’t in any rush to bring them back. While searching for ways to play the game in 2017 over 2,000 views came to us with plenty of comments asking for help and lamenting the loss.
Looking ahead to 2018 I’m sad to say I expect more games to be delisted or lose online features. More titles than ever are built around multiplayer, be it competitive or cooperative, on a large scale like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or one-on-one like Street Fighter V. Without capturing a large enough audience the value just isn’t there to keep supporting these games and modes, and publishers are quicker than ever to put their funding elsewhere. Throw in licensing deals that were established in the heyday of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii era and there’s just no denying we’re set up for more losses in 2018.
I’ll do my best to catch them before they’re gone and dig deep to find out the when, where, and why. The Delisted community was a huge help with that in 2017. The site received over 30 submissions including a lot of games that I would never have caught so quickly on my own. Keep ‘em coming and I’ll knock them out as soon as I can! I really, truly appreciate the help and responses so far!
LawBreakers, the “gravity-defying multiplayer FPS” from Cliff Bleszinski’s Boss Key Productions stepped fully onto the Watch List this week. The game launched on Steam in August of 2017 but despite its developer pedigree and “Mostly Positive” standings the graphs show that there just aren’t many people playing it. There have been a few spikes around new content releases but on average we’re talking a few dozen active players on any given day. Why? According to publisher Nexon’s latest earnings report it’s all due to the overwhelming popularity of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
“LawBreakers is a unique FPS developed for core users. We had very high expectations for its launch; however, the timing of its launch turned out to be unfortunate, specifically the blockbuster PC online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds came out right about the same time, making the market environment very tough for the first-person shooters in general and for LawBreakers.” – Shiro Uemura, Representative Director and CFO at Nexon
Uemura added quite the definitive statement on the game in the Q&A section stating, “we will not be accruing any other impairment loss pertaining to LawBreakers in the future”. I’m no business guy so I had to look up impairment loss (I’m still not 100% on it) and while it isn’t a good thing it could just mean that Nexon has adjusted its financial expectations for the game going forward, not that they’re cutting it off ASAP.
Still, these financial statements coupled with the game’s low player count should definitely raise an eyebrow over the game’s longevity. For now, LawBreakers’ holiday events are wrapping up and the game is still available to buy on both Steam and PlayStation 4. I would expect the game to stick around through its one-year anniversary in August of 2018 but after that I wouldn’t be surprised to see a “sunset” announcement.
Time is running out on the digital versions of Transformers: Devastation and The Legend of Korra. Over the holiday weekend download codes from the Humble Store and GameStop for both titles dried up. That means the digital versions are now only available on Xbox platforms, but only for a few more days.
The current sale on each title has reduced the price by up to 75% but after December 31st the deal (and the games) will be gone. While Transformers was released on disc, The Legend of Korra is a digital exclusive so this really is the last chance to grab it. Here are the remaining links one more time:
Transformers: Devastation (Xbox 360 for $7.99, Xbox One for $10.00)
