LOC Veteran Posted September 17, 2009 Veteran Share Posted September 17, 2009 September 16, 2009 Yes, that's right. Dungeon Runners is shutting down on January 1, 2010. The full scoop follows. Dear Dungeon Runner, Have you ever had to give bad news to someone before? Sure you have! I've found that the best way to give bad news is to make a "crap sandwich" out of it. You know... you say something nice, drop the bad news bomb, then say something else nice. Sound like fun? Let's do it then! First, something nice! I've really enjoyed working on Dungeon Runners for the past three years. I've come to know many of you personally and have, without a doubt, had the best time in my nearly 20 year game development career working and playing with you guys! You are dedicated, passionate players that have really helped us to make Dungeon Runners what it is today. Awesome players for an awesome game! Kudos! Now, it's time for the bad news. Dungeon Runners just isn't cutting the mustard. If she were a ship, she'd be taking on water. Yeah, she's been taking on water for a long time now. Are my cryptic references too hard to decipher? The game just isn't profitable. And, the first rule of business is to be profitable! Man, I must have missed that day in business school... but I digress. We've been trying to figure out how to fix things for some time now. And, that's where things get sticky. We've got some ideas that could work. But, they're expensive to implement and pretty risky. Those two facts, coupled with the recent loss of some key developers, make achieving the success we seek pretty much out of the question. As things stand now, we're a three man team. Yeah, we lost two of our five man team recently. Not nearly enough manpower to get where we need to be. Rebuilding the team isn't really an option for various reasons. So, where does that leave us? Can you guess? Yes, that's right, we're going to be shutting Dungeon Runners down at the end of 2009. New Year's Eve to be exact. Okay, now that the bad news is out of the way, let's get some more good news to make the sandwich complete. NCsoft has worked with us on a plan to compensate Dungeon Runners players. I think we've come up with a nice package for all players with paid memberships as of today (9/16/2009). You'll be getting a 30 day game time serial code and digital copies of City of Heroes Architect Edition and Guild Wars Prophecies. FREE games FTW! I know, it's not Dungeon Runners... but it's still frigging nice! Of course, any of you guys that need refunds for multiple-month membership purchases will be taken care of. And, as always, our helpful support staff will be available to help you with any issues you have. Wait, there's even more good news! While we may be going out, we're going out in style, with a few changes to the game for the coming "End Time". Mythic loot will drop much more frequently. We're significantly reducing the cost of expensive King's Coin vendors. We're also quintupling the rate of XP gain to help you finish the game before year's end! Finally, we're adding a huge nuke to Townston that will blow up on New Year's and take the game down with it. There's more, but what fun is there in spilling all the beans? Oh, its gonna be a fun time till the end of the year! Loot finding, leveling madness. I may finally make it to level 100 myself now... So, try not to be sad. It may be the end of Dungeon Runners, but it's not the end of the world! I'll still be working on the game until the very end. We can chat, reminisce and play DR until the lights go out. See you in the game! Stephen Nichols DR's Producer & Lead Programmer Dungeon Runners Homepage Sigh, NCSoft sure knows how to shut down MMO's don't they? While DR might have been repetitive (what hack n slasher isn't really?) it was a fun game. And it certainly didn't take itself seriously. Shame they are shutting it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadrack Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 I'm not familiar with DR specifically, but whenever I hear about an MMO closing their doors I wonder why they don't just make it open source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCordRm Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 It was a funny game. I didn't stick with it very long because other games held my interest, but it was cool to try out. I think the way they're going about shutting down is both cool and classy. They're not just saying, "Bye!", they're taking the time to make an event out of it, AND compensating players. That's awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy Old Man Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 I'm not familiar with DR specifically, but whenever I hear about an MMO closing their doors I wonder why they don't just make it open source. It costs money to keep the servers up and to maintain the game. No moron would do this from their own pocket; it's far too costly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 It costs money to keep the servers up and to maintain the game. No moron would do this from their own pocket; it's far too costly. I think he means release the server software open source so people can download it , make private server, maybe customize the game some etc... Yeah I wish they would do that with some games, like Asheron's Call 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vice Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 NCSoft need to consolidate. They have to many games focused at the same userbase. Guildwars, Guild Wars 2, Dungeon Runners, Aion, Lineage 2. I think it is good that they are shutting down some of their less successful MMORPG's to focus more on the ones people are actually playing in high enough volume to make the business and the support of the games profitable. It's a shame when any online community has to close like with 'The Matrix Online' 'Auto Assault' & 'Tabula Rasa' But on the bright side these games have lots of MMO gamers who will move in to other titles. I'd be pretty ****ed if I had subbed to an MMORPG for years and then the developer decides to close the servers. But that is why I do not play risky games where the future of the game is uncertain. I would have considered Dungeon Runners one of those. And I'd currently say that Age of Conan will either stay up or close depending on how well its expansion does, I do not expect its expansion to do well unfortunately. The MMO genre is very risky not just for the games developer but for the consumer and this is a bad thing for the future of MMO's or indeed PC Gaming in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minifig Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 Doesn't really surprise me very much, a lot of things were broken with it. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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