The mix of RTS and MMORPG sounds quite good at first. However, despite positive reviews, the MMO Kingdom Under Fire 2 will close its servers in October. Recently, only an average of 14 players were playing on Steam. What went wrong?
This is the bad news: In a newsletter from the publisher Gameforge, the team behind Kingdom Under Fire 2 announced that the MMORTS will permanently shut down its servers. Already now, no in-game purchases can be made, and the title can no longer be purchased on Steam.
If you own the game, you can still play until October 26th. On that day, the operation of Kingdom Under Fire 2 will be discontinued, and the MMO will be dead.
In the newsletter, Gameforge also writes that they are grateful for the good times with the game and will always hold it fondly in memory. “We can look back at epic mass battles, hordes of enemies, and especially a unique community,” the letter continues.
What is the reason? We do not know the exact reason, but the very low number of players must have contributed to the decision. Although the MMO also has its own launcher, the numbers of which we do not know, only an average of 14 people played the game on Steam recently.
Even these 14 active fans represented an increase of 29.42% compared to the previous month (via steamcharts.com). This suggests that operating the title is no longer worthwhile for the publisher.
Players criticize the weak development of Kingdom Under Fire 2
How does the community react? Since the announcement of the server closure, the game has received many negative reviews on Steam. Although it is actually a good game, many users agree that it was “left to die.”
The title only came to Steam in 2019 and was no longer supplied with new content after just a few months, which some fans criticize and consider a reason for the decline in the player base.
However, some other fans are still leaving new, positive reviews, expressing their sadness over the end of an “actually good MMO.”
The user Rob writes after 62 hours of gameplay (via Steam): “A good game that could capture the qualities and feel of its predecessors. […] It’s sad to see the game disappear and the servers shut down. I can only hope that there will be a successor that focuses on single-player.”
Fans are disappointed and angry
This causes anger: The business model of the game has changed, as it was originally announced as a Free2Play game, but then released as a Buy2Play title. The game has been significantly discounted since April 2020 (via steampricehistory). The low price has now caught the attention of a writer of a negative Steam review, who likely discovered the lower price only at a later time and thought it was a sale.
Just in October 2020, the developer confirmed to us in an interview that they do not plan to shut down Kingdom Under Fire 2. However, we cannot say how short notice the decision to shut down the MMORTS was made.
It is currently still uncertain how things will proceed or whether a new Kingdom Under Fire could be in development. The game definitely had its niche but could not retain enough fans in the long term.
How did the development go? Kingdom Under Fire 2 has a very long and exciting development history, which we have already summarized completely for you. Already in 2017, the game had cost 78 million dollars in development, and it can be assumed that these costs increased by 2019. According to the game director, it long held the title of the most expensive Korean MMO of all time. Here are the key facts:
- In 2009, Kingdom Under Fire 2 was originally announced for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Then there were long periods of no information.
- In 2016, there were news about the game, and it made a comeback at a time when many fans had almost forgotten the title.
- By 2017, the title supposedly cost over 78 million US dollars in development, making it the most expensive Korean MMO of all time, according to the game director.
- In 2019, the game was then released, after a total of 12 years of development, but only for PC.
- By January 2021, work on the PS4 version of the title was stopped.
- Finally, Gameforge decided not to continue operating the game in October 2021.
Did you play Kingdom Under Fire 2? How do you see the end of the title? Do you think it’s a shame that the game has to close? Feel free to let us know in the comments.
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