The Diablo-like MMO Devilian is closing its doors, the servers will go offline in March – the strange thing is: Somehow the mega-hit PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is to blame.
We reported in December 2017 that players of Devilian were worried that their MMO could fall by the wayside. And their fears have now been confirmed.
The western publisher of the game, Trion Worlds, announces: The servers of Devilian will close already on March 5th. This is likely to be the first closure of an MMO announced in 2018.
This is what Trion Worlds and Bluehole Ginno have agreed upon, they state.
What does PUBG have to do with Devilian?
The studio behind Devilian, Bluehole Ginno, only had Devilian and Devilian Mobile in development. Devilian was the only brand of the studio.
Devilian is an action MMORPG, with the special gimmick that the heroes of the game also had a devil form: They can transform into this Devilian form as their Ultimate.
But Devilian wasn’t really a success and was quickly discontinued in Korea. The mobile version also faded away eventually. Only the western version of Devilian remained, which Trion Worlds has operated for Europe and North America since December 2015.
Meanwhile, the parent company of Bluehole Ginno, Bluehole, hit the jackpot with the shooter PUBG in 2017. They wanted to operate the game under their own brand, the PUBG Corporation. This PUBG Corporation has not been newly established by Bluehole, instead, they renamed and restructured “Bluehole Ginno”.
The western version of Devilian was essentially the leftover of the PUBG Corporation from the days of Bluehole Ginno.
By that time, they had already lost interest in Devilian, support ran out, while Trion Worlds was left in limbo. They probably simply had no more contact person in Korea.
Therefore, the closure is now justified.
How is the end of Devilian going?
The servers will remain open until March 5th at 9:00 PM our time, and players will be showered with bonus EXP, gold, and gems. Credits and regular player passes can no longer be purchased.
But there are ways for active players to receive welcome packages in other games from Trion Worlds. There are welcome packages for:
- ArcheAge
- Rift
- Trove
- and Defiance
You can read all the details in this extensive FAQ – it’s even available in German.
More on the background of the shutdown and the PUBG parallels:
