It is curious: an MMORPG is closing for the third time now – just here in the West. The online role-playing game always died within a year and came back, only to close again. That must make it the most unsuccessful MMORPG of all time.
This game is about: It is the MMORPG that was formerly known as ELOA “Elite Lord of Alliance.” In the latest version, the hack’n slash MMORPG was called “Warlords Awakening.”
MMORPG closes 3 times – in less than 4 years
This is the story so far: Elite Lord of Alliance is a Korean MMORPG that is now closing for the third time here in the West.
- The publisher Webzen released it in the West in November 2015, but the game was already canceled in September 2016 – due to lack of success.
- In November 2016, a second publisher, Game & Game, wanted to try his luck. He brought the game to Steam in November 2016 – but it ended on August 11, 2017. Here too, the lights went out.
- A third publisher then felt called to lead ELOA to success. “PlayWith” released “ELOA” under a new name. It came out as “Warlords Awakening.” The game was released on August 2, 2018 – on June 28, 2019, it is over this time.
There have certainly been other MMORPGs that have also failed terribly, but closing 3 times in 4 years is an art.
How did it go the 3rd time? PlayWith had big words for Warlords Awakening. They said that the other publishers made mistakes and did not develop the game to its full potential.
With “Warlords Awakening,” they wanted to do everything better, listen to the community, and develop the game together with the players. There has always been a hard core of big fans. They apparently wanted to reach them.
The game launched on August 2, 2018, on Steam. But it is over here too: Warlords Awakening will be switched to Free2Play and then closed shortly thereafter.
On June 28, the lights go out. Then the MMORPG dies for the third time here in the West.
Some buyers are now disappointed
What were the ratings on Steam? The ratings for Warlords Awakening were actually surprisingly good (70% positive) until the closure. The game caters to the niche of action MMORPG fans looking for something Asian to grind.
However, now there are some thumbs down. Some do not like that PlayWith releases a “Buy2Play” game and switches it to F2P within a year and closes it.
There is actually some nasty criticism in the Steam ratings. One critic even feels cheated out of his money and accuses the publisher of having planned the end from the beginning.
Can you still play it? If you want to check out Warlords Awakening, now is a good chance. The game is currently free on Steam, until the servers go offline on June 28. (via steam)
