Special Case – Wildstar

Developer: Carbine Games | Platforms: PC | Release: June 3, 2014 | Shutdown: November 28, 2018

What was Wildstar? The MMORPG Wildstar placed you on the distant planet Nexus, where two factions fought over it. But there lurked a crazy AI that made it far from easy for the inhabitants to settle.

Wildstar’s gameplay was similar to that of World of Warcraft, offering many quests and exciting battles that were more active. Initially, Wildstar could impress players with humor and the corresponding comic graphics. The content also provided enough variety and targeted hardcore players. Fans particularly appreciated the complex housing system.

How long did the MMORPG run? Wildstar lasted more than 4 years after launching in June 2014 and only shut down in late September 2018.

Why didn’t the game succeed? Wildstar targeted hardcore players with difficult content, making it hard for newcomers to gain a foothold. Furthermore, new content came too slowly, and the MMORPG was plagued by bugs and technical problems. Even the Free2Play switch in 2015 could not save Wildstar.

Player numbers were relatively low from early on, and revenue left much to be desired, which is why NCSOft no longer mentioned the MMORPG in its quarterly numbers.

Why is Wildstar a special case? Actually, the MMORPG lasted over 4 years, which is longer than many online RPGs. However, since the MMORPG meant so much to so many fans, we still wanted to include it in the list.

Would you like to learn more about already dead MMORPGs? Then read the Mein-MMO article “15 dead MMORPGs that WoW has already outlasted.”