Carbine Studios Shuttered, WildStar to be Taken Offline

It’s always disappointing to learn about a video game studio shutting down, and it’s even more heart-wrenching when they’re running a persistent online game that will cease to exist. Such is the case for NCsoft-owned Carbine Studios, which Kotaku reports has been shuttered, and that the quirky sci-fi MMORPG WildStar will meet its demise as a result.

Some of you may recall that the studio was started by World of Warcraft veterans and was able to call RPG design veteran Tim Cain an employee at one time, so they certainly had talent contributing to the game over the years. Here’s to hoping someone finally takes a stand and releases the server code to the public:

Carbine Studios, the developer of the massively multiplayer online game WildStar, is shutting down, Kotaku has learned. Fifty people will lose their jobs in the process, according to a person briefed on the shutdown. The game will also come to a close.

Staff were informed of the closure at a meeting today, according to someone who was in the room, but it had been looming for a while after at least two of the studio’s game projects failed to gain traction with the studio’s parent company, Korean publisher NCSoft.

“Today, we are closing Carbine Studios and will begin the process of winding WildStar down to ultimately shutter the game,” NCSoft said in a statement. “WildStar players who have spent money within the game will be refunded purchases from July 1, 2018 until the payment system is shut off. We are also in the process of identifying the teams that will be doing the work to bring WildStar to a close. These decisions are very difficult to make and we are in the midst of shifting as many of our teammates as possible into other roles within the organization.”