What happens when a MMORPG has too few players and the company wants to shut it off?

Question

What happens to the players who are still playing?

Okay just say that in 10 years, there is a new MMORPG and WoW loses most of its fanbase. There are just a few hundred players left and Bliazzard want to shut it off. If they shut it off, then all of those players can't use the game anymore because its strictly online.

Answer 1

For the most part, the company will eventually come to terms that the game has to be shutdown as it isn't profitable anymore.

A lot of games have tried things like making the game free (Shadowbane for example), while others announce that they are shutting down (Asheron's Call 2) and eventually do so.

For smashes like World of Warcraft and Everquest 1, you can expect those games to last at least 10 years from inception, if not more. Games like these always somehow maintain a core user community and while the population dwindles, they still somehow seem to manage.

Answer 2

When you buy an MMO or server based game you aren't really buying a game....You are buying a ticket to an amusement park. You are allowed to stay and play for as long as the park is open (especially if you pay more money for "concessions") but when the park closes you have to leave and all the money you spent is still lost.

Answer 3

They'll just have to find a new MMORPG to play. Their accounts will be canceled and they will stop paying for it from the moment it shuts down. What do you expect people to tell you??

Answer 4

"If they shut it off, then all of those players can't use the game anymore because its strictly online".

You answered your own question, that's it....when it's done, it's done. There's nothing anyone can do.

Answer 5

Don't know the answer, don't know MMORPG, but reading it seems to be an online something.

Answer 6

the company would just shut everyone down, they only care for money, they don't think of the people who are still operating their accounts.