Not surprising (since I was calling this back when the Asia region service was being terminated). Additionally, there was the Korea MTN report that all parties tried to put a spin on; basically, the Asia region closure and the the ArcheAge Unchained and ArcheAge Legacy service merger was as also mentioned, just a temporary lifeline. But the decision was pretty much already set in motion for NA/EU where the decision makers decided it would be a really short leash post-service merge. The timeline was much faster than I expected though since I presumed, they would at least try to milk it until ArcheAge 2 was closer to being released (and they had the new area and fairy race slated for a Q4 release).
I knew they would be revenue starved post service merger because of all the Patron-less designs that would be brought in by Unchained players (it would require the bulk of legacy players to continue being the main income source which just wasn’t going to happen).
This also isn’t going to bode well for ArcheAge 2 (since Kakao Games will likely be the publisher given that Kakao Games KR owns a majority stake in XLGAMES; Kakao Games Europe is a subsidiary of Kakao Games KR) because of how poorly they handled the game ever since taking it over from Gamigo.
This also puts the nail in the coffin for my adventures in KMMO’s (I stopped playing Lost Ark, I don’t plan on playing ArcheAge 2, Throne and Liberty, or any other KMMO that is planned for release). It also dovetails with my winding down of this gaming blog that started in January of this year (and just further cements this heading into an archived mode).
Kakao Games is running an “ArcheAge Sunset” event which basically is giving away Eternal Erenor equipment away for free on the marketplace. And yes, their Discord is currently the most active that it has been in a while.
XLGAMES in the meantime posted an announcement to their KR community that business will continue as usual for the KR and Russian regions (how long this will last is anyone’s best guess) but I doubt this announcement will do much to increase confidence where it won’t have an impact on how much money those regions will continue pumping into the game (they basically just gave a reason to make players in those regions reduce what they would normally spend).
UPDATE (the day after): I decided to take the time to “read” postings on the official Discord (bad idea I know). It of course is the standard “all stages of grief” that normally accompanies service termination announcements (though ArcheAge has long had a less than stellar community). Then there are the usual suggestions that they sell the game to someone else.
That isn’t going to happen because XLGAMES has other titles in the franchise which they are making money off of (the other aspect is the pricing for the IP wouldn’t be attractive to any potential buyer who is also going to be looking at recouping that cost). With the global version of ArcheAge War slated to launch on June 30th, it’s expected they will rake in the usual initial mobile revenues that normally happens (there is zero expectation for longevity since it is simply a quick cash grab and then rug pull).
As for why XLGAMES did not go the VALOFE (VFUN) route, it’s just a telltale sign that CryEngine 3 ArcheAge is likely going to be shelved in the future (RU and KR were highlighted as being regions they want to continue servicing is they are still likely meeting the performance metrics whereas JP is likely the next region that will get the axe). As each year goes by, throwing engineering resources at an outdated design becomes less desirable.
Unlike TERA PC (which had several official server binary leaks that were widely disseminated a few years before Krafton announced they were ceasing development of it), ArcheAge doesn’t have any such widely available leaks given the large amount of money that was exchanged for what exists (one of the private servers). There are several emulator projects (utilizing an older client build), but nothing that is what you could say is fully playable. Myself, I have no interest in trying any of the private servers (so the game will be over for me once NA/EU goes offline in June).
The Kakao Games (KR) division of Kakao is also a huge underperformer, and XLGAMES is a small part of Kakao Games (KR) given their 53% majority interest; so the writing is on the wall with regards to the future of OG CryEngine 3 ArcheAge.
tldr; it is for the best that ArcheAge gets officially put to rest (and it is only a matter of time IMHO that XLGAMES will be forced to axe the entire thing).
