The end of Auto Assault

Shadowfire

I don't know that there was ever much love for Auto Assault here, but I saw this on Gamespot the other day, and no mention. Thought I'd bring it up.

Gamespot wrote:

Auto Assault headed for the scrap yard
NCSoft announces that the title will be shut down at the end of this summer; current subscriber accounts will be "reconciled."
By Emma Boyes, GameSpot UK
Posted Jul 3, 2007 8:33 am PT

Postapocalyptic massively multiplayer online driving game Auto Assault will be racing its last race on August 31. The online PC title, developed by NetDevil and published by NCSoft, was released slightly over a year ago in April 2006.

Gamers chose to join one of three factions--the humans, mutants, or biomeks--and play inside in a futuristic armed-to-the-teeth car, with a unique combat system to match. For more information on the game, read GameSpot's full review.

A notice on the game's official Web site stated the company's policy toward current subscribers. "As of today, any player currently in the service with an active billed account will not be billed again. If players have previously purchased time via multi-month billing or time cards that extends their service past July 31, NCsoft will reconcile these accounts appropriately."

The game will close at midnight on August 31. No reason was given as to why the game is being shut down, but it was hardly a success story. In Auto Assault's first full quarter of availability, NCsoft's financial report showed that the game--along with South Korean tennis game Smash Star--accounted for less than one-third of 1 percent of the company's sales.

NCsoft representatives had not returned calls to comment as of press time. However, a statement read that further announcements regarding the closure would be coming soon.

This makes me kinda sad. I know the game wasn't terribly deep, but it was damn fun.

This brought other things to mind as well, though... namely, how does everyone else feel when an MMO they enjoyed goes under? You no longer have the ability to play the title you paid for, and you can't have that nostalgic "I think I'll play this again, I'm in the mood!" Asheron's Call 2 and Earth and Beyond have both been on my mind since I read this news, and I'd love to play them both, but that's obviously impossible.

So, discuss... remember.

Wonder_Hippie

I always love what I can't have. I know that the inevitable day will come when AC servers will shut down, and i'll be assaulted by nostalgia and an intense desire to play again that will last about a week.

Synthetic Orange

It was so horribly generic though.

precisionk

It was bound to happen. The game never took off substationally.




BRING BACK EARTH AND BEYOND!

GoodOmens

I knew it was a bad sign when my local CompUsa was selling Auto Assault for $7.00. I really thought about buying a copy...hell, with the free month, they were basically paying you 8$ or so to buy it. Then I remembered the beta.

I had such high hopes...

VoodooV

a decent game, Were it a single player game, I would have bought it.

Gihgehls

Not related to Auto Assault, but to answer a question asked, I was pretty disappointed when Metal Gear Online was shut down.

SpaceGhost

I bought the game on opening day, played it for 5 minutes, then cancelled my account.

urahonky

I miss Earth and Beyond

captaink

Yeah, there just wasn't enough to Auto Assault. Certainly not enough to make an MMO of. It was fun riding the cars around for about an hour and shooting stuff, but that was it.

Yathrin

Really, the only MMo that has passed on that I even remotely miss is Earth and Beyond. There really needs to be another MMo with an evolving storyline and world/universe. As for Auto Assualt I decided not to buy it, the open beta did nothing for me. Too generic.

cwapfobrains

i never knew about Earth and Beyond when it was out, but everything i've seen on it i want to play it now

DiannaoChong

Not to turn this into an E&B thread..... but.....

I miss earth & beyond

Imperfect

Me too - I made thousands of bucks off E&B.

Daric

I knew this was going down when GameStop gave me a free copy of the game for buying something else in their store.

MooT

pssh, I got two free copies.

Dead serious. They wanted to get rid of them bad at the local EB.

Kreutz

I got a free copy with Guild Wars: Nightfall.

I didn't even open it.

Avenrosh

I picked up the Collector's Edition for under $10 (boxed new with the headset). That was last year and I haven't played it yet, either. I'd love to give it a shot before it end, as it does look like a lot of fun.

Wulf

The worst part is that this could have been an AWESOME game if they had actually made it like say Twisted Metal... only in MMO form. Instead it turned out to be a yawn fest, roll to hit, autoattack and click skills as you putt putt around in a circle by the numbers MMO R.I.P. little fella.

Burning Organ

Wodner if they'll give out the necessary code to make private servers?

LockeCole

Urgel wrote: »

Wodner if they'll give out the necessary code to make private servers?

That would be neat, but I doubt it, since I suspect they recycle code between all their MMOs and don't want people making private servers for those.

Burning Organ

Well, depending on the fanbase, they might make private servers with or without official help

Shadowfire

Wulf wrote: »

The worst part is that this could have been an AWESOME game if they had actually made it like say Twisted Metal... only in MMO form. Instead it turned out to be a yawn fest, roll to hit, autoattack and click skills as you putt putt around in a circle by the numbers MMO R.I.P. little fella.

It's the only game yet that's let me ram into and roll over my opponents, watching their little bodies scream through the air while I torch their buddies with my flamethrower, and my pets (following vehicles) rip apart their support.