For the most part, I think TS's handling of the game's end has been great. They have gone above and beyond what most other companies would do. However, something still bothers me about how the game's end has been handled. Wednesday, I went to the forums like usual and I find that this game is cancelled and will be shutting down in less than a month. And it's a huge shock because there had been absolutely nothing before then to indicate any part of this game was in trouble. Nope, we were getting tons of new features and even a new major artist, and it looks like there were going to be tons of feats in the future for more unlocks, etc.
I find it hard to believe that TS only came into realization of this during this month. Surely there had to be some discussion behind the scenes, or at least some concern about low player rates. Yet we were kept in the dark about the entire time that there was anything wrong going on. Besides one spammy feat, there wasn't even any attempt to get players to recruit.
I'm no expert on business, but I doubt that word of mouth can cover for everything. However, I can tell you that I did not see an advertisement of this game anywhere. As for the lack of players, it's definitely not because this game can only appeal to a niche market. However, I only found this game because I was reading a MMO blog that usually caters top players of traditional MMORPGs and EVE Online, most of which aren't interested in Glitch, or at least they wouldn't be by reading a few blog posts. In hindsight (20/20, I know), I'm wondering why there weren't hordes of tumblr freaks here. This game caters to every single aspect of their sensibilities. And there are tons of teens and adults who have longed for a more mature version of Neopets. (Not in the pet raising aspect, but the economy and social ones)
And if the game was losing money, it must've been doing so on a trajectory. But in all, I just don't see that the dev team did anything to try and change its business model.
I'm just shocked by the abrupt ending of this game. I know that City of Heroes has different circumstances behind its closing, but it's had a couple of months for players to get ready for that. Maybe it's better for a game to go out with a bang than a whimper?
I guess this is all beyond my understanding, but I'm really baffled about how this has played out.
And preparing to be called "troll" in 3...2...1...