The world's first physics-based MMO game, Worlds Adrift, is being shut down by its creators Bossa Studios. Worlds Adrift was an MMO set in a huge open world in which players could create their own island bases as well as unique flying machines which fought and flew differently based on how they were constructed. The game first went live back in 2014 and has been in early access since it was released, but will be shut down by the end of July 2019.
In a video released to Bossa Studios' youtube channel, as well as the Worlds Adrift Steam community page, Luke Williams and Henrique Olifiers, the lead designer and gamer-in-chief respectively, announced the closure and talked about the reasons behind it. According to the pair the game just hadn't been making enough money, and the development team had been forced to spend so much time getting the game working properly that there wasn't enough time to make the experience as fun as it could be. Along with the closure the company announced an 'end of the world' event to be streamed live over Twitch, as well as refunds for people who purchased the game recently. All in-game item purchases will also be refunded, no matter how long ago they were purchased and players will retain access to the items. Finally, all founders will receive copies of some of Bossa Studios' games - namely I am Bread, and Surgeon Simulator.
The general response from the Worlds Adrift community has been strongly negative, with many commenters blaming the company themselves for the game's closure. Some claimed that the price of the game was too high for what it was, others said that the company should let gamers host their own servers to keep it alive, or at the very least give it to another company to develop. A few have even gone so far to call the whole game a scam.
Bossa hasn't responded to many of the claims made against them yet, but have asked that any player who cannot find answers to their questions in the extensive Q&A to contact them directly instead. The actual date of the closure, as well as the end of the world party, have yet to be announced but will be made clear on all available Worlds Adrift community channels.
What do you think of the closure of Worlds Adrift? Do you think that anything could have been done to save the game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.
