Developers of the free to play FPS Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online revealed this week that their current plan is to wind down their title until shutting the doors on the 6th of December. The news came via a developer post created on the First Assault Online Steam discussions page.
This shutdown will occur on all of their servers across North and South America, Europe, and Oceania. In their statement they explain that this is a decision that has had a lot of thought put into it and even though there has been a monumental amount of support from developers, publishers, and community alike that even with continued development it "wasn’t going to help the game become what we all hoped it could become."
With this sunsetting window until the closure of the servers the developers plan to use it as a time for everyone involved with the community and who were a part of the game to enjoy the product and to say their goodbyes. They have also taken the step of removing both the in-game store and any DLC that were available on the Steam Store.
The final closing of the game will take place at 10 am PST on the 6th of December. To close out their statement announcing the end of the games support the development team left this message to their supporters.
It’s been a humbling experience to serve such a dedicated and engaged player community. We sincerely thank you for all the feedback and support you’ve given us throughout the years.
Quick Thoughts
It's always a shame when a game with an online population has to terminate for any reason but with a farewell message like this you can see the developers wanting one last hurrah before players will no longer be able to experience their work. Hopefully, from here all of them will be able to continue on and find new projects to lend their experience to.Did you play Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online? Do you think you'll give it a go before the game goes offline? How do you think games should handle situations like this where players have invested time and money into the game? Share your thoughts in the comments below!