Matrix Online to End 4-Year Run
May 30, 2009 by Joel Tan
Filed under MMORPG, MMORPG News
It’s late, and everybody seems to know about the news that The Matrix Online may be taken offline by the end of July, but I feel the need to post something as big as this. It’s not every day you get to hear about the impending demise of a massively multiplayer online game based on a successful movie franchise.
Here’s what sparked the news that The Matrix Online would be taken down on July 31, 2009:
In May 2004, I embarked on a journey. I decided to take the red pill in a big way—I became the online community lead for The Matrix Online. Later that year, many of you joined me as you jacked in for the first time. It was a brand new world—a vision of online games that didn’t involve elves, spaceships, or dragons. We became part of the Matrix storyline; living our own adventures in the world painted by the movies.
It seems not so long ago I was jumping into Mara Central and going toe-to-toe with other devs at E3 2004. I had no idea this journey would take me to a whole different company, managing a major revision of the game, and my first producing gig. “Long, strange trip” doesn’t describe the half of it.
Now we’ve seen how far the rabbit hole goes and it’s time to wake up from that dream (or go back to sleep, depending on how you look at it). On July 31, 2009, we will be jacking out for the last time. It’s a bittersweet moment for everyone involved with the game; as a player or as a developer.
It has been a good run. Where many games have fizzled out before or shortly after launch, by August we will have lived on in our home at Sony Online Entertainment for more than four years. To this day, I have never worked with a community as dedicated as The Matrix Online community.
The message, taken from The Matrix Online’s official forums, was written by Daniel Myers, community lead for the game under Sony Online Entertainment.
Now comes the questions: Why are they taking The Matrix Online offline? Is this the future of other online games based on movies or books like the equally successful Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar?
