Earth & Beyond Servers to Close

[Sonic 295]

EA have done it, they are closing the Earth & Beyond servers....

2004-03-16 : Important Announcement

Earth & Beyond Says Goodbye

Starting September 22, 2004, Earth & Beyond will no longer be in service. After an amazing two years of galactic adventure, Electronic Arts has made the decision to close Earth & Beyond in order to focus resources on future games.

 

Please check your email associated with your Earth & Beyond game account for updates and more information on what this closure means to you. We hope you've enjoyed the game as much as we have and that we'll see you again in another great EA game!

 

For more information, please visit www.enb.com.

 

Thank you,

 

The Earth & Beyond Team

Original news item: http://www.earthandbeyond.ea.com/news/news...sp?news_id=1827

[Rogue Leader 0]

That game had so much potential...too bad it didn't take off. I'm going to miss it

[Luk3us 63]

Only two years?? Bit short isn't it... Don't they usually leave the servers for at least five odd years??

[Sonic 295]

They probably weren't making enough money to cover the cost of keeping the servers up.

[Guest Raptorias]

that sux. i liked that game, even though i never got to play it cuz i got a 56k. sux i really watned to play that game. i wonder if civilians will be able to start their own servers, that would be cool

[Rogue Leader 0]

They don't have plans to release the source code, but I think there are enough EnB fans that would be interested in starting their own servers and creating their own content that they should release it. What else are they going to do with it?

[Sonic 295]

I think its safe to say that some dedicated fans will cook something up. After all they did with TS and there are plans to do with Renegade I think, thus eliminating the need for Westwood Online. I'm sure someone could set up server to handle the EnB community in the future.

[Phreakly 0]

It's been coming for a long time. I'm sad to see her go, but EA didn't really want E&B, just like they didn't really want Westwood. All they wanted was money in the form of the C&C franchise rights and it's all theirs now.

 

Buying the server code would undoubtedly cost a few hundred thousand and the cost of maintaining the game would be too much for the community to do on its own, espescially considering how spaced out it is. If there were a massive concentration of community in one city and the money were raised to buy the engine and bring a similar game with a similar story(EA legal crap would prevent the game return as is) and billing and customer service could be set up.... (the list gets longer and longer) it's essentially highly improbable that it will re-surface, save perhaps in the form of a mudd. Oh well.

[Area 0]

Just saw this topic here. I've been playing EnB every since Phreakly sent me a copy. I've loved this game. Tis a pity the Dev's and GM's didn't do more with it. The players are abosluetly outraged at EA.

 

Well Look me up on Pegasus as Area, I'll be playing till the deadline.

 

As for the fans taking over... http://ebportal.com/forum/topic/3/14781

 

It could happen but EA wont sell.

[Guest Caboose9]

Man I am going to miss playing E&B, I had so much fun. Specially when get my ship blow up. lol

[Koen 2]

Damn, I was always thinking about checking out EnB some day... when it's actually for sale in The Netherlands somewhere. But paying €50 + monthly fee is just too much. And now they're closing down. Does anyone know Freelancer? Does it compare to EnB?

[chickendippers 1]

€50!? - it was £12 in the UK (I don't know how much it costs since they did that stupid thing with tax).

[Koen 2]

€50!? - it was £12 in the UK (I don't know how much it costs since they did that stupid thing with tax).

Well... you'd get 3 months with that IIRC. But it was a webshop I think, not an actual store.

[Guest Caboose9]

In US I payed only $29.99 monthly.

[Area 0]

Heh, I pay $12.99 a month for EnB...

 

Meanwhile, the EnB community is PISSED...

 

http://www.easucks.com/

[Guest Caboose9]

I saw ur link and they speak the truth. EA does sux.