I just got that e-mail from SOE...
RE: IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE MATRIX ONLINE – THE MATRIX ONLINE SERVICE WILL END ON JULY 31, 2009
Dear MxO Subscriber,
We want to inform you that on June 1, 2009, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) will suspend commercial services of THE MATRIX ONLINE (MxO). However, SOE will continue to operate the game service and players will still be able to play MxO through July 31, 2009.
As of June 1, 2009, SOE will no longer offer customer support or provide updates for MxO, and active subscribers with accounts in good standing will not be billed after that date. MxO subscribers who have prepaid subscription time that extends their subscription period past June 1, 2009 will receive a pro-rated refund for any such pre-paid excess subscription payments*. Such refunds are expected to be issued by October 1, 2009.
We welcome those active MxO subscribers in good standing to play one or all of the following SOE massively-multiplayer online PC games at full paid subscriber status at no cost between June 1, 2009 and July 31, 2009 (subject to the terms and conditions described below) using the same Station Account you use to subscribe to MxO**: Free Realms™, EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, and Star Wars Galaxies™. To access and download the game software for EverQuest, EverQuest II, or Star Wars Galaxies, begin by downloading Station Launcher here for free: http://launcher.station.sony.com/. To initiate the download of Station Launcher simply click on the "DOWNLOAD BETA" button. Once the download is complete, Station Launcher will serve as your one stop shop for access to all the identified online games except Free Realms, which can be found at www.freerealms.com.
We value having you in our player community and hope that you will find a new home in one of these other SOE games during this trial period.
During the last two weeks that MxO will be available, we intend to initiate a world-ending event and invite our active MxO subscribers with accounts in good standing to participate in bringing Mega City down together. We will go out with the same level of dramatic in-game event that has kept this game exciting over the years. Get ready to jack in and become part of the final chapter of the story!
We appreciate your loyalty and commitment and look forward to seeing you in another SOE game.
Sincerely, Sony Online Entertainment
*Please log in to your Station Account to update your billing address. If a valid credit card is active on your account, refunds will be applied to such credit card. If your account is paid via SOE Game Card or other retail game time card, we will send a check in the refund amount to your current billing address.
**Offer valid between June 1, 2009 and July 31, 2009. If, as of June 1, 2009, you are not already a subscriber to Station Access, EverQuest, EverQuest II or Star Wars Galaxies or have a paid membership to Free Realms, this offer will provide you with access to the current retail versions of EverQuest® Seeds of Destruction™, EverQuest® II The Shadow Odyssey, Star Wars Galaxies™: Complete Online Adventures, and full membership status to Free Realms (greater access than the current trial versions of such games and non-membership status to Free Realms ) through July 31, 2009.
If, as of June 1, 2009, you have an active Station Access subscription or subscription in good standing to one or more of these games, but have not purchased the game software for EverQuest® Seeds of Destruction™, EverQuest® II The Shadow Odyssey, or Star Wars Galaxies™ Complete Online Adventures, this offer will provide you with the opportunity to experience these games until July 31, 2009. With respect to Free Realms, if you do not have a Station Access subscription or full membership to Free Realms as of June 1, 2009, you can experience full membership status through July 31, 2009.
The playtime described above cannot be used as a credit toward any subscription or membership, including a Station Access subscription. To play any of the SOE games listed above, you must register for or have a Station Account. During this period of gameplay, your game access to these games will be equivalent to a full, paid subscription (as compared to standard trial access or restricted account) and in the case of Free Realms, access will be full membership status; provided, however, that you must agree to and comply with each game's user agreement, terms of service and rules of conduct. Failure to comply with all applicable game rules may result in the suspension or termination of your access to these games. If you activate a fully-paid subscription or membership (as applicable), you will lose the balance of any unused trial period game time and additional, recurring subscription/membership fees will apply. In addition, if you convert a trial account into an active subscription/membership, you will not be entitled to any game time that may be included with the purchase of certain versions of, or other offers related to, such game(s). Game subscriptions and memberships are non-transferable and have no cash value.
Well, there's our answer.
-sighs- this sucks. no way to port it to private servers either?
SOE wrote:
Right. That's why you totally ignored us for months.
Well... poop.
Well time to pach up and jack in to get meatwaded one last time.
And no... I won't be buying any other Sony products... ever.
EDIT:
Looks like I won't make it afterall... my sub expires June 11th.
So my guess for end of world event is: Spawn all holiday objects, turn on winter weather (with possible code for snow), degrade all monuments like in "death of the destroyer", optionally bring dead characters back, spawn monsters and agents, end of beta eye sky. and then Virrago runs around changing people into stuff before the final meatwad and shutdown.
The Furious Angels will be showing in force for the last day in.
phi wrote:
Amen to that.
Oh thank god. ^-^
I hate to see MxO go, but at the same time, I hate seeing what has been done with it. Good night, old friend. Rest in peace.
To SOE, you will never see me in another SOE game ever again.
" It is Inevitable"
We will be there.....
xfire: Dr5mith ADD MEH!!
can we exploit freely the last 2 months then? month and a half?....blue marbles..packs anybody......headgear for screenies..?...sounds like what was left of the mxo economy is gone
No thanks, SOE, I'm not interested in any of your other games. Everquest sucks, and I've heard SWG does too. I can't seem to figure out how a crappy game like EQ has lasted as long as it has. What's it going on now...like 13 years?
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I get this email in my box that says you're terminating my favorite game of all time. I'm severely disappointed...all the things I've worked for, my info, my items, my collectibles, emails, and all the things I love...worthless and gone.
We haven't had an event in months. Once Rarebit left that was pretty much it. I was still holding out the hope that maybe things would get better, maybe you'd hire another dev. My hope has been dissolved.
My sadness has turned to anger. But how can I expect a corporation to fund a game that is losing players...due to the company's failure to continue the funding end of it - namely a new Dev.
This is not just the death of my beloved game, oh no...it's the death of the Matrix as we know it.
Dear players, we need to exchange contact information sometime. Or get an Xfire account and look me up. I've met many good people, have seen many things, and have done it all. But now someone is pulling Wire's jack and she won't survive this time, no EJP for her this time.
All I know: I'll be taking tons of screenies from here on out. More than probably in all the four years I've played this game.
Wire will live on...and she does. As a warrior and about 9 other characters on Guild Wars. Come find me. Just look for The Wire.
Rest in peace, MXO, old friend. It's been nice knowing you.
It's been a good four years... I'm sad to see it end, and I'm a bit frazzled thinking about all the stuff I haven't done ingame, which I'll be scrabbling to do in the next two months. I'm considering an endgame for my three characters, but I'm not sure how to execute it, since some of the folks I wanted involved have long since moved on to other games.