Carbine Studios and WildStar Are Coming to an End
Carbine Studios, the studio behind the massively multiplayer online game WildStar, is officially calling it quits. The shutdown will result in the loss of about 50 people losing their jobs, and WildStar is also going to come to an end. The decision has been looming for a long time after the studio’s last two projects failed to make an impact to Carbine Studios’ parent company, NCSoft.
“Today, we are closing Carbine Studios and will begin the process of winding WildStar down to ultimately shutter the game,” NCSoft said in a statement. “WildStar players who have spent money within the game will be refunded purchases from July 1, 2018 until the payment system is shut off. We are also in the process of identifying the teams that will be doing the work to bring WildStar to a close. These decisions are very difficult to make and we are in the midst of shifting as many of our teammates as possible into other roles within the organization.”
Carbine was created in 2005 by former members of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft team. NCSoft purchased the studio in 2007, and in 2011 they announced WildStar for release in 2014. But after moving from a subscription to free-to-play model, the game began to die down.