A sad day for fans of The Sims Online as EA announces the game's closure on August 1st, 2008.

It is with mixed emotions that today we are announcing the EA-Land experiment will soon draw to a close. Since 2002, EA-Land / TSO has attracted a very special group of players (of which you are one) and we certainly appreciate your participation in the EA-Land community. The lifetime of the game has drawn to an end, and now we will be focusing on new ideas and other innovative concepts in the games arena. We’d like to thank everyone who has taken part in this online community as a unique experience in the virtual world.

Below are some facts about how the site and service will be closed. Please see also a special message from the team that maintained EA-Land, to the community that played it.

Key Facts:

• On August 1, 2008, the game EA-Land / TSO will no longer be in service and EA will focus these resources on future games

• Your subscription billing will end now, so that at least 60 days of your EA-Land experience will be at no cost to you

• You may cancel your account and subscription at any time by contacting customer service or by managing your EA account online. To do this, you must log on to EA-Land / TSO to cancel within the game

• Starting immediately PayPal cash-in will not be available anymore

• EA Customer Support at support.ea.com is available to help answer any questions you might have regarding your account

If you are a paying subscriber as of April 29th 2008, EA would like to offer you one of the following two gifts as a token of our appreciation:

• $15 off any game at the EA Store at www.eastore.ea.com, or

• Three months of Club POGO(tm) Subscription Time

Paying subscribers please insure your email contact information is up to date as details of this offer will be sent out to you within 30 days.

Again, thanks you to all of you.

Electronic Arts

Read more here.

it seems as if EA learned their lesson from Earth and beyond about being nice to the last remaining subscribers

A decent idea, but a game like Second Life, just did TSO one huge step better.

Maybe EA should consider Second Life, when they think of The Sims franchise and the "Online" part.

NOoooooo.  And I was just getting ready to talk my guild into moving over from WOW to this game.  What's left?  Vanguard maybe?

Good riddence....

Now bring back Earth and Beyond!

or how about RELEASE EARTH AND BEYOND TO THE PUBLIC!

Ah the old battle cries of reviving Earth and Beyond. You will always have a special place in my old Jenquai Explorer heart.

Originally posted by Player_420

it seems as if EA learned their lesson from Earth and beyond about being nice to the last remaining subscribers

I think that is a nice thing to see....

What I'd also like to see if releasing the CODE and or server*data for servers to let players CONTINUE this game if they run their own servers.

I'm left asking... why does a game have to end?   hand it over to non-profit users and let the game blossom again.

I know there's alotta legal behind this but if you can license out the code and servers... really... why not?

I don't play this game, so let that be clear.

However, this is one of my major conundrums.  Why don't gaming companies do this.  Do they not want extra competion? Their IP holder won't allow it?  I dunno

To the dev's and IP holders:   Your 5 year old code and graphics are'nt special and you *could* still make money off this if you release it to private holders.  (does that mean advertising or sub prices?  I dunno as well.... but the game is still a valuable commodity to people who play it.

But, then again, you don't want people playing this game when you have a new one coming out.

I find that sad as a species, but find it quite accurate in the corporate world.

My philosophy would be to give the players more as much as possible and when I can't give anymore... licence it out (aka: sell it off to somebody who does see value in continuing the game and making profit)>

But, then again, I'm not a business major... I'm just a savvy consumer. and businessperson.

Another EA mmo closure.   They should just focus on sport games.

Originally posted by DeadDingo

 

Originally posted by Player_420

it seems as if EA learned their lesson from Earth and beyond about being nice to the last remaining subscribers

 

I think that is a nice thing to see....

What I'd also like to see if releasing the CODE and or server*data for servers to let players CONTINUE this game if they run their own servers.

I'm left asking... why does a game have to end?   hand it over to non-profit users and let the game blossom again.

I know there's alotta legal behind this but if you can license out the code and servers... really... why not?

I don't play this game, so let that be clear.

However, this is one of my major conundrums.  Why don't gaming companies do this.  Do they not want extra competion? Their IP holder won't allow it?  I dunno

To the dev's and IP holders:   Your 5 year old code and graphics are'nt special and you *could* still make money off this if you release it to private holders.  (does that mean advertising or sub prices?  I dunno as well.... but the game is still a valuable commodity to people who play it.

But, then again, you don't want people playing this game when you have a new one coming out.

I find that sad as a species, but find it quite accurate in the corporate world.

My philosophy would be to give the players more as much as possible and when I can't give anymore... licence it out (aka: sell it off to somebody who does see value in continuing the game and making profit)>

But, then again, I'm not a business major... I'm just a savvy consumer. and businessperson.

 

People asked the same thing when they announced they were killing Motor City Online. Why just end it? I bought MCO a year before and couldnt play becuase of my computer at the time. Then I finaly get to start it and find out the servers had been closed. :(

As an ex-EnB player that was "offered" a free disc to play when EnB closed, I too say adios!!!! Still a sour spot with me and any MMO EA is involved with.

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Originally posted by Indo
As an ex-EnB player that was "offered" a free disc to play when EnB closed, I too say adios!!!! Still a sour spot with me and any MMO EA is involved with.

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Same here. In fact, no EA games are allowed in my house, not even Orange Box.

OMP refugee

Originally posted by TTDanadita

 

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Originally posted by Indo
As an ex-EnB player that was "offered" a free disc to play when EnB closed, I too say adios!!!! Still a sour spot with me and any MMO EA is involved with.

---

 

Same here. In fact, no EA games are allowed in my house, not even Orange Box.

OMP refugee

However the PS3 version was ported by a team at EA - thats why its the worst version ;)

didnt they just revamp this game ?

EA is capable of turning just about any game to crap, this is no surprise.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

EA is capable of turning just about any game to crap, this is no surprise.

sounds like they're scott evil to soe's dr. evil.