It is rare when a game comes along that almost everyone who tries it
likes it, rarer still is when that game is a free-to-play MMOG. The
oft-maligned genre is usually littered with thinly veiled attempts at
RMT transaction businesses with an occasional nugget thrown in. Dungeon
Runners from NCSoft was both one
of those rare nuggets and the rare game that was nearly universally
loved, which is why href="http://www.dungeonrunners.com/news/current_news/dungeon_runners_is_shutting_do.html"
target="_blank">the official announcement of the
games closing is a particularly
solemn note. The good news is that the game is still available to play
until January 1st so href="http://www.dungeonrunners.com" target="_blank">
go check it out while you still
can.

Here is an excerpt from the official announcement:

Now, it's time for the bad news. Dungeon Runners just isn't cutting the
mustard. If she were a ship, she'd be taking on water. Yeah, she's been
taking on water for a long time now. Are my cryptic references too hard
to decipher? The game just isn't profitable. And, the first rule of
business is to be profitable! Man, I must have missed that day in
business school... but I digress.
style="font-style: italic;" />


We've
been trying to figure out how to fix things for some time now.
And, that's where things get sticky. We've got some ideas that could
work. But, they're expensive to implement and pretty risky. Those two
facts, coupled with the recent loss of some key developers, make
achieving the success we seek pretty much out of the question.
style="font-style: italic;" />


As
things stand now, we're a three man team. Yeah, we lost two of our
five man team recently. Not nearly enough manpower to get where we need
to be. Rebuilding the team isn't really an option for various reasons.
So, where does that leave us? Can you guess? Yes, that's right, we're
going to be shutting Dungeon Runners down at the end of 2009. New
Year's Eve to be exact.

href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=46371"
target="_blank">Discuss the news with us here style="font-style: italic;">.