WildStar, the highly stylized science fiction MMORPG released by Carbine Studios and ArenaNet a few years ago, never quite caught on. A couple months ago, it was announced that the game would be closing down later this year, and now, that has come to pass. As of 2PM PST/5PM EST today, WildStar is no more.

The official WildStar account on Twitter itself posed the tweet announcing the end of the service today, thanking all players who played and supported the game. Though it had a pretty dedicated following, it was clearly not enough to keep the game afloat, in spite of a very public relaunch that evidently did not go as planned.

In the end, it was probably cheaper to just cut the service. While this will undoubtedly disappoint a lot of the game’s fans, they have also had enough notice ahead of time to reconcile themselves with its impending death.

As of November 28 at 2pm PST, the North American and European WildStar game service has closed. Thank you to everyone who joined us on this grand adventure across Nexus! pic.twitter.com/g363m5WF9t

— WildStar (@WildStar) November 28, 2018

Struggling free to play sci-fi MMO WildStar will be shutting down servers on November 28th, 2018. Earlier this month, NCSoft confirmed the closure of WildStar and developer Carbine Studios with reports indicating layoffs for 50 employees.

In an official post, the development team stated, “At launch, the Carbine team delivered a deep, engaging, and spectacularly fun game full of outlandish adventures on the most legendary planet in the universe.

“And it has been our great privilege to share those adventures with all of you over the last four years… Unfortunately, as you may have heard, those adventures are coming to an end. It’s never easy to say goodbye to something, especially something that has meant so much for so many – but the WildStar game service will close on November 28, 2018.”

It seems that WildStar will be going out guns blazing though. Seasonal events will be available each week until the game shuts down, with double XP, Glory Days, Power Prestige, and PvP and Blessing of Essence all being made available.

Real-money purchases have been disabled, and drop rates for Omnibits have been increased. If you made any purchases after July 1st, including Signature Memberships that run after September 26th, these will be refunded and processed by October 3rd.

It’s a shame that WildStar ultimately arrived at this point. Despite Carbine Studios releasing the title on Steam and even making it free to play, it still couldn’t quite find a foothold in this age of MMOs. What are your thoughts on the game’s upcoming closure? Let us know in the comments.

Carbine Studios has announced that it’s shutting down, and its MMO WildStar will be ending as well. This announcement comes off of a low player counts, even after it switched from a subscription-based model to free to play model following its release.

Parent company NCSoft stated, “Today, we are closing Carbine Studios and will begin the process of winding WildStar down to ultimately shutter the game. 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.” According to Kotaku, 50 employees will be laid off. No date was provided for when WildStar would cease to exist.

WildStar released in 2014 for PC and featured some pretty nifty features, despite being a subscription-based MMO in an age where World of Warcraft (and now Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn) rules. The aesthetic and overall Saturday morning cartoon vibe was also quite pretty. However, Carbine struggled with retaining interest. WildStar would convert to a free to play model in September 2015, and arrive on Steam in 2016. Unfortunately, Carbine had its share of layoffs in February 2016, and not much information was provided on the game’s future in following months.

For more information on what made the game so interesting, you can check out GamingBolt’s review here.

Carbine’s WildStar will be reaching Steam and there will be a new update called “Destination Arcterra” in the coming months. This will add a new area called Arcterra, a new dynamic blizzard event for factions and an interesting new boss mechanic which sees you filling up a boss meter, moving up from two-man bosses to 20-man bosses.

The dynamic blizzard event is also cool because when you take down the 20 person bosses and collect keys in the region, you’ll unlock a dungeon for your faction for 24 hours which comes with its own interesting loot. A new instance called the Vault of Archon is also included, along with continuing the Nexus Saga with Journey Into OMNICore-1. New levels, cinematics and NPCs can be expected.

There will also be a new raid called Redmoon Terror for 20 players which comes with new spell mechanics and the chance to change the boss difficulty before starting. The raid will be heading to the PTR in early 2016.

There a ton of other features coming in Destination Arcterra which you can check out here. What are your thoughts on it? Let us know in the comments.

Carbine Studios’ WildStar has gone free to play courtesy of the recent Reloaded update so any one interested in getting in will no longer have to pay a subscription. That being said, there are benefits to paying as revealed in this newest features trailer for the game. Check it out below.

As pointed out, it’s possible to earn C.R.E.D.D. in the game and redeem it for the same items that can purchased using real world money. Subscribers will still have certain perks to take advantage of but the base game is completely open to free players. Carbine has also spent time revamping dungeons, adding more loot to instances, tuning world bosses, and even adding a new prequel chapter for the game.

What are your thoughts on WildStar Reloaded, especially the free to play aspects? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for more information on the game.

Carbine Studios’ WildStar is back in demand again, having gone free to play for PC and inviting tons of new users in the process. Interestingly enough, the developer isn’t ruling out a release on Xbox One and PS4, according to a conversation that product director Mike Donatelli had with GameSpot.

“We have seen many MMOs who have made that transition to console being successful. So I think it would be safe to say, without saying too much, that, for any successful MMO who is looking to expand their business, looking at the console seems to make a lot of sense.”

That being said, Carbine Studios did consider a console release when WildStar first launched in 2013. At the time, the focus was on the game’s PC version though to be fair, MMOs on consoles – like the hugely popular Neverwinter on Xbox One – were never as big as they are now.

Would you like to see WildStar on consoles? Let us know in the comments.

Carbine Studios’ WildStar has gone free to play today and a new cinematic trailer has been released to offer a brief glimpse of what players can accomplish. Most of it is standard MMO fare but WildStar’s flair and aesthetic give it that unique touch. Check it out below.

WildStar’s free to play version includes micro-transactions and presumably the developer will be charging for larger expansions down the line, much like The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited or Guild Wars 2 with Heart of Thorns. Overall, the game has undergone quite the change since its launch in terms of quests, raids and overall skill balancing. We’re not sure if the jump to free to play will help its popularity but it’s better late than never.

What are your thoughts on WildStar, especially after watching the cinematic trailer? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information on the game.

Carbine Studios’ WildStar will be going free to play later this month as part of the Reloaded update and along with changes to its payment model, the MMO will also be receiving a fair number of visual changes.

The biggest improvements will be made to the game’s lighting. According to the development team, the number of light sources in each environment is being increased for added realism. “We’ve also added effects such as the rays from an otherworldly star – or a glow from a campfire – that all go into bringing the look and feel of an environment together.

“While still fairly time-intensive, it’s allowing us to make some dramatic improvements to the visual quality of the game without needing to touch the already high-quality models and textures in the game.”

Thus far it looks pretty good and we can’t wait to try out the full free to play version on September 29th. Your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

Carbine Studios’ WildStar is currently hosting a closed beta for its free to play model which it will be shifting to this fall. Head over to the official site now to sign up for the beta. Current subscribers of the MMORPG will be able to access the same and try out the newest features of the F2P model.

WildStar has had intermediate success since launching last year. However, population numbers soon began to dwindle and despite the large amount of end-game content, it quickly fell in popularity. Carbine has released some rather large content updates for the game including new zones, weapons, raids and much more.

Those who continue to subscribe when WildStar goes free to play will receive benefits through a loyalty program. Regular updates are also being promised though it’s likely that the larger expansions will be priced separately.

What are your thoughts on WildStar going free to play? Let us know in the comments and stay tuned for more information on the same in the coming weeks.

It’s finally official: Carbine’s WildStar will be switching over to free to play in the Fall. Along with an announcement trailer, Carbine’s Mike Donatelli spoke to PC Gamer about some of the new F2P mechanics that will be in play. Above all, the studio is committed to keeping WildStar at the AAA level.

Donatelli explained that along with Cred and Gold, there will be cosmetic items to be purchased through Omnibits. There will be some items that you can buy with real money but these can still be acquired in-game so you won’t be forced to drop any cash. Those who continue subscribing will be involved in a loyalty program which can net “loyalty currency” to redemption in a store. There will also be free in-game rewards offered to subscribers as well.

There will be more information on changes in the transition to free to play along with other improvements coming to WildStar so stay tuned.