'EA Land' closing just weeks after debut
Earlier this month, I wrote that Electronic Arts had made an announcement to members of its long-running but poorly received virtual world, The Sims Online, that it was re-branding the service as EA Land.
On Tuesday, however, EA announced on the official EA Land blog that it is now planning to shut the service down altogether.
Only weeks after informing The Sims Online members that their game was being re-branded as EA Land, Electronic Arts said it is shutting EA Land down.
(Credit: Electronic Arts)
"It is with mixed emotions that today we are announcing the EA Land experiment will soon draw to a close," the blog entry read. "Since 2002, EA Land/(The Sims Online) has attracted a very special group of players...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."
According to the blog entry, EA Land will shut down for good as of August 1, 2008.
This is an odd turn of events. Why, for example, would EA go to the trouble of re-branding The Sims Online and then almost immediately shut down its successor?"
EA did not immediately return a request for comment.
However, fans of The Sims Online (TSO)/EA Land were not in a sentimental mood about EA's decision.
One commenter on the blog entry wrote, "I guess EA changed it all to EA Land, taking away the TSO name so they could close it without closing The Sims name."
That's a rather pessimistic view, of course, but it raises an interesting point.
The Sims Online was originally a much ballyhooed follow-up to The Sims, the best-selling PC game franchise of all time--which recently sold its 100 millionth unit. But TSO never caught on and was widely seen as a failed attempt to port the single-player game to an online, multiplayer environment.
Still, EA kept TSO running, even as it was eclipsed by other social virtual worlds, and it limped along with a small membership.
All along, one reason the game never really caught on was because it didn't give users the ability to create much of their own content.
But with its announcement of EA Land, EA promised that users would be able to finally create content.
Well, I guess not. Whatever the reason EA is shutting down EA Land, it certainly does put the period on the end of the rather depressing sentence that was The Sims Online.
A lot of people feel that if EA had decided to really champion the game, it could have been a hit. It had every advantage: Amazing name recognition, the spiritual guidance of master game developer and The Sims creator Will Wright, and an eager audience. But the company never got behind it, and it became a PR nightmare.
And now, finally, it is being put to sleep.
R.I.P. TSO.
Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between. E-mail Daniel.
(Ultima Online does not count since it started at pre-EA Origins and apparently is still running.)
Suzanne
The comment was in reference to the closing of EA Land ( The Sims Online ) Why would they make such a comment, well this is very simple to answer. They are trying to cover up the years of neglect on a game that would of had just as much success as Second Life run and operated by Linden Labs. They are also trying to distance themselves from The Sims Online name. This being the only obvious reason for there upcoming release of SIMS 3.
EA has never put full heart into the promises they made in turning the old platform of The Sims Online into the new updated games. They sent out mass emails to older players that stopped playing to come back with promises that never occurred.
The lack of EA support is the reason The Sims Online (EA Land) failed. EA for 4 yrs didn't update or upgrade the game in any shape or form. Then we had a miracle occur. Developers from the old game were brought back to try to save it. Well after 4 yrs of neglect, this was a task even the Gods would have a challenge with. Though this new team of developers were dedicated to getting the job done, they were still under the heavy claw of EA executive suits that really didn't want to see this project take form and succeed. The team was small compared to the previous team of over 100. EA did no advertising to help bring in any new members. The online community was out helping with this but to no avail. Very hard to praise a company that treats their customers with no consideration. The customer support of EA is another major issue with the company but that for another day.
EA failed its subscribers is the bottom line. EA wants to put on a good face to their upcoming releases. The fact remains. EA makes promises it does not keep to their Gaming Customers. EA customer support on all their games is the worst in the industry. EA care nothing of their subscribers. Very simple.. EA does not deserve our hard earned money in buy their products. There are other gaming company's out their that actual listen to their consumers and take their input. Why not take a look at those companies when investing your hard earned money.
Another thing EA forgets when it comes to their upcoming release is that many of those customers were The Sims Online customers. After the abuse they have caused on many of that community, most will be staying away from the EA brand name for good. They have taken the best game series and stuffed it down once again. They had a loyal following, but after there recent actions that following is now going to company's that actual listen to their input and care about their games.
The campaign to boycott EA games will continue as many will follow... Maybe EA should of listened to their customers and not come up with fake statistics to what is obvious to the online gaming community.
It's too bad that this game started taking, taking, taking from the players, but wasn't adding much.
But, most of us stuck around waiting for all the things promised. We stuck through the low payouts and no anniversary gifts because there was supposed to be a big horizon coming.
Then, all we got was the plug pulled and darkness.
And, say what you will, but at least two other popular online virtual worlds out there are not all that much better than EA-Land.
There are many of us who care about the game and dont want to see it go. Please help us save our game!
The TSO/EA teams did a great job with the origional, and the new game. But the neglect proved to much, many older players wouldn't return because of the abuse that we were handed. And with games like Second Life, There, and World of Warcraft offering a more stimulating atmosphere - TSO/EALand had no chance with four years of neglect.
However, I deeply thank the dev's for their time, they gave me some great online memories - and I have friends from the game who I have known for almost five years!
RIP Test Center... I knew ye well.
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by angelishi8
September 10, 2008 3:14 PM PDT
- Hi! I was one of the TSO player wayback 2002- 2006, I'm sad to have known that the TSO shut down knowing that name had change a year a go also.well I think you guys have a great point.
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(13 Comments)I'm hoping all the best for EA games team to be successful in building a new simulation.
its true that theres a lot of competitor around the world now. but EA should know that YOU guys were the original LEADING Game meaning you guys can still beat the competitors in time. you know what to do.