It seems that The Matrix Online, affectionately known as MxO to the 39 people who still play this MMO, is going to go dark. As of July 31st of this year, the game will be going offline forever. Although it was highly anticipated, MxO was never widely accepted by players. It suffered from some now-familiar problems. It was developed by a company that had never done an MMO before, the Wachowski brothers (directors of the films) were intimately involved in the design of the game, and it suffered from a horrid launch. Content in the game, which was supposed to be innovative and intensely story driven, never panned out the way the original developers had promised.

The game launched in 2005 after a lackluster beta.  Developed by Monolith and published by Warner Brothers’ Entertainment – two companies with zero experience in the MMO market – the game failed to capture a significant chunk of market share.  Within months of launch, it was soon picked up and maintained (fundamentally, it was saved from extinction) by SOE.

More of this story, including some video from the game, after the jump.

The game continued to have a small player base from 2005 until now, but apparently SOE has now decided that subscriptions have dropped to the point where the game should be shut down.

It’s interesting to note that SOE has a bit of history in acquiring, and saving, dying MMOs that have disastrous launches.  MxO is but one example; they did the same thing for Vanguard a couple years back.  There is something to be said for SOE’s experience in the genre, as they appear to be able to maintain, and even turn a profit from, games that are dying in the hands of their original developers.

The good-bye message from community lead Walrus can be found here, and I’ve embedded a video belowvshowing some MxO gameplay for your amusement. 

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