Why do you think RiliSoft stated on the Pixel Gun World website that just the Open Beta was finished and they were gonna work on the game for a final release? I wouldn't think from their statement that they'd actually be discontinuing PGW entirely. Did I miss something?
Regardless from what they say after shutting everything down,
From a business perspective, shutting everything down was a very bad move. It was the equivalent of falling on your sword and killing yourself.
There's no good reason to have to shut down PGW (forum and servers) so they can refine the game for a final future release.
No good reason.
It's entirely possible to keep the beta running as they develop a final release.
There's no good reason to shut it down, leave everybody in the dark to find other entertainment. People are creatures of habit and people will play other games and get hooked on those.
If they do release a final version, it will now take a lot of money and time to get the same number of players as they already had.
The longer the delay, the more time and money it will take to recover.
They could have just kept it running and guided the people to the new release when it happens.
If they really were going to release a final version, at least they could have kept the forum open for people to return to, to get news.
Killing the forum as well, really kills almost any future potential for a final release.
Pixel Gun World is dead.
It may be painful for you if you are new to business closing and things you love disappearing, but you'll get used to it.
I'm old enough to be a father to many of you and I've seen many many great companies with great products, strong following, just disappear.
Gone forever.
My perspective is from a business/marketing/developer/investor perspective.
My guess is that there's <2% chance they will return.
IF they return, they need to spend a lot of marketing money to return the player volume.
On the rare case they do that too, they also have the change the financial model.
? Buy the game, set price, and pay monthly subscription? Not likely
? Restrict access to weapons/maps to only people to pay money? Not likely
? Some other pay to play model? Maybe?
As we know, none of these will work well on a PC when your biggest clients are <13yrs old and rely on parents for a credit card to buy things.
All children HATE "pay to play", because they have no credit cards to pay for virtual items.
Pixel Gun 3D will continue to survive on mobile because it's so much easier to make purchases for under-age players.
You don't have that same convenience with a PC.
Pixel Gun World is dead.
(This will be my last post here. I don't plan to return.)
I do however wish Rilisoft success on future projects and I hope they can leverage code and learnings from PGW to create something better than PGW.
Good bye and take care.
It was fun playing with you all.
RIPGW
