Tonight will be the final night for NCsoft’s MMOG Auto Assault, a Mad Max-style game featuring road combat in a post-apocalyptic world.
NCsoft announced the game’s termination on July 2 as a result of the game’s failure to catch on with an audience. Public Relations Director David Swofford said at the time, “After awhile it gets to the point where the return we’re getting on what we’re putting into it is just not matching up. We just didn’t have that many people in the service.”
“End of game activities” are planned for tonight, with a message from the Auto Assault team promising “all sorts of nutty things in-game – whatever you request, we’ll try to make it happen.” The post continues, “Most of the fun will be around Ground Zero (don’t worry if you don’t have a high-level character, we’ll boost you), but we’ll be doing other stuff all around the game.” Events are planned to begin around 9pm CDT and will last until midnight, at which point the servers will be shut down.
Released in April 2006, Auto Assault divided its game world into three camps – humans, mutants and biomeks – who battle for supremacy in a world devastated by a war between humanity and alien invaders. Their world crumbled. The cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. But despite its promise, Auto Assault failed to achieve critical mass among gamers, lasting little more than a year.
Refunds for gamers with credit extending beyond the shutdown date have been issued, but anyone with questions or concerns regarding their account should contact the NCsoft Support Center.
