Jagex Transformers Universe Closing in January 2015

[kaiden]

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/video-games-17/transformers-universe-to-shutdown-181698/


Today Jagex and Hasbro can confirm that Transformers Universe will close. This decision comes at an important time for both companies as they both realign their plans and focuses for 2015.

What does this mean for our players?

We’re hugely disappointed, but the game will be closing over the coming weeks before its full closure at 10am GMT on 31st January 2015.

As a team, we can’t thank players enough for the support that they have shown us over the last few years of development, and even more so during our BETA period.

What’s next?

The shutdown period will begin from today. As part of the winding down we will be refunding all those that have purchased a Founders Pack, as well as anyone that has purchased relic bundles and starter packs. These refunds should be all processed in the next 30 days. In addition we will be closing the ability for new players to make accounts, those of you that already have accounts will continue to be able to use them until the closure date.

If you haven’t received a refund after 16th January 2015 and believe you should have, then please contact the Jagex customer services team (tu_refunds@support.jagex.com). We will also be pushing an update live today that will switch off the ability for players to buy any more relic packs, or starter bundles.

As mentioned, on 31st Jan 2015 @ 10am GMT we will be shutting down all servers and forums and will freeze all Transformers Universe related accounts. These accounts will then be live for another 60 days (approx.) for any final queries before deletion on 31st March 2015.

Between now and the date of closure the Jagex CM team will continue to operate on the forums and we will provide relevant updates on the website as necessary.

If you have any queries about your account or refunds please contact our customer support team on tu_refunds@support.jagex.com. Please understand that they may be very busy during this time but they will respond as quickly as possible.

Thank You

Once again we want to thank all of the players that have played Transformers Universe and all those that have worked on the project. We’re sure you have thoughts and feelings that you’d like to share on this, so please do so on our forums. Please bear in mind that this is obviously a challenging time for all involved, especially the CM team. There will be plenty of things we can’t comment on, so please respect their position.

Sincerely

Transformers Universe Development Team

[UltraMarginal]

huh, I honestly didn't think it was out of Beta yet?
That's disappointing, I was looking forward to playing it once it was formally released.

[DELTAprime]

huh, I honestly didn't think it was out of Beta yet?
That's disappointing, I was looking forward to playing it once it was formally released.

According to Joystiq it hasn't even left beta. http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/12/16/transformers-universe-is-toast-guys/

Really there wasn't much hope for this game. lol and DOTA2 have the MOBA market sewn up. The game with the best chance of cracking the market is Heroes of the Storm and that only has a chance because it's from Blizzard.

[drahsrebu]

This is disappointing, I enjoyed this game and spent a lot of hours playing it. Looks like I'll be getting a refund.

[Raider]

I registered for Beta and player it for maybe 2 hours but wasn't very impressed. I guess I'm more of a G1 fan so the story line and aesthetics just didn't do it for me. I wouldn't have thought the market would have been that high for this game so I am surprised in hindsight that it even made Beta.

[griffin]

Can't say I'm surprised. It was being promoted for two and a half years before testing started, and then as people have noted, the testing phase was pretty much the last six months while constantly promoting it by releasing new character images every week.

That will probably ruin Jagex, as they've spent three years funding the creation of this game (through wages and electronic materials to develop and house the program), and they are fully refunding people who had so far bought into the game.

I feel really bad for them, because they were really excited (back in 2012 when they started promoting it at BotCon), but they either chose the wrong universe (TFPrime) or were forced to by Hasbro.
The Gen1 universe might have a smaller core of dedicated fans, but the universe itself doesn't appear to have an expiry date, so could have gone on forever (like the Legends game). TFPrime on the other hand, was like Animated and other previous series since Beast Wars... once the cartoon and toyline were over, there was not enough interest in those versions of characters and storyline to keep people with it when new series or movies come along.
Gen1, as we've seen by the constant stream of homage toys and recycling of iconic names and colours, is time-less. And if Jagex had done that universe, and that style of bots (like the non-cast characters you'd see in backgrounds of cartoons and comics) or even an Animated universe done in that Animated visual style, I think they'd have had a lot more interest, and a lot more patience when it was finally finished... lasting a lot longer than a game based on a subsequent universe that has completely ended with no significant lingering legacy.

[UltraMarginal]

I have to correct you there, it was the 2011 Botcon because I was there and set up a character name.
They were excited and it had a lot of potential, just never seemed to find it's own direction.

[griffin]

I have to correct you there, it was the 2011 Botcon because I was there and set up a character name.
They were excited and it had a lot of potential, just never seemed to find it's own direction.

You know... I had a feeling that it was 2011 because it had been lingering for soooo long, but corrected myself thinking that it couldn't possibly be that long, so didn't bother wasting time double-checking that. :o
I remembered that they had featured it at two BotCons, then were suspiciously absent before they started their beta testing. (one of the years they were there, they were allowing people to sign up to reserve user/character names... which I think I did, but never heard anything after that)

Well... that just makes it even worse, being around for 3 & 1/2 years with no game launch (or money) to show for it. :(

[griffin]

Well, there you go...

March 2011 it was first announced (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=10382&highlight=game), and then officially named in June and feature at BotCon 2011 (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=11211&highlight=jagex) (June).
(two months short of four years... and we don't even get a proper launching of the game)

And it was BotCon 2012 (April) that they were allowing people to sign up to secure names (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=13407&highlight=mmog).

Then it was 2013 that was the year that they were noticeably absent (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc13/bc13intro.html).

[UltraMarginal]

It does feel like it's been just over the horizon for ages. Duke Nukem Forever took longer I guess.

I was dreading it's release for time availability but otherwise really looking forward to it. I really liked the prime universe and I really liked a lot of the character designs they had put forward.
I guess it will be a while now before we see another High Moon quality level of Transformers game. :(

[Paulbot]

I have to correct you there, it was the 2011 Botcon because I was there and set up a character name.
They were excited and it had a lot of potential, just never seemed to find it's own direction.

Yep, I got interviewed on camera about the game while there. Never saw that video pop up anywhere though (thank Primus)

They did come up with a lot of interesting designs/looks for new Autobot (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Category:Transformers_Universe_game_Autobots) and Decepticon (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Category:Transformers_Universe_game_Decepticons) characters for the game.

[UltraMarginal]

Yep, I got interviewed on camera about the game while there. Never saw that video pop up anywhere though (thank Primus)

They did come up with a lot of interesting designs/looks for new Autobot (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Category:Transformers_Universe_game_Autobots) and Decepticon (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Category:Transformers_Universe_game_Decepticons) characters for the game.

ha, yea, I got a free t-shirt for being part of a group yelling at a camera being all excited. I don't know if that footage ever turned up anywhere.
That was a good Botcon!

[griffin]

More concept art from the Universe game (http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/video-games-17/transformers-universe-concept-art-by-tom-stockwell-181818/), now that it is closed.

There is so much detail in these, they must have taken ages to compose.
It's not like flat-panel designs of most other Transformers games, these had a lot of detailing and glow lighting to them.
Maybe this excessive level of detail was just way too ambitious of them (considering the extra cost of needing to compose two modes for each character, which halves the amount of completed game characters compared to other games), and led to the delays... and eventual closure before it even fully started.