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Auran's Fury shuts down

  • By Staff, GameSpot
  • Posted Aug 5, 2008 6:58 pm AEST

Player-versus-player-focused MMO game set to go dark later this week; lack of a viable business model cited as primary reason.

In October, Gamecock published its first game, the player-versus-player-focused massively multiplayer online game Fury. Less than two months after the subscription-based game launched, developer Auran announced that it was drastically overhauling its business model, making Fury free to download and play. That same week, Auran announced it had laid off all its employees and entered administration.

While the writing may have seemed on the wall for Fury from the get-go, the game has continued running throughout those troubles. Now that's coming to an end, as an Auran staffer announced in the game's official forums that Fury servers will be going offline in the next 48 hours.

"We have reached our time limit to find a solution that would help us keep the Fury servers open," said a staffer under the handle Bossman. "Sadly, no solution has been found, and so we have no alternative than to shut the servers down in 48 hours."

Bossman also apologized to those still playing the game, saying he was sorry the team "could not find a viable business model that would allow you to keep playing."

Fury was one of the most ambitious games to come out of an Australian games studio and was the first game to feature the coveted "Australian Made" logo on the box. Although this marks the last chapter in Auran's development, its publishing arm--n3vrf41l publishing--continues to operate, with at least six more games scheduled to come out under the n3vrf41l banner this year.

22 Comments

  • localgod325

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 8:05 am PT

    as far as the business model, it was actually mostly handled by GameStop - they had a deal with gamecock/ Auran, and it was handled absolutely horribly by a few Vp's, so yea, good job guys ;P

  • 73X

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 8:05 am PT

    Already? That sucks, it wasn't all that great of a game but still.

  • ollobrains

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 4:26 am PT

    u want a good MMO try eve online profitable not as egoistic as wow, more pvp focused btu a deep learning curve and time based skill learning

  • brianpoetzel

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 4:24 am PT

    @giger: What they do is make their money on other things. GW has had 3 expansions so far, released at $40. Plus you can buy skills and character slots, etc.

  • gla300

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 3:23 am PT

    looks like i've wasted 60$ for a dead game

    anyway i didn't like it a lot

  • gla300

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 3:15 am PT

    looks like i've wasted 60$ for a dead game

    anyway i didn't like it a lot

  • gla300

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 3:15 am PT

    looks like i've wasted 60$ for a dead game

    anyway i didn't like it a lot

  • selbie

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 2:44 am PT

    Woops. I haven't even installed it yet Better try it out tonight.

  • danopix

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 1:34 am PT

    City of Heroes/Villains costs $16 or $19 a month. I forget. But they add content often. They have trial accounts. That might be why you thought it was free. I don't mind paying a sub fee if the keep the game interesting. And NCSoft does.

  • GeigerdolylWodd

    Posted Aug 6, 2008 12:58 am PT

    I've personally? never ever played an MMO. I once tried to play a demo of FF for the 360 but that was about it. I've also tried to get in on NCsoft's City of Heroes which brings me to my next question. How exactly does NCsoft do it? I mean from what I've heard their MMOs tend to be free with no monthly fees is this true?

    Not only that but they also have managed to churn out more original MMO ideas sans Auto Assault and they've seemingly figured out the secret formula to get them to last.

    So why then in this post WOW day and age is it so hard for everyone else to follow suit and do the same?

  • Oddjin

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 5:56 pm PT

    GhostyMcboo

    FFXI will never be free, and it will probably take a loooong time to die. I figure it's basically the Japanese version of EverQuest, which unless I'm wrong, is still up and running despite how old it is and that EQ2 came out.

  • GhostyMcboo

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 3:18 pm PT

    I strangely miss FFXI.. I hope it becomes free soon... although it probably never will because square runs the world and they keep making content for it.

  • BatrozX

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 3:03 pm PT

    I have to say that that's very sad, especially for people who are still playing the game. You CAN call it the WoW effect, I mean...just look at all the advertisements Blizzard is giving, and all the members subscribed on WoW. And heck, WoW is a pretty awesome MMORPG, I've played it, maybe not on the retail servers but I've played on private servers. But every story that involves an MMORPG failing like this is sad.

  • ZippyDSMLee

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 2:59 pm PT

    suicidesn0wman
    Ya FF11 is something to be suffered though 0-o

    After I got done with FF11 after abotu 3ish months I gave up on MMOs as they are nothign but crappy game play designs focused on endless grind to get you to waste as much time as possible.

    I'd rather pay for better character and stuff on top of the the MMO fee to make it into a fun game, most MMOs I have played would be really nice if they opened up some of the anal retentive restrictions though extra premium content, it could have saved FF11 for me(and most other MMOs I have palyed, even GW is to grindy for my tastes...)

  • PEELEDbanana

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 2:42 pm PT

    I wonder if this game is going to go on private servers?

  • brianpoetzel

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 2:37 pm PT

    That's sad. I hate to see any game fail like that.

  • Old_Gooseberry

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 2:28 pm PT

    just too many mmos. you either have the pay or free ones, and the "free" ones are so unbalanced since the only way to compete with the rest of the players is to buy the special items.

    Guild Wars had the right idea, although it wasn't an mmo, the sequel will be, and have no monthly fee, and it sounds like a great idea... nobody wants to pay monthly fees for a game which forces them to waste away their life killing the same things, infinity times for virtual garbage.

  • suicidesn0wman

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 1:50 pm PT

    its the WoW effect, developers see how big a successful MMO can be and try to make something different yet the same, failing to acknowledge the fundamental flaws of all MMO's. the entire portfolio of MMO's today are practically unplayable as a game, you spend more time grinding and lvling skillsets than playing the actual game itself, leaving most gamers to find mmo's boring, or too challenging, or just plain stupid.

    I've played FFXI for about 5 years now, and I think that it is probably one of the most challenging games to tolerate because of its difficulty and demand for team lvl grinding. MMO's sadly seem to follow the idea that quantity is more desired than quality, and that just tends to make things worse

  • Misfit1119

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 1:42 pm PT

    This is why I don't get into smaller MMOs. They try something, it doesn't work, they fall into the morass of 300 thousand other MMOs and then they close up shop rendering your game now useless. No thanks.

  • suicidesn0wman

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 1:33 pm PT

    they need to change the publishers name from n3vrf41l to 0n1yf41l0nce, otherwise they could be sued for false advertising

    also i agree, MMO's should release the server software so that the fans can continue the legacy of the game on their own.

  • McGregor

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 1:18 pm PT

    I agree. public release would allow players to play on a private server. I hope their next 6 titles don't have the same outcome.

  • raahsnavj

    Posted Aug 5, 2008 12:52 pm PT

    This is what is in store for those that buy these games... eventually the servers will get turned off and you have nothing you can go back and play... even in single player mode.

    At least they could have the decency to release it to the public and then people could setup their own servers and such...

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