Changyou is sunsetting its global Shadowbane revival in May over ‘business adjustments’

So, remember back in 2021 when Shadowbane came back from the dead? I’m now sorry to report it’s dying. Again.

Longtime MMORPG fans will remember that the game was originally sunsetted back in 2009, and the industry said farewell to the PvP sandbox, at least temporarily. That’s because Chinese company Changyou picked up the rights for the game and relaunched it overseas as World of Shadowbane. In 2021, the company even dropped a version in the west; it landed on Steam for $11. And we promptly forgot about it, along with the rest of the west too, as while it saw a peak of 641 concurrent players three years ago at launch, that quickly dwindled. For the last year, it hasn’t peaked above 38 players. That’s obviously not enough to maintain a multi-kingdom territory sandbox.

And now, Changyou is throwing in the towel on the revival. As first noticed by Connor at MMO Fallout, the company announced the news on Wednesday, scheduling a sunset for May 28th.

“Since the launch of Shadowbane, it has received the support and loved of a large number of players,” the team wrote. “Looking back on the days when we fought alongside all the warriors, we sincerely thank you for your support and assistance to Shadowbane! However, due to the business adjustments, we regret to announce that Shadowbane is about to cease operations.”

Changyou says that after the game is dead, it’ll also close down the game’s website and wipe account data. Refunds aren’t on offer, but the studio has barricaded new currency purchases. Folks with leftover currencies can still spend them.

RIP. Again. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be over here reminiscing about playing games to crush vs. to bake bread.

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